please stay for awhile longer...

 Ok, so you lost (finally) your 2 front teeth.  We were at Grandma and Grandpa's house one afternoon.  Dad took you and Camille on a bike ride to Central school for lunch.  The city was oil and graveling Rhode's Road and you went face smack down in the tar on the low shoulder. Your front right tooth was gone amidst the gravel.  Dad bursts in the back door asking, "His front teeth are permanent right?"  YES!  I grab you and head for Dr. Norris.  Camille and Dad return to the scene of the tooth grabbing gravel for an attempt at a retrieval.  The dentist office had said in the past they could push it back in hopes of reattaching.  As we rushed into the office, I said "My son has knocked out his front (permanent) tooth."  They got you into the chair for an x-ray and I am thinking my son is going to be toothless for all life events).  Yes, I am a bit obsessed with being toothless.  One of my haunts.  Dr. Norris says we have options, so not to worry and another dentist is thinking the space is rather small for a permanent.  The x-ray shows it is a baby tooth (Yea) but I write everything down to help my memory (that OCD/Anxiety have jumbled or hidden) and I didn't write down you had lost your front teeth but was still insistent upon them falling long ago.  Then Dad walked in with none other than the coveted tooth (No Way) he recovered from the tooth blending gravel road.  You had tar on your face, elbows, knees, and the seat of your shorts which was stuck all over the chair.  Not only was it a baby, it was the baby that smashed into Camille's knee on the trampoline back in June at the end of school and became loose, because it was time.  I called the dentist with worry and they said give it time to reattach.  I have been trying to keep this tooth in the whole of summer when it desperately needed to be free to make room for the BIG one on its way!  Your left tooth fell shortly after.  You look pretty darn cute.  I guess I am not ready for BIG to follow small, my little one.   

oh, lovely summer we have been waiting for you.

                                          somber swinging

swinging singer 

sharing music

bridge kisses          

one day i climbed the hill and when i reached the top there were seven deer, 5 buck.  i prowled around in the valley and discovered deer bones.  i went back to retrieve gabe because he loves to find femurs and ribs, etc.  we searched and found an entire deer short of the skull. 

super flying gabe 

                                       let the laughter out

 flying (with the shirt this time)

sun mountain flowers

 

sun mountain bike ride 

                                                 gals' day

                                               winthrop cowgirl

                                             our favorite ice cream 

that's a wrap and a lick! 

 

Share it with me, Gab(E)!

Hey there Gabe! Here we are at your 1st grade portfolio share (we meet at school, have snacks and you take us through what you have worked on this year).  You have so much determination and never give up when trying new things even when they are difficult.  You make me not want to give up either.  Thank you for that quality.  You made HUGE strides in reading and math and moved from your (26 weeker and then being a young firstie) spot to standing on a mountain peak ledge we gasp at on our way through the North Cascades Pass.  Hey, I have an idea! Let's do it again next year.  We might have to start from the middle of the mountain this time, so that's not bad, right?  Thanks for the great year Clear Lake.  Here's to a new Lyman adventure.            

the tie guys

      so this is mr. k, clear lake principal for my kids...yes, just for mine. it felt like it. how can someone have such a connection with each of my kids?  mr. k and gabe are driving new roads-to lincoln and lyman.  a moment with the tie guys.  thank you. 

a place i want to be (with the tulips and these three)

 

local's night at tulip town.  we are definitely local.  you can take that in many ways, i suppose...

i love, love barns and will drive these back farm roads with wonder when i see them

                                             so happy together...

                                      rubber shoes and tulips

the barn, once more...

camille faves the purple tulips

         another variety of purple tulips and one of my favorite pictures

                                         sis and bro down in the dirt

                             gabe is almost really down..in..the..dirt

                                        my handsome fly guy

    the white tulips were gabe's favorite and he insisted upon his picture amongst them.  he kept saying, mom, i want my picture with the turquoise and green ones.  here they are... 

                                                    jumping puddles

                               the finale picture...it was closed

Daddy+Daughter+Dance=BEST NIGHT EVER

                          My cutest daughter and her cutest daddy! 

We are so going to ROCK! 

nowhere

                                                

 nothing shouts happiness than being in the middle of nowhere, which is of course somewhere, on a map, but being surrounded by snowy tree branches and a crisp lake with my family, while we create our own sledding paths is exactly where i want to be.  i love standing in this place, trying to envelope its ability to just be.  our trip to leavenworth was cancelled because of dangerous snow storms and power outages, so we packed up, jumped in the car, to find our freedom.  this (lake easton) is where we landed.