She's Back!!!!!

 After falling and breaking her arm this summer, Maeve kept saying she wasn't ready to go back to gymnastics.  She said she would do ballet instead or maybe just

Sunday Funday

We worshiped again yesterday at Union Church.  It was second Sunday which means that after the sermon there is time for conversation in small groups about the scripture and topic.  For this week the topic was sin and what happened in the garden.  It was a great discussion around a difficult topic.

We've been settling in there and are ready to call it home.  I'm even going to head on the women's day away next Saturday.

The kids love sitting up on the kid's bench!

After church this week there was a great Harvest gathering with soup and games for the kids.  We had a good time meeting some people and the kids played and painted.

On the way to the car we spied this in the goodwill store window.  Noah learned how to play chess at Scouts and this brand new Michael Graves set was $12.  We have been playing it nonstop!

And a poem on the bulletin I've been reflecting on...

Genesis 3:13-24


Denise Levertov
From "Evening Train"

Contraband

The tree of knowledge was the tree of reason.
That's why the taste of it
drove us from Eden. That fruit
was meant to be dried and milled to a fine powder
for use a pinch at a time, a condiment.
God had probably planned to tell us later
about this new pleasure.
We stuffed our mouths full of it,
gorged on but and if and how and again
but, knowing no better.
It's toxic in large quantities; fumes
swirled in our heads and around us
to form a dense cloud that hardened to steel,
a wall between us and God, Who was Paradise.
Not that God is unreasonable – but reason
in such excess was tyranny
and locked us into its own limits, a polished cell
reflecting our own faces. God lives
on the other side of that mirror,
but through the slit where the barrier doesn't
quite touch ground, manages still
to squeeze in – as filtered light,
splinters of fire, a strain of music heard
then lost, then heard again.

36th birthday weekend

Paul's office was being moved to a new building so he was off on Friday. We decided to go to see Gone Girl at the movies. It was a 1230 showing but we didn't realize the movie was almost three hours! We raced out of the theater to catch the bus and the bus was late. Finally when we were on our way we knew we would be late to pick up the kids. I texted my neighbor and another parent who both said they would watch the kids on the playground. I was so incredibly grateful in that moment to know a few people well enough to depend on them to help. When we finally got there a bunch of parents just stood around and talked well past dark while the kids played. 

For my actual birthday the weather was supposed to be gorgeous so I wated to be outside. We planned a hike nearby but on the way there Paul realized he was wearing flip flops. We turned around and went to a mall to buy boots.  We decided to change plans a little and do a shorter trail. 

We found the trailhead of Mount Si easily and started up. It was a pretty good incline but nothing like the last one! 

At the top we had an amazing view of the Issaquah valley. 

Saturday night our neighbor invited us over and he made homemade pizza which was amazing. 

Sunday we went to church at Union and stayed for a luncheon and met a bunch of people. 

To finish my birthday weekend we all went out to a seafood restaurant called Chinooks at Salmon Bay and I  enjoyed local crab cakes with an amazing view. (Maeve went as Elsa)

Thank you for all of your birthday love this weekend!

3 on 3

John Hay holds a 3 on 3 basketball tournament each year that anyone can sign up for. Noah was invited to join a team which I tought was awesome since he's new and has never played basketball!

I offered to tie dye shirts for them and they named themselves the tie dye tigers. 

I went to watch and it was so fun! The kids were pretty terrible at basketball but they were having a great time. For Noah's first game they ended up tied and then they did a shoot out. Noah won the shoutout with a great shot!

They lost their second game but won their third which gave them a third place finish in the third grade. 

The tournament was a fundraiser for the school. There are lots of fundraisers all the time because nearly all the specials and extra events are paid for by the pto.

At first I was bothered by that but when I think about it, the taxes are about half what we paid in PA and then we support our own children's education. However, there is a wide gap here in the Seattle public schools between schools with strong pto organizations and those with weaker ptos.  

In any case, it was a really fun time for Noah and I was so grateful that he was invited to be on a team!

Playground parkour

Noah loves American Ninja Warriors and we recently discovered parkour -- an activity where swinging on monkey bars and jumping on things is celebrated! So at the playground weave our own course and timed Noah and Paul raced through the obstacles. It was so fun to watch them! Of course Noah won but not by too much!

305 Blaine

While we were on the Disney Cruise a house came up for sale around the corner.  When returned our neighbor ran over to tell us that we should buy it.  Naturally we thought it would be out of our price range, however when I looked it up it wasn't so bad.  As it turns out it is a short sale and has been on and off the market for 5 years.  We took a look at it and it wasn't in bad shape.  Most of the houses in the neighborhood are over 1 million so this is a steal, even if it needs some work.  So, we put in an offer and it was accepted.  We went through inspection and we were surprised at how good things were... new roof and gutters, plumbing is copper, sewer lines are great, hardwood under the rugs and more.  It has knob and tube electric and needs a new front porch.

So, at this point the bank has to sign off on the loan for the seller to approve it all and that can take a long time. In the meantime we are gathering bids from contractors to paint the exterior, fix the porch, and put in a new kitchen and bathroom.

The house basically has no back yard and is about 20 steps up from the street with no garage and no off street parking, but it will allow us to stay in this neighborhood, allow the kids to stay with their new friends and in their new school.  In addition, the house will already have a ton of equity the moment the sale is final so even if we don't like it we will make money on resale.

We are excited to pretty much have a clean slate, though and we have lots of great ideas for this place!!!!!  Meeting with contractors and designers and architects has kept me busy!!!


Dining Room (with a free lazy boy! -- yuck)

Living Room

Master Bedroom with a gas fireplace and sky lights

The house is about 2100 sq. ft with a finished basement with a bedroom and bathroom in the basement.  When we are done it will be 4 beds and 4 baths which will be awesome and tons more space than we have now!!!!!

So, say a little prayer it all works out for us and that the bank approves the sale! 

Parkour

Here is where Noah will take Parkour.  Watch the video... it's so cool!!!

http://parkourvisions.org