Maddie Moments

Some moments with Maddie! She is our "maker", and loves working with her hands to work on something. Cooking (musubi's, morning potatoes and eggs), home repairs (installing new dishwasher, changing the oil in Dad's car), photography (Marco Polo videos with cousins/friends, selfies, catching Mom & Dad on a walk), making campfires, and finally the best hands-on job of all: SNUGGLING THE DOG

Marin Moments

Some moments with Marin. (t is very hard to get a picture of the newly minted 14 year old these days)! Below is pictured her little artwork she leaves around the house, her favorite Old Spaghetti Factory dinner (celebration dinner for 4 excellent report cards), and FINALLY another hospital visit undergoing anesthesia for a repeat endoscopy for her Celiac. We are ecstatic to report PERFECT RESULTS! Thank you Lord for watching over our babe!

Toby Mac concert with the girls

For Christmas, the girls got tickets to the Toby Mac concert. We hit our favorite gluten free restaurant, Petunia's, beforehand, and had a blast together at the 4 HOUR CONCERT (I cannot remember the last time a concert was that long! The girls were exhausted after, but we made it to the end). A really special concert, considering that Toby Mac lost his son to a drug overdose a few months ago. I cried my eyes out as he shared about that, and marvel at how "public" people can continue in their public work even during seasons of tragedy. I have a lot of respect for him. And his concert was amazing!! I love my sweet girls.

Special trip to Great Wolf Lodge

For Christmas, Marcus received a trip to Great Wolf Lodge with his brother, mom and dad. The girls were off to Jr High winter camp for the weekend, so it was perfect timing for the four of us to hit the road and have this fun adventure!

We stopped at the country diner in Centralia on the way, and then made our way north to GWL. It was so fun! The boys really lived it up, with no sisters around to be mad about their "eating chips, watching Disney channel, bathrobe nudity and wildness". Moms are sometimes more understanding of this than sisters :) They had a BLAST! Marcus even braved the "freaky slide" a couple times even though it scared the daylights out of him.

Marin's first solo violin recital

Marin had her first solo violin recital! Her new teacher does not do large group recitals with her students, but instead has them each do a solo presentation once they have completed an entire book. So Marin's recital was for Suzuki Book One, and it was an incredible accomplishment to hear her play 16 songs continuously from memory (with piano accompaniment). 

We invited several friends, some local family, and we actually packed out that little church pretty well! It was a bit nerve wracking being the only performer in the show but she did SO AWESOME. I am so proud of her, learning a new instrument and continuing to grow and improve with zero family help (none of us have any experience with string instruments). We had a nice little reception afterwards, and we have her two siblings to thank for passing out programs and helping to set up the 100% gluten free refreshment table!

Happy birthday Kyle!

To celebrate Dad's 43rd, we had a family trip to Top Golf, home-made blackberry pie and a pile of presents. Happiest birthday to our favorite!

Happy 14th Birthday Marin!

Happy 14th birthday to our firstborn! She planned a big party for herself with all her friends, and detailed out all the games, food and cake herself. I love it.

Beware, I'm about to brag (this is allowed on birthdays).

She is a girl who knows what she wants. Her favorite things are hanging out with friends, reading and snuggling the dog. She is a rockstar at school, regularly going above and beyond in school work, helping a friend, and thanking her teachers. A couple weeks ago, she make all her teachers coffee cake, just because. There is no need for this child to butter them up either, because her incredible work ethic and smarts stand on their own. She just wanted to do something nice.

She cares about her friends, and although we are in the stage where she doesn't need/want to share a whole lot of details of life with her parents, she has done so recently in order to advocate for someone in need. I'm so proud of her for this.

She is on a middle school leadership council for Hillsboro, and is in the middle of planning a huge city event planned for June. I love that she has interests outside herself.

She makes her own lunch, does her own laundry, walks her dog, faithfully practices her violin and regularly finds someone to stand up for.

If all this sounds like someone who might just be growing up, well (sniff sniff) you would be right. As much as it's hard to say goodbye to the little years, what lies ahead for this young lady is a beautiful sight because she is growing in independence and beauty.

Moms have a hard time with the changes sometimes, but I've heard it gets easier and the butterfly struggling to get out of that cocoon is worth changing for.

We love you, our darling Marin!!

Minute to Win It games

13 teenagers having fun

We sing boisterously in this family!

Playing Mafia

Designed by a teenager: pop rocks and lollipops 

Birthday cereal

New volleyball necklace

We surprised her at school with cupcakes!

Birthday girl's request: musubi's

14 years young!