Ben's lasts of elementary. Last recitation.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Playing more responsible hookey
So after basketball wrapped up, we got to take a real hookey day and we went back to Spokane cause Will had a handful of nike gift cards burning a whole in his pocket. And then we tried out PF Changs and hit up the arcade in Pullman on our way home where Will almost blew the lid off of their basketball game. He's really that good.
Love spending time with this kid.
SARA!!
Sara's final game of the season was a blue vs. white scrimmage. They of course had another stellar year, winning all of their games. We love watching Sara and her speed and determination and her sweet shot.
Ready for NEXT LEVEL.
Will turns 16!
Celebrated this kid turning 16! Took him and his friends to Spokane to try some virtual reality which was pretty intense, and funny to watch. He was still mid-season so we postponed hookey this year, but it was fun to spend his birthday with him and his friends. He is surrounded by good people and we are so thankful for them.
Will has a big heart and a strong desire to do the right thing. I love how he so sincerely cares about his siblings, he is almost always a bubbly kind of happy, unless he's tired and then he's just completely wiped out. He works very hard and he is very diligent to make adjustments when he's called out on something.
We love him so much.
Boys at Districts
This was such an incredible season for these guys and we were hoping for it to culminate in a trip to state. But God had bigger plans for these guys...they lost a heartbreaking championship game to Timberline. And Will twisted his ankle right in the last few minutes which was just gut-wrenching to watch.
Really proud of Will and all the extra hours and effort he put into his game this year. He'd often come home from practice and grab some food before heading out again to do two hours of shooting practice at the HIRC on his own. His efforts showed and he was named the Whitepine Player of the Year, and co-MVP of his team. The awards banquet would later be canceled due to covid, but since we'd never been to the awards banquet before we really didn't know what we were missing out on anyway!
So proud of this kid.
Date with Kayte
This girl is so unbelievably busy! It is rare I get time with just her. That's what 3 day weekends are for :)
My valentine
Joe and I spent Valentine's up at the Montvale, and we met all his siblings plus spouses at dinner at the Wild Sage. It was an unusual opportunity to catch up with all of them and we had such a good time.
Plus it was just so nice to get out!
We left our kids all on their own! I still remember the first time I took a shower while the kids were not locked in chairs watching TV or sleeping. And now they can just you know, take care of themselves All Night Long.
It goes fast people. It really does.
Hello ninja!
Ben is always always always working away at creating new things. An artist, and let's be honest, a genius.
Girls Basketball at Districts!
The girls made it to the semi-finals at districts. It was so fun to see Kayte really take off this year. She worked hard and the results were evident. She gained so much confidence on the court! So fun to see!
FANS!!!
The Day after Today.
Here I am again. Bucers for their wifi and their handpies and their diet coke which will be a glass of wine by the time I finish today.
But the day looks so different than it did that February day more than 7 months ago, when I proudly got all caught up determined to Never Get Behind Again. And then 2020 happened.
Now the skies are an apocalyptic shade of greige from the smoke of the entire west coast burning. I keep sipping my diet coke so that I will not be interrupted by the police and cited for not wearing a mask in public. I'm avoiding facebook because my Christian cousin is trying to publicly argue with me about why churches should be allowed to legally gather in California. California. One of the fifty states of the land of the free and the home of the brave and all that.
How did we get here? And how do we get back?
Seriously sometimes things get so crazy I have to legitimately convince myself I'm not dreaming.
People post comments on daily news stories that has me constantly wondering, are they being sarcastic? Or do they really want the death penalty for the students that gathered for a party in their own private apartment and let 11 people in, instead of the legal ten.
Well. Let's get started so I can get all caught up, and Never Get Behind Again.
God have mercy.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Today.
I used to write this blog on my desktop computer pretty much every day updating it with pictures and stories. Life is different now. A lot of times my modern day journal keeping is just posting pictures on Instagram. And yet. This blog. My kids still regularly pull out one of the six years we have already made into books and flip through it. They keep memories alive by reading about them.
Today, my internet in the country can be frustratingly slow. I am rarely home for long pieces of time, and even then, I'm alone. There's no funny things happening around me. I'm doing laundry or emptying dishwashers or listening to an audiobook while I steam-clean my grout or clean out a closet. Not a lot of anecdotes to be had. And yet. My kids are still out there, learning to conquer the greater world.
So every once in a while, I pack up my things and head to Bucers and then I order a chai, and then a soda, and then a glass of wine and a hand pie while I sort through pictures of the last month and remember all the things. It's always a good cozy day, and at the end of it, I have a long scroll of memories, and items checked off my to-do list.
Kids, if you are still reading this, I love you so much. This blog is for you. We have so many great memories and I'm so excited to see it continue to unfold with all of your accomplishments. Your good days and your bad. Thankfully, no one really reads blogs anymore, so I get to be braggy and honest here, and I get to post things that you would never let me post on FB or Instagram. Because by the time you read it, these will always be good memories. And the bad stuff, we'll be able to laugh at.
Love you guys.
Competition.
So I got into a little trouble with my excessively competitive spirit and lack of desire to control my temper while watching an AAU tournament. God always makes the punishment swift and I landed firmly on my face. It takes me a couple of days to really get over a fall like that.
So thankful for heaven, and Jesus' blood that covers it all.
This comic made me laugh in spite of myself.
This moment.
This was pretty special. Will was feeling taller to me, and sure enough, he'd hit the 6'2 1/2" mark, which meant he was finally taller than Joe. A milestone he hit three weeks before his 16th birthday. I'm guessing he will be very close to 6'6", Joe holds firmly in the 6'4" camp. We shall see.
So crazy.
Knights FEST!
What a week! Joe was out of town on one of his round the country super-fast tours for the week, so we were all-in on the Knights Fest craziness.
Kayte got a face-wound in a basketball game from her own teammate, but they won the tournament so it was all good.
The workshops were super-fun this year.
Kayte had gone out to mom's the week before to learn how to make her famous cherry cranberry pie, and then it was time for her to do it on her own. It turned out amazing, and I actually loved the taste, which was surprising cause I'm not usually a cherry pie fan. But this one was sooo good!
This was my first experience with lattice, so it really was the blind leading the blind :)
Will was signed up to be white whale blubber for his class book, so this was the closest I could come up with. A garment bag. I actually thought it was a little bit genius, but then I usually do.
I loved the addition of almonds, so yummy!
Ta-da!
Kayte was the only one who had to be on time the final day. She had to turn in her pie, and then the juniors were responsible for set-up. Sara and Will got to sleep in.
Kayte's class book was the chemistry book and they all dressed up as elements. Kayte was gold. It was actually a pretty cool idea, and their class ended up winning Knight's Fest, and I thought it was well-deserved. They did a really great job!
Sara's class did the fallacy book and she was this. Haha, so cute!
We painted big fat eyes on her :)
Such a super-fun week and the feast was so fun! Kayte's pie got second place.
Overall, a huge success!
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