What We've Been Up To

Hanging out with friends

Having spa parties at friends' houses

Celebrating 1/2 birthdays

Getting our picture taken by a 9 year old

Spending time with cousins

Going to the beach

Taking in the view in Bremerton, WA

Losing teeth

Hosting Baby Showers

What have you been up to?

Happy Birthday to US!

My friend Deborah and I share a birthday - so, we try to get out for coffee each year on our special day.  Fun tradition!

Diminished Capacity

I haven't blogged about it because I didn't want everyone to say "I told you so" when I failed, but I have been working very hard the past few months to shed some unwanted pounds that crept on after the birth of my 3rd child five years ago. I was surprised by the excess poundage since I had no trouble losing baby weight after the other kids.  I was always proud of the fact that I fit into pre-pregnancy clothes within 6 months. 

Along came the 3rd child.  Everything in my life after she was born compounded to make it more difficult that third time around. 

a) I love food 
b) We sold our house and moved to a new city within the first 2 months of her life
c) We started a new job with a new schedule - don't mess with my routine! 
d) I love food
e) I was almost 30

The list goes on and on...most importantly the fact that I LOVE FOOD.


Over the holidays, I was impressed with the progress my friend Heather had made using supplements and meal replacement shakes through Herbalife.  We talked about my goals and she encouraged me to get on the path toward losing the 25 lbs I wanted to get rid of.  She has been a great accountability partner and supporter of my goals to get back within a healthy weight range for my height.  One of the things I like about it is the structure.  Having 5 mini-meals a day with 2 of them being a Meal Replacement Shake - talk about easy!

As of March 30th, I have lost 20lbs and I am working towards losing my last 5.  

 Heather & I - December 2009

Heather & I - March 28th 2010

Wooden Boat Festival 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Goodbyes are Tough

My friend Shelly is moving far, far away next week. I am very sad;
but count myself blessed to have known her these past 3.5 years.

For more participants, visit Wordless Wednesday

Fun in the Sun

We have been making good use out of the glorious sunshine this week. Yesterday afternoon the kids spent sloshing around on the slip-n-slide, while I lounged in my comfy chair; sipping an iced latte. Then I got up off my rear and attempted to teach them how to do cartwheels. Needless to say, we didn't take any pictures of that. Graeme got pretty good at it, but Blaire Rose still has a ways to go. It's been a while since I've done cartwheels... Slip-n-slide

We went to Old Man Beach here in Suquamish today. Our friend Tammy met us there with her daughter McKenna. It happened to be nice and quiet there, so we had a pretty relaxing time watching the kids play in the sand.

Paige

Blaire Rose

McKenna

Graeme

Having a little afternoon snack
McKenna, Blaire Rose & Paige

Graeme sipping a very rare treat

Pizza Party

Round Pizza @ The Round Table

My friend brought her kids and a pizza over for lunch today. We had a great time chatting while our kids played. The 2 youngest (her son and my daughter) get to play together weekly as we swap childcare, but the older 4 don't get that much time together making this quite special.

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The 2 youngest from a different play-date

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What is your favorite type of get-together?

Out of Towners

We have been trying for 3 separate weekends to get together with our friends Rich & Pamela Ellgen from Portland, Oregon.

1. December 20-21 - Snowed in & roads unsafe
   
2. January 4-5 - Out of town friends pop in for a last-minute visit at their house
3. January 10-11th - On the calendar, but looking sketchy since the flooding had closed down I-5 between our homes and we had sick kids at our house that week.
   

I-5 finally opened on Friday January 9, our kids kicked their bugs and Rich & Pamela were able to make the 3.5 hour trip to visit us from Portland. This was their first time traveling overnight with Brad Soren and he had a rough transition to sleeping in new surroundings. The benefit of staying with us is that we TOTALLY understand and empathize with the pain of staying up all night with a 17month old that WILL NOT sleep.

It was a quick trip, but we were blessed to spend time with them none-the-less. We have had the honor of being ministry mentors with both Rich & Pamela - quite fun since Rich's dad was Duncan's mentor for quite a few years. They are pressing forward with plans to join Cadence International - possibly even working with Rich's parents Brad & Debbie Ellgen in Germany.

{We both feel very short next to them}

Because a thankful heart is a happy heart....

Thanks to Madame Blueberry and Veggie Tales, I now have that song stuck in my head. But it's not a terribly bad thing considering it's causing me to think of things I'm thankful for.

To name a few:

• Wonderful husband - willing to take care of the kids by himself for 10 days so I can go be with a friend for the birth of her 5th child.
  

• 3 fabulous children that I get to learn from over and over again.

• Numerous amazing friends that challenge, love and encourage me

• Warm home to live in with my family and host get-togethers with my friends

• Great extended family that loves and supports us in our ministry
  

Wedding Princesses

Duncan was roasting in his suit, but it made for a nice picture

Me and my girls

The kids went to a wedding with us on Saturday. The girls were looking forward to seeing Lacey all dressed up as a princess and Graeme was bummed that he had to sit through something so 'boring' - but he obviously survived. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. We did get some sun though, so thankfully we all have a base tan and didn't burn!

FUNNY TID-BIT - On the way to the wedding, the kids were commenting that they were hot in the car and Duncan said "So is your mommy!" To which I jokingly replied "SMOKING HOT!" Paige {aka Parrot} said "I'm 'mokin hot too. Blaire, you wanna be 'mokin hot with mommy and me?"

I brought a friend with me to help watch the kiddos since Duncan was doing the wedding. Not like our kids needed that much watching, but I had to take Paige to the potty a few times and I didn't want to have to worry about the other two running around. Jessica is such a good friend and so wonderful with the kids that it was a blast having her with us.

We went for a vigorous walk in the morning before the wedding, so we snapped pictures of us all 'sweaty' and then later when we had cleaned up and were all 'pretty'.

Friendship Trees

A dear friend of mine gave me this beautiful Dogwood tree as a late housewarming present. Kristine has been wonderfully welcoming and encouraging since our move up here to Kitsap County - she also serves as my underpaid garden consultant since I am definitely green-thumb challenged!Her husband even helped us plant it. WOOHOO!

Fanciful Flight

We enjoy making use of our membership at the Museum of Flight in Seattle throughout the year. Today we went while en route to dropping a friend off at the airport. Graeme could spend hours there, but Paige and Blaire begin to get bored after 90 minutes, so having the membership is a fantastic use of the admission fees - being able to go back every few months to check out different wings and see different exhibits is just one of the perks.






Blaire Rose has never been shy about trying out the Blue Angels flight simulator and Graeme has become more adventurous while watching Blaire try new things, but this was the first time Paige got to climb inside and use the controls herself. All 3 kids listened very well to the operator as he gave them tips on how to maneuver the aircraft. Graeme was the only one that was tall enough to reach the peddles, but the girls did just fine without.

We also maintain a membership at the Seattle Aquarium as it's within walking distance of the ferry and we can go there for an inexpensive outing. Duncan's mom renews our memberships each year and we have really enjoyed having them.

What memberships do you have or would like to have? How do you decide between different available options?

Rhode Island Vacation

We got to spend a week in Rhode Island with Duncan's family and had a great time at the beach. The kids had fun meeting their cousins and we all had a good time relaxing and hanging out.


The kids had a great time on the boogie boards with Duncan assisting.

We got to see our friends Alex & Julie as well - they came down from Boston to spend the weekend with us. We have a very special relationship with them because we got to do their premarital counseling and Duncan got to perform their wedding ceremony in August 2006. They are moving to Texas soon and expecting their first child in September - so they enjoyed the beach break and we had a lot of fun catching up.Stonington, CT.

We got back to Washington very early Wednesday morning and we are still catching up on sleep. The kids are having fun with all their toys after being gone 5 weeks and Duncan jumped right back into the thick of things with meetings Wednesday evening.

Visiting another Hospitality House in Germany

We took 4 soldiers, our Cadence Intern and a gal with her 2 kids to go visit Fred & Diane Stocks in Kaiserslautern, Germany where they are directors of a Hospitality House. We toured around their local castle ruins and had a great time just hanging out. It's extra fun because Fred & Diane are actually from our home church in Poulsbo.

The girls are attached to Mac - they seem to think the sun rises & sets with him! He has promised to visit us when we get back to WA and he gets out of the Army - should be sometime this fall - so, we'll see if they still remember him by then!

Getting in the swing of things

Last night some friends of ours were playing at a Europub in Poulsbo, so we got to go hear them and enjoy some fine dessert - german chocolate cake for me and an apple cobbler for Duncan. Wash that down with decaf coffee and a diet coke and we're good!

Lowes Building Workshop

We had a great time @ Lowes on Saturday - it was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast building stuff with their friends Poppy & Beatrice. We completed and came home with two periscopes and one picture frame.

Bowling with Style

A few weeks ago our kids were invited to a bowling birthday party on the Bangor Naval Base. This is always an *adventure* as we don't have base access, so we worked out an arrangement with the family of the birthday girl and met up so we could ride in their car. Graeme and Blaire Rose had a blast helping their good buddy Katie celebrate her birthday.








Shelly & Madeline Jesse & Kaitlyn









Julian, Graeme & Blaire Rose