Such Riches: High Expectat...err, Great Expectations.

I don't have much to offer my kids. I don't have enough money to buy them things. I don't have the time to nurture and teach them as well as I'd like. I'm also too young, so don't have important life lessons to pass on. Bummer dude.
However, I do have two luscious smacking lips, so I can give them more kisses than they can handle. So I've got that going for me. While I'm not uber Type A, I am a goal oriented person. Back when I had time to think about things, I thought about setting the goal of trying to help my girls learn how to love. Simple, right? It's something I know how to do, it's absurdly important, so why not set that as a goal of parenting?
Funny thing, though. Kinley is a lovey-dovey. A pooky plum sucker. ya know? If you've met her, you know she's a total cuddle-bug, and she just loves being loved. Moreover, she loves loving. How lovely! Sienna has always drawn attention for being a very attractive little girl, and Kinley gets the same comments. However, she has also always gotten a slightly different kind of attention. "Can I hold her?" Even strangers can't help but ask if they can hold her. And I don't blame them...it pays dividends. Instant stress relief and fuzzy butterfly feelings abound. "I just met you but I looooovvve you!" I would like to say that I've been 100% successful. I totally taught her how to love. I'm good, eh?
Here's the thing: it wasn't me. If anything, it was Laura. But I'd venture something else: Kinley's taught US how to love, not the other way around. This is what she does. She's brought us to her level, she gave us HER wisdom. Every day, she teaches us how to love, again and again. How blessed are we? Personally, I'm bummed. Why? Because I need to figure out some other reason of why I'm worth keeping around.

Not enough to feed a family, but a nice start.
Greenlake

Can't wait until sienna's 16 and she sees this.

instant classic

some restaurants are "hip with the kids." The little girl in the
background is not impressed.

Summer days

First day in Missuola...Go to the River!

Margot! Amazingly, despite living on the other side
of the country, Margot always manages to say hi.
"HI!"

with the cousins.
fruit cup!

Mother's Day! This could almost by submitted to Awkward Family Photos.

Sienna's long hair pre-haircut (her first)

White coat ceremony. Sienna now thinks that when anyone doesn't have to study
anymore, they get a white coat.

At the beginning of the summer, we went camping on the olympic peninsula.
Double sleeping bag, though we found out that it's actually a triple sleeping bag...
Sienna doesn't like being left out.

STEAM ROLLER!!

ferry ride. I'm not sure why she is unclothed...

At the Zoo

Note where kinley is. There was an eagle's nest above us, and it kept screeching
and we kept having to turn around to make sure kinely was still there.
We dubbed her "tasty treat"

Aunt Maud's handiwork. We love the hats!

Then went to a fort. Awesome

My old shirt.

baby kid, meet baby geese

Haircut x 2

So these last three pictures are here because this has literally never happened.
They fell asleep in the car, and then stayed asleep as we pulled them out.
Apparently, other kids do this. Not ours. We were astonished.

Then we went camping at mt rainier.

Sienna loves the snow.
I love to pose.

It's really hard to get a family of four in a selfie.

I don't know why, but I really like this one.

Epic!

Peter insists that Kinley wear this always.

When Sienna turned three, she though that it meant that she could finally write on the wall.
So she did this. That's a wall.
With marker on it. Luckily it came out no prob.
Those, in case you were wondering, are 'threes'