Sela's Music Recital

Tonight was Sela's much anticipated (at least by our family) music recital. Last year it was at the home of her teacher, Sharla Dance, but this year it was at a piano store and they were able to play their chosen songs on a beautiful grand piano. We hit major traffic on our way to Bellevue but luckily we gave ourselves enough time and we were right on time. Sela did great and seemed very happy with her performance. It was a crazy freak show for John, Erin and I trying to keep the little ones quiet and happy.... at least it felt that way. We were all pretty tired when it was over. We saw Darcie and Geoff and it was fun to visit with them for awhile. We don't see them as much anymore with the crazy schedules of Geoff and Zig, but Darcie and I still touch base pretty often. The girls were all happy to reunite. When we came home, there were two deer in the yard and Sela followed one down into the forest and said she touched him and gave him an apple slice. Quite the animal lover is she.

John's Happy Graduation "party"

Sela got to work on a graduation party for John. She and Zig made carrot spice cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting....a huge hit. Erin and I made shrimp tacos, a meal she said John has been requesting for months. Sela got everyone singing "Happy Graduation to You" and then Jacob and John entertained us with the guitar and piano. Erin and John got all their stuff moved into storage and we set up the nursery for Moriah. We are loving having their sofa and chair for the living room while we wait for our furniture to come! It's pretty funny though... we have the christmas colors going.... red chair, white sofa, and I moved our green ottoman into the living room. Feliz Navidad. It works though, we just won't be inviting anyone in anytime soon...haha.

"Free" Play

Rollin and Moriah have something in common...they both love to run around naked after their baths. I couldn't resist snapping a few photos. I love naked (clean) babies!

To the farm we go

With the mild weather today, we took the kids to Farrel-McWhirter park.

Goodbye Boston, Hello Seattle...at least for now!

Erin and Moriah finally made it! Erin was tired and Moriah was wired after the nine hour flight. Sela, Nina and Rollin were all happy to see and love Moriah. Rollin and Moriah like to get as close to each other as possible and just stare. Sela made Moriah a gift out of a box. She worked on it for about three hours yesterday and cut the box with Rollin's play tools. She was very excited to show Moriah.

It feels like Christmas Eve....

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. Tomorrow at noon I will pick up Erin and Moriah at the airport and they have no return flight!!!!!! Yippee! Hopefully we can convince John to let them stay here for the summer. Erin and I have big plans and are so excited at the idea of helping each other out. We are already planning our cooking and working out and our business idea and writing our cookbook, and on and on. Who knows what we'll actually get done, but we'll have fun. The sun is starting to shine our here and life is really good in the pacific northwest. My dream is having Erin nearby and it is finally happening.

Orcas Island

We’ve had a couple weeks of nice weather, with temperatures in the upper 70’s today. The kids are able to wear themselves outside and are having a great time. The farmer’s market in Redmond started last weekend and the girls and I biked there on the river trail. It was quite an adventure. The girls were most excited that our carton of eggs had two green ones.

Last week was kind of busy…Zig was out of town a couple of days. I had book club at my house on Thursday. I have had a hard time getting the books read the past few months and almost decided to take a break, but we just have such a great time when we get together that I’m going to keep on. We read The Fountain Overflows this month and had a fun discussion. For several of the ladies, it’s the only time I see them in the month, so it’s totally worth it.

We found out Sela got into the Explorer School and we are very excited about that. She is sad to be leaving her friends at Alcott but I promised her we will still see them. Many live very nearby. We still see many of our friends we don’t go to school or church with so I think that helped her. I know she is going to be so happy there. She has been so happy this year and made lots of friends in Kindergarten so it’s been a great first experience with school. Next year when she will be going full day, it will be different and I wanted a much more hands-on learning environment for Sela. There is a hefty parent commitment required but Zig is on board and I think it will be a great experience. I was just talking to one of the moms today and she said the kids are so busy right now working on their garden…they grow food for Hopelink, a local shelter.

Sela caught two lizards this week. She told us she was going to catch one. She said she knew where the lizard’s home was. Sure enough she woke up the next morning, walked outside and returned with the lizard. She did turn him loose that evening, but the next day she captured another one and made the sad mistake of leaving him in bug jar out in the sun while she went to school. I kept telling her to move it into the shade and finally late that afternoon, she went out to move the lizard and I came out to find her with a really sober look on her face. She had released lizard but he was rather stiff and not going anywhere. She walked inside and then I heard huge sobs coming from her room. She is a tenderheart and loves all living things. I told her this kind of thing happens and not to worry, just learn from it. She was so upset.

We went to Orcas Island this past weekend for Mother’s Day. Zig’s mom came into town for a couple of days which was a nice treat. We stayed at Rosario and the island was breathtaking. Every time we visit a new place around here we are amazed at the natural beauty all around us.

We took our bikes with us and Zig broke in his new mountain bike. He took Sela on a couple of rides and went on one big one himself. We hiked around some and visited the little town one afternoon. The girls found tide pools and Zig helped them catch tiny crabs. Mother’s Day was really nice. We went to brunch and the girls were in heaven over the dessert choices, especially Nina.

This week was pretty much a typical week. The girls and I all had dentist appointments together. For Nina, it was her first visit. I was really nervous for her because I had a hunch she might have a cavity because our naturopath had noticed that she has very deep grooves which can make it easier to get cavities. Combine that with her affinity for all things sweet, and I knew our chances were not good that she would get a perfect report on her teeth. Sela’s teeth were still in good shape, no cavities. But Nina ended up having two tiny cavities in their early stages. She didn’t love the whole cleaning experience so this week when she has to go back to have her cavities worked on, I have a feeling it’s going to be a struggle. Maybe Zig will take her :)

This weekend we decided to try and all-family mountain bike ride. Sela is doing quite well on simple trails now so we went over to Told McDonald park and did some riding on trails not quite so flat and easy. I pulled the burley with the two little ones and Zig and Sela went ahead. Sela did so well but at the very end, she was getting a little over confident and she had a complete wipeout coming down a hill. I think she slipped on a rock but she just munched. She was quite shaken and had a pretty good bruise on her thigh. Zig stayed with her while I rode on out because when I’m not in motion, the chorus of crying/screaming begins in the back. I was so happy to see Sela ride out of the trail minutes later. She is a little trooper.