Maiden Voyage

Nearly a year and a half ago, Parker started saving his money. He worked hard to save his allowance, do extra chores, and put away any dollars he got for his birthday. He saved and saved and finally had enough for his first goal - an animal truck and animals he saw at The Country Store. But when he took his piggy bank to get it, he stood in the aisle and held the toy and pondered and inspected it. He walked away empty handed, deeming it "not exactly what I wanted". He put his hard earned money back on his shelf and continued to add to it and save. Over a year ago, he decided he wanted "a real sailboat". We looked up a lot of real sailboats, really investigating the best deals and he decided that a real sailboat might take a long time to achieve, but he could probably save for a toy sailboat that really sails. He did some research with me and wanted me to look for "a boat that is very good quality". We finally found one - a boat that really sails and could stand the test of time. And he continued to save. This spring he was getting close and he ramped up his efforts. I offered him a dollar to help me weed one day and after 5 hours of hard work, I handed an excited boy four dollars. He saved and worked hard and he even consigned a couple of his old toys, and then we counted his money last week and lo and behold, he finally had enough! We ordered the boat (since we couldn't get it in a store), and it arrived yesterday. We put it together and when dad came home today, we took it out for it's maiden voyage. The mixture of pride, delight and ownership on Parker's face was priceless. I'm so proud of this boy.

Bring on the bubbly.

The kids made bubble wands at Evie's party. And then, because my two love a good craft, they made a few more. And then the practiced making some extreme bubbles in the bath. Over the course of a couple days, they came up with The Double Bubble, The Bouncing Bubble, and Bubble on My Head to name a few. It was quite cute.

Spring has sprung

On Sunday, Jer was working and we woke up to snow, sleet and rain. The clouds loomed over and made our moods dark. I tried to make cozy plans, followed by relaxing plans, followed by indoor plans, but it was clear the kids (and I) needed to get out. So we did. We headed out for a couple errands, then lunch and by the time our sandwiches were finished, the sun was out and the air was warm. Oh, hello spring.

 Spring sunshine was just what we needed. Four hours at the park was not enough. 

I had to drag them home for dinner at 6pm.

Party-up!

I like this tradition we've started of celebrating with a birthday party for the kids a little while after their birthdays. We were gone this year for Evie's, then spring break happened, so I planned her first "big girl" party for this last weekend. A few of her friends from school and church came over and we had a garden party in our living room. The day started off with an instant April snow storm in the morning and kept up until the grass and gardens were covered. By the time of the party, it melted and by mid afternoon the sun was shining and kids were running around on the sidewalk blowing bubbles. Bring it on, spring!

Rain, sun, snow didn't bring us down. We decorated bird houses, made bubble wands and colored  butterfly masks anyway. In the coziness of indoors.

then life caught up with me.

We've been busy. Jeremy is working a second job right now. I'm always working my freelance nights. The kids have school and co-op volunteering days and kindergarten volunteering days and lessons. We have the foodbank garden and various other commitments and this week it all felt like it was piling down on me. The wonderful thing about my husband's firefighting schedule is his ability to be home with the kids when I'm at work. The bad thing about my husband's firefighting schedule is that we go days at a time without seeing each other and with his new job, our meetings are few and far between. My husband is my best friend. I like to hang out with him. And I like to parent with him. And going that alone makes me feel like a single mom sometimes. Which is A LOT of work. So this week I let it pour over my shoulders and heave it's weight on my while I cried and sought comfort from friends and poured myself a glass of wine with dinner I ate in a dark house at 10 pm. And then the days of the week went on and it's slowly getting better. This too shall pass.

This previous weekend we spent the last three days of our spring break down in La Conner with friends. Thankfully, Jer's kelly day fell on this week so we had three wonderful days in a row when I did not work and the kids didn't have school and we met friends at the cabin. These two, amazing people with a friendship steeped in history with us. Cami and Jeremy met during high school and have been close ever since, moving to Bellingham together to go to college. The summer after Jeremy and I met he moved to Alaska with Cami where she met her now husband Brian and they all worked together. Over the last 20 years our various circles have overlapped and intertwined in some sweet and 'how on earth did you meet them?!' ways. We spent a rainy beach weekend atop the Fidalgo cliff with their twin five year olds, four year old Evie, five year old Parks and their fifteen year old and his friend. A full and chaotic house of fun.