Junie B Jones!

Mom found tickets to Junie B Jones... Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! The girls loved it!! We started our day with a wonderful breakfast at Sam's. The girls love a good buffet!

After breakfast, we went to the NW Children's Theater for the performance.

So cute!

After the show, the girls got to meet the actors, and had them sign their programs. Ali brought the book along, and asked all of the characters to sign that!

Merilyn with Junie B Jones!

Ali and Meri with May... Junie's lifelong "enemy"!

The girls with Junie B's "stuffed" elephant.

Of course, after the performance, the girls were starving. Hah! So, we stopped by Red Robin for a quick snack... except for Ali and Natalie, who ordered full-on meals! (Growing girls!?)

Merilyn's First Tooth

Our baby lost her first tooth! It's been wiggly for awhile now, and when it finally came out, she was SO excited! Daddy was the first person we texted with this picture...

Of course, Mommy had to take several more pictures...

And, then Merilyn needed to document the day with her own photos.

Congratulations, Sweetie!

OSU Beaver Game

Well, once again, the Beavs aren't having the best season. But, we're still big fans and we always have fun at the games!! Today's game was even better because we won the first game of the season! Woohoo!

There was a lot of orange going on!

It was a beautiful day in Corvallis. It was sunny - and not too cold. It was the perfect weather for a football game.

Pre-School Begins - September

This is me at my house before we left for school. I was so excited!

I was just about to go inside to see my teacher and my classroom.

My daddy brought me to school today. I was happy that he was with me. My babysitter, Karen was there with Eva. She took a picture of me and Daddy.

This is my friend Charlie. He was in my class last year. We're playing a different kind of blocks... they stick together. Pre-school was wonderful. I love it! By, Merilyn

3rd grade!

The First Day of School by Alison

I woke up and took a shower! I got dressed! I got my stuff for school in my new backpack.When I got to school, I got to my desk and put my stuff away. Then, Daddy left and I did my work! After Daddy left, I felt a little scared since dad left. But this friend at my table was more scared then me! So, I helped her and we did more work. Then, it was recess time and I played with Kylee. Then we went back to class and we started to make an apple book. The teacher gave us a little time to work on them, and also to work on our "Who Am I?" posters. I was the teacher helper so I got to do calendar. After that, teacher asked if people wanted to be the lunch servers. Then, she read us a chapter of a book. Then the room monitor lined us up for lunch. We washed our hands and went to lunch and after lunch we lined up for another recess. After recess we went back to class. My teacher read us another chapter in the book, "101 Ways to Bug Your Parents". Then we went to music. Then we went back to class and sat at our desks. We waited for the room monitor to call our groups to get our stuff and go to the carpet. Then she took us out for an extra recess. We put our backpacks on the grass so we could play. After that, we got on the bus. I liked it all!!

Camping

This was our last camping trip of the summer since I go back to work next Monday, and we'll be back to completely opposite schedules.

We took the trailer up to Mt. Hood RV Park last week. The girls love this campground because it has a playground and a swimming pool. :) I love it because it's so beautiful!

We feel like we're almost experts now with setting everything up! (Taking it all down and packing everything back up is another story...)

We had a great time during our little get-away. Gramma and Mikey joined us the next day and Merilyn loved her Lily time.

While Mike and Trav golfed, Gramma, Ali, Meri and I went out to try to find the Letterbox treasure we had searched for last year. Still no luck! After the guys got back, we took Trav back with us for a second look. (And a text photo from Casey...her family found it last year!) TaDa! Thanks for the great clue Casey! :)

Of course, I didn't even think about bringing a stamp for the treasure box... so we colored Ali's thumb and left a thumbprint! (I tried to turn it into a little bug.)

We went on lots of walks while we were there. We found a great little spot right on the river! Had we known, we would've come prepared with swimsuits! Or not... the water was freezing! The views were so amazing! Merilyn chose not to join us... it was "too much work.")

Travis and I celebrated our 11-year anniversary while we there. The girls helped Mom make us a very nice steak dinner (and a surprise ice cream cake!). So fun!

Trying Something New...

I have racked my brain for ideas on how to make chore charts (and allowance) work for us. I found this idea somewhere... but of course, I couldn't find it again, so I came up with a similar version. (Thank you to the smart person who came up with this idea!) First, I typed up a list of things that I do around the house (or that need to be done around the house).

I printed, cut, and glued... to make a poster.

Each one of us chose a different color of star sticker. (I figured I should get in on this too! Maybe earn some fun money! Hah!) We put our star on the chore when we do it. (Merilyn's are modified a little bit... for example, instead of unloading the entire dishwasher, she does the silverware, and I help her with the rest.)

At the end of the week, we'll count up our stars and see how much we've earned. I think the chart I saw had each star = 5 cents. But, we're thinking each star = 25 cents.

We're going to give this a shot... and hopefully, it'll work! I think it'll be easier for us to keep track of what we do... and help Trav and I remember to pay the girls their allowance. Any other ideas?