Klickers

Amber and Haley have a real job this summer...well, the first month of the summer, anyway. And, get this, it involves serious manual labor AND evidence that they both posses a work ethic! We couldn't be prouder!

Klickers is a great, family-run strawberry farm here in Walla Walla. They've been around for 90 years and for over 80 of those years they've been employing Walla Walla youth as their harvesters and processors. It's an awesome, G-rated environment where kids can learn to work hard and earn money. Yesterday was Amber and Haley's first day. They had to be there at 6:45 AM, which, in the summer, is a feat in and of itself! They will work 5 days a week, spend their day picking strawberries and come home in the early afternoon covered head to toe in red juice. They were SO tired last night that they both voluntarily went to bed at 8:30!

The funniest part of yesterday (and taking one look at their dishevelled, strawberry-stained selves was pretty darn funny) was that Amber won an award for being their top first-year strawberry picker! Don't get me wrong, Amber is a great kid and we love her to death, but she is not necessarily renowned within our household for her natural work ethic. Brad and I were a little bit surprised to find out that she is a work horse in the strawberry fields! Looks like she's been holding out on us! She even got asked to stay into the afternoon and learn how to process the berries on an assembly line (which is way more lucrative than picking.)

So, summer's off to a good start! An exhausting, hot, sticky, start, full of great life lessons!

Middle School Graduation

Last night Amber graduated from middle school. I don't know how that goes in other areas, but it is a pretty big deal around here. It's held at Cordiner Hall on Whitman College campus. The kids walk, receive diplomas and everything.

She had a great time. She looked gorgeous (see pic below) and enjoyed being with her friends and celebrating their accomplishment. She has really enjoyed middle school, which leads me to believe that she will probably be able to enjoy anything in life!

Amber also received a Super Scientist Award (for "Attitude, Aptitude and Hard Work"), presented to her with her diploma, which was a fun surprise. I have to admit I got a little teary eyed when they got to the N's and I saw her standing anxiously on the stage waiting for her name to be called. My emotions were partly the result of how quickly she is growing up and partly that I am just so proud of the person she is. Jacob, on the other hand, was teary eyed when the 5th speaker took the microphone (thankfully each speech was only about 2 minutes long!) Near the end of the ceremony he started asking us, "Is it over yet?" every 30 seconds.

We are proud of Amber and know she will do great things in high school and beyond!

Kindergarten Celebration

Here comes the barrage of last-week-of-school posts!

Today was Danny's Kindergarten Celebration, which was pretty much like a little graduation. The kids performed a few songs for all the parents/families. Then, one by one, they were given a little diploma-ish paper and took the microphone to share one thing they learned in Kindergarten this year. It was pretty cute. Loved seeing all the different personalities! The thing Danny chose to share was that he learned to be a good friend in Kindergarten this year. And it's true - he has learned that well. Things learned this year that he didn't mention include reading, writing and math (he loves math!)

Danny has had a great year in school. We cannot believe the growth and maturity we've seen. Maybe it seems so dramatic to me because he has been our "active" and occasionally high maintenance child :) But he is truly growing up - still with that Danny spunk that we love so, but definitely ready for 1st grade now.

Letting the crowd know one thing he learned this year.

Receiving his diploma.

Danny and his teacher, Mrs. Takemura, who is retiring (she SWEARS it has nothing to do with Danny!) We are so sad Jacob won't get to have her for Kindergarten - she's fantastic!

'The Warriors' - Tournament Champs!

Haley's softball team finished up their end-of-season 4-day tournament last night - victorious, as you can see by the picture above! They had games Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night and two games on Saturday. They played their tails off and won every single game, the final in a huge rain storm!

It was such a great softball season for Haley! Coming off of knee surgery, she was really not sure what to expect of herself this year. It wasn't until just before the season started that she was even given the green light by her doctor to go ahead and play. To say the least, we all thought she might have a struggle ahead of her and she was feeling pretty nervous and insecure. She was lucky enough to play for a fantastic coach, who truly built her up, and two equally great assistant coaches (one being her Daddy). She worked hard, gave it her best and ended up being a real asset to the team. In the tournament alone she scored several runs, caught a pop fly, covered first for a crucial out and even conquered one of her greatest post-surgery softball fears by sliding home (successfully!) twice! We are really proud of Haley for having the courage to give it a go this season and for having the tenacity to stick with it until she began to see the results she wanted.







CONGRATULATIONS, HALEY!