Absence

So absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Because we’ve definitely been absent from updating this blog.

But in our absence from here, we’ve been busy doing some fun things and of course some fairly boring ones. I don’t think it’s necessary to go into detail about the boring things, which mainly involve Dave being at class, the lab, etc., an awful lot. So on to the fun things…..

Kiera was awarded as Student of the Month for being Compassionate and we are super proud of her. She’s always been a compassionate little creature. During school, if someone falls, she wants to help take them to the office for a band-aid. She has cried because she’s worried a lost toy might be lonely. And once when watching a Scooby Doo movie, I found her with tears rolling down her cheeks because Scooby Doo was sad. I am glad she’s compassionate. It’s an incredibly important trait to have and I hope she continues to keep that compassion as she grows.

As a reward for being Student of the Month, she was given a gift certificate for dinner out. She was pretty proud of her certificate, and the only downfall of the whole experience, was that the ice cream machine at the restaurant was broken and for anyone who knows Kiera, that’s fairly earth shattering. Don’t worry, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home and all was once again right in her life!

Happy little girl!

This is what most pics of Kiera and Dave look like these days

But bribery still works....for Kiera, not Dave! ha

Smiles

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

My mom came to visit for my birthday, which was super fun in so many ways. I don’t think I’ve spent my birthday with her for more years than I want to count. We had lots of fun, ate great food, shopped tons and just enjoyed being together.

We also had a snowstorm in February that Kiera was thrilled about. She woke up to snow on the ground and it was hard to get her dressed in snow gear before she jumped out in it.

We built a snowman….

Kind of a tiny little guy, but still cute....

And then Goose ate his cute little carrot nose…

We made snow angels….

And then we went indoors and enjoyed hot chocolate and donuts with friends! I had forgotten how pretty snow can be, so it was a good reminder of home. And then I was glad when it melted the next day and the green grass once again was visible.

During spring break (which luckily both Dave and Kiera had at the same time), some of our wonderful friends let us use their beach house right on the Oregon Coast at Rockaway Beach. It was a wonderful time.