Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school.  Eli was home sick.  Kids finished up 10th grade, 7th grade, & 3rd grade.  Hans is out tonight for an end-of-year party.  Abby & Eli went back-to-back & the boy is a hair taller than she is now too (already determined he was taller than me a couple weeks ago).  No wonder I keep needing to buy him new pants!  He bent his knees slightly to give me a hug tonight.  Good grief.  I told him to knock it off, the little bugger.  He just laughs.  Juneau in a week!

This Week's Busy-ness

(aka Mama Pride Moments)

Hazel's last spring soccer game is Monday.  Thursday, things start to really kick into gear.

Thursday: Our Abby has a formal Induction & Recognition Ceremony for National Honor Society!

Friday: Eli performs with the Jazzhawks (the Haller Jazz Band) during the RAH (Recognizing Achievement at Haller) award ceremony before school.  He's also being recognized for GPA.  After school is his Math Olympiad end-of-year celebration & individual award recognition.  Once I get the kids all home, then I race off to Hazel's dance recital rehearsal.

Saturday: Hazel's first recital performance.

Sunday: Abby's 16th birthday!  We will head out early in the morning to Whidbey for Weber family time & a brunch celebrating our Abby's birthday & her Uncle Nels's bachelor degree.  I'm still unclear on who exactly is staying behind when I head out for Hazel's final recital performance.  Those staying later on Whidbey get to attend Nels's graduation party.

Poor Hans is finishing up Drivers' Ed with kids & has 16 hours of driving scheduled Monday - Saturday.  He has to miss Abby's event on Thursday since he'll be driving until 7.  

Division Finals & Updated PRs

Yesterday was the North County North Division Finals in track for Eli.  He made a new PR in Shot and placed 8th!  He's not impressed, but it's 8th out of 18, so I sure am!

So his Division standings are:
15th place - 110m Hurdles - 33":  22.56a  (For the record, this is NOT last place!!)
8th place - Shot Put - 8lb : 25'4" (new PR!)
6th place - Discus -1kg : 68'3"

Current PRs for Eli:
Hurdles - 21.24
Shot Put - 25'4"
Discus - 70'6"

Athletics

Abby's last tennis match of the season was yesterday.  She's happy with her season.  Her coach is impressed as well.

Eli has new PRs from his track meet on Wednesday.
400 Meters - 1:23.94
110m Hurdles 39" - 24.74
Shot Put 4kg - 24'10"
Discus 1kg - 70'6"

Eli has Force soccer tryouts starting tomorrow.  Hazel had two soccer games this week.  It's fun to watch Hazel play.  She's more involved in the game this season, yet still occasionally hops when she runs up & down the field.

Current Stats

Trying to figure out how to follow my kids' athletic standings is not easy!  Tennis only does team standings with team win/loss records and a combined individual win/loss records.  I can't seem to find a way to follow my particular tennis player.  Track & Field is a breeze comparatively.

Stats I've found to date:

AHS JV Tennis:
3rd in Wesco North 3A with 6 wins, 4 losses

Haller MS JV Track & Field, Eli Weber:
Wed Apr 19:
Hurdles 110m - 39": 2nd place, PR 26.47h
Shot Put - 12lb: 1st place, PR 20.5
Discus - 1.6kg: 2nd place, PR 52.47
Wed Apr 26:
Shot Put - 12lb: 3rd place, PR 21' 9.5"
Discus - 1.6kg: 1st place, PR 62' 6"

As of today, Eli's North County League Standings are 3rd in Hurdles, 3rd in Shot Put, & 2nd in Discus. State Standings don't look quite so marvelous, but are still phenomenal.  He's 71st in Hurdles, 64th in Shot Put, & 46th in Discus.

Love that I have kids doing some athletics!  Each week seems to bring new PRs for both kids.  Really can't ask for any better.

One Proud Mama!!!

That boy of mine had his 2nd ever track meet today & placed 3rd in shot put & 1st in discus!  I'm a super proud mama.

Goodnight, Abby

HANS: "Mom's in the bath & she's not clothed."  

(This is obviously something everyone says when they open the bathroom door.)

ABBY: "Then why are you looking at her?...I was just coming to say goodnight!"

My Goofy Dog

Our neighbor, Nancy, has four little dogs.  Three are around 14 years old and their many ailments keep them from proper walks.  The baby, little Bella, is a yorkie chihuahua cross and her short little legs cannot keep up with Nancy's post-mail carrier walking desires.  So Nancy takes our Harvey for miles long walks every morning.  I have a free (albeit slightly nutty) dogwalker!  This has been a fabulous arrangement since Harvey gets a great walk in every day and Nancy's antsy-ness is a little tempered.

This morning, Nancy didn't even have time to text me her regular "knock knock" before Harvey spotted her.  He ran to the window near the door and gave a bark.  Then he ran to me in the living room and arooo-ed a bunch before prancing excitedly back to the door.  It was such a "My friend is here! She's really, really here!"  Silly Harvey.

Abby Update & Then Some

Poor Abby.  Her toe fractures (yes, more than one!) are serious enough to keep her on crutches for another couple of weeks.  One fracture is right next to a growth plate.  The doctor was kind enough to show me where the fractures are.  I also liked seeing the as-yet-unfused growth plates.  Still thinking the #1 girl has 3-5 inches left to grow.  She's being very good about using her crutches since the doctor said if she's not, she could be looking at surgery.  Hans has moved her out of her walking class since she can't walk right now and has gotten her into a photography class.  Her first day in Photography had her searching the school for something from the 70s.  Someone thought to ask the age of her father...so she sneakily took a picture of her father teaching through a classroom window.  Made for a lot of giggles later at home since he hadn't noticed.  We surprised her yesterday with a larger terrarium for Coriander that we found while garage sale-ing.

I enjoy living in the school district where we teach.  Kids recognize me all over, even high schoolers, as the substitute and I love it.  I called a couple of weeks ago to order a Papa Murphy's pizza for the family and when I said to put in under "Weber," the kid on the phone asks, "Are you Mr. Weber's wife?"  That in itself is a funny question since "Mr. Weber" can be vague and any male with the last name Weber.  I said yes, and the boy said, "You've subbed me a few times and I had Mr. Weber as a teacher!"  I picked up the pizza instead of sending Hans like I intended because the kid said he'd see me in a bit.  I even had more children saying "hi" to me as we garage sale-d yesterday than Hans did.

Hazel is a funny peanut.  She's over-scheduled and seems to be loving it.  She's still doing Girl Scouts (although we're going to slow down on it during soccer season) and dance, but she's added soccer to her busy-ness.  Come October 3, we should be a little scrambled getting kids to games.  Thankfully, she's not into being keeper.  I don't know that I could handle another kid on goal.  She came home last night from Ellie's and Baile's house with grey, white, and red makeup lines on her face and arams and yelling, "BRAINS!"  Somebody was a funny little zombie.  A zombie!  What the heck?  Hans asked her if she had a sister and she replied, "No, I don't have a sister.  I just know a girl I can eat!"

We're working on finishing up Eli's closet.  I've painted the closet the same blue as his room and am gearing up to start painting the downstairs this AM.  Hans is going to hang the door and finish the closet rods and shelving today.  I'm hoping to talk to Theresa tomorrow about the new appraisal.  Still waiting on the house across the street to close to see how close to 415K they got.  Our house should be valued high enough now for us to lose the PMI. :)

Life on Ambleside

It's my most favorite time of the year.  School starts this week!  Everyone is now in one school district!  Tomorrow is Abby's first day of high school.  Wednesday will be Eli's first day of middle school.  Hazel starts 2nd grade then and has her first dance class of the new year.

I love the first days of school.  Kids are excited and wake up on time.  School supplies look all snazzy and sharp.  My house will be quiet for a few hours.  Poor Harvey will look at me sadly, then watch out the window for the kids to come home.

Too bad Abby broke her foot Saturday night while running up the stairs trying to surprise Eli.  His room has been a construction site the last few days while Hans puts in a closet, making our home a 4-bedroom house.  We're working on eliminating our PMI & maybe getting a refinance for a lower interest rate at the same time.  Who knows if it will work.  The house has to appraise for $55k more than we purchased it all to work out favorably, but with the house across the street (a 3-bed, 2.5 bath, 2700 sq. ft house) asking $415k, I think we look should be able to appraise for at least $340k.

I love our home.  I enjoy driving to our house through the streets in our development.  I like the sidewalks and the tidy yards and the quiet.  I love that my kids have friends all over our development and can ride their bikes on sidewalks and trails and not be on any major roads ever.  I still have painting yet to do, but enjoy the process.  It's such a small improvement to make to a home and it makes such a visible difference quickly.

Just grateful.

She's almost 13!!!

Abby is unloading the dishwasher while Eli is getting himself a glass of ice water.  Her eyes filling with tears, Abby asks that Eli not use a certain glass cup because it's the only one we have that "is perfect for making parfaits."

We talk about how *maybe* this isn't completely rational, but Eli, can you please not use that particular cup for water anymore?  Everyone is allowed a few irrational quirks, right?  THAT BOY says, "Like you liking this song?"  (The song being this one.)

Stinker.  Yes, exactly like that.

Total Must-Share, Even With Chaos

Today's Hazel's 6th birthday.

I came back home after dropping the kids off at school today to an email from Hazel's teacher:

Tanya Rolfs

To Me

Just thought I would let you know that Hazel is coming home with a gift from Reid.  He was so excited to give it to her he got no sleep!  He waited and waited for her to show up and was so excited to give it to her.  It was so funny!  So you can put in her baby book she got her first gift from a boy!

I wrote her back: 

Oh my.  Yesterday I cracked up when I picked her up from school.  She got almost to the car & had to turn around to hug Reid, then hug Madison, then sign "I love you" to Stachia...then start to the car again, then get turned around to hug Reid & more signing & goodbyes.  Then she walked to the car with that hunched-over, foot-stomping "I can't believe how I have to endure all this" face.  Goofy girl.  Hans & I have no idea what we're going to do when she's in middle school if this is starting now!

And got this in reply:

Tanya Rolfs

To Me

Well luckily Reid just thinks of her as his really good friend.  And it was so funny because I asked her if she opened it and she kinda shrugged and looked at me funny as Reid yelled, “I opened it for her!”  And she smiled and nodded at me.

So when I picked up the kids, I asked Hazel about her gift from Reid.  The present was in a pink gift bag and is a colorfully, polka-dotted unicorn beanie-boo (which she first names "Fallusha" and we get her to change it to "Petunia") and a set of heart stickers.  Eli starts teasing her that Reid might have a crush on her and want to kiss her.  She then proceeds to tell me how he always tries to kiss her and he did kiss her on the cheek in the classroom, but good thing no one saw that, and he always likes to nuzzle her cheek.

Hans just laughs.  What are we going to do?

I would *love* to be better at writing down events with us.  These kids can be so entertaining!  Hoping things settle down once we're through this move.

Reason 738

Why I love my kids:

Hazel just angrily opens the front door and comes inside, slamming and locking the door behind her.  Her stomping feet and sour expression as she whimpers to her room do not provide much information to her unhappiness.  After listening to her bedroom door slam, Hans ventures outside and questions the older two.  The problem?  Eli took all the superpowers.

So...Um...Yeah...

I noticed Eli's shoes were a little tight.  Well, maybe a lot tight...but he never said anything!  I traced his foot, measured it, then looked into ordering shoes the proper size.  After my disbelief at the size chart, I had him try on Abby's shoe.  Then I had Abby try on her shoe.  Then I had Abby and Eli put their feet together.

It's official.  They have the same size foot.  Eli's may be a smidgen bigger.

It begins!  Abby's reign as tallest is coming to an end.

We Took a Vacation!

We left on Thursday (Day 1) and were fortunate to borrow Hans's parents' little RV.  Having never done an RV trip, this was quite a novelty for me and VERY exciting for the kids.  Our first night was spent at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend.  I loved walking the kids around to find places I remember from when we went as a huge Pickering clan when our grandkid number was less than the final 29.  Took a picture of the kids at the anchor:

Day 2, we spent the morning beachcombing in Fort Worden and found quite a bit of minuscule sea glass before heading out to Port Angeles and the start of our Olympic National Park experience.  We stopped at Sol Duc Falls and hiked around.

We decided to spend the night at Mora, a little outside of Forks (where all those Twilight vampires live).  Picture of our "mini-home" as Hazel constantly corrected us to call it.

Day 3, we headed to Hoh after discovering we missed the tides for good tidepools at Mora.  Did you know there is glaring lack (positively) of cell towers in and around Olympic National Park?  Hoh was amazing.  First thing, we checked out the Hall of Mosses:

Licorice Fern

Moss, Moss, Moss

Eli was dumbfounded to learn that a rainforest is not always tropical.  He had been telling Hazel how we were going to be so hot and uncomfortable when we were in the woods.

Hans preferred the other, slightly longer, loop trail that wound close to the river.  Our campsite was close to water too.  We tried the Ranger Talk in the evening, but since it didn't start until 8 when the mosquitoes were is full swing, we didn't stay long.  The Ranger doing the talk was awfully crabby too.

By this time, we'd started writing down all the different states we were seeing license plates.  The kids loved pointing out every new one we saw.  We ended up with a list of more than 25 states and 2 provinces.

By Day 4, we realized we were under-planned for this adventure.  I loved our meandering, seat-of-our-pants trip.  It was getting a little stressful when we left Hoh because we were so very, very low on gas and had no real idea how far until we saw another gas station.  Between Forks and Kalaloch, there isn't much of anything available.  Our first stop was Ruby Beach on the Pacific Ocean:

Hans kept explaining the significance of it being the Pacific Ocean to the kids and not Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, or the saltwater we are ever around.  We explored some tidepools:

Hazel was NOT excited about the sea life.  She wanted nothing to do with the tidepools, the salt water, or any sea creatures.  Being on Hans's shoulders was as close as she was willing to get and that was with serious (and loud) reservation.  As soon as she could she ran away from Hans:

Hans tried again to show her something, but she refused to get any closer:

We didn't stay too long at Ruby Beach.  Eli was running through what he thought was shallow water, but found out the hard way that the tide pulls sand away from around large rocks.

We were able to get fuel at Kalaloch and spent some time on the beach there.  The sand was really fine and almost fluffy feeling.  We had the nicest weather everywhere we went too.  After the coast, we traveled east to Lake Quinault and FINALLY got Hazel to take a nap:

We stayed at the Rain Forest Village Resort.  Lake Quinault was like stepping back in time to the 1920s and 30s.  I really enjoyed myself there.  After getting ourselves parked at the campsite, we checked out the World's Largest Sitka Spruce.  I think it's almost 58 feet in circumference.

Day 5: Morning at Lake Quinault:

Hazel was Supergirl.  I was corrected when I told Hans he should notice how fast she was running because, she said, I meant how fast she was FLYING.

We set off for what turned out to be a more than 3 mile hike to see the World's Largest Douglas Fir tree.  Interestingly, the Quinault area is known as the Valley of the Giants.  It has 6 of the largest trees of their particular species.  My manly men peed on two of them.  I am just so proud (gag).

Hans wanted to collect some maidenhair fern for Abby to press.

My MANLY Men

Taking a break after 2+ miles.

Our last night, we stayed at Dosewallips State Park along Hood Canal.  It seemed liked the kind of campground people packed their kids up and stayed for a week.  Nice, but loud.  We didn't dally much there since we were wanted to get Abby back in time for her ceramics class.

We had so much fun!

Gidget Pictures

I just need to chronicle my husband's love of our newest family member.  I asked for a recent picture of Gidget.  20 minutes later, he's filled the camera.

And I only selected a *small* sampling of pictures...

4th of July

Our littlest was in top form last night!  Despite getting her little hand shut in the door, she had a fine time before and during the fireworks show last evening at our little Riverfront Park.  She ran and ran and ran around our blanket, ran to and from a set of chairs about a hundred feet away repeatedly, ran with Eli around the tree at the far end of the field from us...  I think the favorite was her running around the blanket after a rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose with her siblings, shouting and pointing, "Peacock!  Do-do bird! Peacock!  Do-do bird!  Very pretty peacock!  Do-do bird!"  Mama and Abby were "peacocks."  Papa and Eli were "do-do birds."  During the show, Pip informs her father that, "just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you know *everything*."  Poor Hans.  If only that were the end of it!  Later, she tells him not to scratch his bug bites and loudly lets us know that she has to tell him these things because he just doesn't know.  Wowza.  I remember Abby and Eli thinking Hans was the smartest man in the world because he's a science teacher.  Seems Hazel will not be so easily impressed.

Camp Newsletter

I got this little attachment in my email.  Guess who is blowing on a marshmallow?

  River Ranch Newsletter 1

Gidget

From all appearances, we now have another cat.  Darn it.  We've added "Gidget" to her name and think we'll move the "Maybell" to a middle name.  The kids are doing okay with that.  Hans is much happier with the new name.  I think we always come up with better names weeks after we initially choose a name for an animal.

Gidget seems to be adjusting well.  She's definitely a kitten and races around looking to pounce on everything interesting.  She can't seem to retract her claws well, which leads to scratches, but also to many, many snags.  We are constantly un-snagging her after she's gotten herself hung up on clothing or the sofa or blankets and tries to play it off as intentional.  We're transitioning her out of the girls' room.  Gidget keeps making it difficult for the girls to sleep well since she likes playing with their hair!  She's terribly curious about Harvey and Isaac.  Harvey is a little overwhelming in his desire to play, staring at her until he gets close enough to lick her.  Gidget was obviously annoying Isaac this morning.  He growls at her, but mostly seems to just want to be left alone.  She then slowly stalks him, copying his movements around the house.  Watching them, I really think she'll win him over eventually.

Hans has asked repeatedly that I specifically note some kiddo idiosyncrasies: 

• Hazel doesn't like "fridge milk."  If she doesn't finish her milk and it's put into the refrigerator, she refuses to drink it the next day or whatever, referring to it as "fridge milk."  She says it doesn't taste good.  If I remember to put a lid on it and pour it into a different cup, she hasn't seemed to notice yet, but who knows if that will last.
• When talking about Doctor Who, Eli piped up with: "It's not 'Sci Fi.'  It's 'speculative fiction.'"

Abby is at horse camp and we are hoping it's good.  Poor weather may mean she doesn't get to actually ride, which completely wrecks the whole purpose!  I sent her an one-way email last night, including a picture of her new cousin, Mae.  Three nights away, knowing nobody, is LONG.  I want my girl back!  Waiting until tomorrow morning to pick her up is agonizing.

My Big Girl is 12!

Made a lemon bundt cake with lemon glaze for my sweetie girl's 12th birthday.  Darn thing wouldn't come out of the pan properly so it looks ugly.  Glaze can't cover that puppy.  Oh well.  Good thing pretty has nothing to do with taste!  Farmor, Grandpops, and Uncle Bjorn helped celebrate our #1 girl.