Christmas coming up!

Cutest Santa's helper ever!

It's so fun to have Benny and Ephraim home at last.  They have both grown and learned so much in the last four months.  And they certainly know how to take over our lives! Our fears for our Christmas tree were unwarranted, as the boys have been interested and touched everything, but have not moved or dropped any ornaments (They are plastic anyways!)  The same can't be said for other parts of the house though. 

Came home from work and found Nina listening blissfully to her book on tape.  

Benny and Ephraim were equally blissfully rearranging the kitchen utensils.  Half on the floor.....

the other half in the toy basket.

Julie and Nina making Christmas presents.  Benny must help!!

Dinning room decorated for Christmas.  A lot of work for a few weeks of Christmas, but so pretty!

Julie and I participated in another art show.  Unfortunately, it wasn't well attended, and we sold very little, but we are learning a lot.  Selling and painting are two very different skills!  

Benny learning to use chopsticks.  They are especially useful for spearing cheerios.

On top of everything else, and despite my efforts to reduce the chaos in my life, even going so far as quitting  being a coordinator for exchange students, we have ended up with TWO of them in our home, Prashant and Medo, and more involvement than ever.  Apparently I am SUPPOSED to work with exchange students.  It was also a treat to see Asana again.  Here she is (below) participating in the gingerbread house party we had a few days ago.  There's a lot of creativity unleased here!

7 of at least 9 exchange students at our gingerbread house party.  

Too much to post, but here's a selection of photos

 Not sure what happened to all the time I was going to have to do other things, but I've certainly been enjoying the stuff that's been keeping me busy...

Canoeing on the Columbia River.  Bruce finds new victims, Prashant and Medo.

Katie's Mom took me riding!  So cool.  Only slightly sore the next day! 

 Hallowe'en brings out the creativity in my wonderful kids!

 Ewok, Obi-Wan, Han and Leia -- way awesome! 

Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek -- Julie is so cool! 

Julie continues to have fun biking.  I got to play "sag wagon" and follow her along,  we went through some gorgeous scenery with Mount Adams in the background. 

Julie also discovers a new way to kayak, and has Dad following her precarious example.  











We thought we would take advantage of the last of the fine weather and headed for Palouse Falls.  Prashant and Medo joined us and we hiked along the lava cliffs and admired the view.

We want to come back in the spring and see how much more water goes over the falls then.  










The Prosser Balloon Rally was fun again.  Too many balloons--it was hard to know which way to aim the camera.   THIS time, I connected with Julie, though she was also enjoying some of her other friends.


There was also a collection of exchange students along, so I bounced back and forth between the two groups.  Nice. 





Nice view looking INTO a balloon.

Deception Pass

I had opportunity to go to the coast while earning  some money, so Prashant and I headed off for an adventure. It was a rainy day but for the hour we explored Deception Pass we were given a gift of sunshine.  Gloriously beautiful place.  We must come back and camp in the vicinity.

Ocean Shores

Icy cold wind and clouds everywhere, but Prashant enjoyed his first view of the salty sea. 

Captured by an Ent

We also checked out a park in the Redmond area, where we ran into this Ent. 

Snow on Snoqualmie Pass 

And then, on the way home, it had snowed in the mountains and we had to stop so Prashant could experience his first snow.  Really wet slushy stuff, but still throwable...

August!

August was a very full month added to an already full summer. Julie and Ben had both moved in, and then spent most nights sleeping outside, since the house was a little over full. Benny was delighted to have Auntie Julie and Unka Ben available to serve his needs!








Two of my former exchange students came to visit their host families, and I got to see them too. What happy memories, and a happy meeting -- with Abdullah from Saudi Arabia, and Aika from Kazakhstan who also brought along her mother and sister, whom I was honored to meet. (It was also good to meet Aika's Host mom -- I love seeing families become international!).

Also from Kazakhstan, Albert came for one last visit before he has to leave America for good, having graduated as an Engineer (Congratulations!!!) and finished his internships. So happy to see him one last time, and sad that this IS the last time, at least for a while. We had fun taking him to see Mt. St. Helen's from a distance, and Ape Cave (a lava tube originating from this volcanoe) up close.

We did an awful lot of driving, way more than we wanted, but the countryside closer to the coast of Washington State is so beautiful!

Julie prepared an art show of her work at a coffee shop in Sunnyside.  Having her living at home for this year is a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to working with her as we become professional artists! 
It was also Julie's birthday, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner with her and her friends at a Thai restaurant. 

Benny and Ephraim continued their progress of becoming more and more adorable and cute every day.  We were very conscious that they would be moving to Idaho soon, and so tried to enjoy them as much as we could.  Hide and Seek was so fun, especially for Benny, especially at bedtime.  Ephraim, of course, was always happy to be where the action was and enjoyed this game and many others as much as his big brother did.  I'm going to have so much more time to do stuff when they are gone!  And I will miss them more than I can say! 

Congratulations, Eric!

We were pleased, on Sept 10, to attend Eric's wedding, and see him married to Katie, a quiet, fun, sweet girl he's been courting for a number of years. Neither of them likes a big show, so the wedding was very small -- just immediate family, and the reception included extended family and close friends. Since the two of them are so private, I won't say too much here, except to say that we hope they will both be very happy, and we know they are both sensible and smart and have a good portion of integrity, so we believe our hopes for their happiness have a good chance of becoming reality!




It was a warm and welcoming reception in Katie's parent's backyard, and we were happy to see so many people we love there.








The fish pond in the backyard was quite a hit, and the koi were never in any real danger -- though I suppose they didn't know that!










I was also delighted my mother could come. We enjoyed her cheerful smiles and her new husband, George.

All in all, after an extremely busy and chaotic summer, this was a good weekend!

Congratulations, Eric!

Lots of celebrations!

Of course, everybody celebrates the fourth of July, but it seems like we've been celebrating one thing or another for several months now. Graduations and birthdays especially.









We were happy to see Nathan and Nina walk and get their AA diplomas, although Nina technically graduated last year -- but at 9 months pregnant she didn't feel up to sitting through Commencement Exercises. The upside is she got to walk with Nathan this year, and that was more cool. Eric also graduated, but chose not to go to Commencement, there's this girl that is way more interesting than boring speeches....



Eric and the aforementioned girl, Katie, did join us for the annual fourth of July lazy day at the Park, where we sat around, snacked, and enjoyed Lee's fast wakeboarding boat, or our more hands-on canoe and kayak. Eric tried to protect Katie from our intrusive camera by the old watermelon-as-a-shield trick while Ben distracted us by showing us how cool his slice of watermelon was.








Meanwhile, back on the beach, Benny and Ephraim are enjoying their cousins and the water. Note how Ephraim is enjoying a full body experience with the sand, and Benny is careful and clean. We can already see that they are going to need a line down the middle of any room they end up sharing!








Dad and Ben making waves with canoe and kayak. Ben was literally making circles around the more sedate canoe.











Later in the evening, we enjoyed another picnic as we waited for the fireworks. Eric tried the old bag-of-chips-as-a-shield trick, but this time protected himself from the camera. Zixu and a couple of his friends also joined us for chicken salad or tuna sandwiches and donuts. As usual, the fireworks were gorgeous. (Also, we must have chicken salad sandwiches more often!






Yes, a good time was had by all! Yay!

couple of interesting activities

In an effort to do something I love AND earn money at it, instead of merely doing something I'm good at to earn money, I went to a workshop in Spokane to learn about the Why Try program that helps at-risk youth find know how and confidence to make a good life for themselves. Anyone who wants to can look up the Why Try program on the internet, so 'nuff said, but I also enjoyed Spokane a bit, I checked out the cathedral at Gonzaga University. I am such a sucker for stained glass windows and soaring architecture that points to God.














Also fun was visiting Missy and her menagerie -- husband, five boys, 1 exchange student, chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats, and a stray turtle. Isn't it funny -- I almost (not quite, but almost) see Missy more often now that they are living near Spokane than when they were next door. Sad that it should be so...




Ali seems to have enjoyed his stay at our home, and couldn't resist giving Dad a card with a sinking canoe on it -- he's not sure he ever wants to canoe again, but he sure appreciates Dad having taught him to swim!














Father's day turned out to be windy, so we went and flew a kite! Two actually. What a pleasant way to spend a few hours on an afternoon!














Ali tells us this is a favorite activity in India.

Ali also likes to tease Benny , but Benny is getting harder to fool!







There's nothing like wide open spaces, a brisk breeze, warm sunshine, and kites! Ephraim loved it too -- and showed off his new walking skills, staggering like a little drunk all over the field -- so proud of himself!