Christmas at Aunt Bev's House

We all got together the weekend before Christmas to celebrate together. We had Mexican food for Christmas dinner, opened presents, and Grandma got to come over to Aunt Bev's house to enjoy being with family all around. And of course, Tessa, the Golden Retriever got some lap time with Sarah.

Sarah at the Progressive Dinner

Sarah dancing

A photo from a number of years ago and I loved her spontaneous enjoyment of life.

Sarah's Autumn Concert

Sarah in the award circle!

After gaining over 15 pounds this summer and swimming in her first swim meet of the new season....Sarah has earned her place in the awards circle with a fist full of ribbons. She dropped time consistently in each race...sometimes over 30 seconds!!!!

Sarah at Lincoln City

Celebrating everyone's birthdays (Grandma, Sarah, Bryce and Miranda). Beautiful sunny, warm weather is such a treat at the beach!

Sarah and "Anna" at the beach

A new tradition?

Is it a new tradition? Sarah gave Anna a bunch of asparagus at Christmas time as a gift, and now the tables are turned and Sarah received a bunch of her own.

Visiting Grandma

Visiting Grandma in the hospital, Sarah apparently has a fear of oxygen tubing. She told me some vague dream (nightmare) about oxygen tubing. So anytime she got near to Grandma and especially the head of the bed, she wrapped herself around the nearest adult.

A Sunny Day at Edmonds Beach

Sarah and Grandma

We were down for Brent's13th and Jan's &$%# Birthdays at Grandma's!

Sarah at AWANA award night

Sarah finished the fourth and last book as a T&T. She'll come back next year as an LIT (leader in training). She'll be great as a helper!

At the Car Wash

Sarah working hard....we made a little over $600 at the car wash and about the same at the garage sale....pretty good! Helps pay for coaching at swim meets, equipment, etc.

Sarah at the track meet

Minutes before she found her friends and I never saw her again till the end...a quick shot before she's gone!

Sarah and Lucy

We are re-doing the girls' room. You can see the new wall color behind Sarah's bed. The new agreement is that the dog cannot be in the bedroom anymore....Miranda doesn't want dog hair on her clothes. Somehow, Lucy has pretty much figured out this new rule, but she snuck into Sarah's bed when no one was looking. She's trying to make herself as small as possible so I won't kick her out!

Sarah at Grandma's

Isn't she beautiful???

Sarah, the courageous

Sarah had her backpack taken yesterday. When it was returned, someone had taken permanent marker and written, "CHINA" on it. It upset Sarah, but she wrote about it to help her clear her thoughts. Her science teacher put some special powder on her bag and it took the ink out! He told her she would be pleased with the results. The vice-principal called Alan and told him about the incident and said that it would be investigated. I imagine it's just middle school kids being stupid...Sarah didn't want to go to school today, but I told her she was my strongest kid. I knew she would face today bravely and put the incident behind her. This morning she was all smiles and doing fine!

Zoolights with friends

Inside, waiting out a downpour at zoo lights!

Chinese New Year, Seattle International district

Lily, Rose, Sarah, Jennifer, MaryAlice, Miranda, Sidney and Olivia.

Olivia and Sarah were adopted together. In fact, I was so sure Olivia was Sarah, that I took tons of photos of her before they introduced me to MY child...

As it was, Sarah was in the arms of an orphanage worker and Jennifer in a backpack carrier on her back!