September Phone Dump

Our first sign-on-the-door.  Someone was feeling a bit perturbed by siblings.

An extremely thoughtful new friend MADE these precious dolls for my precious girls.  She dropped them off with a jar of homemade raspberry fig preserves and an encouraging hug.  I'm grateful for new friendships.

A neighbor welcomed us to his garden plot.  Thanks to Chris and Claire, our neighbors in England, the kids are familiar with good garden fun and were happy to jump right in.  The veg we brought home made a delicious stir-fry for dinner!

School Carnival: the kids tasted cotton candy for the first time.  

"It's so sweet"  "It tastes like sugar"  "I've had enough" =)

Early morning Blueberry Beauty.

Hooray!  Hooray!  It's Move-In Day!  After nine weeks of living out of suitcases, we were so grateful to see this truck pull up. 

Saturday morning read fest. 

Rooke was so excited to have the chance to explore one of the security forces'  hummers at a Fall Festival on base. 

The firemen were there, too. 

She's arrived.  Bridgette had asserted herself to the point that I decided it was time to let her start choosing her own clothes.  Some day she'll thank me. 

Containers and water.  What more do you need for some warm afternoon porch fun?!

These girls earned a frozen yogurt treat for being stellar patient shoppers with Mommy.

We opened the last box of clothes, which included my nicer dresses.  She loves playing dress-up!

These girls are becoming sweet friends.  I often go to check on them and find Gretchen reading to Bridgette.  

Floating Head!

I was curious why everything went so quiet and grateful to find this explanation. 

Hanging Out

I have been trying hard to get our boxes unpacked and our house transformed into a home.  If life would just stop for 48 hours, I think I'd have the job done.  But reality is that mouths still need to be fed and errands still need to be run and toilets still need to be cleaned . . . and I've was stressing out my family last week while placing unrealistic expectations on myself (and them) to have us moved in pronto.  This past weekend I took a deep breath, stepped away from the boxes, and just enjoyed hanging out.  These are some of the moments that were a much better use of my time instead of deciding where a picture should be hung:

And just because I think it's fun, click here to see a video of Rooke reading the same book with me four years ago!  

International Peace Garden

We spent part of Labor Day weekend at the International Peace Garden on the border between the US and Canada.  The garden boasts of having the longest unfortified border in the world!  Being there made me miss my sister (who is basically Canadian now, eh?!).  

We arrived Saturday morning to stake out our cabin and then find a spot to have a picnic lunch.  The towers you see in the background of our picnic are a 9-11 memorial. 

We enjoyed our lunch and then wandered around the grounds before checking out the game warden museum room and botanical garden.  

He found this post spear and held onto it for the rest of the weekend.  

Gretchen is standing in America - Rooke is standing in Canada!

The cabins are first-come-first-serve and we were glad to snag one that had a private bathroom inside.  Ryan said I can't call the cabin "rustic" because it would give the wrong impression.  It was old and dirty and musty.  But we had our own flushing toilet and mattresses to sleep on with our own bedding in a warm, dry room for cheap - that's our style!

We built our campfire and just hung out at the cabin into the evening.  The kids explored and we cooked our food over the fire and all had a great time.  It was my favorite part of the day.

Ryan took care of getting the fire started and tended to the dinner, but marshmallows are my department.  Thanks for the training, Mom!

Rooke was practicing some ninja moves with his marshmallow before roasting it.

We stopped at a couple of very random landmarks on our way home.  The Garden is close to the Turtle Mountains, so naturally it made sense to build a ginormous turtle out of wheels nearby.  

First Days

Rooke's first day going to a new school in a new country making new friends.  His quiet confidence and example of bravery brought tears to my eyes.  I was so proud of this guy!

Gretchen's first day of Children's Music Academy!  She and I get to experience this program together and have already enjoyed two classes of musical learning.

August Phone Dump

We snuck out for a Train Your Dragon 2 movie date and shared a treat!

Bridgette got her first salon hair cut this month!  She tried to be brave, but putting on the cape was too much, so Mommy sat in the chair first.  She didn't love having her hair cut, but the promise of a sucker afterwards kept her cooperative.

The library on base hosted a K-9 dog demonstration that was pretty intense!

She's a monkey!

Three is just right for the tire swing!

The kids all laughed when I showed them this photo - none of us remember what actually happened!

Snuggle time.

 They were looking at photos from the blog and I don't know which post they were on, but I love the expressions!

Gretchen is always telling stories . . . I caught her "reading" my Bible.  =)