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.

New Year . . . .

New Year, new resolutions, new car, new job . . . for someone who doesn't like change, this has been a crazy start to a new year.  But before I get into all that, I have to post these pictures of the girls playing Animal Twister with their cousins.  Jenny and Richelle were visiting Grandpa with their families while we were in UT, and one night, all 4 girls played together.  It was the night I was out with friends, so I missed it, but I was so grateful for the great memories that my girls were able to make with their cousins.

A few weeks before Christmas, my employer from my hotel days in Portland, called to offer me a stay-at-home job, with hours I could set myself.  I wasn't really planning on going back to work yet, but I had been thinking a lot about how I could find a job that would let me work around kid's school schedules, and when this job was offered to me, I figured it was an answer to a prayer I hadn't prayed yet, and was too good to pass up.  So, with the promise of a 2nd income, Ken happily spent my paycheck before I got it and we bought a 2015 GMC Acadia.  I test drove one before Christmas in Olympia, but we actually ended up buying one on our trip to UT.  Drove to UT in my Honda, drove home in this . . .

I wasn't sure how I was going to like driving a much larger vehicle, but so far, it's been good.  It did take a bit of getting used to, but now I love it and am glad we have it.  And the car payments are my incentive for getting out of bed every morning at 5am!  BTW - this is not an actual picture of our car (although it looks just like it); I was too lazy to go out to the garage to take a picture, download it, and then upload it to our blog ;) 

Because I can work from home whenever I want, I figured that some of my best, uninterrupted hours would be before anyone woke up.  So I work from about 5am - 7am, and then I try to fit in 1-2 more hours somewhere else in my day.  Working has been an adjustment, especially when my position is a new one, and my new boss is trying to figure out how to keep me busy.  But so far, it's going good.

I had another birthday.  It was a quiet affair.  Every year I think about having a small party, but that just hasn't happened in the last few years.   Ken cooked me gluten-free waffles for breakfast, the girls helped me clean, and I got a brand new pencil sharpener (at my request) - one that actually works!  You'll know I'm an office supply nerd when I tell you how much fun I had sharpening a large handful of pencils to test it out :)  That afternoon Ken took the girls to the Children's Museum while I enjoyed a few hours of scrapbooking in a quiet house, followed by dinner out with the family.  

And to wrap up this not-so-exciting, rambling blog post - New Year's resolutions.  Last year I resolved to read the Book of Mormon - and I did it!  It was so great, I'm going to do it again (although I'm not off to a very good start so far).  I resolve to spend less time on Facebook (so far so good) and to talk less & listen more. 

Here's to a great 2016!