Celebrating Lucy...

 Last weekend we celebrated Lucy's 12th birthday and 11 years of her Forever Family Day (gotcha day).

Lucy loves having two days dedicated to her.  

We celebrated her birthday with family and her favorite cake.

We celebrated her Forever Family Day with dinner at her favorite restaurant and a fun-filled night of family pumpkin carving. 

All this girl wanted for her birthday was accessories for her new "boho" themed room. 

She got new bedding and a fun reading chair.  :)

We are so blessed to call Lucy our daughter and sister. 

Her sweet smile says it all. 

My senior...

I finally had a chance to take Olivia's senior photos last weekend.

I have to take a breath every time I say "senior"   :(

Olivia is busy with college applications and senior classes.

Her grades are great and so far, she's having an amazing year.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.  

First day of school and match day...

 Today was Jack and Lucy's turn to head back to school.

Lucy started 6th and Jack 9th.

Jack decided to attend the local public high school this year.

I was a nervous wreck today...

He only knows a few kids and I was worried about him going from a small private school to a large public school.

He came home super excited, he met lots of great kids and even said he ate lunch with a bunch of cute girls.  :)

I'm excited for him to make some new friends and to see him perform some school plays. 

Lucy had a great day too and loves her new teacher. 

11 years ago today we got the call from CCAI.  We had been matched with what they called, "a spicy girl from Hunan China"  We raced over to CCAI to see the sweetest picture of our little Lucy. 

Every year I take a photo of Lucy with her referral photo..

Last year was the 10th year and I figured I would be done.

Well, today Lucy reminded me that it was her match day and she wanted me to take a photo.  

I just had to laugh.. I'm wondering if I will be taking this photo when she's 25?

I love my Lucy Lu!

Happy Match Day baby!  

In the blink of an eye...

In the blink of an eye..

My girl started her senior year today...

Here's a photo of her on her 1st day of Kindergarten and her 1st day of senior year..

Where did the time go?

Capucine visits!

Our French daughter and sister came to visit us the last 2 weeks of July. 

We had so much fun.. the time went quickly.

We tried to pack in as many things as possible.

When Capucine lived with us as an exchange student in 2013, she was here in Spokane for Jan, Feb and March.. probably the worst time of year.

That winter was very cold and we did enjoy a trip to Seattle for spring break, but other than that we didn't do much, so we really wanted to show her Spokane in the summer.

All of these photos were taken with my iphone.. 

 Capucine's flight was direct from Paris to Seattle.

Since both of our cars are older with high mileage, Jeff suggested I get a rental car to drive to Seattle to pick up Capucine.

We ended up renting this cute VW bug for the day.

The girls loved it!

 We had a little Saturday morning crepe party..

We love Capucine's crepes!  :)

 We did some local sight-seeing.. this was at Riverside State Park.

 The view of a storm rolling in from atop Mt Spokane...

I'm thinking this was the only rainy weekend we had all summer.

 A chicken wing dinner.. Capucine loves American chicken wings. :)

 We enjoyed some down time too.. just hanging out on the back deck.

 Jeff and ended up taking the girls on a mini vacay to Portland OR.

This was a stop at Multnomah Falls on the way to Portland. 

 We were told the best way to see Portland was to eat your way through.. 

Our first stop was Salt and Straw ice cream.. 

YUMMY!

 We then headed to Cannon Beach for the day..

It was chilly, but SO beautiful.  I cannot wait to go back.

 There was a full moon and low tide.. it was cool to be able to walk out this far.

 Voo-Doo Donuts..

another fun stop.  The donuts were HUGE!

 beacause I love fun signage.. 

Portland is weird, but a fun place. 

We headed back to Seattle to stay overnight and get Capucine back to the airport..

As we were headed to the Pike Market we passed this group of young sailors and I couldn't resist a photo op.    :)

We dearly miss our sweet Capucine and we are so thankful she was able to come us this summer.