Not to be gross

Oh this poor guy!  Scott is a coach. . .girls basketball and girls volleyball.  For us, the spring means open gym for both sports.  Scott has worked it out that he is only there once a week and he schedules open gyms for both sports on the same nights back to back.  He gets to play a lot on the night he is there.  

This happened last week playing basketball while guarding another guy.  I'm sure you have heard that head wounds bleed a lot. . .just from the look of Scott's clothes when he got home I would have to agree.  It is now starting to heal.  We are out of the angry red/purple phase and into the yellow/green phase.  His comment when he got home that night, " Man, I was playing so good when this happened!  I was hitting all my shots and making some deep 3s!!!"

One last interesting note, this EXACT thing happened just a few months ago guarding the exact way, only last time it was his zygomatic arch that got hit and split open! Nice right? 

Obsession

"Mom, where's my yip-stick?"  

It all started with this chap stick a few months ago. I had these amazing chap sticks stashed all around my house so when ever I needed some it was there.  Well, this lovely girl discovered them and has since found ALL of them and proceeded to use them ALL!  I now have to stash these treasures high and out of sight. 

Her love affair with "yip-stick" did not stop there. She has recently found Avery's play make-up and has been in heaven. For days she was been covered ear to ear with lip stick and cream eye shadow in various shades of pink, blue, and purple.  

Today she decided everyone, including Kal, had earned a make-overs. Lincoln likes to color outside the lines at this point so it is perfectly fine to use eye shadow on both your eyes as well as your lips!  Both the A-dubs were good sports. 

Black Beard

This past week Avery had the chance to rehearse with The Missoula Children's Theater.  They preformed in the musical, "Black Beard."  In 5 days the company held auditions, cast, rehearsed and put on a musical.  Avery was cast on Monday as King Crab and 5 days later she was singing on stage!  I was a bit concerned as to how tired and grouchy she would be through out the week but to our surprise, we saw none of that.  3 of the 5 days she had rehearsal from 3:30 till 8.  She would ride the bus home, eat a quick snack, decompress for about 15 min and then we were out the door to return to school.  She came home happy and satisfied each night.  It was really fun to observe this.  She was happy to do what was asked of her both at rehearsal and at home to prep for the next day.  She had a blast!  She did such a great job with her lines (lots of dramatic feeling behind all her dialogue) and songs.  It has been a treat to watch her find another avenue to express herself as well as develop some new talents.

Spring Break

I LOVE the Oregon Coast!

We took a very short trip over Spring Break to visit.  It was wonderful!  On the way home Scott and both agreed that this was the best "beach day" on the OR coast that we have had since we were both kids.  The weather was wonderful!  The kids played all afternoon, building sand castles, playing in the water, burying themselves, running, flying kites.  We literally had to drag the kids away when it was time to go.  If left to their own devises they would have stayed till the sun went down and even then they would have found something to do.  

Our second day was spent at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  Kal's favorite was the shark exhibit, Avery loved it all and Lincoln just wanted to run everywhere regardless of what it was!

What a nice way to decompress and refuel before "life" starts again.  

Crazy Teeth

These pictures just crack me up!  These two get into EVERYTHING right now. We made these teeth for Halloween years ago and they found them in our bathroom cabinet recently. These pictures cause me to pause every time I come across them because I think I'm looking at different kids!! Their smiles are so strange!  

Washi Tape

Recently Avery and I made a gift for her to take to a birthday party (I wish I would have taken a pic.) It was a simple notebook decorated in paper and washi tape and it was darling! We also started our Mother's Day Gifts for Activity Day Girls using washi tape.  I will post pics when we finish, but can I say how much I am LOVIN' washi tape?  It is so easy to use and makes simple projects look complicated by adding extra layers of texture.  Love it!  

Needless to say Kal and Lincoln love washi tape too!  They wanted "band-aids" made of "wacky tape" on all of their fingers!  They crack me up.  Both of them kept this stuff on till dinner time later in the day.  

Aren't little kids hands the cutest?  I LOVE them!  Both of these little sets of hands are still chubby and small and so child like.  I pretend to believe that Kal's hands are clean but know in my heart of hearts that they go in places I don't even want to know about.  GROSS!  I'm sure Lincoln is the same as she is turning into Kal's shadow!   

Tamanawas Falls

We got to hike this past week with the sister missionaries from our area and a few good friends to this beautiful waterfall just off of highway 35 in the Mt Hood National Forest.  Such a beautiful waterfall and hike.  Lincoln is ever the good sport about being in the pack. She wants desperately to walk the whole way and she actually hiked the first 1/2 mile.  However, this kid is a bit clumsy and the terrain just got a little hairy.  Lots of roots and rocks to navigate, plus we had a short window to get back to town to meet Avery off the bus.  What a great hiking buddy Lincoln is turning into.

Kal never ceases to amaze me!  This hike was about 4 miles round trip with some steady climbing the first 2 miles.  He hike the entire way and I would say that he actually ran 60% of that.  He is strong and agile.  He has such a good sense of himself and his capabilities.  The only complaint I got was that we didn't have enough time to throw a bazillion. . .yes a bazillion rocks into the river.  

In these small moments I remember the good. 

 The Good meaning:

How blessed I am for these beautiful children I get to be with.

How blessed I am to live in THE most beautiful place on earth, IMO!!!

How blessed I am for good health that allows me to do these things with my kids.

How blessed I am to live in a free country where these outings are possible.

How blessed I am for good employment that gives me these opportunities.

How blessed I am with a spouse that encourages such adventures for me and the kids

So Thankful right now!