Randomness

Sometimes my blog posts have a cohesive theme.  Sometimes they're just a collection of pictures and stories that we'd like to record and remember.  This is the latter:

* Thane and Graham are a great little team, and lately they've been cracking me up. In spelling, Thane has a "Silent E" book (to keep track of the different jobs of silent e). A few weeks ago, Thane helped Graham make a "Silent ME" book.

Inside, they drew pictures of all the times Graham is quiet... "me sleeping, me at the library, me at church, me drinking, me coloring baby me eating, and me watching Baby Signing Time with Nellie." So clever!

*When our kids turn seven, they join our Family Home Evening teaching rotation.  Thane has been anxiously awaiting his chance to teach (because he hates not being allowed to do things the older kids can do). He did a great job teaching us about the Army of Helaman.

* Waaaaaayyyyy back, when Aubree was Nellie's age and I was a cub scout den leader, I bought a bucket of plastic dinosaurs for 25 cents. Turns out, that was one of the best quarters I ever spent. I keep the dinosaurs in my closet, and that's what my littles play with while I shower and get ready in the morning.  Ten years later, they're still one of our most used toys.

And when they get bored with the dinosaurs, they have just as much fun with the bin. Graham calls this, "double head."

*One recent night, Nellie had an uncharacteristically hard time going to sleep.  Aubree offered to let Nell cuddle with her.  A few hours later, I found them both conked out and I had to capture the moment. Sisters are the best!

Speaking of sisters, seeing Aubree and Nellie sleeping together reminded me of how I grew up sharing a king-sized bed with FOUR of my sisters!

* Nellie did not love nursery when she first started.  There were lots of tears, sobs, and wails. Since then, she's decided nursery is a pretty great place to be. She runs straight from the chapel to the nursery room without waiting for me to guide her. 

She gets excited to play with her friends and loves to talk about them during the week.  It's such a relief that she's enjoying nursery now!

*I've mentioned Bryce's collecting and organizing of advertisements before, but I thought I'd show that his boards continue to grow.

*We are huge library fans. Nellie is a huge Clifford fan. Clifford is a huge dog. Nellie + library + Clifford = huge win.

* Our little city has a parade every June. This year we met up with friends and had a wonderful time enjoying the simple entries. The kids were well prepared with their candy bags.

*Aubree, Bryce, Thane, and Graham recently completed a round of swimming lessons.  We don't get many opportunities for them to get in the water, but I think it's important for them to be competent swimmers (we have a ways to go!). Aubree passed level 3. Bryce and Thane will need to repeat level 2 (Thane wiggles his body side to side when he tries to swim). 

This was Graham's first time in swimming lessons and he loved every second. He passed Preschool Level 1.

*After the parade, I took the four older kids to the park for the Maple Valley Days festival. When we came upon a booth selling robotic lawnmowers, I had to get a picture of Bryce with one of them, because he loves all things robotic and has been telling us all about these lawnmowers.

The kids also had a chance to visit a firefighter booth and learn about how to safely exit a home during a fire.

*For the last year, we've been swapping monthly babysitting nights with our good friends.  It's such a brilliant situation! Last month, while Mark and I were out, Ashley sent me pictures of Aubree helping with all the younger kids.

She's going to be a great babysitter!

*My sister, Colleen, will appreciate this spaghetti-face picture.

*We recently tried out an Orienteering race. We just did the beginner course, but we had a lot of fun and hopefully will get to try more races in the future.

*We were looking through Mark's childhood photos, and found a picture of him at the same age as Bryce. Interesting to compare.

*Aubree has wonderful friends.  One of their favorite things to do when they get together is to cook. Sometimes it's simple things, like jello. Sometimes it's more advanced items, like these apple roses. Yum!

*Our Relief Society hosts an annual retreat to a cabin in the mountains.  We went later in the year than typical this time around, but we still managed to find ourselves a pile of dirty snow. 

*Aubree is almost finished with her years in Activity Days. For her last annual Stake Activity, they had a mother/daughter painting event. Aubree's old enough that she didn't need much help from me, but she was super pleased with her finished canvas that says," If Plan A doesn't work, Remember, the alphabet has 25 more letters."

5 miles

After Aubree's triathlon, and the boys' Stake Fun Run, it was my turn to have a racing adventure.  

My good friend, Renea, decided she wanted to celebrate her 40th birthday by running a half marathon, and she invited her friends to join her in the endeavor.  

 

I have no desire to torture myself  run a half marathon, but this racing event offered an easier option - a 5 mile trail run.  Anita and I figured we could support Renea in this more realist option.

 We were the only two in the group to choose the easier course, but we're okay with that!

June in the PNW is often called "Juneuary" because it's frequently wet and cold. Not on race day! The forecast for the day was 95 degrees, and our start time wasn't until 9:30 am. It was smokin' hot, and I felt especially sorry for the marathoners and 50K racers.

When we came upon a wide stream, we were grateful for the cool waters, but not crazy enough to run through and get our socks and shoes wet with four miles left to go.

A trail run in the mountains is no easy feat.  Parts of the course were straight up hill (no running there!). I was reminded that the first mile is almost always the most miserable.  My favorite mile was the last mile (and not just because it was mostly downhill). It was hard, but we did it! And may I add, the post-race watermelon was the best I've ever eaten.

Mark and the kids picked me up after the race and we immediately left for our trip to Utah.  Sitting in the car for nine hours after the trail run probably wasn't the best choice. Every time we had a rest stop, I rolled out of the car hobbling like a little old lady.

Stake Fun Run

After Aubree's triathlon, the boys were excited to have their own opportunity to compete in an athletic event a couple days later.  Our Stake sponsors an annual 1K/5K/10K Fun Run, starting from our Stake Center and hopping onto the adjacent trail. 

Graham and Thane entered the primary 1K event.  I ran with Graham, and he was hilarious.  He has a loping gait, which I'm sure takes a lot more energy than a normal run.  It's a long way to run on little legs, but he did his best.  He slowed down or walked a few different times, but as soon as another kid caught up to us, or we caught up to another kid, Graham immediately perked up, started chatting, and was quickly back to jogging. He is 100% social!

Thane needed no adult guidance this time around.  He has an intensely competitive spirit and was motivated to keep up with his buddy, Brock. Brock's goal was to win the 1K, and despite being only 7, he accomplished his goal.  Thane did a great job sticking close to Brock, and as a result, came in 3rd. He insists that his goal for next year is to win.

Bryce has been jogging with Mark and decided he wanted to try the 5K.  His realistic starting goal was, "to not come in last."

Mark jogged the course with Bryce, and impressively, they did not stop jogging the whole way! Mark explained that, on the way down, they got passed by a lot of people, but they kept up a steady pace, and on the way back they were the ones doing the passing.  Bryce even had enough kick at the end to sprint to the finish line.  He finished in 31 minutes, which is significantly better than any 5K I've ever completed!

Immediately after, Bryce (and his friend Greta) did NOT feel good.  They gave it their all, and were totally exhausted and hurting.  It didn't take long however, for him to feel the pride that comes with accomplishment. Soon he was asking, "when can we do another race?!"

Bryce ended up getting 4th place in the boys 3-11 age range.  He definitely did NOT come in last.

I give all credit for any running genes to Mark.

Tri- Hard

In Aubree's co-op, her last Tuesday/Thursday rotating elective class was PE. Her phenomenal teacher, Tallie, tossed out the idea of having the kids train for, and participate in, a triathlon at the end of the school year. "Sure," all us parents replied, "that sounds great!"

You should know - in our co-op, we dream big.  Often, those big dreams come to fruition, but often they get swept away in the tide of life.  Tallie held tight to this dream, prepared the students, and planned her very own mini-triathlon course for the final day of school.

There were a thousand instances where she or the kids could have given up, most especially when the planned triathlon day dawned gray, cold, and rainy (and not just regular, misty Washington rain, but drenching deludes). 

We decided to press on, despite the obstacles.  Tallie gave the kids last minute instructions while having them bounce to get their bodies loose.  Some of the parents were anxious.  I gave lip service to the idea that the triathlon would be hard, but reasoned that 1) they really weren't swimming very far, 2) biking isn't too challenging and they'd ridden the course numerous times without difficulty, and 3) they were only running a mile, something they'd also done numerous times in preparation.

As the time to begin approached, and the kids faced the reality of completing this triathlon in the cold and rain, there were tears amid the excitement.  Some tears abated quickly, others required more processing, but eventually everyone was ready to go.

While we waited for final course adjustments and personnel placements, the kids were so cold they decided to hop in the water to warm up.  To be clear, Washington water is not warm, it was just that cold outside.

 Finally, the official race began amid a flurry of encouragement and anticipation. Most of the kids wore life vests just to be extra safe, but it's challenging to swim easily while wearing a bulky vest.

The transition from swim to biking was a lot harder than I expected.  Some of the kids just threw on socks and shoes (one even started his bike ride without a shirt!), but Aubree wanted to put on a dry shirt and pants. Easier said than done when you're all wet!  It took quite a while. Soon, however, all the kids were flying by on their bikes, completing lap after lap.  

As the lap count accumulated, that's when I really began to realize that I had underestimated the difficulty of this triathlon.  They were all wet and cold, and the road was also slippery and wet. Riding around and around in those conditions is NOT easy! At one point, Aubree had to stop for a few minutes because she was getting nauseous.  After that short break and a bit of water, she proved her fortitude by getting right back in the race.

 

By the time the students started their run, I was in tears, and I completely took back every dismissive statement I'd made previously; there was no need for lip service, this WAS hard!

When Aubree passed us by, Bryce volunteered to run the mile with her.  That might have been my favorite part, seeing him supporting Aubree and seeing her draw strength from his support.

 

In the end, every kid finished. We were SO proud of them, but most importantly, they were proud of themselves! The kids who had been in tears before the race were the most enthusiastic afterwards, proclaiming, "We need to do this again next year!" 

There was nothing manufactured about the success of these kids.  They accomplished something hard. They persevered despite difficult circumstances.  They will never forget this, and hopefully, when they encounter hard things and daunting circumstances in their futures, they can look back and know that since they've persevered and overcome once before, surely they can do it again.

It was the absolute perfect ending to our co-op year.  I love each of these kids. This co-op has been such a blessing in our lives.

Preschool Playgroup

I didn't have the time or energy to organize an official preschool co-op for Graham this last school year, so instead, we arranged weekly play dates for his entire, 10-kid primary class. Turns out, it couldn't have been more perfect for him.

Playgroup was held every Tuesday, from 1-3pm, at rotating homes.  The only expectations for the hosting parent was that they provide supervision and a snack. Sometimes, that meant the kids got to play, play, play for the whole time.

 Often, the moms planned activities or crafts.

 Some super ambitious moms even planned full-on parties, like this Cinco de Mayo bash complete with mustaches and a pinata!

 

It didn't take long for these clever kids to realize us moms are suckers for polite kids.  They'd often ask, with sweet smiles and puppy-dog eyes, "do you think we could make some cookies today?" How could we say no?

 

Tuesdays quickly became Graham's favorite day of the week.  He loved every second he got to spend with all his friends.

 

At the end of May, we wrapped up our preschool playgroup year with a party at the park.  It was a bitter-sweet celebration.  Half of his primary class moves on to full-day kindergarten in the fall. 

 Graham is so sad it's all over, but we're all so glad that it happened.

 It's a good reminder that sometimes it's the simplest things that are the most meaningful.