Katie's 8th Birthday Party

Katie wanted a school friend birthday party this year.  Ugh.  It seems like I have been doing a lot of entertaining this spring and I just wasn't feeling motivated.  But having one of my babies away at college kind of got me feeling like I just need to take advantage of all the little things while I can.  We checked the calendar and realized that yesterday was a half day so I (with Becky's help) picked up all the girls in her class (yes, all nine of them could make it) and took them home for an old-fashioned-not-really-any-theme-bought-all-the-supplies-at-the-Dollar-store-that-morning birthday party.

 Such sweet girls.

 But they know how to have fun too!

 We had pizza, jello, carrots and Sprite for lunch.

 We played games.

 The donut on a string game was a big hit.

 I even got to play!

We had a nature scavenger hunt, played outside and had slightly over the recommended number of jumpers on the trampoline.

 Game back inside and did a craft.

 Opened presents, sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cupcakes.

And then it was time for the girls to go home and for the birthday girl's  mom to have a big glass of wine.
It was crazy and messy and loud and a little stressful when I lost one of the girls for a little bit but Katie smiled the whole time and after everyone left told me it was the best party ever so it's all good.
Now Sam says he wants all the boys in his class over for his birthday this summer.  I'm thinking it would be a great idea to have it on a Thursday - John's day off.  I'm also thinking it would be a great idea for me and the girls to go to the mall until they are all gone. 

Babies and Mothers

I hosted a baby shower for our niece Cheryl last weekend.  She is expecting a baby boy this summer.
My other "Washington niece" (her sister-in-law) is expecting a baby girl a couple weeks later and John's cousin's daughter is having a baby boy around that same time.  There will be three new babies at Christmas this year!  So fun!
I sure miss Holly when I do stuff like this.  She helps me to remember little details like taking pictures before people come.  Sigh.  So this is all I got. 

One of our games was making Play-dough babies.  Cheryl got to judge which one was the best.  Yes, a couple of them were anatomically correct.

 For another game I froze little plastic babies in ice cubes.  The ladies had to melt their ice cube as quickly as they could to get the baby out and then yell out, "My water broke!"  It may come as no surprise here but I'm not really into traditional shower games. 

 The beautiful mom-to-be got lots of good stuff.

 And then it was Mother's Day.  I got served breakfast in bed!

And was pretty much spoiled all day long.  John got me this awesome planter.  Sam got me a new soap dispenser and Katie gave me a great book she made in school along with a flower and coupons for a back scratch (she knows me so well), cleaning the mud room and "loveing". 

So thankful for my little family and also for the best mom and mother-in-law ever in the history of the world.  

Some more life lately

Let's start with another story.  I called my Grandma yesterday.  This was the beginning of our conversation.
Me: Hi Grandma
Grandma: Is this DeAnn?
Me: Yes
Grandma: Where are you?
Me: I am out taking a walk.
Grandma: Are you in Washington state?
Me: Yes, that is where I live.
Grandma: It sounds like you are right next door.
I laughed but when you think about how much has changed in her 93 years of life, it is pretty amazing.  I wonder what phones will be like if I make it to 93?  Honestly, I'm not sure I want to find out.
Remember those 25 trees we got?  John planted them all with a little assistance from yours truly. 
Don't they look nice?

Now we just have to keep them alive.  And yes, the rumor is true, I did hit him in the head with a hammer.  It was an accident.  Could have happened to anybody.  He's fine.
Sam went to Outdoor Ed a couple of weeks ago.  All 6th graders spend 3 days, 2 nights at a camp near Mount Baker.  They choose different classes to take.  Sam participated in archery, snakes, first aid and nature art.  John got to go along for one night since they always take along some medical people.  I think he got some pictures of Sam at camp but they're on his phone so I'll have to post them later.  This is what I got.  I picked him up from school Friday afternoon and he told me he was going upstairs to read for awhile.  When I went to check on him five minutes later, this is what I found.

Later on we noticed the flea bites.  Sam has obviously inherited his Dad's sweet blood.  Bugs love my guys.

Besides the lack of sleep, flea bites and a badly bruised knee from a fall in "Capture the Flag" he had a great time.  John had very few patients but apparently right after he left a boy was bitten by a boa constrictor.  For real.  The story has already grown by leaps and bounds.  I'm sure it will go down in Outdoor Ed history.
While the guys were at camp, Katie and I had a girl's night.  She got to pick whatever she wanted to do.  We went to the library, through the car wash, picked up dinner at McDonalds, watched a movie and best of all (according to her) she got to sleep in my bed. 

 Here's a little update on our furry family members. 

This dog caught a mole the other day!  I'm not sure who was prouder - her or John?! 

Carly and I have been walking in Berthusen Park almost every morning.  I love this time of year, it's like a jungle in there.

My walking buddy. 

And poor Lucy.  I sat down to do by business in the bathroom the other day and this is what I saw. 

She is so used to getting dressed up in doll clothes that she doesn't even attempt to get them off anymore.  She is curled up in her basket and went to sleep in them.

Katie is playing soccer now.  Her team is called the Green Cheetahs but John said they probably should rename themselves the Green Kittens.  They are not very fierce.  They have played three games and have yet to score a goal.  Number 3 is my Cheetah.

I was giving her a little pep talk the other day about how it's not about the score, it's just about having fun.  She told me she'd have more fun if they won.  Can't argue with that.

This guy on the other hand, does play fierce.  He has one more game left and then we are done until school soccer in the fall.  Between outdoor and indoor he's been playing constantly for the past year.  I am ready for a break. 

My oldest girl is done with her first year of college.  That is pretty crazy.  My folks picked her up last Thursday. 

She is spending a week with them and then another week driving to San Fran with the Beltmans.  We will meet up with her there.  It seemed like a good idea at Christmas but now that I am missing out on two weeks with her, I am a little crabby.

I think that's about all for today.  I am off to tackle my very long to-do list.  I must resist sitting in the sun in my reclining lawn chair.  This won't be easy folks.

Creative Arts Week

So, a few weeks back it was Creative Arts Week at the elementary school.  The theme was "Mary Poppins" since that was the musical the high school performed earlier this year.  As usual, it was a fun week with lots of cool activities.  One afternoon I spent the afternoon helping the kids make kites.  A couple days later they got to fly them on the football field.  Another day they got to do sidewalk chalk outside.  They made Mary Poppins art projects and learned songs from Mary Poppins (Katie's class got to learn "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious").  At the end of the week they had an assembly and each class performed the song they learned.   It was so cute!  Oh yeah, Grandparent's Day was thrown in there too so Katie got to show off her classroom to Aunt Sally.  There are lots of cute pictures on the Lynden Christian website.  Let me know if you need the password. 
One night the parents are invited to school in the evening so the kids can show off all their projects.
They had some of the props from the musical set up around the school.  This face.  I have no idea.

Some very nice parent built a couple Lego Walls for the library.  Each student was encouraged to bring in as many Legos as they were years old to donate. 

Katie got to show me the Native American village her class had been working on. 

Remember her clothespin indian Bright Sky?  Here she is in all her glory.

Next we headed over to the middle school to check out Sam's science fair project display.  Guess who won first place in his class?  He was one proud boy and I was one proud mom.

 Of course we had to go to Edaleen for come celebratory ice cream!

And this has nothing to do with Creative Arts week but I wanted my Mom to know that her cows are out again on her favorite corner in Lynden.  Time for you to visit Mom, they missed you (and so do I).