"Do ducks yawn?"...

"I don't know Ella Jane, I've actually never thought about it. That's a great question honey."

Two days later...

"Do fish have a backyard?"

"mmm, I don't know Ella Jane, I guess so, they can go anywhere in this tank and it's a pretty big tank."

I just love the way her mind works.

In my 7 week absence...

from home this summer, I forgot a few things. When we got home last week I was pleasantly surprised.

I forgot that I had just painted the sunroom yellow.

I forgot that Jim had just painted our bedroom closets brown (to match our bedroom).

I forgot that we had a garbage disposal.

I forgot that our cabinets had magnets on them to keep them closed.

I forgot about the sound of the crib in the night as Sara rolls around in her sleep.

I forgot that we had so much carpet!

It was fun to come home after spending the summer with our families out in Seattle. The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins and I hope they can remember this trip when they are older. We certainly have the pictures to prove it.

My sister was married on August 29th and Ella Jane had a fabulous time being a flower girl with her cousin Leah. They were both so thrilled to finally have the chance to wear their fancy dresses. The bride was beautiful and my sisters and I had a lot of fun celebrating her (as well as everyone else of course) on her big day.

The girls and I stayed on in Seattle for the wedding while Jim and Matthew came back home to start school and work. Jim was a single dad for two weeks. He is glad that we are back.

However...

A few days after we got back, I got really sick. Like two trips to the E.R. kind of sick. Turns out I had a bacterial infection. A bad one. So, Jim was a single dad again and has been pushed to the limits. I've been homebound for the week and thankfully our neighbors have helped with rides, and caring for the kids. I should be feeling better in the next week or so.

Than Jim won't have to be a single dad anymore. :)

In the meantime, now that I've got some energy back, I've enjoyed playing with the kids and am laughing and laughing at how funny Ella Jane is these days.

** Last night Matthew had H.S. Musical blaring in his room and he and the girls were dancing. As she was leaving Matthew's room she says to me "There's a pouty going on in there". She doesn't say her "r's" so "party" sounds like "pouty". It just seemed so funny to me.

** On her first day of school this week, she got dressed and told me "I look great!". Awww, yes honey you do look great.

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And now without further ado, a few pics of the wedding; the last hurrah of our summer!

She's my girl...

Ella Jane, she's my princess girl. Just about everyday she chooses a few outfits to dress up in and then she's off to pretend. Yesterday, she was Fancy Nancy and politely informed me that I could call her Fancy. Nancy. Or Fancy Nancy. Very clever to have three names like that. Her princess cell phone would ring (that she's borrowing from her cousin Leah; which is huge for her by the way...the whole what can I borrow today thing) and she would say "Hello?, oh Hi Yuko, it's Fancy Nancy"...and proceed to walk around the yard during her conversation. It was too funny and very precious.

Her days have been so full of activities and cousins that by mid afternoon, she just plain conked out in the chair while watching one of her programs. It's all in a day's work for her and we'll start again tomorrow.

He's a big boy now...

Matthew started First Grade today and if I was actually there to send him off I'd have the pictures to prove it. But I wasn't. Not even close. The girls and I are still out west visiting family (going on 5 weeks now) so I missed the big first day event.

Jim bless his heart is doing a fabulous job at home managing everything by himself. Orientation; meeting the teacher, paperwork, school pictures, paying fees...all of the things I normally would have taken care of are now his job, not to mention his very own full time job at the University. I know he'll be glad to have us return to ease some of that burden!

The girls and I have had a wonderful time together taking advantage of the waterfront/harbor near my mom's house and walking the dog at the dog park every morning...with coffee and hot chocalate as a treat afterwards.

Four more days until the wedding. My sister has done a fabulous job on her dress, three bridesmaid's dresses, and two flower girl's dresses. Ella Jane and her cousin are flower girls and are pretty much giddy with excitement. EJ asks daily, "can I wear my wedding dress today?", "can I wear my wedding shoes?" She will feel like a princess no doubt come Saturday.

A few more...

Just a few more I couldn't resist.

What I've been loving...

for my kids... is cousin time with their kids. There are 10 kids amidst our siblings both Jim and I (including our own), and we've loved all the playtime our kids have gotten with them.

They've been loving it too.

In very random order...

you'll see bits and pieces of our trip out West. We went sailing last week with my mom and Chas. Jim and I had a wonderful time. It's been 3+ years since we've last been out and what a treat it was to set sail again. Except that we didn't do anything to actually help sail the boat. Chas. and crew did that. We simply sat and enjoyed. Well, that and corralled children, put life jackets on and off, fed babies, and took pictures!

Campout '09...

My mom held the first annual Suyetsugu, Gunn, Harris campout last weekend. All of these kids are her grandbabies. Can you figure out which ones are siblings? They are all actually mini-me's of their mom's and/or dad's. The big kids had the task of holding Sara down and they did their job fabulously! Notice the grip? (Sorry for the underline...)




Well, the presentation of this post will be a little bit random since I'm not on my own computer. Other computers do funny things with my picture placement. Enjoy in random order, pics of the recent campout at my mom's house. I realize I have no pictures of the tents but almost everyone really did sleep outside.









Ella Jane very eager to get her m&m for sitting in the picture. Actually they all were very eager but I love how Ella Jane's hand is shooting straight up. How else are you going to get 7 young kids to sit for a picture? Behind these smiling faces is Auntie M. jumping up and down with a colorful bowl of candy!



Sara has had a bit of a rough ride as of late. Diagnosed with her third ear infection a week ago she's been none to thrilled to be out of mama's arms for more than a nano second the last two days. She's feeling better today and joined the big kids for some fun playtime this evening. It's fun to see her run around and laugh again!