May beginnings

Honestly - blogging has become a bit hard to keep up on so I am doing more highlight posts then specific event posts. 

May was gorgeous here -- like 85 degrees the first weekend in May so the kids were in full summer mode. I loved watching them play in the yard and eat popsicles while getting full of stickyness. 

Ellie and Claire

I include this picture of a picture here so I can record that I completed BSF leadership again this year. We had our final meeting the second week of May and to say I was looking forward to it is an understatement. I truly loved studying revelation and teaching my infants class, but it was a TON of time and I felt frazzled during my weeks because of it. Next year I am backing out of a ton of my commitments and just feeling out how busy I want to be with all 3 kids in school. I know I will have a lot more time, but now my days are structured much differently. I drive for about 3 hours a day, have to cook dinners mid-morning so that we have dinner ready during the crazy post school/homework/activity time. I don't do well with chaos, which I am always trying to improve on, but I have learned crazy afternoons post school just don't jive with me being a sane mom. So I am thankful for God's provisions in providing a high school girl - Erika - to drive Charlie to school on BSF mornings, which really helped me manage those week days. I was informed on the last week of BSF that Erika's family had moved homes so she wouldn't be able to drive charlie for the rest of school. I didn't miss God's MAJOR HINT that he provided her for the specific time that I needed. He loves His children and wants to care for us in the smallest way -I thanked Him for that provision because it really did save me this year. 

our dear neighbor Alex brought over some old games - including 1 leap pad. You can imagine the possible fighting that can/will occur over 1 game, but the kids knew I would easily give it away if it caused fighting. So for the first night they played with it the girls used it together. With Claire using the stylus and Ellie holding it. 

All 3 even managed it for awhile. quite impressive. don't worry - within a day there were fights and now it is a special occasion toy. 

proof claire is just funny. we were making faces and hers is just naturally the most funny. 

ellie's attempt

funny claire.

charlie's attempt.

Charlie at 7...

Charlie has always been an intense little boy with an amazing giggle. When he was a baby and would stare at people when he first met them and then point a finger at their nose as a greeting. But he also had an amazing belly laugh. 

Here are some things about Charlie at 7:

• he loves funny movies and will laugh like crazy throughout the movie
• he loves TV and movies - he can lock onto a show or movie and if you have to separate him from it he will most often lose it. he is getting better at controlling his responses, but a quick tv/movie shut down isn't easy. 
• Charlie is an extremely adept and diligent student. he loves learning and is fiercely competitive (not sure where he got that from - ha). 
• he is passionate and intense is almost everything he does. he can focus in and spend hours working on legos, reading books, playing soccer - whatever he decides he cares about that day. 
• he is a fierce chess player. he started playing chess with pappy awhile ago and then does the chess club at school and has become an awesome player. he is very strategic and often catches you off guard (he beat me in a few plays once and i was shocked!). Bill has finally figured out his strategy and has been able to beat him consistently, but Charlie is working on changing that. He will even play chess against himself, which is hilarious - he will say - wow that was a good move! (and it was him playing against himself!)
• Bill and charlie had went off and had a coke and a chat last week to discuss how babies really do get in mommies bellies. He handled it very maturely and I will say Bill did a fantastic job discussing it with Charlie and building a great foundation for many more talks in the future. 
• when we are driving - he will often pass me up a notebook with blank paper and ask me to write him up some math problems - just for fun. They are already doing multiplication in his class! 
• I am also sad to say he got his "say no first" trait from me. whenever we bring up something we are going to do next - he always says "nooo - i don't want to do that!". I have had to talk to him about how he unfortunately got that trait from me and that he will probably need to consistently work on changing his attitude. because once we start doing something he LOVES it. sorry charlie! 
• he loves his sisters. the girls think charlie is the man and they are happy to be his little side kicks. it is so sweet to watch them all play together. during spring break we stayed home for 1 full day and it was fantastic - the kids played legos in charlie's room for 4 hours straight. glorious! I knew having 3 kids in under 2 years would pay off one day.
• has grown into being a strong defensive soccer player
• can write in cursive REALLY well. I am amazed at the writing that comes out of charlie. He recently wrote thank you notes in cursive to his friends and I was beyond impressed.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I am missing, but most of all we are so incredibly blessed and proud to be watching Charlie grow into the boy God has created him to be. He is learning more self control and patience and especially to learn how to discuss his opinions respectfully. He has a lot of opinions and ideas and we want to allow him the opportunity to express those - just in a respectful way. We love you Charlie and are so thankful God entrusted you to us! 

Charlie - Proverbs Chapter 2

Charlie has just blossomed this year at the Oaks! 

He has fully memorized and recited Proverbs Chapter 2 now! Incredible that he has sealed 2 chapters of Proverbs into his little head and heart this year along with everything else he has been doing. We are beyond proud of you Charlie and are thankful for all of the gifts God has blessed you with. We can't wait to see what He has instore for you! 

His 3rd quarter report card came home with this lovely note from his teacher Beccy Holland. She is a gem of a teacher and I am beyond thankful for her! 

more to come about charlie - since I need to write his 7 year old update. Doing my best to keep up with this blog - it isn't easy! 

Nana & G pops visit!

Nana & G pops came to visit at the end of April. The Lilac City (as Spokane is called) was in FULL bloom and it was gorgeous! 

We stopped by Manito Park to smell some of the lilacs in the Lilac garden. 

love this rock wall at the park.

Saturday after Charlie's soccer game we headed downtown to check out the raging river! 

my iphone pics don't capture the intensity of this river. It is massive and there are 3 different rivers that wind throughout downtown. 

on one of the bridges trying to snap a shot - mostly scared i would drop my phone. ha!

this cable walking bridge sways with the power. 

looking downstream of the falls.

more lilac trees - we love visitors! 

Bill's highlight of the weekend was putting in these raised beds I had built (read with a very sarcastic voice). He wasn't thrilled that because our terraces are on an angle you have to dig the beds into the earth a bit to secure them and even them out. He also mentioned how he couldn't believe I would pay to have raised beds built, put dirt in the beds, then plant in them when I could just have planted right into the earth. ha! Love that he still worked hard with me even though he doesn't love it. I did pay our landscapers to fill them with dirt because i knew it would make him happy.

pre-planted... I think it looks so much better than having a bunch of plants just in the dirt. 

throughourly enjoying springtime in Spokane! 

Last winter weekend up at the Bach

The weekend after Schweitzer closed for the ski season we headed up to hang out for the night. It was a gorgeous weekend up there with still plenty of snow on the mountain. 

I took Lily out for a snowshoe up the mountain on Sunday. We were cruising for awhile until we ran into BIG paw prints and I realized I wasn't very prepared for being on a large very quiet mountain. 

We walked through the quiet village. So strange to see it so still. It will  soon be buzzing again with summertime activity, but we had it almost all alone. 

Sunday midday we loaded up and went into Sandpoint to cruise around. We ended up at Powderhound pizza where we had a drink and some pizza in the sun. It was glorious! 

Bill took the kids to grab ice cream -- summer is here!

Warm spring

Spring is Spokane is pretty dreamy. The weather during the middle and end of April was incredible. Some days in the 80s. 

So I picked up a sprinkler for the kids to play with.

Out for a great run with Sarah and our dogs - we had a little run in with a mama and her baby (moose), but we turned around quickly and were ok. amazing we have such a wilderness out our backdoor. 

Charlie started back with his soccer team. He is thrilled! and it is so fun being back with this group of boys. What a blessing this team has been!

more sprinkler time!

soccer days...

one of the soccer saturday games was rainy and cold! so the girls bundled up with Emerson (Colin's older sister) and Phylis and Bella (Mitchell's older sisters). 

what fun spring is!

The Rock sale

one afternoon - we were selling our old craigslist furniture for another set of craigslist furniture and the kids were playing in the garage. 

I went out when it was time for dinner and found an amazing Rock Sale they put together. 

I took a deep breath and didn't worry about all the little scraps of paper and tape and rocks all over the floor and instead looked at how much fun they had. 

they made a line of rocks on our front steps so you wouldn't miss it. 

there were signs, amounts, names and all the rocks were colored!

it kept going and going...

so cute!

only issue is that the rocks came from our neighbors yard. ha! so we returned them and were thankful it was going to rain that night and the marker would wash off. 

love how creative these kids are!