sweet 6 year old

As of this past month, we have a 6 year old in the house. 

(picture by Ellie)

My baby is 6. WOW. 

I love her so, and love watching her grow. 

We decided to have a low-keyed party this year, since last year was a bigger affair. 

The plan was to take Whit out on her very own "Mommy and Daddy" date. 

Last minute, though, I decided to invite two of her dearest friends over...

for an afternoon play-date and little tea party. 

Ellie and I had great fun pulling out Mama Hatcher's tea cups for a simple garden party.

I had picked up a few items at Trader Joes....

and we added home-made lemon bars and cucumber sandwiches. 

These two gals are sisters.... and they made Whit birthday cards. 

So sweet seeing them interact with each other. 

AND.... so very simple. Love. 

(photos of me and whit by Ellie....)

Whit kept on her new dress for almost the whole day. 

When daddy got home, we headed out back for a few shots....

then headed to the mall. Whit picked out Jasmin from the Disney store as her gift. 

We went to her choice of restaurant, Red Robin..... a family favorite! 

And we looked like a perfect little family of 3. I kind of felt a bit sneaky. Ha. 

It was so much fun to have this alone time with her, and I'm thinking

it might have to become a new family tradition!

Happy Birthday sweet, sweet girl.
Thank you for the occasion to celebrate your life!

Dearest Heavenly Father,
Would you pour your blessings upon sweet Whitney? May she never know a day
that is apart from Your faithful, loving hand. Would you grant me wisdom
as I seek to tie strings with her heart and love her tenderly. Guide my prayers
for her this year. Show me how to pray for her. Give her a heart that longs to
know more of You, and give me the patience and diligence to train her in Your ways. 
In Jesus name, Amen  

{this moment}

:: picking ..... lots and lots of blueberries!! ::

celebrating 17 years

While my folks were here, the pastor and I had our 17th wedding anniversary! 

We got to go away for a lovely over-night at Snoqualmie Falls.....

It was our first time visiting these falls (which were HUGE) and they reminded me

of our trip to Hawaii and the ones we saw there! 

We stayed at the very beautiful Salish Lodge which overlooked the falls....

The only bummer was that there was HUGE construction going on, hence

all our pictures looked like this: 

BUT, that didn't hinder us from having a lovely, lovely time. 

We ate dinner at the lodge and had a great view of the falls and watched a beautiful sunset. 

The food (and conversation) was spectacular!! 

I know you're laughing at the pastor's shirt. No, I did not buy it.
He bought it himself and wears it unashamedly.... that's only a teeny,
tiny part of why I love him. He loves me so well, and I am
SO thankful we met that first week of college. We've practically grown up together,
and I've now spent more years with him than without. WOW!
How I am looking forward to growing old with him.
The best is yet to come!! 

play on

We've been doing a lot of this lately....

While my folks were here, the pastor found a basketball hoop

on Craigslist. 

The boys' interest in the game had increased, and we were getting 

continuous request to walk them over to the park to play. 

 Now the fun can be had right outside our front door. 

Endless hours. 

 Popi got in on some of that fun..... 

I'm sure it reminded him of all the hours he spent watching me out front shooting hoops! 

 The boys did a four day camp called "Run to Win" this past week, focused on basketball. 

They got lots of exercise and had great fun! 

I was impressed with the camp, and hope that next summer we will do it again....

Toby and Ellie start soccer practice today. They are both very excited. 

Happy Monday!! 

{friday harbor}

We took a day while my folks were here to experience a ferry ride with them. 

We headed to the little town of Anacortes and walked on a ferry that took us through

the San Juan Islands, over to Friday Harbor. 

It was a BEAUTIFUL, clear day and perfect for this trip. 

When the ferry docked, we got off, had some lunch, browsed a few shops,

got some ice cream, and then walked back on the ferry for the trip back. 

It was about the perfect length of time, and even though the ride

was about an hour each way, the conversation was sweet and the scenery 

was beautiful. Mount Baker was out in full splendor. 

Ellie and Drew both enjoyed documenting the time in their

respective journals. 

It was fabulous! 

{this moment}

:: celebrating Drew and Whit ::

{downtown}

We don't get downtown too much. All the hustle and bustle is not so appealing to the pastor and I.

Although it's not my favorite place in the world, it sure is fun to experience every now and then.

And when we have guests, it's the perfect place to take them to get a "feel" for our city. 

So, the second day my parents were here we took off to Pike's Market, upon my mom's request. 

I was surprised at how she loved the city.... or at least the one day experience. 

We came down here December 2010 with them. I took many more pictures of the

market on that visit. Kind of fun to look back! 

This particular day was a bit cloudy at first, but soon the sun came out and it was just lovely. 

The BEAUTIFUL, cheap flowers in the market are one of my favorite things. 

I think this bunch was 5 dollars! Crazy.

Drew got to pick out a very cool, leather journal for his birthday from Nannie.
Every time we come down here, he heads straight to this particular booth
and dreams of when he might buy one..... and he got to this time!
One happy boy. 

 After we walked through the market, we walked out to the water to take some pictures.
Not exactly sure of the story about the ferris wheel. It has something to do with the
anniversary of the World Fair, I believe.... (also the orange color of the space needle, which was how
it originally looked I think). The air show was going on..... see the teeny tiny jet formation
in the picture below? SO COOL and SO LOUD!!

We headed over to the center of the city..... where all the different museums, the space needle,

and the dome water fountain is. This area reminds me so much of Balboa Park in San Diego!
The kids LOVE the water dome. It's practically like a water park. People come decked out in their swim suits.... and the best part is the water in synced to music!

Three of them got a little wet.... other's chose just to watch :) 

 

Such a fun day! I suppose one day we will all make it up the space needle.
It's so darn expensive though, so for this family of 7, I'm not so sure when that
will ever happen. Love that we have so many exciting places
to take our out of town guests to!