This Momma's Day...

What a treat to get Joshua home from college the day before Mother's Day! It was so nice to have all my children together to worship at church, then spend a quality day together.  First came a wonderful lunch at one of my all time favorite bakeries, Calico Cupboard.

Aren't these gifts the girls painted adorable?  I am so impressed my husband organized this gift AND everyone kept it secret!

Lunch was followed by our annual tradition of a Mother's Day hike. Fortunately for us, the weather was in full cooperation. Mike chose a new destination for us, the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.  There seemed to be a maze of endless trails, connecting ponds created by beaver dams.  Most of the hike was shadowed by the forest, so the photos do not do justice to the beautiful backdrop.

Bridge to nowhere...

One of several large ponds full of lily pads.

One highlight was this old copper mine on one of the hillsides. I won't reveal which ones of us braved the pitch dark 50-ft. cave, but three of the six of us ventured in! Let's just say it was wet above and below us (okay, I have to admit, I was one of the three).

This ole' mom outlasted the kids, as here is what they looked like on the drive home...

And a shout out to our Moms, not only on Mother's Day, but every day! THANKS to them, I think we turned out alright;)

Oops, Missed This...

I downloaded some photos from my camera the other day, and realized I forgot to post these photos after Easter. Oops! So here they are...

Missed Josh when we decorated the eggs, as it was something he always loved to do! He would've loved the eggs his sisters created this year!

I feel like the above picture should be in one of those I Spy books... Do you see a Golden Egg? Fireworks? Mr. Bill? Jesus?

Even 22 year olds get happy about a $1 bill in their Easter card!

 The rain held off and the day turned out to be quite nice,  so outdoor egg hunting was a go.

This last photo was the lone egg to be found. It took the girls so long to find it, because it blended in with Kellen's car so well. We were cracking up as we gave the "hotter, colder" clues, only to have them walk by the yellow egg multiple times.

Like the new egg baskets?  I bought a "Yoda" one for Josh. I filled it and left it in a bag when I visited for Mom's weekend, so he had a little piece of home for Easter.

Hunk of Burning Love...

No, not the Elvis Presley song! I mean my hunk of burning love who has been working hard around the house these past few weeks!  Remember when I mentioned the remodeling he was doing over spring break?

They started by replacing all the molding around our atrium windows...

As they moved into the living room to replace the baseboard molding, it led to my suggestion of doing something with this ugly beast...

In the 20+ years we have lived in this house, we have never had a fire in this fireplace! We use to have a free standing stove in our family room that we had fires in, but never in this homely thing. It was time for a change.  I was thinking of mantle, Mike was thinking fire place insert. So we compromised with this...

Short of tearing out all the stone, I think this was a simple yet much improved change. Thanks to my hunk of burning love for his hard work!  Of course, now it's an excuse to do some new decorating for the mantle. So far it is adorned by the Crebbin Family established 1988 sign my parents gave us for our 25th, but I am currently evaluating what to do. The large antique watercolor we had hanging above no longer fits. I am thinking possibly a mirror, then a variety of items for the mantle. Any suggestions???

I Have Been Remiss...

Forgive me, but I have been remiss in mentioning my husband's results in the Whidbey Half Marathon he ran while I was with Josh for Mom's Weekend. In the age group of males 45-49, he took second place.  Even better yet, in the Master's category, he took 10th overall. Mike is quick to point out that in both of those categories, no one older than him finished ahead of him!  He is also quick to point out that he is completely satisfied with running the half, and has no desire to run a whole marathon. Hmmmm, we shall see about that. I have a feeling I may reference this post some day in the future, after he successfully finishes his first full:)  Proud of you and your hard work babe!

Cougar Mom...

I must admit, I am a Cougar Mom. No, not that kind of Cougar Mom, but a mother of a WSU Cougar! This past weekend I made the 6+ hour trek to hang out with Josh for Mom's weekend. We had a great time together hanging out on campus, being silly, and even a few adult talks here and there. Here are some highlights...

"Was" a beautiful sunny day to watch the Cougs scrimmage

Josh's friend Dakota made the team. His mom was my partner for the drive.

Josh and Dakota have been buddies since middle school when they were on the wrestling team together. They have now decided to room together for next school year...

Following the scrimmage, we walked over to the baseball stadium where I cheered my Beavs on to victory over the Cougs!  Butch, WSU's mascot, was at the game too. Josh absolutely loves the antics Butch pulls (I think the students watch him more than the games sometimes), so I had to take a Mom's weekend photo with Butch! He was pretty funny though. Held and kissed my hand, then motioned for me to call him as he walked away.

See the clouds in the sky? Scroll back up and look at the blue sky just a little over an hour before...
Yep, the clouds, wind and rain came out of nowhere, and we weren't prepared. Josh was in shorts and a t-shirt.  We held on until the 7th inning, longer than most of the packed stands, but we made a run for it when it turned to hail!

Had a small world experience while I was there. One of the girls whom has traveled to China with me on multiple mission trips was in Pullman the same weekend. Mind you she is originally from California, and now lives in Chicago! She and her family were in town for a job interview. She saw my post on facebook about me being in Pullman, so got word to me. Was great catching up with her and meeting her beautiful twins, if even for just a bit.

Saturday night Josh and I had a great time at the Jerry Seinfeld performance. We wrapped the weekend up with a morning of worshiping at Josh's church. It was a great way to bring our good time to a close. Only four weeks now until he's home for the summer....

Double Digits...

It's official; we are getting old, as our youngest is now in double digits! Look how grown up she looks in this outfit we bought her.  Make it bright, layered and flared so she can spin in it, and it's a hit with Kaia!

Kaia chose to eat at where else, our local Chinese buffet that the girls always select for their special celebrations no matter how much we try to talk them out of it! The night before Kaia's birthday, Jaelyn tearfully admitted to be jealous of the gift she was giving Kaia. The coveted gift was a Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker Bow.  She was over it by the evening she gave it to her sister, and they both enjoyed practicing their aim on Dad!  They can't wait to have a big Nerf fight when all the siblings are together this summer (On a side note, Josh recently confessed he got all his Nerf guns confiscated at his dorm!).

Kaia's party was held over the weekend at a local pottery studio.  Since I was with Josh for Mom's Weekend (more on that later), Mike was a good dad and handled the party without me. He and Kellen had as much fun painting as the girls did!

Mike's work...even cuter after it was glazed!

Kellen's cup...

She is really into origami right now, so she especially liked Kellen's gift.

We are now in the extended family birthday-free stage.  I'm sure we will have plenty of other excuses to party it up with the family before celebrations start up again the end of August!

To Nationals or Not???

Life has been busy since Spring Break ended, so I haven't had a chance to post from the last weekend. On Friday of that week, we headed south to watch Kaia compete at the state tournament. Since the competition was in the same town my brother and sister-in-law live in, we were able to stay at their place. My parents came up to cheer Kaia on too.

Kaia ended with two thirds and a first!  On one of her events, Power Tumbling, she scored her highest of the season, which qualifies her for Nationals. 

She only took third in this event, but what matters is that she met the qualifying score, not what place she took.  Two of her events she competes at Level 4, but in this event she is a Level 5, so it is her best and more difficult event.

Here is a video of her second tumbling run (she has two). The final score is a total of the two.  I was actually sitting at the scoring table for another event, helping add up scores for the trampoline, so it allowed me to video up close.

Here's a photo of the younger girls on the team, and the coaches, as they all competed the same session.

The older girls were in a different session, but despite their ages, they are not all at higher levels than Kaia.

We also fit in plenty of grandparent and alpaca time...

The girls really were having fun; Kaia just decided to try and not smile for every photo (she succeeded)

Mira has loved the girls since she was a baby!

So now we need to decide whether or not we actually go to the National tournament. The upside? It is in our state this year (although still six hours away)! Downside? It is the day after school gets out for me, and the girls and Mike are actually still in school!  If we choose to go, you will definitely see posts on here, so check back mid-June for a possible follow up....