June June Glorious June

June flew by with so many activities and happenings.  Sophia started the month by inventing/ creating a swing for her teddy bear.

Then Amelia had a field trip with her Kindergarten class to Tolmie State Park, and I got to come along.

 It was very low tide . . . 

 and the sand dollars were so abundant it was almost impossible not to step on them :(

Next came strawberry season - and between me and my helper, Sophia, we picked a flat of strawberries in no time at all; which she then helped me make into multiple batches of strawberry jam.

Sophia had so much fun picking, that she went again that evening with Daddy and Amelia to pick another flat or two.

One of Amelia's pictures from her art class was selected by her art teacher to be displayed at the Lacey Spring Fun Fair (too bad we didn't know that in advance, since we didn't make it to the Fun Fair).

Sophia completed Joy School . . .

and Amelia completed Kindergarten . . . and school is out for the summer!

One of my best friends came to spend 10 glorious, fun-filled days with me and we spent it being tourists.  There is a sculpture park in Tenino . . . and although it is closed, there were a few sculptures out to view so the drive to the middle of nowhere wasn't completely a waste of time.

We went to the glass museum in Tacoma - and that was amazing!  The girls didn't break anything, ha-ha, and we all thought it was cool to watch them make/ blow glass into shapes. 

I got a babysitter for the girls and Carol and I went to the Seattle temple.

On Saturday, all of us, Ken included, went to Mt. Rainier for the day.  It was a perfect day to explore, hike, and enjoy the beauty all around us.

When we got there, the mountain was covered in clouds, but eventually the sun came out and we had a wonderful view of the snow covered mountain.

Our next day trip was to Ruby Beach.  It's a long drive, but worth it.  Such a cool place to explore.

 The girls found a "teeter-totter" to play on.

 And loved touching the "sea creatures".

In the middle of this month, Amelia started a 4-wk class of gymnastics.  She loves swinging on things at home and is very comfortable trying new things in her class.

On Carol's last day, we headed to Seattle for the tastes, sights, and sounds of the city, not to mention all of the traffic.  The girls LOVED feeding french fries to the "dainty eaters", ie. greedy seagulls.

 And playing on the sculptures around the city.

 And this cool overlook of the city, that also happened to have a fun play area for the kids.

Carol did so many fun things with the girls and made us lots of yummy treats, and after she left we tried to go back to our normal schedule, but thankfully, Carol had left one more activity for the girls and they spent 2 fun-filled hours playing with "moon sand" while I worked.  Yeah!

May Mayhem and Memorial Day

Amelia has become a monkey . . . or rather, a monkey bar expert.  She loves the monkey bars . . . and plays on them so much, she gets blisters on her hands, but even that doesn't slow her down too much.

Ken has had quite a few gigs lately with his band, "Guava Jam". . . lookin' good and sounding great.

We went to the elementary for S.T.E.M. night and had fun making a marble roller coaster . .

building a boat and playing with a zipline.

But our best activity this month was going to the beach for Memorial Day.  We explored 2 in the Olympic National Park that we had never been to before - Kalaloch Beach and Ruby Beach.  Different from each other but both very beautiful.  And it didn't rain - so there was that.  And there was this tree desperately hanging on for dear life - amazing!

Of course, it was cold at the beach; when isn't it?  But we came prepared with coats.

 I looked like I was ready for a winter storm to hit, but at least I was warm.

On our way to Ruby Beach, we saw this huge cedar tree that had multiple trees growing out of it - I love the way trees do that.

Ruby Beach was covered with downed trees/ logs which made it interesting and adventurous to get to the beach.

And the river rock covering the beach was so cool; I wanted to fill my pockets with them and take them home . . . but I didn't . . . oh, but I was successful in skipping a rock on the water with one of the many flat rocks on the beach.  And Amelia was successful in falling into the water, with her coat on . . . thank goodness Sophia brought 3 changes of clothes instead of just the one set I asked her to bring since Amelia was already on her 2nd outfit and wears the same size as Sophia :)

Gone Fishin'

The City of Lacey had a fishing event for kids - $5 for a rod and a lake stocked with fish.  Technically, Sophia was too young to register, but Ken brought her along to watch . . . and for the free hot cocoa.

Amelia was pretty excited to catch her first fish . . . and only got mildly freaked out when it started flipping around . . . but oddly, didn't seem to mind watching the guy gut and clean the fish.

Sophia caught a fish too, even though she technically should haven't been fishing . . . but the people in charge didn't seem to care, so she got a rod too.  

Sophia got bored after catching her fish, but Amelia went back at it . . . and excitedly caught another fish (although not pictured).

3 rainbow trout for dinner . . . both girls tried it . . . and Amelia ended up eating 3/4 of her fish.

$5 for 3 fish and a few hours of fishing fun - can't beat that! . . . oh, and I didn't have to come - even better! 

Spring Break

The week before Spring Break (which completely took me by surprise) we enjoyed 1/2 days of school, due to Parent Teacher Conferences, and sunny weather.  So we went to the park, decorated the driveways with chalk,

and made "sand castles" in the sand on the side of the road.

Since I was relatively unprepared for Spring Break, I decided to take the girls to Portland for a few days to stay with my friends.  The weather was perfect and the girls loved being able to wear their summer clothes.  We played at the Bullocks, met a friend for dinner, played at a park . . .

and went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR.

The weather was perfect and the girls loved all the flowers, but had a really hard time not picking them.

I let them pick up fallen petals, and though not the same as the whole flower, it satisfied the urge.

Being relatively new to my smart phone and all things pertaining to, I found that I am not very good at taking selfies . . . but this one turned out okay . . . and a bonus that we got the hot air balloon in the background.

The festival had lots of activities for the kids to do - both free and otherwise.  I let them each pick a paying activity - and both girls elected to jump for 5 min.

It wore them both out, but they loved it and wished they could do it again.

And speaking of being worn out - even though we didn't do much, I was worn out by the end of Spring Break.  I was very happy when school started back up again this week.

Easter Festivities

A week before Easter, our church did a fun Easter activity - food, beautiful musical numbers, and a quick/easy Easter egg hunt for the kids.  We all had fun - and happy that it wasn't the day before Easter like everything else.  Here is Sophia looking silly with her Easter egg bucket on her head.

And Amelia showing us how silly she can look with a huge piece of food in her mouth (sorry, I can't remember what she stuffed in her face) . . . and Ken's cute photo-bomb in the back.

The next week, on the day before Easter, we started our festivities early.  We had so much planned for that day, that the girls are dying Easter eggs in their pajamas right after breakfast.

As always, we dyed raw eggs and the girls did great - only 1 broken egg - out of 20 that they dyed, that's pretty awesome for a 4-yr old and 6-yr old.

Then it was off to choir practice so the girls could practice their song for church . . . then off to the last class of ballet for this session.  The girls are still loving it . . . and Sophia doesn't seem to mind that Amelia micro-manages her in the class ;)

After lunch, Ken took the girls with him to run a few errands while I hid Easter eggs in our backyard.  After Amelia told me last year that I made it too easy, I hid the eggs a bit better.  Amelia found all of hers on the first round, but Sophia had to go back out for a 2nd try to find her last egg.  I think I might have to be even more tricky next year.

But the most important part of our Easter festivities was on Sunday - Easter - when the choir sang the songs about Christ that we have been practicing for so long.  The girls did great on their song and the whole program was wonderful, with a very strong Spirit.  And then we ended our day opening the 12th egg of our Easter advent . . . which of course is empty . . . and writing how we can show our love to our Savior by writing it on a heart and putting it on our wall to remind us.

How grateful I am for Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for me!

Happy Birthday Amelia . . . 2 weeks late

In my defense, we didn't celebrate Amelia's birthday 2 weeks late - I'm just 2 weeks late blogging about it.  Every time I went to our blog, I kept thinking, "I feel like something is missing", but not once did it dawn on me that I had forgotten to blog about my own daughter's birthday!  Oye!  It's been crazy at our house lately.

I taught Joy School the week of Amelia's birthday, so it was a packed week of trying to get everything done on time.  And with much preparation, list making, and prayers, I was able to get every needful thing done - every day!  That in itself was a miracle.

We let the girls choose where we have dinner on their birthday, and Amelia was sure she wanted to do Burger King for her birthday . . . even though she's never eaten there.  But when it came down to it, we ended up at our standard Chinese buffet, where Amelia had French Fries and pizza, while Sophia stuffed herself full of crab legs (she's getting pretty good at cracking open the shells too).

The next day, we threw Amelia a birthday party, with 4 of her friends - 2 from school, 2 from church.  There were a lot of games, including Twister (probably the party favorite), lots of girly screaming, and much fun was had by all.

Deciding on the "cake" for the party was quite a process as well.  First Amelia wanted a cake or cupcakes, but since all she really likes is the frosting, I persuaded her to try something else.  Next she suggested a berry pie.  But then she found out that you can't frost a pie, so that was out.  And finally we hit on the perfect cake - an ice cream cake (with no cake in the middle) and lots of frosting.  Everyone liked that idea!

It's hard to believe my baby is 6-years old, but I love how she's growing up and becoming a beautiful girl - so capable of doing and becoming anything she puts her mind to.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, strong-willed, kind-hearted, ever loving Amelia Bedelia!

Ice Skating . . . Let it Go

Ever since the girls saw Frozen, so long ago, they have been asking to go ice skating.  I knew I couldn't manage 2 girls on my own, and I kept forgetting to put it on the calendar so that Ken could come with us.  Finally, my memory, Winter Break, and Ken's comp day coincided and we were able to go ice skating as a family at a local rink in Tacoma.  The girls were so excited.  They had been "practicing skating" around the house in their socks on our wood floors for days prior to us going.  Here they are, ready to step out onto the ice for the first time, in their skates with their skate "walkers".

Both girls did so great with the walkers.

Here's Amelia showing her quickness on ice.

 And here's quick Sophia.

Both girls have great balance, and neither one fell down much, and when they did, they quickly got back up, brushed themselves off, and kept on skating.  I was so proud of them.  That wasn't how I was anticipating the morning to go.

Pretty soon the girls got confident enough to skate without the walker, but still holding onto one of our hands.  I was I had captured a video of that, but an "action" photo will have to suffice.

Both girls preferred to use the walkers because then they could skate "really fast", but they still did really well just holding onto our hands.

After a few hours, our ankles were sore, we had eaten all of our snacks, and we were ready to call it a day, but we had had a great time and I have a feeling we'll be back sooner than later.