ADDRESS CHANGE!!!!!

Due to my blog being "over capacity", I have decided to log off this account and start a new blog that will just serve as a sequel to this blog.  To continue following me and seeing our Family Circus in action, you will have to go to http://familycircussix.blogspot.com/ to see postings from now on.  This blog will remain visible, though.
Thanks!!!

Chelan County Fair

We went to the Chelan County Fair in Cashmere a few weeks ago.  I can't even remember where the older two kids were but somehow we ended up with just the younger two kids.

They enjoyed seeing all of the animals and we bought them a few tickets

to go on 4 rides each.  Cohen wanted a pony ride, but Chezney

was okay watching her brother from the sidelines.  

Smoke on the Water... Fire in the Sky

Several weeks ago, on September 8th, a thunderstorm caused many fires.  

At one point I heard about 80 fires started across eastern Washington.

And more came in the days to follow.  

The Wenatchee Valley filled with smoke and soon we

found our day to day normal being numbers.  Small talk

was about the air quality levels and we all became

versed in what the levels mean.  It was an eerie "normal"

as it lasted over a month.

Things are dying down now.  We've had THREE

whole days of fabulous air- and I will never again

underestimate the beauty of seeing the world from

a crisp- clean air- perspective.

Smallwoods

Not too long ago we decided to go hang out at Smallwoods for the day.  It seems, from the picture,

that this was a long time ago, as we were in summer clothes and everything was green.  In fact this was

maybe 3 weeks or 4 weeks ago. The season has changed now, 

making this photo seem even more aged.

It was a fun afternoon of petting and feeding animals, getting some peaches, and hanging out

on the fun grounds they have.  This duck pond is something we just discovered.

We had never seen it at smallwoods before, probably

because there is a small hike to get there.  It's not in view so 

you would never even have known it was there... but now we know.

And it was so pretty... there's a picnic table and I could have sat there all day.

Westport

Ethan was missing his daddy and Mike had to work so Ethan decided he would rather stay home than to go to Westport with mama and the rest of the family.  SO I took Chezney and Cohen with me, and Danissa went with Grandma and Grandpa a few days earlier, so she could go out on the charter fishing boats.  She caught LOTS of fish, and had a great time.  She got a little sick at first, as did Breanna and Evan, but soon they all had their sea legs and were off catching their quotas.

A Little Flash Back

Below is a picture of Danissas first day of Kinder-prep when she was 5 years old. 

 Ethan- then 2- was obviously pretty mad that he wasn't allowed to be in the picture.

SOOO in commemoration of the past, we decided to do another first day of school picture

of these two in the same spots as before.  My how they have grown... LOL

Hidden Lake

We set off for another hike- this time at the Bygone Byways- but soon realized that Bygone Byways is nothing more than about a quarter mile loop trail-... no hike at all.  

So after completing that, we drove as we debated where to go now.  We ended up at Hidden Lake Trailhead.  That was a gorgeous hike and is only about 1.5 miles in.  Its a great destination but once you get there, space is limited to just one side of the lake so if there are many people up there, it can get crowded.  The kids had a blast, though, and it was such a beautiful location... one I will definitely want to do again!

Icicle Ridge

Toward the end of August we took the kids on a hike to Icicle Ridge.  It was a good chance to see what they were able to do and what they weren't.  They had a blast exploring!  We made them each carry their own packs (with basically nothing in them but water) and for the most part- they walked the whole way.  It really wasn't that far... about 4 miles, but with the exploring, climbing, stopping, eating and picture taking we did- it took about 4 hours!

Once Again

I've started a new "cooking" blog.  It's not really for anyone to enjoy- per say- but just a way for me to remember what I've fed my family, if it turned out ok, and then hopefully remember it as a successful cheap crock pot dinner for my now working and busy family.
If you are interested, it's at  www.familycircussixdinners.blogspot.com

And it begins...

I'm off and running at my new job... or really off and sitting...
It's been a LOT of computer training for the past two days, but I look forward to standing up and walking around a bit tomorrow.  Maybe.  Hopefully.
Other than the sitting- it hasn't been too bad.  The kids are adjusting fairly well, with the occasional tears or "mommy... I don't want to miss you" (from Cohen).  It's so hard to leave them but I feel much better about it now that all of them are gone till 2:45 or later each day anyway.
Here's to getting down a routine and figuring out this whole "working mama" thing!

Causing Trouble Already

We have a way of causing trouble before we even realize that we've done it.  This was the case last week- and I was informed of it just this afternoon.

Last week, we (the twins and I) were at the elementary school enrolling them in their new Kindergarten class.  After turning in the necessary paperwork, we started off for home, which is only a few houses away.  Feeling somewhat playful, and taking advantage of the nice weather, we decided to race home.  Cohen was in the lead, followed by me and Chezney.

Apparently this doesn't look so good on the property of an elementary school- as I later discovered.  A passing parent thought it looked more like a double child abduction and called to report this to the school.  After a school lock down and roll call, they determined that no children were missing and realized that I had been the culprit. 

How's that to the start of a new school?!

Changes

So many changes are in the works for
 this family of 6! 

Danissa has started 5th grade.  

Ethan started 3rd grade- and with that- his first year of Latin.  

The twins started a Young 5s class at St. Pauls

I got a new full time job at the clinic so that meant changes for the WHOLE family.

*tears*

We then decided to move Chezney and Cohen to Lee Elementary to be in Kindergarten instead, so our start to school was a week and a half later than everyone else.  

*more tears*

Today was by far the hardest day- their first day of public school.  So many kids, so much chaos, but I also think- so many great teachers.  I'm sure it's a great choice... it just takes this mama some adjusting and today was a BIG adjustment!

Day Trip 2

Sunday, we went up to Tumwater Campground with Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Cheri, and got a spot to hang out just for the day.  We still had a fire and grilled, and did all the things we normally would... just didn't sleep or pitch a tent.  It was so fun.  The runoff from the creek was really high so we got our own personal overflow creek right through our campsite, which the kids loved.  We decided this spot is a definite "MUST RETURN" spot for later on this summer... and actually STAY.  It was just so much fun!

Day Trip

We went to visit our friends that went camping up Teanaway Creek a couple days ago.  It was a fun neat little campsite that was tucked away and very rustic.  Their was a surprise thunderstorm and then a complete downpour that we weren't expecting and we ended up ducking for cover soon after arriving, but it was all good fun- mostly because we weren't  actually staying the night.  We all headed into Cle Elum for dinner to get some refuge from the rain and made a good time of it- watching the rain and listening to the thunder!

Thomas

The cat came back... 

the very next day... 

the cat came back...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

My kitty Thomas was put out of his ancient kitty misery today.

He lived to be 15 years old... which has to be 110 in cat years.

And if you judge it by the age all my other cats lived,

it's more likely to be 527 cat years.

If I let myself- I can get emotional about a silly

cat dying that I haven't even lived with for 11 years.

BUT he was still my cat. 

He was dumb.  He drooled.

He was literally retarded.  

But he loved attention and was a

good cat- all the same... so I just

have to post a little comment and picture

to remember him by.

RIP Thomas...

4th With Friends

We spent the Fourth with the Riggs family- some of our closest friends.  We went to their friends/semi-neighbors house, the Cobbs, and several other families came as well.  Ephrata farmers know how to do fireworks!  Food was great, fireworks were awesome, and kids were overly entertained!  My favorite part was watching all of these loving responsible daddies become immature pyromaniacs out in the corn field.  We could hear them all laughing hysterically while lighting off these huge fireworks in less-than ideally-safe ways.  They were definitely having a blast!