Kara's Birthday (and whatever else I have time for)

Kara had an amazing 6th birthday party.  We got a HUGE bouncy and put it in our cul-de-sac.  Our neighbors are amazing and she had the best time.  Almost all of her best friends came and it was a gorgeous day for being outside.  She got WAY too many presents and definitely got spoiled by the attention.

We do have the most amazing people on our street.  I am sure it is crazy for most of our country right now, but one of our neighbors had 10 tons of ice brought to our cul-de-sac with 6 bales of hay for our kids to have snow in December.  We all brought food...our beach chairs...and watched the kids have a blast IN SNOW in 74 degree weather.  We did a kid gift exchange and it really was magical. 

Halloween

Our little angel wanted to be an angel this year for Halloween. 

There is so much going on and we are keeping quite busy.  Kara is loving kindergarten, AWANA and friends.  Aaron has run 2 marathons and another 1/2 marathon last weekend.  I am excited to start a part-time job tomorrow at Kara's school as a Curriculum Specialist.  (It sounds fancy pants...but I really don't know what it is yet either.)   Our families and friends are all doing well.  In mid October my dad finally moved his CPA business within walking distance from our house.  He has been commuting about 1 1/2 hours for over 25 years so this is really exciting.  He has been able to take Kara to school, go home for lunch, stop by in the morning to just drop off a coffee for me and say hi. 

Kara is doing a really neat project in her class about Thanksgiving.  The kids could choose if they wanted to be an Indian or a Pilgrim.  Kara came home with the info. about the Indians.  We have had several talks about how she has some "Indian" in her.  (We had to get clearance from 3 tribes to adopt her just in case the tribe wanted custody.  She has very little but it was just a precaution.)  She has chosen the name Chippewa Little Wolf for her Indian.  Her birth-father's tribe's symbol was the wolf.  My mom being born in Alaska in an Indian tribe gives us artifacts and beads to help with the  excitement of the activity.  I want her to know who she is and celebrate every part of her life; it is such a blessing to be raising her.

Summer Update

How to summarize March through July in one post? I'll just post a bunch of pictures and let them tell the story.