Charlie turns 9 on April 9th!

Charlie's GOLDEN birthday!  Starting with Breakfast in bed!

I was at his school for lunch with a balloon and cupcake! Then saw him present his poster in his classroom and he handed out krispy kremes.

Charlie's dinner choice was strognaff and also shelled mac n cheese on the side with caesar salad. 

I went easy and did a huge Costco cake. We ate 5 small pieces and then sent it to work with Bill. ha. 

I see glimpses of Charlie as a little boy and also as a young man. Can't believe he is 9!  

Bill imitating Charlie's smile with the big choppers. 

Charlie opened his Hamilton Piano music! Me, Bill and Charlie also did a little lip sync to Take a Break - where Philip turns 9. It was a hit!  

new books! he has already read them all.  

Nerf guns! 

a ripstick - adding to our outdoor toys.  

So BIG! 

Charlie - ready for combat! Charlie had been desperately wanting (and needing a bigger) Bike. He was hoping for a Mountain bike. We found an awesome new bike and Bubba and Pappy pitched in for it. As Charlie was finished opening these gifts - Bill went to our neighbor's garage and got the new bike. I said to Charlie - are you happy with your gifts? He was pumped about the nerf guns,etc and so I said "are you ok not getting your Mountain Bike right now then?". At that point he realized he hadn't gotten it and was doing his best to deal with the sadness when Bill came riding into our kitchen. He SQUEALED with delight. It was a fun extra surprise.  

so pumped! still wearing his nerf gun glasses.  

don't mind my weird stance - I have no idea what I am doing. 

Charlie had a GREAT day! So proud of the young man he is growing into and that he loves the Lord. 

Claire ended the day with a big bouquet of the spring flowers in our yard! 

April 2018 - Easter Weekend

Auntie Margit  & Uncle Pete's gifts came in the mail for the birthdays and the kids had a blast making these balloon creations. 

the weather is getting nice! at the park one afternoon on Good Friday and of course Ellie and Claire do crazy things!

Nana and G Pops arrived to spend time with us for Easter weekend. 

We went to QQ Sushi with Nana and G Pops and the sushi was so good it almost convinced my dad to move here!

Easter morning! i didn't take ANY good photos this easter, but I assure you we had a fun morning and were beautiful for church and then celebrated with Lejameyers in the afternoon! 

But this is all I have -- kids that are PUMPED to find eggs filled with candy. 

Bill giving the kids the rules. 

to start they all had to have their hands touching the island. ha

and that is it! 

Lookout Mountain Race...more E&C birthday

We arrived at the Wallace Inn around 6pm and it was already FULL of racing families that we know. The hotel was the place to be and our kids couldn't have been more pumped as evidenced by this photo of Ellie and Claire.

tucking them in with some help from melatonin. race weekends are SUPER busy. You are up by 5:45 or so because you need to be leaving for the race by 6:45 because your kids need to be ready to go with coaches (and you need to have your registration and life tickets) by 7:30. that is a lot!

after we got the kids down we headed down to the lobby and hung with the parents. lots of fun! 

ann, me and meghan took a picture to send to our fav workout instructor.  

it was snowing hard Saturday morning for the race. 

Claire was running 1! 

 Ellie!

Charlie!

Abby from school was at the mountain and said hi to Ellie and Claire! 

Telling Claire and Ellie we are proud of them for competing in Slalom even though they had never trained for it! 

love Charlie and Bill photos!  

I love Ellie's determination. She was eyeing those trophies and wanted to earn one so bad! Thankfully - you will see she does it - Sunday in the GS. 

Saturday after skiing - we went into full E&C birthday party mode! We busted out the awesome Costco cake (made life easy!). gathered up the girls. they all started swimming. then the hotel opened up a conference room and we had cake and food there. 

our plans were almost messed up because the pizza place in town closed down for the night (what?!?!?), but my friend's hotel in town had an over so she baked pizzas for me and it saved the night! 

Ellie, reese, charlie, luke, anya, claire, colette.

 Ellie

Claire

the gift time was a free for all! ha

back to the pool!!!

what a fun place to have your birthday at! It was all fun for them and from what I can tell they had the best weekend! 

Sunday - one more day of racing! Sunny too!

Ellie - so proud of how hard she skied this day. She really pushed herself and it paid off! 

Claire skied hard!

Charlie's coach - Sarah - giving her skiers end of the year awards and tips. 

Anya, Claire, Ellie - they spent a lot of the downtime of the weekend having fun together. 

Charlie skied hard and also pushed himself to the edge!

claire coming in. 

 all done racing! Ellie - Anya - Claire enjoying the icecream! 

these two made a dance and had to have us watch it. 

 Charlie finished 9th at this race, which is a huge win for him in a race with 5 teams at it. Thrilled for him. 

Ellie finished 10th! this is an awesome finish for a first year U10 and with no gate training this year besides at races. 

Claire finished 7th, which is also an awesome finish! It was great to have all of our kids feeling successful about their race. Not always the outcome, but great when it happens. 

it was a wonderful weekend skiing and celebrating these two!