September Pictures

Kenzie and Coleman couldn't sign up for a regular class, so we signed them up for a couple private lessons with Coach Patrick.

The first and last words vertically the mini crossword puzzle were Dance and Steph! (The Steph referred to Steph Curry, who's my favorite NBA player so it was extra great!) 

Jack and Coleman spending some time together before Jack left for college.

The bunny was in the basement all summer and I ran the roomba over and over and over down there and got so much fur out of the carpet. It was pretty gross.

We had dentist appointments the day we took Jack to college.

Doug had to take the garbage because one of the kids (I think Kenzie...) didn't do it!

Delaynie, Kenzie, and Lorelei asked Taryn to go to Kentwood's homecoming with them!

We've been video calling Jackson every Tuesday afternoon to hear how he's doing.

School Begins

Kenzie and Coleman started CVA a week after Labor Day. Jordan started Sept 23. Jackson (who never sent me a picture of himself) started September 25.

Time to wake up for school!

He wanted me to make sure I included his sock feet in the picture:)

Ready for his first day ever of in person school!

Kenzie's Birthday!

Kenzie turned 15! Her birthday was on a Sunday this year so we celebrated both Saturday and Sunday.

She drew her birthday plans!

Coleman had soccer pictures and Jordan played tennis in the morning. Doug picked up some McDonald's while I took Coleman to pictures. Then we went to Southcenter Mall to go to Build-a-Bear. She said she's always dreamed of going there.

Kenzie and Coleman ready to get their bears stuffed.

They stuff the bears by stepping on a button.

Coleman's turn!

Kenzie and Coleman with Teddy and Ernie. Jordan didn't want a bear.

Then we went to the Family Fun Center to play minigolf.

It was weird not having Jackson around for the birthday fun!

We had 2 more attractions left so Kenzie and Coleman rode this ride. Jordan didn't want to, or else we would have paid for him to do it too:)

We had some time to kill before dinner so Doug suggested we go to Target and let Kenzie choose a few things there. Kenzie loved that idea!

We went to Olive Garden for an early dinner! When we were there our neighbor showed up and sat at the table right next to us! The wife was there first so we talked to her for a while, until the rest of her family showed up. It was the longest conversation we've had with her:)

Kenzie wanted us to pay for her to play the games on tablet.

Sunday:

We went to church in the morning and then we came home and changed into some comfy clothes and she opened presents!

She was really excited to get a Lulu Lemon shirt. She loves name brands. Luckily she doesn't mind if they're used so this one was from an online thrift store.

White Fox clothes too!

After presents we hung out at the house for awhile. Then we went to pick up Jackson at the airport, where the bus dropped him off. Then we went to my parents house. Kenzie watched lots of shows and played Dress to Impress on her phone. She chose spaghetti for dinner and Grandma Cake for dessert. She also had muddy buddies waiting for her when she got home.

Opening her card from Grandma and Grandpa!

Such a fun, weird girl!

About Kenzie:

She's a lot of fun

She's creative

She loves shopping

She likes finding good deals

She's been babysitting a lot, at least once a week for a family in our ward, and (as of Oct 15 when I'm writing this) just started watching that family's little neighbor girl several times a week. She's making lots of money!

She likes staying ahead in her school work and getting good grades

She still doesn't like math

She likes reading and is currently reading the Hunger Games

Her favorite genre a books is real life fiction books. She doesn't typically like "olden times books" (you know, that take place before cell phones were common:)) And she usually doesn't like books with a lot of made up things that she doesn't know what they are.

She loves having a phone and bought herself an iphone. 

She like organizing her room. She doesn't necessarily like keeping it organized though

She's nice

She likes to pick on Coleman though

She's smart

 She loves going to dances with her friends

She loves playing soccer

She loves dance and is sad she's not taking any classes right now because of soccer

She loves watching shows

She loves all things Christmas

She also really loves her birthday

Some of her best friends right now are Jenna, Lorelei, Delaynie, Morgan, and Paisley (all are in our ward)

She loves snacking

She love muddy buddies and Babe Ruth Bars

She likes making cookies and brownies and often makes brownies on Sunday nights at my parents' house

She's helpful

She loves parties

She's our favorite girl!

We love her so much!

Jackson Goes to College

Doug and I took Jackson to Western Washington University on Sept 19! It's crazy we have a kid in college, and it's weird to just have 3 kids at home now. But it's also nice that he's only a couple hours away. He wasn't able to get a parking pass so when he wants to come visit he has to take the train or bus.

Saying goodbye to his siblings:

This is home for this school year! His roommate, Nick, arrived the day after he got there. Nick is a friend of Alli's, but Jackson didn't know him very well. Alli told us he the kind of person that is friends with everyone and is very outgoing. 

This was on their doors.

After moving his stuff in (it took us 2 trips to get it all so it was really quick!) we walked around the campus. It's pretty small so it didn't take long.

There's so many trees around! When we were driving to his dorm, it felt like we were driving to a campsite since were surrounded by trees.

We walked back to his dorm and helped him unpack a bit. He didn't bring a lot (if you look at his room at home, you'd think he didn't bring anything because it's sill full! He even left a bunch of clothes he doesn't want anymore:)) so it didn't take long, especially after we realized we didn't have any scissors to open up the hangers. 

This is about all he brought besides clothes, a fridge, laundry stuff and shower stuff. 

This is the view from his bed. Looks like he's camping right?

Next we went to Fred Meyer to get the few things he needed: scissors, tennis balls, wireless headphones. Then we picked up Papa Johns and went back to our hotel to watch the Thursday night football game. We dropped him back off at his dorm afterwards. The next morning we went back to his dorm. He wanted to figure out how the bus system works, so we helped him look it up, and then he rode the bus to a park and ride and we met him there. It went well and he realized it wasn't too hard. He was coming home on Sunday for Kenzie's birthday and to go to a Green Day concert (Thanks to Grandma's graduation present!) with Mason so he didn't have a lot of time to get used to the bus. Then we went to a park on the Puget Sound and walked around for a bit. 

Then ate some McDonald's before dropping him off one last time. The McDonald's had plastic, reusable containers for their food!

We were sad to leave him! It's bittersweet having your kids grow up and move away. He wasn't super excited about it since he doesn't really know anyone there, but when we saw him on Sunday he seemed happier and a little more excited. And since then, he seems to be having a great time. He joined the tennis club and made friends with a guy he convinced the join the tennis club too. That guy (I think his name might be Jake...) want wants to play tennis all the time, which Jackson loves! His classes have been going well and are so far easy for him. We miss him so much, but are happy he's happy :)