A snapshot of Cups' everyday life

 We visited a beach we don't frequent after Cups finished her homework one evening.

 We love sunsets!

 The kids enjoyed walking on logs, finding shells, checking out seaweeds and playing.

 You can't tell that Gofres was crying from not wanting a piggy back ride, but Cups loves her little brother.

Cups spotted this little crow on the tree at a restaurant.

 Their teacher couldn't get their attention, so she asked for funny faces first.

Now that they've got the giggles out of their systems. . .

 Cups, playing silly, wouldn't give up Gofres' jacket, so we told Gofres, who is into Star Wars, that he looked like Qui-Gon Jin in Daddy's sweatshirt. That worked for a little while.

 Happy birthday, Agong!!

Cups needs to read 20 minutes each day, and Gofres loves being read to. This was a win-win. . .for me!

 

They shared a hot chocolate. . .and early in the day, Tic Tac water, where they tried to dissolve Tic Tac in water. From repeated testing they learned that orange ones did not dissolve as well as green ones.

Activities outside of school

Cups really enjoyed taking the trial class with her two girlfriends. Unfortunately I did not register timely, and the class filled up. Next session?!

 Cups met the reading challenge (every day of the summer minus up to seven days) and attended the pancake breakfast, where they feasted, played games, received prizes and either a poster or a book and missed a little bit of class.

 The kids helped a lot with getting fish tanks ready for sale at WestFest. They helped open packages. Gofres helped package fish food while Cups was in school.

 Cups placed colored gravel into the tanks. I really appreciated their help and support.

 Cups continues to have too much fun with her face painting kit, and Gofres is a ready participant. Here she painted Batman, Superman and Flash on him.

Cups is a thinker. I asked her to tape the fish food to these My Fun Fish tanks, and she folded the bags in half before taping them to the boxes.

 The girls, fashioning their "prized" jewelry, counted out change for more ride/game tickets, putting their education to work.

 The girls took a break from playing. They really were enjoying themselves.

 Cups explained how My Fun Fish tank worked to a few people and sold one!

 It was sweet to see how she played with different friends.

 Cups was very excited about winning another fish and gave this one to Gofres.

 Cups' new fish in her My Fun Fish tank. When fresh water is added from the top, dirty water comes up the pipe and leaves by the spout on the side of the tank. Fish stay in the water while the water gets changed.

Gofres liked fishing for prizes.

 Chinese school always starts WestFest weekend. Cups is doing well with homework. This was her initial reaction to it after having had the summer off.

I did succeed with signing her up for pottery. We waited, and the teacher and the other student never showed up for the first class. The kids still had a great time by the water on a beautiful day.

She is loving school!!

 Cups flew around the canyon, checked out waterfall/dark hole/creek and picked up sticks. It's a joy to watch kids play in nature.

 Cups gets more adventurous as she grows.

 The kids harassed Auntie Stephanie's dogs as much as the dogs could tolerate it.

 

 Halloween section at Target!!

Found this on my phone. She's watched many too many YouTube clips?!

 She solicited help one day after school this way, "Mom, can you please help me color?! Otherwise I will have to miss recess to finish this project. That is the new rule in third grade." This is an illustration for everything she loves for Religion. Supposedly they got 10 minutes and another 15 minutes to work on it at school. I couldn't really fault her for being a detail-oriented artist.

 This was more of what I expected for my first-day-of-school picture. #endofsecondweekhaha

 Cups invited me and begged Gofres to go to open Mass, and she sat with us. #perfectuniform

 These kids can play anywhere. Posing - while my eye doctor entered exam results in the computer during the appointment.

 Awwww. . .she loves her Mama.

 We paid to pick a bag of apples. Then Cups picked a few more. Uhhh. . .

 Does it look like she's 4' 3"?! We will have a more accurate measurement from her wellness checkup in October.

 The kids enjoyed the corn cannons - shooting bad ears of corn out of air compressors into the field.

We had fun celebrating Ama's birthday with the family and seeing Auntie Joy's bump for the first time!

First Week of School

 Whose first day of school is this?

(Gofres has become an avid reader over the summer.)

Sweetness!

"Oh no, Mom, I am in a group with all boys."

With light homework for the first week, Cups went shopping with me after school one day.

 Kids left parents welcome notes on Back to School night.

I got to leave her a love note and gather information to support her for a successful year.

 This is what our breakfast table looks like, and Cups was pointing out how cold it had gotten when this picture was taken.

The kids asked to go down to the beach after dinner tonight and tried out the binoculars, which the kids have wanted for a while and John chose for his five-year anniversary present from his company. It was cold and windy, but we embraced our time down by the water.

Settling into second grade

Cups had a lot of fun at Westfest with friends and got three goldfish. (She got four last year, and one survived ten months until it committed suicide jumping out of the water. This time all three have passed away already - sad.)

To clear ourselves of busy energy from Westfest, I wanted us in nature - did not say hike! John took the family to Discovery Park.

Ever since Ama showed Cups how to make eggs, she hops into position whenever anyone asks for eggs - a nice break for me. It's a bonus that she doesn't make a mess.

This was Cups' writing assignment the week after Westfest.

Gofres wants to do most everything his sister does. As soon as Cups brought out crayons and paper to make her teacher a birthday card, Gofres was right there. Any concern that he would mess it up was instantly resolved by the inclusive and creative big sister's making a section for his contribution.

We were blessed with another visit from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Christie from Alaska this year - always such a treat! We love visiting with Auntie Amy, too, whenever we have a chance. Uncle Ryan and Auntie Christie lived in Seattle for a while, and I enjoy exploring different parts of Seattle when they visit. Thank you very much for all the present and treats, too!

Agong turned 70. May your life continue in great health, love, joy and abundance. We love you!

I am grateful daily for the blessing of having kids that love me and want to be with me (haha).

Cups and friends ran toward the movie theater - excited for the New My Little Pony. (A mom friend stayed with me for the movie, and we wondered where the ponies were. It turned out that the ponies had turned into human - go figure.)

 It's dark earlier now - journeying to the library a block away after dinner.

It's happening! Cups is picking up books to read to herself!! (This is a picture documenting the first incident. The behavior has continued.) She's never been discriminating of books presented to her, but she's always enjoyed being read to more.

 And this is how they roll. I remain grateful (and surprised) for how well they get along.

Gofres sighted Cups in her dance class.

My little monkey and me while Cups danced away

 Cups had a day off on Friday, and we played summer!