What a joy it was to see Michelle celebrate with her friends with a sleepover on Friday night and with her family on Sunday night. The party planning ended up being pretty last minute because she was torn for weeks about who to invite. She wanted everyone to be comfortable even though she hangs out with different groups of people. So Michelle decided she would invite the friends she eats lunch with everyday. S, N, & E are very different girls and it cracked me up to hear them interact. The only thing they seem to have in common is kindness! It was a joy and so easy to have them here.
After Church Michelle and I baked a cake for when my parents came over for her favorite dinner of smoked salmon. We used our go to chocolate (GF) cake mix from King Arthur Flour but added a raspberry filling based on a recipe from Nadiya Bakes and chocolate frosting from scratch thanks to one of our Six Sisters cookbooks. It was delicious. Michelle said she wanted to step up her baking game and she sure did. Hubby caught this picture of her opening what I’m willing to bet was her favorite present: a Camp Half Blood shirt I ordered off Etsy. If you know, you know.
On Monday Michelle got invited to Get Air with friends from Church and was also invited to go to a roller skating rink with one of the girls from her birthday party. It was like time traveling to see that style of carpet and the smell sure felt like the roller rinks of yesteryear to me. I don’t know if Michelle and Natalie will ever want to go back but I do feel like I got to share a piece of my childhood with them. And I know for sure they both prefer in line skates or ice skates to traditional roller skates!
No pictures for proof but Danny got to go swimming and play basketball with his friend C at the rec center and spend the night at C’s house. Actually he went to the rec center more than once over break. He also had a health check up and an eye exam (with Target trip with Hubby afterward, pictured here). Don't I know how to plan fun stuff for my boy over break? lol. He also had a baseball practice and got to go to a Nuggets game with Hubby and his friend S & his stepdad. I promise he said he liked all the free time.
Another puzzle complete! This one my mom helped with a lot when the girls weren’t feeling well but when Hubby got started on it, he finished it! He takes after his grandma with the puzzle talent. We also loved having him read to us while opening and trying the Universal Yum box from Poland (one of Michelle’s birthday presents).
Natalie’s favorite part of spring break was getting to attend a horse camp for two days. She even has a favorite horse now named P. It was such a joy to see how happy she was even with the chilly weather. I have her waitlisted for summer camp so she’s crossing her fingers someone else will change their mind.
One day we renewed passports, enjoyed painting pottery, and Michelle used birthday money to purchase and pot a cacti + two succulents at the cutest little plant shop. We then had a yummy lunch within walking distance and felt like we had already had a great day before 1pm. The children and I have definitely enjoyed not having school to go to and have done a lot of resting.
We also got lots of little things off the to do list like Danny and I getting hair cuts, clearing out my inbox, getting the tankless water heater fixed, going to the chiropractor and getting my eyebrows waxed, watering the trees when it was warm outside, keeping the dog calm while woodwork got done outside in preparation of exterior house painting, programming the new thermostat, going through the mismatched socks under the laundry room sink, listening to the books Rules & Dawn Raid, cleaning out the kitchen cupboard that had salt and pepper spilled in it, and finalizing plans for our canceled 2020 cruise trip. Oh, that included waiting six hours and fives minutes on hold on a Wednesday to spend ten minutes adding bus transfers to and from the port. By the time Hubby got home he could tell I was about to lose my mind listening to Disney music so he and Natalie took a turn for me until we finally got through. While on the phone I created an entire scrapbook about our February WDW trip, did the laundry (lots of laundry), made dinner, AND ate dinner. The whole thing was so crazy and it was so hard not to complain when I finally did get through that I went on the elliptical machine for the first time in who knows how long to calm down. So all is well because exercising is something I’ve been neglecting for months and that motivated me to exercise!
On Friday we made, with help from friends, some magic happen to allow Michelle's wish of going to the temple again come true. It is pretty neat to parent a child who wants to make spirituality a priority in her life. I was like that too but turns out that seems to be a rare thing. I am glad we could squeeze that in for her before she went camping in Wyoming with her scout troop. Michelle didn’t give me a whole lot of details about her one night camping trip but it was “good!”
I’ve saved the best for last: Kate was invited to spend spring break skiing with her friend’s family! How much fun is that? I must admit I was nervous to have Kate gone so long knowing she hadn’t been skiing for years. Sounds like the first ski day was a little rocky but renting different boots and skis made it “100 times better.” They rented a house close to the D family’s house so Kate even got to drop by and see three of her cousins and her uncle T. Kate was really good about checking in with us and I am so glad she had this opportunity. I loved hearing her stories like seeing a girl fall off the ski lift unharmed and going up on their chair instead, getting a free lesson from a retired ski instructor, and getting free soda when she only had a $20 bill to pay for it. Her friend’s mom reported we should be really proud of Kate, that she did great on the mountain, and was really fun to have along in the trip. Awwww.
Our last day of spring break was a Kate day too. It was my turn to get to go to her volleyball tournament and I’m so glad I could be there. They played marvelously while missing two players (one was in Florida still and I don’t know about the other one). All their games before crossover were so close! We are talking winning 25-23 and one was even 27-25 to win. So great to watch! After winning all three of their matches (taking 1st place in their pool) they made it to the championship game. They were tied 12-12 before the other team managed to pull ahead and eventually won. (I don’t think I have ever seen/heard such an enthusiastic cheering section at a volleyball tournament so they won that unofficial prize in my brain too.) I am so proud of our team for battling it out with such close competition all day long. I mean, we left the house at 6:30am and didn’t get home until 6:00pm. I wish we could keep this team and these coaches for next year too! I’m so grateful for this great season and it isn’t even over yet. We still have a solid month to go with one more local and one more out of state tournament! Go, Kate, go! Oh, and to my relief, her shoulders didn’t give her too much grief and she came home unharmed. Whew.
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