Final Outdoor Competition for This Summer

 This week Elsa wanted to try another recipe from an old Friend magazine. This one was from Brittan as well. It's called Toad in the Hole. She made it all by herself, and was so happy about that. It was actually pretty tasty. With a smidgen of syrup on it it tasted like pancakes and sausage.

 We had several storms this past week. I love that we've had so many thunder storms this summer. On our way to dance class, on Tuesday, we enjoyed seeing these beautiful puffy clouds in the sky.

 Hanging out during violin lessons practicing tracing.

Saturday was the Kelso Highlander Festival. Kelso is just a bit north of us. It was a really  nice event and free!! Woohoo!
Here are some pictures of Elsa warming up and getting some last minute pointers and encouragement from her teacher, Miss Jocelyn.

We set up our canopy and chairs. Then Meg and Myles ran up the little slope to the walking trail behind us.

 

 Elsa resting in between dances and getting hydrated.

 Meg found a daddy long legs on the blanket we had set out. She picked it up and let it crawl on her. I am always amazed by this girl. She loves holding worms too.

With the National dance (Lilt) done, Elsa did a  costume change,  and now it was time for the Highland dances.

 
After the competition and awards, we walked around to see what else was going on at the event. We ran into "Mary Queen of Scots." She was talking to some McGregor clan members, and then a reporter stopped to interviewe her. Meg really wanted to meet her and get a picture taken with her. We waited a while. The lady was so kind, though, and she paused her interview so that she could greet Meg. I didn't catch it fast enough, but Meg went right up to her and gave her a hug. Her costume was exquisite!

 One of the tents had various food items:

Because who doesn't like Haggis in a can????

 We have heard of treacle toffee, but were surprised to see it in person.

 Rhaevyn's favorite, Turkish Delight!!

 This was another fun find: Pontifract cakes, which we had heard about while watching Dr. Who.

 Meg enjoyed her Turkish Delight :) Elsa picked out cookies called Hobnobs and shared with us. They were pretty good.

Elsa got off to a bit of a rough start. She is usually a bundle of nerves anyway. We each said a prayer for her, including Rhaevyn and Aeva. Chris had given her a blessing of comfort the night before. We talked about having faith in her blessing and prayers, and that helped a bit.
Her first dance was the Lilt, and she shared the dance stage with a boy. As she went to do her dance steps to the right, the boy went to the left and almost crashed into her. That flustered her, but she kept going.
 

 

With the costume change into her kilt, I realized that I had forgotten her suspenders. To say she was frustrated and worried about that is putting it mildly. I think she was on the verge of tears. I ended up pinning her kilt to her shirt which she had tucked into her kick pants. We were given a tender mercy!!! Another mom overhead me say that I had forgotten the suspenders, and she whipped out an extra pair that she had brought. Elsa and I breathed a sigh of thanks and relief. Her next dance was the Fling. She worried that she had not turned out enough for this dance.

She had a bit of a little mess up at the beginning of the Sword with her footwork and was quite disappointed with that, but the positive that she found was that she didn't have body builder arms like she did at a previous competition :)

Her last dance was the Seann Truibhas:

She absolutely loves to dance!! Even though she can be a bundle of nerves, she does really get excited once it's "go" time. However, she always breaths a little sigh of relief once the competition is over. Saturday, each time she got of the stage,  she would come sit down shaking her head. She would relate to us what she failed to do, what she could have done better, etc. We reminded her that we just love watching her dance, and it's not a failure if you learn from it. It's good to see where you  need improvement, but not to be too hard on herself.
To say she was surprised is an understatement. She placed first in the Lilt, Sword, and Fling. She placed second in the Seann Truibhas. She was the overall winner for beginners in her age bracket, and she received a trophy for that. She thought perhaps the judge was not looking when she got her step wrong during the Sword dance. She was over the moon for sure with how she placed!!
And that ends outdoor competitions for the summer.
Just a few of my favorites.....I'm sorry I just can't help myself:

Chris had a coworker this week,  who is from Vietnam, that brought in some silkworms to try. Chris tried one. He said it tasted kind of like broiled asparagus with a lot of garlic.

 My growing boy!!! He got a haircut and new church shoes. No more shopping in the kids section. This boy has man feet now. I think last night we tried on 30 pairs of shoes and finally came up with one pair he said he thought would be okay for the two hours a week he had to wear them. I told him if we couldn't find a pair he might have to go barefoot. He said he could always cut off the back part of his current shoes if need be. He was cracking me up trying on shoes. He has discovered that man shoes are a lot different than those in the boys section. Half the time he felt like he was wearing scuba fins and the other half like he was wearing Santa's elves' shoes. I love the ones he picked out. They are kind of like Italian wingtips and the price was just right!

 I think I forgot to post these several weeks ago. While we were gone to Utah, Chris sent these to me. Chris knows how much I miss our doggie when I'm gone. This gave me a good giggle:

Orchestra for Myles has been pushed back a week. We just got his cello back from having a seam repaired and discovered, once he got it home, it was not fixed. Well, it was but not completely. So, tomorrow it has to go back in. Thank goodness we get a free loaner. And eye appointments for the little kids at the new eye doctor are this week too. Elsa is not thrilled, so I am hoping it all goes well.

A Trip to Cascake Locks and the Start of Another School Year

Monday was a day off from work for Chris, and we thought it would be fun to go do something with our three chickadees that are still at home. Chris had heard about a little hamburger place in Cascade Locks that served really, really big soft serve cones. It was a gorgeous day for a drive out to the gorge. The temperature was in the 80's, so ice cream was the perfect remedy to cool us off.
Meg got the flavor burst of tropical orange, Elsa got black cherry, and I got butter pecan. We girls went for the small.

Myles got a medium plain vanilla........Uncle Ben would be proud :)

Chris went for the large swirl.

The ice cream started to lean, but Chris managed to get his ice cream into the giant cup they gave him.

I was a little surprised that Meg finished her entire ice cream, and she was the first one done!

We stopped off at the fish hatchery. We hadn't been there since Rhaevyn and Aeva were Meg's age, or maybe even a bit younger.

Baby sturgeon:

I didn't realize that Sturgeon got so big!

We got to view the fish swimming underwater in this little house that is an observation area.

I had just enough quarters on me to let the kids get some fish food to feed the sturgeon.

It was such a fun and delightful day. I love making memories with my favorite people!!

Here we are at the start of another school year.
Elsa couldn't wait for first day of school pictures.
We are attempting Kindergarten again with Meg. I don't think she quite ready last year.

I feel like Elsa was just starting first grade, but here she is starting 5th!

It's the last year before things get serious with High School curriculum!!!

Can you tell who my little ham is???

Myles thought I should be in a picture too. This will be my 15th year homeschooling!!!! I can't believe it! I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to spend each day with my kiddos learning along with them. I love getting to be their teacher. I'm so glad that 15 years ago I decided to start homeschooling Rhaevyn for Kindergarten and never looked back! It's been such a wonderful, tiring, bumpy, and exciting journey filled with a lot of learning experiences for me!!

Meg loves her little number clothes line.

Meg had her first Scottish Highland Dance lesson on Tuesday. She did really well and had a great time!

Myles and I had a little night out. He helped me pick out soap at Bath and Body, we had smoothies with Bobba, shared a slim sandwich at Jimmy John's, and made a stop at Goodwill for him. We had been looking for shoes at the mall for him, since he has outgrown his church shoes, but we had no luck. We stopped at Fred Meyer to take a look too. We found a pair he liked, but they didn't have his size. While we were there I was looking at a head scarf, and he decided to outfit me in a hat and sunglasses. We sure laughed a lot with my various looks. I kept laughing, and Myles kept telling me to be very serious for the pictures.

We had thrown our pumpkin seeds out in the side yard last October, and then we forgot about them. Myles found that there is actually a pumpkin growing out there. We may even get more!

 During Stake Conference yesterday Elsa was reading different Friend Magazines from various years. She found one from 1971 with recipes from Brittan. She wanted to try at least one of the recipes when we got home. She and Chris made Welsh Rabbit. No one else would try it, so I told her I would eat it for her.

 

 It tasted very interesting, and no rabbits were used for the making of it :)

Here's Miss Meg at church wearing her new tennis shoes. Finding shoes is so hard for her with her sensory issues. She mostly just wears her knock off crocs. We were able to find a pair of slip on tennis shoes that she really liked, and so she wore them to church. Maybe we'll be able to find a pair of church shoes soon.

 I found this cute shirt at a shop in town that does a lot of upcycling. It is so comfy. I just had to splurge and get it since it was $5!
 The back:

 I love the cute lace that was sewn on it.

 Molly went to the groomers this last week. Pretty in Pink:

 

I dropped off my last two quilts for the year on Friday to the quilter. I wasn't going to make anymore, but I felt like I needed to make one more that wasn't so girly. I threw this strip quilt together in under an hour using my old duvet cover that was wearing out with holes and broken snaps.
 I think it looks better in person.....

 

 I picked up the other two quilt tops that are done.

 

 Elsa has her last outdoor Highland Game competition on Saturday. It's only 40 minutes away, but it will be a really early day for us. Here she is playing dress up:

We've got eye doctor and dentist appointments coming up, Myles first orchestra meeting, and an upcoming ENT appointment for Meg all with school, chores, and activities thrown into the mix. Somewhere in there I've positively got to do the binding on all the quilts!!! Sometimes I think I need one more of me :)
The older girls are settling in well at school. I think with one year under their belt they are a bit more happy, comfortable, and confident this time around. I love getting to hear from them with little texts throughout the week and phone calls on Sundays. 
And now I come to the end of my post since I am all caught up. It's a miracle!!!!