My parents just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. At the wedding my sister had a song dedicated for them to dance to.  

Grandma and Grandpa French's Beach House

Grandma French and Sophia seperating out 78 sand dollars between grandkids!

The whole gang at the beach.

Sophie's treasures! 

This is my niece Rachel and Nehpew Ben with our kids. They are also on vacation at the coast from Australia. They haven't seen each other in 2 years. Had a lot of fun! 

Dan and the kids out looking for treasures! 

Grandma Lu and Grandpa Tom's Beach

We got to spend a day of our vacation at the Walling beach house in Ocean Park Washington with grandma Lu, Aunt April and Martin and Luke. We had a good visit and a great lunch a nice little local restaurant and then some play time in the water and sand. It was a lot of fun!

This is the driveway in. They have a lot of property that goes into the wooded area behind too.  

The back deck. A really quiet sitting place. 

Grandpa Tom's shop. Grandpa plans on building a loft in the rafters for the grandkids to have slumber parties.  

Your stunned silence is very reassuring

Sophia does a spot-on impression of Roz from Monster's Inc. In her best gravelly voice, she will look at you with a cock-eyed grin and say, "Always watching, always watching." Tina and I bust up every time.

Fall is coming to Spokane

This is the maple tree on the corner of the house by Tina and I's bedroom. I love how only the top has turned so far, it makes for some amazing views when you look up from below with the sun shining down...

 

 

Guys, daddy's home! Good chat, I missed you guys too.

And in this corner.....

Spencer had his first run-in with a playground bully today. Here's an abbreviated version of their exchange.

Bully: You're pretty small for a first grader.
Spence: Quit picking on me or I'll stick your head in a toilet and flush it.
Bully: Oh yeah. I'll kick you in the balls up to the sky!

He and I had a long talk when I got home from work about when to ignore them, when to walk away and when to drop 'em like a bad habit.

She's got it! Madeline has been working very hard at learning how to ride her bike without training wheels. Finally this last Sunday she got it! Good job Maddie! 

The kids each got to pick out a bag of spring/summer bulbs to plant this fall with their grandma on her latest visit. Somehow they lost interest after the first few holes...and left all the hard work to Dan and my Mom. I am sure they will have good memories when they start to bloom this spring!

Sophia and Grandma planting her Sophia "Iris" bulbs.  

 

First day of Preschool for Sophia! She is very excited to have her very own school day now. She longs so badly to be like her older brother and sister...this was a very big day for her!  

Since the preschool is at the old high school the kids each have their own locker for their coat and backpack. What a big girl! 

this is Sophie's preschool picture. what a ham! 

a few of my favorite pictures from the kids recent photos shoot. this year for dads birthday they made a frame and put one of these pictures in for his office.