RUN!

Our city has an all-comer's track meet every Monday. And the kids had so much fun racing and leaping and throwing and earning ribbons.

Fired up!

We headed down to Jeremy's station to spend some time with him on Father's Day. The kids were elated because Jer got out all the fun toys AND he didn't go on a call - BONUS! *disclaimer* his kind fellow firefighters took his calls because of the adorable and potentially pathetically sad looks on the kids' faces when their dad drives off in an aid car and we have to go back to Bellingham early without a goodbye. :)

{nearly} Father's Day

(I've gotten behind because our internet has been out of commission)

 

  We heart dad...

Jeremy worked on Father's Day this year, so we made the day before his special day. And we certainly packed it in. Our dear friend Lisa was visiting from Seattle, so we started off the day with a divine breakfast at a house overlooking the waterfront with two sweet little girls she was watching for the weekend. An oatmeal bar, coffee and perfect conversation with someone we miss so much - it was the perfect morning for us.

After that, we went straight to berry picking (Jeremy's choice) where we loaded 

ourselves up with 45 hard earned pounds of strawberries.

We returned home, Jeremy sorted and sliced berries in silence while I took the kids to a graduation party and then we returned home to watch him open our home-made gifts and he got ready to go out with a couple of visiting friends from high school. It was the perfect dad's day. :)

Kindergarten Graduate

Today marked our first day of summer break. Yesterday, I high-fived my kindergartener for the last time and congratulated him on a year well done. Today he woke up and told me he's in first grade now. And the years will go by with lightning speed...

 At morning drop-off with his buddy Nataile. Carpool partner extraordinaire and the object of Parker's affection all year. He once told Natalie's mom that he liked to be dropped off as far away from the school as possible so they could walk the long way and spend more time together. Natalie is a pretty awesome third grader. :)

 Kindergarten graduate! It's certified.

 The incredibly patient, kind and talented Mr. Jones. I likened this year to being Mr. Rogers' class. It was a magical year of unending learning, striving and taking pride in a job well done for these kids. 

 And on that note:

“Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else." 

~ Mr. Rogers

Congratulations on a big accomplishment, Parks! I can't wait to see what's next in your beginning... 

The Eve.

It's The Eve of Something Big. I knew in September this year would race by, out of my control, and standing here on the other side in June...I can confirm it has. Tomorrow is Parker's last day as a Kindergartener. It is difficult to describe HOW MUCH has changed in this boy this year. His friends, his favorites, his confidence, his loves. It's all honed in and quietly...bigger. He's growing up.

 

Jeremy started The First Annual Night Before The Last Day of School Campout tradition this year. :)

And they allowed me to sneak in for a total of 5 minutes during "Guy Time"

 

 And because we like to pack it in, swimming lessons started this week too!

These are the cutest little divers I've ever seen.

Play it up.

I am about as sentimental as they come. I'm also running on a bit 'o empty this spring. And I'm prioritizing and making time for things that need it, and although this documentation of the daily life of my family is important to me (because one day my kids will love that they have this), I don't always have the most timely posts. Which means sometimes I skip it and give myself some grace, and other times I post it anyway - when it's important to me to record a special moment. Such as this one. Because an adorable little Kindergarten school play is a once in a lifetime thing. Cue to the waterworks.

Parker's teachers put on the most adorable "How Does Your Garden Grow" Kindergarten musical. Parker was a weed. A very proud weed, at that. He had a little section of supporters - two parents, a sister, and four grandparents (two of which drove two hours to watch a 45 minute play...they are very dedicated grandparents). And boy, oh boy, was it darling.

 This was Parker's moment to shine. With this little group the extent of their lines were

"We're the weeds! We're cool! We're the weeds! We rule!" and then a follow up of

back and forth "Weeeeeeeeds!"  "Ruuuuuuuuule!" He was VERY proud.

 Handprint and footprint art. Which was so cute. And I was delighted that I got this in time for Mother's Day

along with Evie's handprint art from her school. LOVE.

 

 The cheering section. These supportive sisters were equally excited about the

performance and the cookies afterwards.

Parker's biggest fans.

Island life.

This weekend we wanted to get out of dodge, but stay closish to home. We finally decided on a quick island camping trip, but the tides were a little nutty, so we had to leave via boat at 8am on Saturday and return at 5pm on Sunday. There was also a small craft wind advisory, so once we were able to get out there, we were there to stay (and hopefully get back!).

There are a few islands around Skagit Bay that have a couple of rustic and remote camping spots that are only accessed via boat. We settled on Skagit Island and we were lucky enough to snag a little spot in the woods on the edge of a shell beach. Skagit Island is my most absolute favorite island.

 We dug for clams for dinner.

 Parker was in heaven. He spent the majority of two days building 

streams and dams in the tideflats until his fingers were pruny. For 10 hours.

 And Evie found a million little hermit crabs, snails, snakes, worms, fish, urchins and clams.

They also found the complete skeletal remains of a coyote. Which we now have in our garage.

 Why roast one when you could have two? I think she was actually roasting one for her

dear brother, but according to Everly she forgot which one was his, so she ate both.

 Sweet Parks was elated to find this "M for Mom!!" Keep it FOREVER, he instructed me.

overload.

I feel that this week my kids have been on adorable overload...I'm so lucky to have such charming children. :)

 Those eyes. My gosh.

 That smile. Be still my heart.

Everly got to stay in Parker's class for nearly the entire day last Friday 

while I helped out with end of the year stuff. She was in total heaven.

And this is their stance while they tried to talk me into staying up late. It went on for 10 minutes until I caved.

  

And they're off.

 

On Memorial Day, you know, that dreadfully rainy and dreary day off, we made the most of it. Jeremy arrived home from work that morning and had a plan for an all-day relay race in hand. He conjured up ideas like egg balancing, bike races, bowling, swing jumps, ball transfer, eating contests, and everything in between. The kids had a blast, and we played the dreary day away.