Fall Update!

This fall has been busy but a lot of fun. The kids are growing up and it has been fun to watch them start to come into their own. I have tried to capture a brief snapshot of what has been going on in our lives since we last updated our blog.

Birthdays
Fall brings multiple birthday celebrations to our home. In September Ryan turned 13 (Uh, oh...) and Katie 11. Katie's favorite thing about her birthday this year was, "getting my own tub of CoolWhip and getting to see Wicked." Rachel took both Katie and Sarah to see the musical Wicked at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Seattle.

Halloween
Always a festive affair, Halloween took on a special light this year as we had a little person who was enjoying everything as if it was for the first time. Collin enjoyed the slimy pumpkin guts, the costumes but, most of all, he LOVED the candy. Here are some photos from our Halloween.













Thanksgiving
Our Thanksgiving feasting this year featured three (Yes, three...) turkey dinners. Though we were a little tired of turkey before the end of the weekend, we did enjoy spending time with family. Collin's highlight was getting rides on grandpa's tractor.

Collin, The Beast
Collin continues to grow and develop. He is a very sweet little boy and a lot of fun to have in our home. He seems to be picking up new words daily. Our next big Collin adventure will be "The Disappearance of the Binky" to be shortly followed by "Hello Mr. Potty." More to come...

Babysitting
Now that Ryan is 13 and "incredibly" mature, mom and dad will occasionally slip away to run an errand or have a short date. "How did things go?" we typically ask when return from one of these little outings. "Everything was wonderful," the children typically reply in unison with angelic faces. Upon going through our video files I uncovered the following video which shed some light on what goes on when mom and dad are away. It also answered the question, what happened to the juice pitcher and why does the zoom lens on the camera not work anymore?

Fall Activities
Once school starts, the Pringle family seems to get into gear. Katie and Sarah both took dance classes at Karen's Dance Studio in Ferndale. Additionally, Sarah took ballet training at the Blaine Conservatory in Blaine, WA while Katie enjoyed a "Best of Broadway" class at the Bellingham Academy of the Arts in Bellingham. Nathan ran his little heart out playing soccer and was "Lorenzo the Magnifico" in his elementary school's production of Pinocchio. Ryan played on both sides of the ball for his middle school's football team but really enjoyed being a middle linebacker. "You get to hit the heck out of people," says Ryan. Ryan continues with Scouting and has earned his Star rank. His biggest achievement was completing the Bicycling merit badge which required him (and Dad!) to do a 50-mile bike trip. He road a circuitous path from Ferndale north through Birch Bay State Park to Peace Arch State Park on the Canadian Border and back to Ferndale. "My legs still hurt," says Ryan.