May on FB

My 10yo finds my habit of bringing up alternative interpretations of situations to be terribly inconvenient and has decided that I'm not a credible source of information.

What did you do today?

Had some gingerbread for breakfast and now trying (retroactively) to describe it as a health food. If you have an rationalizations, tenuous or not, I can use, they will be appreciated.

For Michael's senior year-

Teachers in September: Let's learn!

Teachers in May: Just stop by the classroom to let me know you're in the building.

Michael dressed up for the 90s concert tonight - any guesses who he is?

This picture that showed up in my FB memories brought on a whole bunch of emotions. Too many for a Saturday morning really 😉

Isaac was an only child this weekend. For fun we moved books and furniture around the house. Oh, and had a picnic at the park.

Josh Conquers Mt. Ellinor

Josh did a thing and learned, I hope, several things. He and a friend hiked Mt. Ellinor during what most of us would consider to be spring, but still looks like winter up there. Stats for funsies: 2,444 feet of elevation in 1.6 miles. Add lots of snow, clouds, and some rain to make it really exciting.  

We're thrilled he's back safely and had a mostly fun and only a little bit scary time.

Josh is 21

What's more fun than getting up early to decorate the car of an officially an adult in every way child young man? Nothing! And when you get a partner in crime to help, the decorating goes more quickly.

The abettor even let me take her picture.

We did this to the back and sides of his car.

I buckled in his Mtn Dew so it would be safe.

And then stuck a car wash gift card in the phone slot in case he did not find the decorations as amusing as we did.

This was his response. And I shamelessly threw Mutti/Nana under the bus!

But he did apparently enjoy the soda.

Happy 21st to our oldest minion! It is so wonderful to watch him excel, develop his interests, and explore the world.

Only Child Weekend

Michael and Ben were gallivanting in Memphis this weekend with the choir so that left just three of us hanging out around the house this 3-day weekend. Since we just found out that our new couch is coming this month instead of the expected mid-June date. This translated into a bit of rearranging of books and furniture in preparation for the incoming couch. We did, however, take a break to have a picnic at a local park. Unfortunately, many, many, many others had the same idea. We found a bench to eat and Isaac got some fun time on the playground before we went back to hauling books up and down the stairs.

90s Concert

Today was the very last choir concert of the year. It is always a thematic concert and always a fun one. The theme was 90s music and the kids (most of them anyway) really got into it. It was also the senior awards night and we were able to hear some lovely words from Mr. Shaw about our amazing musician.

Ride the Cyclone

What a lovely surprise! Tonight we attended a student-let musical at Timberline. We went because Michael was the music director/keyboardist and hand picked the pit including our very own Ben Miller on the cello and electric bass. 

The boys did an amazing job, Michael did an amazing job, and the cast did a lovely job with a very funny play.

This was such an enjoyable production and I am excited that Michael had the opportunity to be the music director.

Michael's Senior Prom

Michael made a last minute decision to go to prom this year. Since he and Angela broke up a while ago but then got back together just after State, they did not have plans to go together. Michael went to prom with his friend Isaac and also did group pictures with his other friend Isaac and some other kids at the capitol building. Both of these Isaacs are his good friends but the shared name is confusing. Add his brother into the mix and conversations about "Isaac" get all sorts of exciting.

These are some good looking kids.

Our Spartan

A while ago Josh mentioned that he had signed up to run a 10k Spartan race up north of us. Since we enjoy watching people do crazy things that are incredibly intense our kids do things they love, Jason and I volunteered to be transportation and cheering squad with extra towels and food in the truck of the car.

Bright and early 7:30a, Josh completed the course highlighted in blue (and sometimes red and blue) below. It is a blurry image, but there are 27 obstacles completed by the 10k folks and all of them are more fun to watch than to complete.

Josh started off pumped, caffeinated, and excited.

Less excited when I insisted on a group selfie, but still.

We realized, and Josh remembered just that morning, that he had registered for a competitive heat for the race. I think he found it intimidating when he looked around waiting to start, but smaller group also means no waiting at the obstacles. 

There were some sections of the course that spectators could not see, but luckily there were some professional photographers to capture some of the obstacles. Please note this is the last image we have of him smiling for the race.

I don't think the Spartan race is technically a mud run, but they made sure to have plenty of it. And while it did rain this morning, there was a huge water hose on the side of the trail.

Not just mud, but some dirt for the races to slide in before getting in the water.

We did get to watch Josh pick up this 100lb concrete ball which is possibly more than 2/3 of his weight.

This was towards the end of the race and a huge challenge that he refused to give up on.

I can only assume that the look of pain on his face here means that he is really enjoying himself. Right?

Of course many of the obstacles were clustered at the end of the race after the racers had already done a bit of running. Also, everything was wet. A great combination!

The last obstacle designed to show off how very tough and Spartan-y these folks are involved jumping over a line of fire.

Upon completing the race, a couple of folks on the side asked Josh if he wanted to run an extra distance for a pin and he said, "Sure!" Which convinced me that he was both crazy and not completely exhausted. 

Check out that medal!

And here he is at the end: exhausted, sore, and elated.

Aaaaaannnnddddd he still posed for another group selfie.

Apparently he had so much fun, he is planning on doing another one. Though, he admitted he didn't want to do it anytime soon. We are so proud of him!