Her first day.

Just months after Finn left Ms. Anita's classroom, Selah took his place. She seems so young to be in there! But she really does fit right in. She already knows the room, and a few of the other kids (other little siblings) And she LOVES Ms. Anita.

Lately she's been boycotting my camera though. Here's what happens when you say "smile."

 And here's "Don't smile. Don't you dare smile." At least she's predictable.

  I got to see her whole first day of preschool right up close because it was my day to work in the classroom. Since it was my turn to bring snack for the kids, Selah was "snack kid" and got to choose what song to sing before snack and she got to bring in a "something red" show and tell item from home, a tambourine. (pretty random)

Since I didn't ever get around to a birthday post, here's some fun facts about Selah as a 3 year old:

*Likes drama. We're talking BIG reactions. (see the first two pics) Highs are high and lows are low. If you give her the tiniest little present she's truly overjoyed and it's her favorite thing ever! And if you tell her it's nap time you've ruined her life and the tears will flow. There is no in between.
*She's so funny. I often hear her yelling stuff like "Finn! Stop antagonizing me!" and other adult phrases from me and Nate.
*She's smart! She knows her letters and letter sounds and numbers, and she's pretty good at picking up on social cues.
*She's a singer and dancer. She can't just wear anything when she dances though. It has to be a skirt. And that skirt has to move around when she twirls.
*She can shake her hips and shoulders like she's more mature than she really is. Yikes!
*She has strong opinions about what songs we should listen to on the radio. She's a big Black Eyed Peas fan. And she's been known to just start belting out Katy Perry's, Fire Work. "Baby you're a firework! Come on let your colors burst! Make 'em go ah ah ah!"
*She likes to play with my hair while I'm "computering." (and I love it.)
*She's the produce bandit. Loves to eat a whole piece of fruit or vegetable and she'll melt down if you cut it. A whole apple, a whole peach, a whole carrot, a whole tomato. It's cute and healthy and funny....until she swipes that one last tomato that you had earmarked for dinner or that one last apple you thought you'd slice up and share between 3 people.
*She substitutes a "th" sound for the "F" sound only in words where there's an "fl" like in flower, fly, float and firefly. She says "thlower, thly and thloat...and firethly"
*She is GREAT with Serin. She always has been. She already looks out for her.
*Selah has such a tender heart. This is a common interchange between us when we're cuddling:
 Me: "I love you. You're my little girl."
Selah: "I love you too Mommy. You're my lady. And Daddy's my man. My big strong man."

dancin in her new birthday dress

Granny Peg made the coolest quilt for Selah. You can dress up the paper dolls!

Selah was a little gymnast this summer.

She's my crafty kid. And she always wears the same outfit while she paints. Her "painting shirt and crazy fishy pants."

9 Years?

This summer we celebrated our 9th anniversary! We're almost in double digits now...almost an old married couple. :-)  We tried to take'r easy this year, since last year we sort of accidentally went a little large on spending on our anniversary and we really hope to go on a trip for our 10th. So this year we planned a simple date, movie and dinner. At the last minute Nate realized that he had committed us to something else and it was apparent that backing out wasn't a viable option. So we spent our anniversary date watching the final performance of a summer camp program for the arts, of which Nate and his school supported. There was little time for much else in the evening so we decided to check out the mermaid bar downtown. That's right, I said mermaid bar.

There's a big 'ol tank above the bar and real life girl dressed as a mermaid swimming along.It was kind of cool - way less cheesy than I thought it would be. We didn't even stay 5 minutes, we just wanted a peek. As I was watching her (along with 40 other people pointing and taking pictures with their iphones) I started to think of the kind of girl who would do that for a job.....and I wondered how much she got paid. She DID swim very gracefully.....like a mermaid I guess... and she smiled underwater nicely, coming up for air where we couldn't see...bouncing some sort of underwater ball slowly with one hand.  I mean, she obviously had received some sort of training. I'd like to think that she's a college student trying her best to pay for school....and she lands a sweet gig as a mermaid in the new Dive Bar downtown. She doesn't even have to talk to anyone or even get close to one of the dudes at the bar.  While I was standing there watching her, my first thought was"OMG that is such a ridiculous job! That poor girl." But then who am I to judge? I was a Magician's Assistant in college. The money was worth the ridiculousness. I wonder if the Dive Bar is hiring.........

I digress. This is supposed to be about our anniversary.

In honor of our 9th year anniversary in the midst of our busy, routine and commitment-filled lives at the moment, I'd like to make a list of the 9 routines I love most in our relationship:
*Working in the yard together. Right now we are smack dab in the middle of a slooow re-landscaping project!
*Getting hooked on a show together via Netflix. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights....
*Church.  He goes in early to play basketball and brings Finn and Selah. We do a baby hand-off and I sing in choir while he juggles all 3 kids solo. What a guy.
*Dinner and dishes and bedtime. I cook, he helps clean and the getting the kids ready for bed has become a graceful dance between us.
*Saturday mornings. Waffles, newspaper, cartoons, long run, family hike or house project.
*Friend get-togethers. I love that we share such great couple-friends. I think it's probably rare.
*Our journal. We keep a journal together....we write when we have time. I love re-reading our entries to each other.
*Flow charts. Every major decision we make about moving or school or job becomes a flow chart. They've become like an historical artifact in our marriage now.
*School! A new routine for us is seeing Nate at work as I'm dropping off or picking up Finners. It's fun to grab a quick kiss from my hard-working man in the midst of it all.

Well here's to 9 years together. Happy Late Anniversary Nate. I love you.

Summer in Review

Well we did it again. We jam-packed another summer with so much that thinking of blogging about it was just...overwhelming. Nate didn't really take the summer off but his schedule was WAY better. Instead of his normal 12 hour days, he left late and came home early so we could enjoy lots of family time.  I felt a little spoiled, being able to sleep in sometimes or go on a leisurely morning run while Nate got the kids ready in the morning. He's such a good husband and father in that way, always wanting more time with the kids when he can get it. So the summer seemed short and super sweet.

So here's the recap of the summer. It started out right away with swimming lessons for Finn. He is so good now! He's confidant and excited about swimming, which is such a change from the beginning of last summer when he had to learn to get past the first step in the pool. Now he swims like a fish. Mission accomplished.

My sister Jennifer came to visit from Kentucky! And of course she brought with her the hubbie, Karl and 5 kiddos, Michael, Aidan, Luke, Grace and Audrey. We don't get to see Jen and the fam very often so this was a real treat! We got some great sister time, just the three of us.

Summy clan together again! (why do I look so short here?)

Nate took about 10 days off in a row so we could have a real vacation, so naturally we tried to squeeze several road trips into those 10 days. It helps that our kids do pretty well in the car. (thank you portable dvd player). We drove way up to Eugene, Oregon to visit friends Court and Beth and their little Anderson. We had a blast. I really liked Eugene. It's just my style....beautiful and outdoorsy and a little urban with a healthy dose of granola.

I like this My Two Dads photo. Court's diaper bag really ties it all together. :-)

S'MORES! The white glob in her right hand is the smooshy inside of a monster marshmellow that squeezed out with the first bite...and is about to go into her hair, as usual.

Anderson's not sure what he thinks about this forced kid picture and these are the faces my kids make when I say "don't smile." Works every time.

It just so happened that Selah turned 3 during our road trip! (bday post coming soon.)

After Eugene we spent a few days at my uncle's cabin in Etna, near my grandma's house. It was beautiful, serene and full of family. Everyone on that side of the family showed up, and now with all my sisters and cousins having kids, I think we are officially outnumbered by the little ones! The four babies didn't make it to this photo.

Three of those 15 kids had a birthday within a week of our little cabin trip, so we decided that a camping birthday party was in order! We played a little water gun game and then decorated cupcakes. Short and sweet. Happy birthday Aidan, Selah and Sydney!

 Kayaking down the river was a fun activity this year. I pulled Finn and cousin Aidan. It was cute to listen to them chat in their raft the whole time. They are both so quirky...and backseat kayak drivers.

After the cabin trip we made the 4 hr drive home for a few hours sleep and a load of laundry and repacked the car for Santa Babrara! (we're crazy like that.) We rolled in as fireworks were going off on West Beach we stayed for 6 days in friends' house on the Mesa. It was so nice to have it to ourselves and just settle in to SB our "other home." It's so nice to vacation in a place we know so well. We made every second count there. We spent quality time with good friends every day and hit the beach every day too.

Finn and Selah reuniting with friends Ruby and Kai.

Selah always finds a deep hold along the sand and just sits there digging it deeper.

La Cumbre Peak. Nate's favorite SB location.

Finn and Simone catching up over a little game of pretend on a hike.

Finn and Giovana had a blast together. They've been buds since birth.

When we got home, we celebrated our 9th anniversary! I MAY get around to a special post about that. We'll see. After all the road-tripping, we did spend some quality time close to home too. We've been "enjoying" many home projects this summer. Our garden is off the hook! We've had more volunteer plants than we knew what to do with.....resulting in some really wonky zucchini. That's all I have the energy for now. More pics to come.