We Have a Winner!

It's finally official; we have a Cougar in the house! Josh is now enrolled at Washington State University and majoring in Architecture.  Outside of WSU, he has also received one scholarship so far, and had an interview last Friday, as he is a finalist for another. May is a big month, as he has three AP exams to earn college credit.  With just over a month to go of high school, not much down time before college begins August 19th. So proud of you Josh!

Hmmmm, wonder if he will be embarrassed when his parents wear their OSU gear around the campus....

No, Cocoa!

One family favorite book of ours is No, David, by David Shannon.  David is a boy who is told "No" many times a day, as he is frequently getting in trouble (writing on the wall, picking his nose, jumping on the furniture, etc). However, after David gets discouraged by everyone speaking negatively to him, the book has a very sweet ending. We first bought this book because Mike and I could so relate to it, when we felt like "no" was all we were saying to the boys. Since it was a nightly ritual reading the book, the boys loved being able to "read" along with the story, inserting "no" every time the word came up and it made us not feel so bad. Fast forward a few years, and it became the perfect book for the girls too.

Now we are wondering, do they make the book in a puppy version? "No, Cocoa" is something we have constantly been saying the past few months! This winter she has completely destroyed our backyard. Seriously, it is a disaster, a war zone out there! Everything that can be chewed up, has been. Our pond that we installed a few years ago? A wading pool that gets nearly emptied of water every day. Poor fish. Umbrella for the table? Who needs that. What barbecue cover you ask???

Cocoa just turned one last week, so we know we have at least another year of this stage. But when I looked outside the other day to see this, I couldn't help but smile...

Yes, Cocoa, you are the Princess of the backyard, and we love you very much!

Party Time!

As I mentioned before, Kaia turned nine over spring break. Last Sunday she celebrated with her friends at the swimming pool.  Several of the girls from her gymnastics team were there, and it was fun to watch them fearlessly jump off the diving board doing the same moves they practice weekly on the gym trampoline!

Later,  everyone came back to our house for some cake and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.  As you can see, Kaia's cake had the lotus candle from China that we sometimes top our birthday cakes with. It did not disappoint! I will definitely need to restock when I go back this summer. If you haven't seen one in action before, check this out.

Animal Poetry Comes to Life...

Awhile back, each student in Jaelyn's class researched an animal, then wrote a poem based on their facts (for you non-teacher types, that's called integrating subjects or cross-curriculum, or whatever the latest catch phrase may be). Her teacher compiled them all into a book, which we were too cheap to buy, but then he also had a friend of his, who happens to be a professional voice actor, perform each poem. I was expecting something cheesy and only funny to the kids in the class, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. So watch out Shel Silverstein, I give you Jaelyn's "Fox"....

It All Began Here....

A special birthday wish to Kaia, who turned nine today! As Josh and I were looking through old photos last night for his senior tea slide show, we came across this video of he and Kaia jumping on the trampoline. Watching back now makes me smile, knowing the trampoline, eight years later,  is one of her gymnastics routine that she loves. And it all began here....

Notice how high Josh's voice was then! And speaking of gymnastics, last weekend at state Kaia took second in the double-mini, and third for both the trampoline and the power tumble for her age and level. Although she qualified, we are electing to not attend regionals in Las Vegas next month. Tomorrow she gets a tooth extracted in preparation for next month's surgery, so we decided to save a little money. Next year will be a definite yes though, as she wants to keep competing. It has been a joy watching her be able to enjoy something so much, something that she excels at and have a sense of pride in.

Transformation Trip....

Two things happened on Tuesday of break: The weather turned cold, windy, and rainy (and would remain that way for the rest of the week), and Josh headed to Portland with his youth group for a Transformation Trip.  What is a transformation trip, you ask? It is an opportunity to not only work with the inner-city homeless, but even more importantly, a time to learn and change yourself. I say a win-win.  The kids stretched themselves and learned a lot, and came home exhausted.  Here's a bit more on the program...



The question now is how can we apply those lessons where we are. I think the youth are going to be coming up with some great ideas that us adults can learn from.

Spring Break-Break

Obviously I have taken a break from posting over Spring Break, and frankly, I have no excuse, other than I was lazy! So let me take you back to Easter, where our beautiful weather continued from the day before. Following a wonderful Easter service, the whole gang plus some came over for dinner, candy, and egg hunting. First time all year I think I squinted from the sun! Here we all are, still in our Sunday best....

Note clothing change number one for the girls...

Between the indoor photo and the egg hunting, our yard became the neighborhood water fight, as five kids and two teenagers pulled out the water guns and got totally soaked! In 20 years of living here, we have never had an Easter this beautiful!  When the girls came out for the egg hunt, for some reason they decided to wear their PJ's! Another first... 

As tradition holds, the girls hid eggs for the competitive big kids...

Lastly, we found much entertainment out of this giant balloon we brought home from church...

The game abruptly ended when the balloon met the Pine tree....

Unlike Jesus, this balloon did not rise again!  Speaking of Jesus, we ended the evening watching the final episode of the History Channel's The Bible series. I somewhat missed Charlton Heston and The Ten Commandments, but this may be a new tradition.  The girls would remember to ask to watch it every Sunday, and it prompted lots of great conversation. Hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours!