Photos Lately

Our tree in the backyard turns the prettiest shade of red during the fall.

After taking home some pumpkins from St. Paul, we decided they were too small to carve and opted to paint them instead.

Gramma C. came to visit for a couple of days and brought some fun crafts for the girls to do.

She also also brought lots of presents, including Tessa's new workout shorts.

Tessa tries finger painting, while McKinley and Piper work on their own craft projects.

Gramma C. also surprised them with these fun, hand-painted masks.

After Gramma C. left, we went to the Oregon Zoo.

The girls pose in front of some bamboo.

Fall

We're so happy it's fall!  McKinley & I are five weeks into her first grade year, and so far I'm loving the pace of her My Father's World curriculum (Learning God's Story).  She's memorizing a Proverb each week and has started to make a timeline of the Bible.  And every fifth day we take a break from normal school activities to get outside & explore God's Creation, do science experiments, and play with pattern blocks & other math games.  
Last weekend we went to Champoeg Park for their Apple Harvest Festival.  It was like stepping into a Little House on the Prairie book.  The girls got to make toys and play games that children in the 1800's enjoyed.  We also saw an old apple cider press in action and tasted its fresh cider.
This morning we drove out to St. Paul to pick out some pumpkins.  Bruce's neighbor grows monster pumpkins and sells smaller pumpkins and has always been very generous in letting us take pictures and pumpkins with no charge.

The yellow tanker desk in the background was my birthday present.  We bought it from Portland State University for dirt cheap.

Although these pictures were taken in late September after church, the temperature felt more like a spring day.

At Champoeg Park playing apple grab during the Harvest Festival.

One of the many large pumpkins Bruce's neighbor has grown.

We made a morning out of it, beginning with donuts and coffee for breakfast at Fred Myer's.

Although it was a bit windy, we beat the rain and even saw a beautiful rainbow while driving to St. Paul.  You can kind of see it fading in the background.

We grabbed a bunch of small ones and decided that we would paint faces on them instead of carving them.

XCR

We are now more than half way through the cross country season, with two meets remaining before the District Meet.  This season has really been a family affair.  And it all started with Dadda & the girls joining me on our girls' camping trip to Mt. St. Helens during the summer.  From then on, the girls accompanied me to our annual 60-minute fundraiser where they all ran at least four laps around the track.  Tessa only came for the watermelon, so I was pleasantly surprised when she decided to run too.  They have also joined me during many after-school practices, forming sweet relationships with many of the girls on our team.  Their interactions melt my heart, as a coach and as a mom.  Dadda and the girls came to our only home meet, including the Champoeg Invitational where Dadda, McKinley and I ran the open race together. McKinley even shaved two minutes off her time from last year's open race.   On a side note: All the photos taken of Bruce and I are by a parent who enjoys capturing every moment of our meets, including us coaches.

Tessa ran a total of 4 laps with Graces' mom, Kara.

McKinley ran 16 laps, about 4 more than last year.

Piper ran 10 laps.

Kara was very instrumental in watching the girls while I was conducting my official coaching business.

Saxon Inviahional in Salem.

League meet vs. Lakeridge and West Linn at Mary S. Young Park.

League meet at Tualatin High School.  Elyse schmoozes for the camera.

The start line at our home meet.  We purchased the nifty, new START flags this year.

Getting organized for our Senior Recognition ceremony after our home meet.

McKinley and Piper each made every single senior a card.  It was very sweet and the senior's reactions were even sweeter.

Yeah Seniors!

Team picture taken out at Champoeg Park.

Passing out tags.

I choked up at the finish shoot as all of our JV girls finished their race, all of them PR'ing by at least a minute.

The start line for the open race at Champoeg.

The family that runs together, stays together!

Go Newberg!