May Madness

Spring is usually a pretty easy-going time of the year for us.  Not this year.  The girls decided they both wanted to play spring basketball and Jason is playing in his second baseball season.  Which means we have practices during the week and multiple games on Saturday.  Add to that all the busyness that comes with nearing the end of the school year, a social life, and a couple more kiddos…  Let’s look at yesterday for example.

** Important to note that Justin and Jason left for the ward Father/Son’s campout Friday evening so I was flying solo til after noon…

8:30-10am        Carly Basketball Game (Downtown Snoqualmie)

9-10am             Abigail Basketball Game (Fall City)

(Thankfully, this was changed last minute to a 5pm game, which she had to miss because she was babysitting)

9:45-2pm          Carly Birthday Party (Skate King in Bellevue)

12-3pm             Abigail Birthday Party (BBQ in Snoqualmie Ridge)

1:30-3pm          Jason Baseball Game (North Bend)

2-4pm               Carly Birthday Party (Si View Pool in North Bend)

4-10pm             Date Night with Friends (Federal Way & Auburn)

Once you add in travel times, being double booked in a few instances, coordinating rides when it’s impossible to be in two places at the same time, meals, a baby that takes two long naps everyday, etc....  Thankfully once Justin and I walked out the door at 3:30pm we were off duty for the night and could enjoy a fun evening with friends while the girls held down the fort – oh, once Carly got a ride home from her second party that day.

It’s been a fun, albeit busy, month for our family.  Justin played basketball with our ward the last few months and his team took first place in the stake.  They went on to play in regionals and ended up placing second overall.  He was in primary until just recently so he’s really enjoyed getting a chance to get to know some guys in the ward better.  (Justin is now serving in the high priest presidency, which in our ward is primarily older folks).  

Justin’s also caught the family history bug.  He’s done the work for his grandpa and uncle and has spent hours and hours on the computer researching his ancestors and has about 70 names ready for temple ordinances.

I’m a pretty independent woman and I definitely have some introvert-ish tendencies; however, I really value time with friends, I think I even ‘need’ it {gasp} – this month feels like I’ve had an abundance of amazing, fun-filled experiences.  First there was Utah, with friends I’ve known for over a decade and that have remained friends even though we all live in different cities and/or states now.  I’ve got some great friends in our ward here too.  Last week a bunch of us went to the temple and dinner, earlier in the month a few of us went to a Japanese karaoke club in Seattle and had a crazy, fun night!  I still attend a book club here and in Auburn each month.  It’s all about balance, right?  And I feel like I’ve got a good balance going on.

The three big kids are busy with sports, friends, birthday parties and church activities and piano for the girls.   The weather has been wonderful.  May has a reputation for being nice and sunny getting us Seattleites excited for summer then June tends to come in and put us in our place – reminding us that summer truly doesn’t start here til after July 4th.  I’m sure we’re just getting a little teaser, but we’re enjoying it.

While in Utah my friends convinced me to start an instagram account – I’m still trying to figure out when I’d rather post something there over facebook, but anyhow… just a few of the pictures I posted to instagram this month:

A huge bug that I fished out of Drew’s mouth – still alive!  I first thought the trail of goo was saliva, but on further examination it appears it may be bug guts – yuck!

 

Katie entertaining Drew with my iPad while I was selling during our community garage sale mid-month

Justin took a few pictures while I was in Utah.  He took the kids to XXX Burger one evening for dinner.

 

Apparently Katie got out of bed one evening and fell asleep on the stairs.

Our sister-in-law Cammy came into town for work mid-May.  We were able to pick her up in Seattle Sunday afternoon and spend a few hours with her at the house.   Cammy is one of those people that seem to get along with everyone – she’s especially good with my kids and they love her (and not just cause she came bearing gifts).  After the three youngest went to bed we stayed up and played cards with the girls.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures while she was here, but I do have a picture of our tally sheet.  Carly came in first with 111, followed by Justin at 119, Cammy at 137, Abigail at 157, and me at 186.  If you take out the 50 point penalty I earned by listening to Cammy’s advice I wouldn’t have lost to her.

Justin and the three oldest hiked up Little Si on Saturday, May 24th.  Katie really, really, really wanted to go but Justin thought it best he check it out before taking anyone with questionable ability (I think that includes me)

Thursday night we were double booked {shocker!}.  Abigail had her final band concert for the school year and Carly had her piano recital.  We were disappointed that Abigail’s concert fell on the same night as the piano recital.  Abigail used to take lessons from Kori and Kori had asked Abigail to come as a former student and play one of her favorite songs – Waterfall by Jon Schmidt (of The Piano Guys).  Kori is moving away this summer so our final recital with her.  We’ve really loved her teaching our girls and are nervous about the changes that will need to be made with her leaving.

Carly played two arrangements.  She was the very first performer of the evening playing, The Spinning Song by Ellmenreich:

Her second song was, For the First Time in Forever from the movie Frozen – here is the first half:

(Again, for some reason I’m not able to see any blog videos on my iPad, phone, or computer so not sure if they are working for anyone else either)

This afternoon Abigail had a piano recital as well.  She played the following two pieces:  

Doesn't she look so happy to be there?  Since switching to the Chopin Academy this past year Abigail hasn’t been as passionate about piano as she has in past years.  I have no idea if it’s the new teacher, the music she’s playing, or just her.  Either way some changes might be taking place there.

I hardly took any pictures of Drew all month!  That’s a travesty!  Just a few playing upstairs one morning

My attempt to get a picture of him wearing a fireman hat with his fireman jammies

Snapped this next picture on Friday – doesn’t look like he’s too heartbroken to have been left out of the father/son campout.  I think next year he won’t be as understanding.

And lastly a couple pictures of Jason enjoying the giant slip-n-slide at the father/son campout yesterday.

You’d never know that kid eats like a grown adult.

The next few weeks are incredibly busy with the end of school year activities, field trips, and sporting events.  I’m also in charge of a big tri-ward service project.  I keep thinking I just gotta get through _______ (the next big event) then I can think about ________ (the following big event).  Just a few more weeks then we should be enjoying some lazy summer days!  Just gotta get through ________...

Drew’s First Birthday!

Drew’s very first birthday was Thursday, May 22nd.  We celebrated that night by having the Fletcher’s over for dinner and dessert.  Drew just had one gift to open from Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher so we let him take his time.  He got cheers for every little piece of paper he ripped off the box.

Then it was time for cake.

Drew recently discovered his nose.  

Ok, now we’re really ready for cake.

Drew didn’t hesitate to dig into his cake the second Abigail put it in front of him.  He thought it was great fun to play in, but after several minutes without him tasting any of it we finally intervened and stuck a little in his month.  Turns out the boy really likes cake.  I think it’s safe to say he ate the most cake out of any of our kids on their first birthday.

Not quite sure what to make of his cake

Deciding that poking the cake is actually quite fun

Eating cake is even better

All done!

After enjoying a quick bath Drew was able to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher for a little while before heading to bed.

Not an elaborate birthday by any means, but we enjoyed celebrating our sweet little boy. 

Drew had his check-up the day after his birthday – his stats were:

Height:      30 inches (56.95 percentile)

Weight:     22 lbs, 2 oz (63.87 percentile)

Head:        47.5 cm (86.64 percentile)

Drew has been a really healthy kid and has only visited the doctor for his well-child checkups.   

I’ve taken monthly shots of all my kiddos during their first year and it always amazes me how much they change in such a short amount of time.  Here are Drew’s monthly shots:

 

For some reason the slideshow of the pictures (above) isn't working for me - is it for you?  If not here's the pictures, one-by-one:

Mother’s Day 2014

I was asked to speak on Mother’s Day which in my opinion is a terrible thing to do to a mother.  My topic was: what my mother taught me about unconditional love – my Mom is an incredible example of this so coming up with what to share actually came quite easily.  My Mom is an amazing example of accepting others and loving without criticism or judgment.  We love and appreciate her so much!  I’m much more comfortable speaking about doctrinal facts and gospel principles than getting all personal - it’s much harder to keep my emotions completely in check when I’m sharing experiences from my own life.  

When we got home from church we had to get our annual Mother’s Day photo before we got into pj’s and settled in for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

I’m so grateful for the blessing it is to be a Mother to these amazing kiddos!

The day was actually quite ordinary which shouldn’t really surprise me cause that’s usually how we roll around here, but what made it special was the small gifts Jason and Carly made in class.  Jason gave be a big laminated poem with a drawing of me, but it was the note he had written that really touched me.  

Translation:  To Mom, I love you. And I wish I could stay home. And you are funny. And you are awesome. And lovely too. And you are special too. And I wish I was better of keeping my hands to my self. And I am sorry. I am really sorry. And I do not want to get in trouble.

Goodness!  It still brings tears to my eyes just typing it out.  We had to talk about keeping his hands to himself that week after he and a friend got too rambunctious on the bus.  He is such a sweet boy, but there are times he struggles to keep his energy (or frustration) in check.  Man, I love that kid. 

Carly’s class made coupon books for their mothers.  I’m sure we’ve all created and/or received similar books over the years, but her coupons were very personalized to me and are things she knows I would appreciate and love - babysitting, a hand massage, feeding Drew breakfast, and a day to sleep in til 9am – (not to be used on holidays) :)

I’ve got the best job ever!

Weekend in Utah

I spent the first weekend of May in Utah with friends.  My friend Stephanie moved to Utah last year and invited some Auburn friends to come down for Women’s Conference at BYU.  Camille and I flew down on Wednesday night and Tracy flew in from Arizona on Thursday morning.  We spent most of Thursday and Friday attending the conference.  We had a couple less than stellar speakers on Thursday so we played it safe and hit up the big names on Friday.  The messages were wonderful and uplifting and it was great to be there with three inspiring and amazing women I’m blessed to have as friends.

Thursday night we attended the Women’s Conference concert at the Marriot Center.  I wasn’t super excited to go, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend.  I was expecting cheesy Mormon bands and MoTab type music; thankfully, that wasn’t the case.  There was an amazing violist (Jenny Oaks Baker) who played Led Zeppelin and Gun’s N’ Roses – in the BYU Marriott Center!  It was awesome!  The MC was a comedian who was actually Pretty Darn Funny.  The evening was also very inspiring.  They showed several videos of women who have demonstrated strength and grace amidst great trials.  Including this one, the mother of Emilie Parker then came out and spoke to us.  It was a wonderful evening.

After the conference ended on Friday we walked around campus a bit, ate dinner at Brick Oven, and then attended the first Rooftop Concert of the season.  Sure we were a bit older than most of the crowd, but the atmosphere was really fun and I actually really enjoyed the first band – Strange Family.

Saturday was our only conference free day and what do my friends decide to do at the crack of dawn?  Hike the Y.  I’ve never hiked the Y. Not even as a student attending BYU.  I’m not a fan of exercise and I’m soooo out of shape (I have a few days to still milk the whole ‘I have a baby’ excuse so I will).  But I was up for the challenge.  It wasn’t an easy hike and I had to stop many times to put my heart back into my chest, but I made it to the top and was grateful to cross that off my bucket list (though who are we kidding? It was never on my bucket list).  

We met up with another Auburn friend turned Utahan for our after hike reward - Waffle Love!  Our indulgence made up for all calories burned during our morning hike, but it was so delicious!

After cleaning up we spent the rest of the afternoon eating yummy food, shopping, and getting pedicures.  Saturday evening we attended a very funny production of ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ at the Scera theater in Orem.  It was excellent.

We attended Sacrament with Stephanie’s family Sunday morning and then our girls weekend came to an end.  

I think this might be the first time I’ve ever traveled with friends and I loved it!  It certainly won’t be the last.  It surprised me a bit how easily it was to forget about life back home and just enjoy myself.  Especially considering I’ve never left a baby as young as Drew overnight, let alone for four nights.  It’s not very often that I can put aside my role as a wife and mother and just be Holly for a few days.  That wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Justin and knowing that he could manage just fine without me.  He’s got some pretty amazing kids to help him out.

I spent Sunday afternoon at my Mom’s before heading to the airport.  She invited my local siblings over for dinner so we could visit for a bit.  It’s always great to spend time with my family even if only for a few hours.  Though it felt a bit different not to have my family there with me.  Not sure if I’ve ever been in Utah without them.

Awesome weekend.  Incredible friends.  Great memories. 

I decided not to bring my camera on the trip so HUGE thanks to Camille for being the weekend iPhone photographer!