One of my favorite things about living in Spokane is the cross country program at the schools. It's so great! This past week Holly and Greta had their first meet of the season and they rocked it! They worked hard and I'm proud of them!
One thing we never got to this summer was riding the Hiawatha Trail. We snuck it in this last Friday on the last weekend it's open. It was really fun, however, I definitely recommend finding the cushiest ride possible because it's bumpy. My bike has no shocks and pretty narrow tires. By the end of it, my head and neck felt like I had spent the day at an amusement park. So now I know... Otherwise, the views were incredible and the weather was perfection. It was a fun trip! Greta struggled a little towards the end. Maeve did great the whole time in her seat. She loves the bike!
This is kind of a big deal... this past week I became a US citizen! Pretty exciting. The process was really quick (less than 4 months start to finish!!). I submitted my paperwork, was fingerprinted, had my interview and civics test and then the last step is to take the Oath of Allegiance. I have begun filling the paperwork out a few times over the years, and now felt right to finally do it.
But, I will tell you how grateful I am that it was so easy for me to first get permanent residence status and then to become a US citizen. I am so privileged to live in North America. My experience immigrating definitely has an influence on my political views and I'm so excited to vote! Overall, I feel immense gratitude that there are so many paths in life that I've been able to choose. It's incredible.
To celebrate, I of course threw myself a party where everyone brought an apple pie! It was so fun and so low key and I feel so grateful so many people showed up to celebrate with me. I made a gluten-free salted caramel tart and it was so good!
It's always great when a homeschool activity is so fun that's it's an acceptable Saturday activity! This past week, we learned about skeletons and then we made spines from gummy lifesavers and pasta. The kids were really excited to eat the treats! We also had a little friend join us for the activity. Remi is like family to us, we love her so much!
It's so infrequent that I do something creative just for the hey of it. I need more of that in my life. This past Sunday, I took some portraits of my daughters. It's no easy exercise and I really try hard not to be monster mom when I'm taking pics of my kids. Totally not my strength to be cool and fun. But, I got them making funny faces and all sorts of expressions and in between those, I captured some sweet pictures of them. Obviously the baby was the hardest to take pictures of. She found a button and insisted on putting it in her mouth. Oh man...
The days are long but the years are short.
