Just a few of the pretties of May will be scattered throughout. This columbine got GINORMOUS. Almost up to my chest! James challenged me with a salutation in Latin for the EOY. I totally had to look half of it up, I've only been learning this language for seven months folks! Also, spontaneous diner dinners out are always a good choice. Love my little men!
May 10th I flew out to Arizona to see my grandmas. Perfectly timed after our CC year but before summer gets into full swing. I flew in Thursday and stayed one night at my Nana's before mom and I hopped in a rental and made the three hour drive to Yuma to see my grandma Miller. They are both so photogenic! I can't believe I didn't take a picture of my Nana! I cherish both of them as they are in their nineties. I think Nana felt very special to have mom and I there for mother's day and I loved the alone time with my mom. We did get a special day or two to just shop and hit the pool and hang out together. Thank you Jeremy and mother-in-law Trudy for making the trip possible. However the trip was not all roses. My dad had been dealing with a "staph" infection on his nose and it continued to get worse not better with antibiotics. We encouraged him to get cultured for MRSA. The culture came back negative and he was convinced something was very wrong. He described it as feeling like it was eating him alive. In a matter of days and over the course of my return it became apparent that it was a cancerous growth. They removed it two days later and he was immediately seen by the plastic surgeon who stitched the nasty hole left by the surgery. He will need a second surgery to rebuild the crease of his nose but we are hoping this is the end. Overall grateful for how it worked out but I feel like we are just beginning to process that this all has even happened. So thankful that June shouldn't hold news like this. Also while I was in Arizona the Weathers arrived to get down to the nitty gritty in the bathroom. TILING. It looks really great, I'm so happy to be able to work with friends. Tiffany and the kids came and she was so gracious to let me run around doing my normal busy routine. We stole moments to visit and I enjoyed how well the kids did together. I don't think the finished bathroom will happen this month but we are very close. Just plumbing trim, faucets, tub installation and shower glass to go!
this was a fun lunch place where they keep rescued birds called "The Perch".
Also , just some beautiful days helping friends, celebrating the birthday of Haylee and Rylee, and performing at a Gideon Banquet, which was blast!
Finished kids bath and finished tile, whats not to LOVE?!!! I especially love the grey tile in grid pattern to match the floor and the subway in white. I'm obsessed with the beveled tile and briefly considered grey grout for the white but I think I'm glad I stuck with classic white as apparently the beveled made the grouting tricky. I feel great that all the work done in our rooms (minus one plumber for one part of the job) have been friends of our family. Such a blessing. Thanks Lucas and Milo for putting finishing touches on! Thanks Daniel and Nathan for all the hard work!
In the Kids department we had MUCH going on this month. Trinity completed her final choir concert for the year and the snoqualmie valley girls choir was officially disbanded. To think that we signed on this year with her being unable to get up front and by the end of year concert (although she briefly stopped singing twice and had to breather) she was an anchor voice. So proud of her and the personal growth of this year and FOREVER thankful to Julie Parsons the director for loving and supporting Trinity just as she is! Trinity also began work on her silver award for girlscouts. She is doing a program on reptile awareness and plans to run a booth at the local block party in July after which she can write the paper required. She has already called the Reptile Man and interviewed him over the phone for her expert inquiry. It was so cute to overhear her telling him about the rough-skinned newt she found while backpacking last summer. All the kids continue in Karate through June, then we will see what next as I can't get the schedule to line up for them all to be at the same hour anymore.
Blake participated in the Washington Junior Achievement program called Biztown. It's a financial literacy program. He learned about personal and business finances, interviewed for a job, and spent a day working as a teller at "BECU". They hold it at a boeing facility and there is an entire 13 company mini city in it! He spent four full days of training (one a week) and I heard he did awesome. He walked in the door and begged to do it again next year. So grateful to the moms that spent the extra time receiving their own training so they could help our kids out, it was SO nice to have a program I could drop him off at and didn't have to wrap my own brain around first.
Also, happy birthday to my mom and brother and congrats to madison my niece who graduated nursing school and here are some pictures of the roses in my yard.
Last but not least was our day at the Pioneer Farm Museum. This is a truly excellent immersive experience involving the Ohop Valley Pioneer Farm Museum and their awesome crew of period dressed employees. We started the morning off in a large low-slung cabin that was quite dark inside (as it should be for 1880) where there multiple stations set up so the kids could grind grains and coffee, dress-up, kneed dough, curl their hair (with an iron held over a lantern flame!), use period toys, and practice laundry. Then we moved over to the barn, forge, and tool shed. There they saw period tools put to work and were given the chance to keep the furnace of the forge going and to pull out 2,000 degree horseshoes and bend them and hammer them. (so not kidding it wasn't even supervised people!) of course we moms were diligent! Then we got a wagon ride with a wagon with WOOD wheels. The horse "Jack" was a retired race horse. There were two original cabins on the property from 1889. It was remarkable to be able to see the previous owners' personal belonging still in the room. A hand made chair, a sewing machine saved from a fire, etc. After that we were off to Pioneer school The school-marm Mistress Dufrasne read us how many lashes we would get for infractions. Things like nails being too long, dressed too colorfully, climbing a tree more than three feet, lying, shirking, teasing, hanging with the opposite sex, etc. Then she walked us through civics, english, math, and history. When we had the chance to sing HER on of our grammar songs on The Lewis and Clark expedition I wish someone had recorded her expression! She was very impressed as 25 students sang in unison multiple facts about it. CC for the win! I think she was also impressed with our courteousness and our little's ability to sit through the hour and a half of school. After all most fieldtrips there are middle school or upper elementary and we had multiple five and six year olds not only maintain their behavior but actively participate. If asked a question was asked of a student they had to stand beside their desk and first say "Yes Mistress Dufrasne" before answering the question. The kids ate it with a spoon. You may be looking at the new "mistress Diviney" of challenge A this fall! HEE HEE. Isaac always has to get in on the action and he was one of the first to respond to the bible lesson - Who is your neighbor? He bowed almost to the floor and used the proper phrase and then said "Asher". I could have fallen off my seat at the cuteness. She said "is that your friend?" and he said "I guess so". *snort Apparently there are quite the requirements to be called friend of Isaac. He raised his hand half hour later and she called on him. Again using his manners he corrected the board on which she had written: the Lewis and Clark Exploration. "No ma'am that should say Expidition" he said. At that point I began to silent pray that he was done raising his hand. After school we had our lunch break and then the kids got to make candles. We returned to the schoolhouse for story time with a descendant of one of the original settlers. It was neat to hear of how smooth the native/settler relationship was in the valley and other stories of the settlers crossing. One family crossed a train trestle over a swollen river, most animals wouldn't do it but their team of mules was blind and crossed without trouble. Also how one little girl one a school spelling bee to earn $.50 and spent it on Apples when she got here because in the midwest they were so hard to come by and she thought they were the most glorious fruit she had ever tasted. It was wonderful history lesson. Lastly the kids headed outside for some pioneer game time. The kids learned variations of duck duck goose and a "winking" game. The kids were exhausted at the end but I think they really enjoyed the day. Isaac said his favorite thing was weighing the chicken eggs. Trinity LOVED the pioneer school. Blake liked the wagon ride. Of course our 15th anniversary is tomorrow as well but as we usually tend to lump things together since birthdays are so close the first week of June I think we are choosing to spend Saturday together just He and I and then spend Sunday his birthday as a family day. Parties rarely happen on actual birthdays around here.
the one moment Isaac really struggled was when he learned we had more work in the schoolroom. But after a few minutes he pulled himself together. Very proud of him.
and that's a wrap on MAY!
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