Our year is half over! Yikes! What have we been doing!? Once summer hits its like the whole year is gone already. School seems like it was months ago and then once summer vacation is over it feels like it never happened. Then school starts all over again. I'm not even the one going! It's weird how your kids make you feel like you are going through it all over again.



We go to the pool 3 or 4 times a week, go the park nearly every day and play play play. It's exhausting for me but lots of fun for them. Gone are the days that you send your kids out and don't see them again till meal times and when the sun goes out. All the kids just came out and entertained each other. Oh well. Naomi will be in 3rd grade soon and Kaori begins pre-school:) Craziness. It goes by so fast. It's so important to stop being so busy to pay attention to what's going on right under your nose! Naomi is losing her little girl face and Kaori is losing her baby face. They are sleeping in bunk beds! My babies. They are really awesome kids. I'm very blessed to have them in my life:) Thanks wonderful husband. It's lucky they are so much like you.



Both of them love to dance and it's so fun to watch them. I remember having fun dancing, but it's nice that they got their talent from Erik who actually has the coordination to make it look good. I couldn't get enough of them during the Woodland Opera House dance showcase (their dance recital). I even watched the video of them at least ten times afterward. Kaori looked so tiny up on that stage. I was so proud of her just going up there and doing it for her first time. Both of them just seem so comfortable up on stage. Like they belong. Like I said, like Erik.... Maybe in my next life I'll be a dancer!



Erik did two shows so far this year. One was his best performance he's ever given, as
"Seymour" in Little Shop of Horrors. I was beaming with pride watching him too. How did I get to be part of such a talented family I wonder? He did one more show right after that and has since just been focusing on his school work. Nice for me cause I miss him when he is doing a show and the girls like it when he's around more, but he gets all restless and itchy to get into another one. But he is getting awesome grades in school, so that makes me proud too:) Nice job babe! I watched him typing out all this html text stuff, tweaking things on his web page that he is working on for school. I'm jealous that he knows what all that secret code means! It was really cool seeing his knowledge just coming out of his fingers. Love you:) I'm so glad that you have found something that you enjoy learning about:)



I feel like I go non-stop all the time with all kinds of things. I did however recently decide that it is ok for me to do something for myself for a few weeks and I decided that I wanted to take a cake decorating class! My friend asked if I wanted to take one with her and I said YES! I've been wanting to do that and now that there is a Micheals in town that offers quick easy time convenient lessons, why not? I made my first cake last night and it was really fun. Much prettier than some that I have attempted for the girls birthdays in the past. Learning just in time so that as they get older they won't know what an amateur that I am! Phew! I can't wait to make really cool flowers and stuff. Yay!



We recently got to spend lots of time with family, and even went to the beach! It was Kaori's first time and Naomi's in a long time. We really enjoyed ourselves. It makes me wonder why we don't go more often:) Kaori fell in the water TWICE and still didn't hate it, so that was good. Naomi could have chased the waves for hours. She had a blast. Not to mention they were lucky enough to have lots of people to play in the sand with. So, good times. I could make that a regular habit.



So here's to the rest of the year. We all know I won't get back to this blog until Christmas time:) We'll write our letter here and send pictures out.