October 2018!

1st  - A Normal Homeschool Day - We all do math together right after breakfast and devotions. This has made my life much simpler! I used to do math all day long spread out with each kid.

3rd - October was Cross Country month! Go, Kivi, go! She came in 16th at a Wright Park race! Not bad for a 13 year old racing against high schoolers!

4th - Eben gets his new rain gear for riding his bike to Pierce!

5th - 6th -  Kivi places 38th in The Richland Invitational with her Lakes Cross Country team. 

6th - Pella, Berg, and Opal drive to CA with Mama and Dada for Pella's Disneyland birthday! Nonnie and Poppie stayed with the rest of the crew. That night we check into our hotel, go swimming and Dada sleeps while Mama takes the kids to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. 

7th - We spend a day walking around Downtown Disney, swimming at the hotel, eating candy and bowling.

8th - Disney Day!!! We went in from the Monorail entrance and were the 2nd in line, even though the main entrance was already super crowded and the kids got to sit with the conductor up front! Not a bad way to enter the Magic Kingdom! We had so much fun trying to go on all the rides - which I'm pretty sure we accomplished and didn't even feel that rushed. Peter was a champ at figuring out fast passes. We even had time to see a Tangled show and go to Tom Sawyer's Island. Pella's favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain and Star Tours. After we enjoyed her birthday sundae, she fell asleep at night during the train ride, but got a second wind and we watched the firework show and even rode a couple more rides before heading back to the hotel. Then we drove back home the next day!

Pella, I can't believe you are (almost) already seven! You are such a sweet girl. All ages of girls love to call you their friend. You are the busiest person in our family because so many friends want to have you over! You are loving and kind and smart! You are a year ahead in math and are doing year one in Ambleside already. You take good care of all your baby boys, and play well with your big sisters, especially doll house. You are a rock star in Awana and got the Commander's Award in Sparks. You love to help and do projects. You have a flair for the dramatic and can be a little diva sometimes, but I think that's because you are our little princess. We love you baby girl! Use that outgoing spirit to win others to Christ! Happy Birthday!

10th - Kivi has a Fort Steilacoom race. She got 7th place! 11th - We make caramel apples and find Kivi a dress for Homecoming.

12th - Field trip to the Family Farm.  Lots of pumpkins, painting, the big slide, cookies, cows, cocoa, and a tractor ride.

The race we missed by a minute at Wright Park. Mama cried. Kivi got 10th place out of 95 Frosh/Soph runners!! The Number One Lakes runner of the meet!

13th - Kivi's Homecoming! A lady offered to do her hair for free while we were buying her dress and shoes at Goodwill! Cara made her a beautiful corsage. Mama and Dada both worked at the dance. She and her friends had so much fun. The girl loves to dance!

14th - Spooner Farms Corn Maze! Mama's favorite Fall activity. And Mama's whole side of the family was able to join us this year! It was an alien theme.

19th - Eben turns 15!! Well actually he turns 15 the next day, but this was his party. He had a FortniteMarioKartJustDanceSmashBros Tournament and loved it. The boys, and their invited sisters, played in the basement that he set up with big screens and projectors all around, then had some pizza and snacks and a birthday "cake" made of Oreos and chocolate doughnuts.  

We love you so much, our first born! You are an amazing man! You are learning a lot this year and being stretched in so many ways. You are taking on a lot more responsibility, biking to school, actually going to a school everyday and not just a school - a college!!! What!? We are so proud of you and all you've accomplished! You are serving at church as our Awana Game Leader again, going to High School small group and youth group and on the LC3 Tech team. You also really love video games - my nemesis! Fortnite and Smash are your favorites. You are such a gift to our family and a great big brother to your siblings. Thank you for allowing God to use your gifts for Him! Happy 15th, Eben!

20th - Another Cross Country Race! The League Championships were held at Fort Steilacoom, so the grandparents we able to come and watch our girlie run. We brought hot cocoa for the chilly kids and even some friends came to watch her. She got 15th out of 46 runners!

21st - Dada throws Mama a surprise 43rd Birthday Party! He told me that he was taking me dancing. I figures we were going to Seattle, so when we pulled into Lakewold Gardens all I could think was, "I bet he knew they'd been having dancing lessons here for years, I can't believe he's just now taking me!" Then when we got inside and I saw all my friends, I realized what was happening!

Peter is an amazing husband! He thought of everything! It was beautiful! From black linens and red roses to delicious food and lots of fun drinks. There were even Tango lessons! My Baby loves me! All my friends were such good sports dipping their spouses and all of us stepping on each other's toes! I loved it! Peter pretends he can't dance, but he is superb at it. He even let me do the Dirty Dancing lift! Well, we tried anyway.

Then the evening transitioned to Karaoke and we all sang backup for each other. I had such a wonderful night surrounded by amazing helpful friends. 

22nd - We pulled the boat out of the water on the foggiest day ever! I thought I was going to crash into the bridge. But I used the cell phone to see with because it showed definition and made it.

27th - Kivi's last meet at Chambers Bay. It was a hard race and there were lots of runners because it was District Championships, but she ran well and placed 49 out of 120.

31st - On Wednesdays Nonnie brings Mimi over and they spend the day playing with the "Little Three" so we can get more school done. 

This Wednesday was also our Viking Halloween! Since our church was in the middle of a remodel they didn't have their annual Harvest Carnival, our friends hosted a Halloween get together! We went to the Wells for a potluck and then we all went trick or treating together.

Berg's Disneyland Birthday!

We started a tradition when Eben turned seven to let our kids chose an amusement park for their birthday. Berg chose Disneyland! Good choice, Berg! He was able to turn 7 three months earlier than any of his siblings because the only time for our Disney trip was the beginning of February! Sadly, on the drive down, Eben and Kivi were knocked out with sickness, and the couple of days we stayed at Poppie and Nonnie's house the rest of the kids got it. But by Feb. 1st almost everyone was doing great, except Dada who medicated and powered through the whole day. We were going to do some fun CA activities before Disney, but no one really felt like doing anything except playing at the house and watching movies since they were all recovering from the yuckiness. We did manage to go to a very cool indoor climbing gym, Pella got a hair cut by Nonnie and we had some In 'N Out Burger. But that's about all the fun we accomplished for our first three vacation days. 

I'm glad we laid low though, because everyone being well (except Dada, who doesn't cry, so it didn't bother anyone else) really helped us have a great Bergie Birthday celebration.

Berg's Kissing Picture in front of the flower Mickey head and all of us on Main Street.

Peter thought it was crazy and pathetic that the first ride we chose was the Storybook Ride. It was actually way more crowded of a day than we were anticipating and Berg did not want to go on a roller coaster - yet. So a gentle, slow moving boat ride through miniature castles it was. We were the first ones on it! Then we rode the Alice in Wonderland ride and then against Berg's previous request, the Matterhorn. He cried and whined in line, and then loved it. 

So we were able to go on all the roller coaster rides after that! We actually were able to go on every ride, because although it looked really crowded the lines moved fast and we snacked and ate our lunch in line. We always bring cheese, crackers, salami, grapes, oranges, popcorn, chips, water and other snacks in backpacks.

The longest line we had to wait in was the Mickey Mouse line. Berg really wanted to meet him. So we did. Well, Berg and Mama did, everyone else went on the Chip and Dale roller coaster. 

Our great Toon Town pictures.

The Magic castle - morning, noon and night. Before this night time shot we were watching the electrical parade while eating ice cream and singing, "Happy Birthday" to our boy.

Before we left CA, the kids all said goodbye to the pool, they will miss it so much. Poppie built this pool and I think it's the thing they look forward to the most about visiting. They had a whole extra day to play in it, even though it had no water, because we needed to let our sick Dada sleep for a day before we headed back home.

This was a fun birthday, Berg! I'm so glad we all got to share it with you! It kind of summed up how you are in other areas too, scared at first, then excited to jump in with both feet once you've tried it. You are an amazing kid. You are kind and loving and super giving. You've giving away almost all of your toys to other kids having birthdays, your siblings or me. You were baptized this year! You want to be a missionary in Florida when you grow up and not have any kids. You love Eben, games - any games and always want to play. You are great at memorizing your verses. You hate water. You don't wear a shirt to bed. You almost always wear your clothes backwards or inside out (or both). You have skipped a grade in math. You do the same school work in all the other areas as Jasper and Opal. So in case you forget - you are super, crazy smart! Sadly, you are losing your "squish" and becoming all muscle. But you will always be our Squish, because you are our Squishy and we love you. God made you amazing and lovable for His amazing purpose and we can't wait to watch and see!

Jasper's California

We went swimming at Poppie and Nonnie's house. The next day we went to the pool and then we swam and I learned how to dive and Opal was training how to swim. Everybody went bowling and I got 3rd place. Uncle Kookie got last. We just hanged out for the rest of the day.  The next day we went to the beach and went swimming. We dug holes and got an ice cream cone and made some friends. Then we left. The next day while we were in the car Nonnie and Poppie told us we were going to a park but we actually went to Knott's Berry Farm. We had fun there and I got my Jasper rock and saw lots of geodes. My favorite ride was Supreme Scream. The next day we swam in Nonnie and Poppie's pool. Later that evening we set up a blanket at a 4th of July party. Uncle Kookie and Buggy came and while we were waiting for them Opal got her face painted and we got kettle corn and I ate all of it at the fireworks show. All of their friends came to the party.

Opal's California

First, I think we went swimming in the morning in Nonnie and Poppie's pool. Then we practiced swimming. I played doll house with Buggy when she got home. Jasper played a little bit. Then Buggy had to go. We got to go bowling and Buggy beat Uncle Kookie for the first time! I think Jasper won. After that we went swimming and that's when Nonnie helped me swim. Then we got out and we ate lunch. 

Nonnie and Poppie said, "In the morning we're going to go to somewhere that Kivi and Eben would say, ' What? They got to go there?'" We kept guessing. When we got there there their was a huge line. We met some people and they were really nice. Nonnie and Poppie said to them, "If you can open the gates, we'll let you go first." We finally got to go in to Knott's Berry Farm like after an hour. We sat on this bench next to this fountain. It was beautiful. It was surrounded with flowers and in the middle there was a big, cement statue, I don't know what it was. There was a stone bench all around it and we sat on that bench and we sat down and asked some people to take all these pictures of us. 

We finally went on a water ride and Jasper and Nonnie got the wettest. We got out. 

We went to the little kid land and we went on Mud Bucky's. It was so bumpy that afterward our bottoms hurt so bad. Me and Jasper got our own car. Jasper went in the back and I went in the front. And then there were two steering wheels in the front and back so we both got to drive two steering wheels. 

Afterwards we tried to go on the ferris wheel, but it took too long because there was a long line. After lots of rides that were really fun, Nonnie and Poppie said that we could each buy a rock for at least five or six dollars. Jasper bought a Jasper egg and I got an Amber. Then we got Nonnie and Poppie to do one more ride for Jasper because Jasper and Poppie really wanted to go on it. While the ride was going, it was kind of short, but it was kind of fun because the seats spun so fast around and it kind of went upside down. Nonnie and I both closed our eyes for the whole ride. Nonnie let us have a lollipop in the car. We had a great time. It was really fun!

The next day, we went swimming. We played with Buggy. I took a bath and then Nonnie did my hair. That night we went swimming with Uncle Kookie and Buggy then we ate ice cream and played with the music thingy and toys. 

The last day we went to the beach and Nonnie called them drippy ice cream cones because they dripped so much. Nonnie had to eat like half of mine because it was so big and I couldn't eat it all myself. Then we went swimming. It was really cold. After a while, we got out because it was so freezing. We built a whole race track on the sand and me a Jasper built this well and then we met this guy. He was really nice. He had black hair and he kept calling Jasper "Dude". We had lunch there and met Nonnie friend. Then we went home. 

Then after that we got ready for the fair. Nonnie and Poppie got popcorn. Brilely and Tanner and Uncle Kookie and Buggy came and we all watched the fireworks. Everyone except for me and Nonnie kept eating so much popcorn before the fireworks show. We were trying to save it for the show. But then Nonnie ate it all, too. Me and Jasper got to decide if we wanted tattoos on our faces. I got one, but Jasper said, "No". 

When we got home we got packed up and then went to sleep and in the morning we went to Washington. Our drive was awesome.

Shmee's Wedding

We drove down to CA in record time about 18 hours actually. The kids did amazing! Dada is amazing, he drove straight through the whole time. We got to CA, late Wednesday night and set up camp at Mimi's house. God bless Mimi. She housed us all and my two aunts. The kids took over the whole living room and basically made one huge bed out of the floor. During the day we would go over to Poppie and Nonnie's house and, of course, the kids would swim. It was very hot, I even swam.

Thursday was the Bachelorette and Bachelor parties. The guys took Steve fishing. The girls took Shmee on a scavenger hunt of her childhood, we didn't finish, so we didn't get to her adulthood years.  At each stop there was a question she had to answer and if she got it wrong she had to wear something crazy and if she got it right she got to draw a mustache on one of us. Only Bug, Fifi and Nancy got mustaches. Then mustaches, crazy clothes and all, we went to Maggiano's for dinner and county dancing, although we didn't stay long because we're old and got tired.

Friday was the Rehearsal and Dinner where we all learned the flash mob dance.

Saturday, Eben and Kivi made the Wedding Cake! It took them all day. Between swimming and eating they managed to make two small layers and two big layers and put them together with bright pick frosting, which they said Mr. Steve wanted. Late that night, they frosted the whole thing and right before the wedding started, they put on the flowers and heaviest cake topper ever.

And Sunday was the Big Day - The Wedding!  It was beautiful! Shmee looked amazing, Missa Teeve looked great and the wedding was gorgeous and fun. Here are some pictures of the day:

The bride and groom

The Kids

Married

The Flash Mob & Dancing

Our Family

The Sparkler Send Off