Padilla Bay Field Trip

 Annaliese's fifth-grade class has been studying estuaries and today they took a field trip to the Padilla Bay Estuary. She didn't really care if I went along or not, but I reminded myself that one of the reasons why I didn't like my last job was because I could never do things like this. So, I volunteered to help and it was so fun!

Making Estuary Soup

Looking for anything interesting!

 It was great to see how excited the kids were, and also how much they remembered from what they've learned in class. Annaliese's class is full of kids I've never met, so this was also a good opportunity to see some faces of the people she spends all day with!

September

 September has been pretty smooth, with everyone settling into the new routines of school and fall soccer. We've fit in a few other fun activities as well. 

Back-to-school ice cream social for all the Spanish Immersion families.

Savannah, Esme, Mallory, Annaliese, and Haleigh- all excited to have an opportunity to play together!

After Lydia got her new bike for her birthday, we decided to test it out. We biked over 10 miles on a nice trail in Sedro-Wooley. Everyone did mostly great. There was a rocky part of the trail that Lydia didn't like and she did scream about how she hates biking and will never do it again. But then Kyle's pedal fell off his bike and she seemed to forget all of that and once again became happy to be outside biking!

And a few fun activities at home:

There was a festival in Ferndale to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month that we thought would be fun to go to. The kids loved the little tractor train ride and the bouncy house. (Lydia had a soccer game at the same time as Annaliese, so Kyle took her to her game, and then they went to Bellingham to the SeaFeast while Annaliese, Haleigh, and I did our own fun activities!)

Yes, it has been a nice month! Like always, it's hard to believe how fast the time is going by. It's fun to look back through the pictures and remind myself of what we've been up to!

Happy Birthday Lydia!

 Just like that, my baby girl is SIX! Lydia is full of spunk and most of the time is so fun to be around. She gives amazing hugs, has the best smile, and is very observant and complimentary. On the flip side, she doesn't like to be told no and can through a fit, scratch, and kick like a pro. I will say, however, that with the beginning of Kindergarten and lots of talk about how six-year-olds should act, we have had much fewer tantrums recently.

We celebrated her birthday with a small party on Sunday. She went birthday shopping with Grandma a few weeks ago and picked out her birthday presents. Since she was able to pick out what she wanted (a lego set and a pair of light-up shoes,) she was content and didn't want anything else! While I appreciate her contentedness with what she has, it does make it hard to get her a few presents! She did scroll through Pinterest and picked out what she wanted her cake to look like and she very specifically asked for a candle in the shape of a six, not six individual candles! She was also very clear that she did not want any new clothes because she has enough already!

A new bike!

So what's life like as a six-year-old? We try to get Lydia in bed around 7ish and then she gets to read until 7:30. She has to get up at 6:45 for school. She still sleeps with her blankie and sucks on her two fingers!

Lydia loves eating- mostly snacking, actually. She's not a big breakfast eater, likes deli sandwiches for lunch and is pretty hit-and-miss for all things dinner related. Some nights she eats a lot, and the next night she will be full after two bites. She will always eat a snack though! And fruit, she loves fruit! 

Showing off her new rain jacket!

Favorite color: pink and purple

Favorite book: Owl Diaries

Favorite food: Pizza

Favorite activity: Cuddling with Shelby

Celebrating her birthday at school!

We went on a 10-mile bike ride to try out the new bike!

Saying Happy Birthday to Grandpa Jay and Grandma Kelley.

Lydia is very social, is very observant and generally very happy. She loves to play with others and she and Haleigh can play dolls or legos together for a long time! She will be playing soccer again this fall and has really enjoyed her first few weeks of Kindergarten. It is both a joy and a challenge to parent her and we love watching her grow and learn!!

Back to School

 We started school last Tuesday and have been adjusting well to the new schedule. 

Annaliese is in 5th grade, which is part of middle school at Lynden Christian. This was a big transition year as it is the first year that Annaliese will primarily be going to school in English! She has two other classmates who have been doing the Spanish Immersion program and they are going to get pulled out of their classroom three days/week for about 90 minutes each day for Spanish. We are excited that LC is continuing to teach them in Spanish at this level! It is also fun, though, to be in a bigger class with the possibility of making a lot of new friends. Annaliese also gets to be in band this year and is going to learn how to play the saxophone!

Haleigh is in third grade and has Maestra Gonzalez this year. I think she will be a really good teacher foe Haleigh and am excited to see Haleigh grow a lot this year. She is in a 3rd/4th combined class which means she has both Mallory and Elias in her class this year!

Lydia is in Kindergarten with Señorita Rawls and Señora Hernandez. For the first time ever, she has school all day every day! She was very excited for this year and we are hopeful that it will be a good year.

The girls will be riding the bus to school every day and will be riding it home a few days/week. With the weather still being nice, we have been walking to the bus stop (which is about 1/4 mile away.) 

We celebrated the first day of school with an outing to Edaleens...it seemed like a good way to end summer and start school!

We are very thankful for amazing teachers and staff at LC who love our kids very much! We are excited to watch them learn and grow this year!