Play hard or go home, right?

This week we had two awesome play dates: one was a milestone, as it was the first time JT had a friend over from school – no parents attached. JT and Dylan and Haley and I walked to the park and the boys climbed a tree. It was super fun!

Haley had fun on the slide, as usual…

And then the climbing began.

Haley decided to stay closer to the ground.

The boys pushed princess Haley around in the purple car.

Then we met our friends Dante and Asher at Coulon Park, and Cole came with us. It was a boy party, with Haley and the moms banding together on dry land while the boys got dirty.

Both kids were pretty tired after this fun day at the beach, and played quietly in their rooms for two hours while I worked downstairs. I can’t complain about that!

But first, a look at my goofy children, who were playing Batmobile. The paper plates are the steering wheels. 🙂

And now… Haley got invited to a real tea party. We have friends with three daughters and each daughter got to invite two friends. Haley was the youngest guest, and she was so excited (and, she later told me, a little bit nervous) to go by herself to such an event. She had a wonderful time and was a well behaved guest. 🙂 Here she is getting ready to go.

Big brother JT wanted in on the picture too. He also was extremely concerned when we dropped her off: he wanted to go inside and check things out, and I kept telling him he had to stay in the car. I think he is just a tiny bit protective of his little sister!

Mother’s Day started with a wonderful dose of sitting-on-the-couch-reading-books-with-Haley-while-sipping-some-coffee and continued through to shower-without-interruption. 🙂 After church, we went straight to kickball. Jim had a minor injury on the first play of the game, and Haley went to console him in between innings.

He recovered enough to finish the game (playing very well, I might add) and run the bases with the kids afterward.

Then we let the kids play at the park while the men and women chatted, on separate sides of the park.

When we got home, I relaxed (again!) while Jim made a wonderful dinner: perfectly grilled steak, fresh corn on the cob, raspberry-almond-feta salad, and warm artisan bread. I also got a new bracelet!

After dinner, we braved the rain clouds and walked to the frozen yogurt place by our house. Moms are half off on Mother’s Day, and they were packed, but we sat outside with some friends and enjoyed the warm evening.

It was a wonderful day!

We have very much been enjoying our heat wave! We’ve had weather in the seventies and even up in the eighties all week long. Woohoo!

Dad set up the pool!

Jim’s offense at kickball… great average from this game!

Kids watching

Safe!

Haley told me she was doing her Bible study. (That is her Bible. Love it.)

Showing off her new pigtail braids.

Lunch!

A moment of snuggling with Dad

On Tuesday morning, I decided to wash the car in between my eye appointment and leaving for preschool helper. I told the kids they could ride bikes outside in the sunshine, fully expecting Haley to just walk around like normal.

I don’t know why I keep expecting “normal” from her.

“I want to ride my tricycle,” she said. “I”m learning to pedal it.” Of course, Haley, you can ride your tricycle… so I got it out of the garage. And then she pedaled it, all the way to the mailbox. Boom.

“When did you learn that?!” I said, not believing what I just saw. “I’ve been learning how,” she answered, totally matter-of-factly. So I went and got a camera.

Haley pedaled around the entire hour I was out there. After we got back from school, we had an early dinner and then headed back out. JT is really enjoying riding his bike (and just learned how to hit his brake and do a controlled skid, which I need to get on video also…) and it is perfect that now Haley can join us instead of walking or being stuck in the stroller. I’m all for exercise before bed time.

I just couldn’t believe that Haley pedaled all eight blocks in our evening walk around the neighborhood. She has even conquered the “back pedal to get momentum to get started” concept, which you saw if you watched that video clip. I am amazed.

She was absolutely beaming!

Popping out of a rhododendron to surprise us!

Blowing dandelion puffs into the street, not into our neighbors’ yards.

I am thrilled to have two pedaling children. This summer is going to be so much fun!

We grew lots of vegetables in our garden growing up (and I have lots of memories of weeding and harvesting with my mom) but I haven’t done anything on my own besides flowers. The one time my neighbor gave me amazing tomato starts in pots things were going well until Slider ate every last green tomato off the vine. And the birds ate my strawberries.

Now, with no dog and children who can put on their own shoes, I am feeling ready to grow things we can eat. Jim made me a wonderful square garden box last summer and then filled it with four-way compost soil last weekend for me. I went and bought some cool weather crop seeds for JT and I to start planting. I also used SmartGardner.com to plan my garden. The website is amazing!

First, JT wrote the labels for all of our plant sticks. I believe in authentic handwriting practice. Who needs ABC books when you can write real things?

Then we donned our gardening gloves (both kids got some in their Easter baskets this year) and got going.

We can’t wait to see some progress. Smart Gardner tells me I have quite a wait for the carrots. We’re hoping to see seedlings before we leave for North Carolina in three weeks!

Jim joined a kickball team. It’s adult co-ed rec league, and so far it is super fun. This past week was the first official game after the rainy jamboree. All the people in our parenting group are somehow involved, from playing on the team to score keeping. That meant that the one other non-kickball parent and I were in charge of nine children, ages five and under. We played a zone defense. 🙂

Check out this cheering section!

This week Jim got an honorable mention (not quite player of the game, but very close…) for playing defense at short stop so well. He had five outs! JT was impressed with his dad’s fielding skills.

Who gave these kids harmonicas?

Jim and I both had Friday off this week, which was really fun. I got up and ran Friday morning, which was my first long run of the season. It feels great to be back in my running shoes. So far, I don’t even mind the early alarm clock. Then the kids and I did the shopping and got home in time to eat lunch and take the boat to the lake for an afternoon ski in the sunshine. I had fun taking pictures in manual mode.

Sunbathing on the  back deck!

Hiding in the nap cubby

Then we got ready for Grandpa and Grandma Keene to come over for dinner, because they are finally back from their winter home in Arizona. And then… the Keene men went camping and fishing at the Lake Wilderness fishing derby! The ladies went out to frozen yogurt.

In the morning, the men were up at 5:30 AM to eat breakfast and then get fishing.

After JT caught his fish, he had it measured and got a prize.

The men came home and I made waffles with blueberry syrup for breakfast – including freshly pan fried trout!

Grandma and Haley play tea party

Then I got to go to workout by myself while Jim filled my new garden box with fresh dirt. I can’t wait to start planting!

In January, Jim took JT to see Monster Trucks at the Tacoma Dome with our friends Christian and Gracie. I just found these pictures when I was uploading the photos from the fishing derby from the other camera!