April on FB

Am I the only one who is incredibly excited about the Artemis II mission and also deeply disappointed that NASA is not already selling the Rise plush??

A jar of Nutella just floated by the camera showing the view of the Artemis II crew!!! That makes me so happy! 💜💜

Someone organizing the books for this sale really knew what they were doing 😆

It would be lovely if we could all focus on things like the Artemis II or tulip festivals, but instead we have this. 

Same, James, same.

A Weekend of Two Cities

Jason and Ben drove off to Bellingham this weekend bringing Michael's car back to him. Not to be outdone, we had our own adventures in (unusually) sunny Olympia. My first thought was to ask who you thought had a better time. But happiness and enjoyment are not a zero sum game, so I will just share some lovely pictures of both.

BHam

OTown

Ben's Room

Ben is allergic to dust. (He's not alone.)

Ben is also allergic to cleaning. (He's not alone.)

Ben may or may not get overwhelmed by difficult tasks that are not fun. (He's not alone.)

But Ben also has a Mom who is VERY motivated and offered to do a deep clean and reorganization of the room while he was out of town this weekend. It was quite a process and involved purchasing a new cabinet with glass doors, but it got done.  

I don't know if he can, but at least I can breathe better in this room.

Battle of the Books - Districts

THANK GOODNESS Isaac is finally healthy! I mean, good for his health, but also it would have been heartbreaking if he had to miss the district Battle of the Books competition after missing the school one earlier in this non-ending cold season. 

With his head full of literature facts and a bright blue shirt on, we drove him to Salish Middle School to compete with a ridiculous number of other schools. His team did a lovely job and dominated the first 18 or so questions and came in a perfectly respectable 4th place. 

He was a little disappointed, but perked up with the promise of a Starbucks brownie to celebrate all of his hard work. He is now very invested in participating next year and we're excited to watch him participate in this fun activity.

Throwback Concert

Throwback - my favorite concert of the year! Ben performed a solo and ensemble this year. Ben was anxious as his throat pain is back and he had to step back from participating in State Solo and Ensemble this upcoming weekend.

And yet he did such a lovely job singing All the Way. It wasn't perfect and I could hear the parts that were likely painful, but we also all heard the just beautiful aspects of his voice. I am excited for what he will be able to do once we get the pain all sorted out.
 

A really fun part of these concerts is the set which is made to look like a restaurant and the teens rotate through being another "audience" for the vocalists.

Ben was also in a quartet. An amazing, hilarious quartet. They sang Silhouettes and performed some spot-on choreography that had the entire audience dying with laughter. 

Another win! 

Dad | Year Two

Due to illness and scheduling and relocation of the older children, our celebration of Dad was smaller than usual. But Ben and I celebrated with mint Oreo milkshakes and Rachel represented with some thing in a cup in Germany. Miss you, Dad. 

Easter........-ish

It has been a rough few weeks....eons...ages... Which meant a family Easter dinner was out. We didn't even have a particularly special meal for the four of us. BUT I did order this Reese's Egg weeks ago and saved it for our special Easter dinner dessert. 

And then I made Jason cut it up and most of us thought it was too sweet and Isaac got to eat most of it.

Here's to holidays in 2027 - they have got to be better.