Back to School

Woo hoo!! School is in session, y'all.

• Marin (3rd) has Ms Angal/Mrs Anderson - the "A team" again for a 3rd/4th split... 
• Madeline (2nd) has Mrs Osterhaus
• Max (Kinder) has Mrs. Shearier

We had a bit of a staggered start this year, as Max is in private school (which I discovered at the eleventh hour starts an entire WEEK before public schools)... So a bit of a scramble to be prepared a week earlier than expected, but BAM we did it and all my big kids are BACK TO SCHOOL! I love being a school mom - it is one of the major highlights of this season of my life. Volunteering & loving on kids. Best.

The pictures below include smiling, sideways backpack shot, the excited face, the learning face, the crazy face, the sisters-gotta-hug shot, the mom-is-so-excited-for-school pose, and various others. School is ON!!!

Last fishing days of summer

Kyle was able to squeeze in NOT ONE, but TWO fishing/camping trips with our two fish-lovers.

First was Max, and the two boys had a great overnight campout with lots of river stomping, fly fishing, sling shot-ing, fire roasting fun. The majority of the weekend involved being shirtless (oh, to be a man)...

Next up was a short day-trip with Marin, who despite going on multiple fun fishing trips this summer, had caught ZERO fish. As a fellow fish-lover, Kyle was feeling her pain and decided to take her fly-fishing at the same spot he discovered with Max. They caught lots of fish. DADDY FOR THE WIN!!!

Summer Birthday Bash 2014

Our annual backyard summer birthday bash was another fantastic experience! Kyle did a taco bar, and I did the cakes (this year: Madeline - artist palette, Max -  green car, Marcus - blue car, plus an extra cake for good measure to make sure nobody ran out of CAKE). My amazing parents came a few days early, and were SO helpful in taking the kids on outings & helping us at every turn to get things ready. I was so happy to see so many of my favorite people in my home. This year it was a huge mix of people - church friends, family, elementary friends, preschool friends, neighbors... People often ask us how long we will continue this "all-in-one" style party for our three summer kids. I feel like the answer is AS LONG AS THEY LOVE IT! They really do love it. They look forward to it all year long. It is a ton of work, but SO rewarding and just gives me so many moments to cherish in my heart. HAPPY SUMMER BIRTHDAYS TO ALL, and to all a good night :)

Sunriver 2014

We finally made it back to our favorite place on earth, Sunriver Oregon :) It was the location of our Corrigan family reunion this year, since Brian's new wife Alyssa had never been there with us. We used to go every year, but alas it is much to far for all the families, to do it every year. So much fun to share all the fun with our kids (many of them do not even remember the last time we went four years ago). We rode bikes, floated the river, swam at the water park, celebrated Max's fifth birthday, took a hike, swam in the hot tub, played games, ate yummy food, did puzzles, spied on the deer, had a pirate treasure hunt, took a family picture in red/white/blue, had a family prayer time, rode horses, did tube races down the big hill, had an ice cream date with the Texas family, went fishing, caught a huge bull frog, and basically SOAKED UP cousin/auntie/uncle/grandparent time to the maximum. Such a special time, and memories I will remember forever :)