Last day of school for our family!

Today was scheduled to be our last day of school at our house, and we made it! We are officially done with kindergarten for Leyton and pre-k for Evie. It has been a great year and I feel great about the progress that both kids and I have made the past 9 months on this journey together.

In the fall we will be joining a new Classical Conversations group in our area that is just forming, so I'm excited about being part of that core community. There are three established groups in the Portland area, but several more are starting for the fall and I'm so thankful that our community will be closer to us. We will meet once per week with this group and have a more structured class time with presentation by kids, instructions with tutors and a weekly enrichment time (painting, music, art, science, etc). Both kids will be able to attend, so I think it will be a great addition to what we are already doing!

However, in the mean time I'm excited about summer and taking a much needed and deserved break (for all of us)! Next week we kick off our summer with the kids attending a summer camp at our church's preschool program...and I'm going to take the mornings OFF! I have to say, I'm looking forward to this little break to get refreshed and ready to have some fun this summer.

Now, we just need some Oregon sunshine!

Raising a boy

If you ask me, raising a boy (kids for that matter) while living in the city is challenging. Both Jared and I grew up either on a small farm or a rural lake setting and I have to be honest, it's hard for us to know how to recreate those experiences on a small town lot. Our dream is to be in a rural area and own enough land to keep us and our kids busy with projects and space to roam and play, but that may never happen. So, until then our thinking caps are ON to figure out how to do our best where we are at. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Recently Jared and Leyton had a great day at a nearby lake. It was a day full of mountain biking, snacking, falling into blackberry bushes, fishing, snacking some more and generally getting tired out being a man and a boy. Good stuff.

Jared, thanks for being such a great dad!

Jared's Christmas Gift

For Christmas I gave Jared a photo session with a friend of ours, Joel Bock, who is a wonderfully gifted professional photographer. My goal was to get some pictures of Jared as a musician so we can enjoy and celebrate his gifts and have some pictures of him in our home.

Well, we got some really fun pictures and I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites!

It's so fun being married to Jared and getting to be a part of his musical life! He is such a blessing to Leyton, Evie and I...you're a gem babe!!

Recent Happenings

This winter our son has made the big leap to riding on his own with amazing proficiency! Now, I ride with Evie in the Burley trailer and Leyton rides beside me and away we go. He's such a great rider we end up riding for several miles and Evie sometimes falls asleep. It's so fun to ride with Leyton on the road and I love that Evie is still content in the trailer. She really likes the trail-a-bike (a bike that sticks out behind my bike with pedals and handlebars) but I don't love having her on it while I'm watching him so closely, so she gets to ride that when Jared is with us.

As I reflect on our recent biking adventures, it makes me so thankful for this time we have with our children and grateful for healthy and happy kids. They are such a blessing to me!

Here is my baby as she approaches her 4th birthday in exactly 1 week.

She is still so little and precious!

Evie and her gluten free bbq chicken pizza

(a California Pizza Kitchen copy)

Leyton being silly while getting his routine buzz cut.

He wanted to try a mohawk...but he didn't really like it.