Audriana up at bat -- Spokane Indians game

Ginger and the girls....

 Sofia decided to make a fort this past Monday and has been sleeping in it all week long!  

Spokane United Black Widows U11 win the Sagebrush Tournament!

More Sagebrush Tourney pics!

The drumming portion of the graduation program..........

Sofia's Kindergarten Graduation! WOW!

Grandma and Grandpa came to see Sofia's program tonight.....and to wish her a happy graduation!

Sofia and her boy friends....Leo, True, and Jace.  Rumor has it that they all have had a big crush on Sofia all year long.  Jace's mom told me that Jace told her a funny story...."I think Sofia likes me the best because Geo scratched her and she didn't like that....True tried to kiss her and she didn't like that.....so I'm not going to do anything and see if she likes that!"  So cute!

Sweet friends.....Theo and Sofia

Martin has been teaching Spanish to the kids of Montessori Central  for about 4 years now.  This year he added in some African drumming for the Kindergartners!  They got to show their stuff at their graduation tonight!  It was absolutely fantastic!  Way to go, babe!

Sofia and her "besties"...Estelle, Theo and Jillian

Martin with some of the drummers from tonight's show....don't they look great?!?

I love ya, Barbara Medina!  Thank you for the past 7 years!

Dawn Pipella has been a teacher and a friend to me and my family for the past 7 years.....she will be missed.  We appreciate you so much!  Thank you for your kindness and your beautiful nature that you have shared with our girls for all these years!

We say goodbye to Montessori Central this week......  Friday will be our last day of bringing one of our girls to this school.  We started bringing Audriana in September of 2005...just a few weeks before Sofia was born!  Audriana was 2 (almost 3) and we felt that with the new baby coming that it would be good for her to socialize and have fun at school.  We had no idea that 7 years later we would still be there!  It's been such an amazing experience for us -- both of the girls have received a gift of early learning that will propel them forward with a love of learning for the rest of their lives.  Both girls were reading, doing math, geography, and science in Kindergarten!  The Montessori learning environment was a perfect match for both girls and one that we embraced as a family.  Thank you to Dawn Pipella and Barbara Medina, who have been there from the beginning with our girls.  We will miss seeing you every day.......

Sofia's Kindermusik Program - June 2012

Sofia with Miss Theresa and YaYa.....amazing musical teachers!

Sofia got to be a part of the "strings" ensemble.  They all got to play as an  orchestra....very loud....very cute to hear them all play together!  LOL!

The stars of Peter and the Wolf!  As you can see, Sofia was the wolf!

Sofia getting her diploma....she will go back in the fall for her final year.

Our sweet Sofia -- she did so well today and we were so proud of her musical talent!  

Sofia's Kindermusic program -- 2012

Memorial Day Weekend 2012!

We LOVE our annual Memorial Day weekend trip up to the cabin.  The girls really look forward to it and begin the countdown about a week out.  Audriana even gave up a soccer tournament in Spokane to make sure she was able to go to the cabin.  Mom and Jay always make sure we are all rested and relaxed while we are up there (especially me!).  The kids just want to be outside -- riding bikes, raking the forest to make  "roads" for them to ride on, playing soccer, playing badminton, playing Jarts, gathering sticks to poke the fire with, exploring the forest, and just playing and being free!  Its wonderful for all of us!

We left Saturday morning -- Martin and the girls packed up the car and loaded up the bikes on the bike rack.  We stopped at Trading Co for donuts and coffee (it's tradition!) and we were on our way about 9am.  When we arrived at about 10:30, Lisa and the boys had just gotten there, and Mike was there too.  Kristi wasn't feeling good and decided to stay home and get some rest -- she's been working so hard, and just needed to sleep.  I totally get that, but we missed her so much!  It just wasn't the same without her.  When the girls and mom and I sat down to play dominoes (another tradition), we all had a good laugh remembering how Kristi used to tap her domino pretty hard on the table when she was down to her last one.   

Ryan (12), Audriana (9), Noah (7), Sofia (6) and Micah (4)

These cousins just love each other so much and really have so much fun together!  

 Audriana and Ryan still have such a special bond -- it's fun to see them play and interact together.  They really have a lot of respect for one another.....so sweet!

We brought Ginger up to the cabin for the first time.  She had such a good time and we were able to let her run and play (without a leash!).  She just loved it!  Grandpa quickly became Ginger's new best friend!

Our family -- Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids!

Sofia and Noah

Audriana and Ryan

Hello Ginger!  She loved her freedom up here!

Uncle Mike spent most of Saturday with us -- the girls love playing with him and being silly.

 I'm not sure what kind of ball she was kicking, but it must have gone up pretty high with both of these kicks!

 Soccer fun with Dad!

 This is one of our annual pictures.......

We loved celebrating Noah's 7th birthday with him!

Jack is LaNae and John's grandson -- Christine and Jeff's son -- and he is so cute!  He was walking around  with no shoes on, so LaNae brought out this warm soapy water to wash his feet, but he decided to strip down and get in and take a bath!  We all had a good laugh watching him!

 It wouldn't be a trip to the cabin without taking a picture of the turkeys that are around up there.  Every single night, they walk right past the cabin and take off flying up into their nests in the huge trees in front of the cabin.  We never get tired of watching this nightly ritual.

The weather turned out pretty good -- no rain and temps in the high 60's.  

Lisa and LaNae -- such fun sisters!  

 Not sure if they were roasting hot dogs or marshmallows here....but it was one or the other!

 Martin introduced a super fun game to the kids.....they were blindfolded and had to use their ears to listen to the drum and find their way to the drummer!  It was a big hit!

When did Audriana grow up like this?!?!?!?!  

 Grandma sure does love her Sofia....

Me and my wonderful hubs!  

Sofia loves searching for "cool" rocks.  This year she filled up an entire plastic bucket of rocks.  I convinced her to leave them up at the cabin and promised that Grandpa would take good care of them and would keep them safe in the shed for her. 

Audriana is really doing a great job of skipping rocks!  Grandpa, Lisa, and Ryan are all really good, so she has had some really good teachers!  And she wants so badly to be as good as Ryan.......

It was just too cool of a day for the kids to get in the water, but Noah, Sofia, and Micah all decided to take off their shoes and socks and get their feet wet.  Yup....they almost froze their toes off!

Sofia could't wait to get back up to the cabin and show Grandpa all the cool rocks that she found.  She know that he is truly interested in the rocks and they have a fun time talking about each one!  

Here is Grandma and Sofia playing a game of Jarts......none of us could believe how good Sofia was at this game!  She made almost every single throw into the center of the ring!  She won every game -- and believe me...Mom and I were really trying to win!