Not only was Jim at work on Mother’s Day, he was at work the whole day before and spent the night at work as well. But it’s not called Wife Day, and I was very happy to be home with my kids without much going on. Jim did make me a wonderful lunch on Saturday before he left for work, and took the kids shopping for Mother’s Day gifts for me earlier in the week in a spare moment, and had them sign a card, and had my favorite bracelet fixed at the jeweler, and organized a night out… and I definitely feel loved and appreciated.

On Saturday afternoon, JT and I did a sewing project. It was his first time using a sewing machine and he really got into it. After we finished his marble bag, he spent a lot of time just making more stitches on scrap fabric. He even stitched a T on a piece of football fabric for his cousin, Travis. 

The finished product!

I surprised the kids after dinner and bath with a fun plan: watching a movie in our bed, followed by a sleepover with mom. We have neeeeevvvvver done anything like this. Haley and I have never slept in the same bed, let alone the same room. I avoid her noisy, flinging sleep habits so I can be the best mother possible in the morning. 🙂 But I thought this was a good chance to sacrifice a little sleep for a fun memory, so we did it. This is how the bed looked at 4 AM. I’m not sure how people who co-sleep are functional. I suppose they get used to it.

This is what my view looked like at 6:57 AM. “Good morning, Mom, the sky is awake.” Melt my heart. Then I told her she had to wait 15 minutes for me to wake up a little.

We met my parents for a picnic lunch at Point Defiance park and enjoyed the sunshine.

After a good nap and a winning kickball game, these three husbands surprised their wives with a babysitter (all seven kids at our house) while we walked to a local restaurant and enjoyed an adult night out with friends, which was wonderful. Here we are walking to dinner, obviously having a good time already!

We had the pleasure of visiting our new nephew (and cousin) tonight! Russell Small was born today at 12:15 pm. He’s a keeper. 🙂

Oh. My. Goodness. Having a baseball boy is so much fun! We just love going to games, being snack mom or dad, and watching our young man enjoy playing a team sport. What’s more, his four grandparents and little sister attend and cheer him on. We are so very blessed to have family here watching him play. He is the only player on the team with a cheering section! Here is a picture Jim took after his first game. Doesn’t it look professional? Framer!

We think he has a great coach, which is an answer to prayer. Coach AJ is fun but focused on learning the sport. He has a great mix of “let’s get this done” and “let’s run around for awhile.” It is really helping JT build confidence and learn the rules of the game. He has played lots of different positions because the kids get to switch every inning (of the three innings they play each game). I thought he made a pretty handsome pitcher and his throws to first were very accurate!

He just played catcher on Friday, and that’s what Jim played in high school so it was fun to see him all geared up.

JT is developing all sorts of skills – catching backhanded grounders and everything.

Waiting his turn

Ready for action

I’m glad we all love it, JT especially, because we have practice one day and games two days a week for nine weeks. That’s a lot of t-ball for these little ball players, but JT goes to bed praying, “Thank you that I get to play baseball tomorrow,” so he must be having a great time!

We started Easter week by stuffing eggs for JT’s school Easter party. JT did all the work one afternoon while Haley was napping.

We also made candy nests for the party, which was super fun and easy. The kids had a great time adding the coconut grass and eggs.

The party was rainy and the egg hunt was looooonnnnngggg. They were supposed to find 18 eggs, numbered 1-18, in order. I’m going to just move on from that topic now.

Easter Sunday we had banana oatmeal pancakes for breakfast and got dressed for church. Once again, a picture says a thousand words…

I am so grateful for my family and the ability to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior in freedom.

At church, Haley picked a flower to add to the cross. JT declined, so he missed it for the first time since he could walk. I was a little sad, but it had to end some day I suppose.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Cole’s house after church for relaxing and dinner. The kids brought some new toys from their Easter baskets. JT got marbles, so we played together and the floor and had a great time watching him learn a new skill.

Then Grandpa Cole had planned a treasure hunt for the kids. He hid eggs and made maps of where they were hidden so they had to use the clue in one egg to find the next one. It was really fun and, at the end, they both found their treasure!

We went outside before dinner and played with Haley’s new sidewalk chalk. Jim traced the kids like this…

…and Haley got covered in fun. 🙂

Next it was trampoline time, and I love these photos!

After a wonderful dinner and dessert, we came home and tucked our children into bed… JT in his new Planes sheets from Grandma and Grandpa Keene!

Have you read Art Dog? We hadn’t. But seeing it live tonight made us want to check it out!

Thank you, Seattle Children’s Theater for another quality production! (P.S. JT, a children’s theater guru, said that he likes SCT better than Carco Theater because they have “better costumes and actors.”)

Hellooooo Spring Break! I kicked off the week with a quick trip to California for my contract job. I flew down Friday night and was home to smooch the kids in bed on Saturday night.

Sunday after church we had our first kickball game of the season. Go Jiminy Kickits! 🙂

Then we headed to Port Orchard for dinner with our longtime friends, the Robertsons. We spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma Cole’s house and enjoyed the 70-degree weather on the lake on Monday. It’s a good thing we skiied, because of course Grandma made cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

Happy to be on the lake

 

Tuesday morning we went for a couples’ short run before breakfast; again, a good thing since Grandma Cole made Jim’s request: strawberry waffles with ice cream. Jim and JT helped Grandpa drop a couple of small trees and start a burn pile. Then we skiied again – colder and windy this time, but still great to be on the water.

We came back Tuesday night and started Wednesday off with workout and a relaxing day at home catching up on chores. These two crazy children kept harassing me while I read on the deck in the sunshine. They had awarded themselves stickers for a job well done… oh what, I’m not sure!

This is a picture of what happened when I asked JT to clean up his cars. He said “Can I leave out the ones on the train track?” I said “Sure.” When I went to check on his work, I saw he had done this. Score one for creativity. I let him leave it.

We did lots of yard work on Thursday. It felt great to be out in the sunshine. I prepped all the flower beds and garden and pots, and mowed and swept and generally got ready for outdoor fun.

Thursday evening JT had his first t-ball practice. He was so excited. He was very serious the whole hour, and came home starving. He ate two huge bowls of soup, two rolls, his fruit, and some graham crackers and milk. After a warm bath, he was asleep in minutes. For a kid who normally lies awake for an hour, that was awesome. Clearly we need him in organized sports just to burn off the energy!

Friday we did the shopping and went to the library to pick up tickets for a free play next week. While we were there, the children’s librarian mentioned they still had a few tickets left for a different musical production that afternoon, so that gave us a full afternoon as well.

Spring Break this year has been wonderful: sunshine, my children, getting organized around the house, and a little bit of work as well. I am blessed!

I turned 34 a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to blog about it because it wasn’t a BIG birthday, but it certainly was a nice one. Jim was out of town for work and my children were out of town as well because I had a conference in Edmonds to attend. But I came home to this special note from Haley, which apparently she wrote all by herself except for the V.

Jim did come home from work early Friday night, surprised me with a beautiful bouquet, and took me out to my favorite local Chinese restaurant. Then we both packed for our separate trips and ate Ben & Jerry’s in bed, watching The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on DVR. Nice. 🙂

After my conference, I headed to my parents’ for dinner with them, the kids, and my grandma. It was yummy! The kids and I stayed overnight. These are out of order, but here’s what my kids consider a bedtime snack. Easy and takes a while to eat!

Birthday dessert: pudding made with almond milk

I got quite a few presents before we left for Spain, but I got a few more on my birthday. I am excited about this book (thanks, Matt & Jen!) because of our little garden project. I am also looking forward to reading The Book Thief, watching the movie, getting a pedicure, free coffee, and other wonderful gifts.

Walking in the rain at Grandma’s house

Today is April 1st, and we were blessed with wonderful sunshine and a day to get some things done. I washed the car while the kids rode bikes this morning, and this afternoon I did yard work while the kids played on the play structure in the back. It was wonderful!

JT had his “100th Day” celebration at school today.

 

A lot has happened since we’ve been back from our big trip. We are full of newness! First off, JT registered for kindergarten. He was so excited and the office staff at his school were truly amazing. We are really looking forward to next year.

Then I went on another quick trip, believe it or not. I had actually said that I could only do it if I could fly in and out in under 24 hours. And I made it! I got to visit my alma mater, the University of Idaho. I was disappointed that my sorority was closed up for spring break, and didn’t get to tour the house.

Haley started being able to do puzzles. Suddenly, after a lifetime of not finding puzzles super interesting, she is capable of completing free form puzzles with lots of pieces. So funny.

JT got new cleats. With t-ball right around the corner, we’ve been practicing at the field nearby and in the backyard a lot!

The kids had dentist appointments this week, and it’s the first time Haley has laid the chair all by herself. Normally I sit with her a little, but this time she rocked it – mouth open wide – all by herself. No cavity club!

Back to puzzles: Haley wanted to try JT’s states puzzle. It is freeform (no borders or backdrop) so it’s a tough one. I tried not to discourage her from trying but also warned her about the difficulty. When she got stuck, she ran and got the globe to try to see what shape she was missing. While not super effective, I was really proud of her for the idea!

Finally, when did Haley learn to write more letters? I’m so glad she did, because I got to come home to this sweet note on my counter. 🙂

I had been to a Regional Forum before (which is just teachers from the US and Canada) in 2006, so I had a rough idea of what to expect and I really didn’t think I would get selected. When I found out, I told Jim that I had applied. 🙂 He said, “Do you think you’re going to Barcelona without me?”

So my mother-in-law coordinated her annual pilgrimage home from snowbirding with our trip, we got an air miles card to cover a lot of Jim’s ticket cost, and there you go: nine days in Spain.

We landed on Sunday at noon and had the rest of the day to walk the beach and sleep. On Monday, we toured Sagrata Familia, took a city tour, and walked La Rambla. On Tuesday, Wedneday, Thursday, and Friday, I spent ten to twelve hours a day at the forum and Jim spent that amount of time walking around the city with his new buddies, Megan and Anthony, who are other spouses who came along for the trip. We got to spend Saturday together and went up Montjuic to see the castle and went to the Picasso Museum, among other little things. We flew home on Sunday and went back to work today. We’re a little tired. 🙂

We are thankful for this amazing opportunity, and for Cathy, who spent the week taking care of our children in amazing fashion: the fine art of balancing between long-term babysitting with rules and fun-with-Grandma. We are so blessed!

Click here for pictures, with captions. And you can also watch this video to see the conference! Or you can view our photobook, below.