Fun (Ninja Warrior Style) and Games (Quidditch and Soccer)

We had some fun times this week!  On Wednesday day we went to the annual Harry Potter day at the library.  The event was complete with sorting into houses, hunting for ghosts and dragon eggs, practicing spells and potions, a story time, and a double decker bus that took kids to a quidditch game.  I took the girls to the event and Merrick went with a friend, hence why my only pictures are of the girls.  The girls and I had lots of fun.  Merrick had less fun than in past years but I think that was mostly due to the bus ride that resulted in him getting a migraine and getting lost.

On Saturday, per usual, both kiddos had soccer games.  Elsie was a good sport through both games, but by the end was more than content to just sit in the chair and listen to Baby Shark.

After the games, Jeremy took the older two kids to an urban warrior gym.  They got to try their hands at American Ninja Warrior obstacles.  The warped wall was a big hit.  Carrigan worked really hard to make it up the 8 foot wall, Merrick made it about 12 feet, and Jeremy made it to 16 feet but couldn't pull himself up.  The whole experience was awesome.  When the kids got home they couldn't wait to show me their pictures and videos and are already asking when they can go back.

Settling In

The kids have been back in school for four weeks now and I have been back three.  I feel like we are all now settled into the routine. Tuesday through Thursday I go to the preschool in the morning and the other days I stay home with Elsie.  After school the kids come home and we do homework, play, do homework, and have soccer practice.  Overall our week was routine and boring but comfortable.  Here are a (very) few pictures from the everyday.

Carrigan has been good about entertaining herself when I need to help Merrick with his homework and really enjoyed her puzzles this week.

At soccer practice I have yet to get any pictures of Merrick, but both kids are working hard and learning a lot.  The girls love to go to Merrick's practices and play with the sibling of other kids on the team.

I am working on updating the website for the preschool (long overdue) and so I have been taking pictures of the kids during the day.  I have been trying to get pictures that don't show the kids faces for privacy reasons.  Most of the pictures have been of play, but I really liked this picture of the kids hard at work.

That's all for today.  Elsie is waiting for me, not so patiently, so do something else.

Catching Up

Since last week was all about Merrick and his birthday, there were a few happenings that got neglected.  Today I am playing catch up.

Early last week, before Merrick's birthday, we celebrated Tala's 40th birthday.  Since it was a big one Emily and I decided to go all out on the cake.  Emily did the baking and was my assistant for the decorating.  I have never worked with fondant before but since I heard it was a lot like playdough, I wasn't too concerned.  If there is one thing I know, it's playdough.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  We had a surprise party for him at a Happy Valley Station (a collection of food trucks).  Everyone had a great time.

Also that week, after we finished celebrating Merrick, Jeremy and I snuck away for the evening to see Cake and Ben Folds.  We are not really concert people but we bought ourselves tickets for our anniversary.  Jeremy has always wanted to see Ben Folds (we tried once but only ended up making it for like two songs) and I really like Cake so it worked out.  It was a really great concert, despite the fact that is was outdoors and it rained almost the entire time.  We had brought chairs to sit in, but ended up standing almost the entire time and it was really cool because we were able to get up really close.  I still don't know that I am much of a concert person, but I really did enjoy myself.

The other big new is that this week Carrigan lost her first tooth.  We waited all though kindergarten for her first missing tooth and it never came.  So, she was over the moon when she wiggled it out during school this week.  The plus side of it not coming out for so long was that her new tooth is already halfway grown in.

And since this is such a random post anyway, here are a few other random pictures that were too cute to pass up.

Until next week...

Merrick Turns 10!

This was a big week!  One for the record books!  This week Merrick turned 10!!! 1-0!!!! He now is a double digit age!  That means I have a child that is a double digit age!  If you couldn't tell I am kinda freaking out about this.  Time always marches on and mostly I have made my peace with my kids growing up but this has knocked me for a loop.  Nevertheless the day came and we decided to celebrate it (and him) in a big way.

Merrick's actual birthday fell on a Thursday which, much to his disappointment, meant he had to go to school.  I got up extra early though and went to the store for doughnuts before school.  He also got to take a treat to school to share with his classmates (this is the first teacher that has let him bring a treat).  After preschool I went and got him Taco Bell and ate lunch at school with him.  Last year he was really excited for me to eat with him and wanted me to go to recess after, but this year he was uncertain if he wanted me to stay and eat (he ultimately decided he did) and after he took off for recess and didn't look back.  Another sign that he is really growing up.

So this year Merrick talked me into, not one, but three parties.  When we were deciding what to do for a birthday party, what he really wanted was to have a pool party.  Since everyone in our neighborhood is old, they can be kinda grouchy about the pool.  I told him that he could only invite a few friends.  That opened up a new set of problems as a couple of the friends he really wanted to invite don't get along.  He was also having a hard time narrowing down his guest list.  Eventually, I decided that the only way to make it work was to have two pool parties.  That way we could invite everyone Merrick wanted to and also keep certain friends apart.  We had the parties on Thursday and Friday and kept them really chill.  We just swam and ate cupcakes.  It wasn't fancy, but Merrick had fun.  His friends also really spoiled him with gift cards, money, books, baseball cards, and a drone.  He also got a new bounce extension for his Morphboard from Grandpa and Lollie.  Carrigan and Elsie gave him a new subscription to Sports Illustrated Kids and from us he is getting tickets to the Ducks vs. Sun Devils football game.  Today we will have our third party with all the family.  We will also celebrate Lincoln and Lauren's birthdays.

We are so blessed to have Merrick in our family and so glad we could celebrate him this week.  He is such a great kids, so helpful, kind and thoughtful.  As hard as it is for me to watch him get older, I am so proud of the young man he is becoming.  He's the best!

P.S. I have a few other things to report on from this week but they will have to wait until next week. Today is all about Merrick.

Back to School

This week the kids went back to school.  Merrick is in 4th grade this year and Carrigan is in 1st.  Carrigan (once again) got the teacher she was hoping for.  Merrick, on the other hand, was hoping for the other teacher because his teacher won't let the kids wear hats in class and that is super important to Merrick.  I, however, am pleased with his teacher assignment.  I think it is going to be a good fit for him.

This year (for the first time ever) Grandpa and Lollie were here for the first day.  It was so fun for us to have them be a part of such a special day.  We, of course, did our traditional first day pictures.  You will see that Merrick still has his heart set on being a professional baseball player.  I love that he dreams big.  Carrigan wants to be a "home cook".  I asked her what that means.  Basically she wants to stay home and cook for her family and homeless people.  She has a big heart and I think she likes the idea that if she is doing the cooking, she can cook unlimited treats.

I am really optimistic about the year.  I feel like it is going to be a great one.

As an added bonus, since Grandpa and Lollie were here, we celebrated back to school in style with a trip to Bullwinkles.

  

Oh, one more thing, we managed to have three days of school and then on Wednesday night we had a crazy storm.  Lightning struck a tree down by the kids' school and knocked out power.  They ended up canceling school on Thursday because there was no power.  It has to be a record for the earliest day off in a school year.  Maybe it's a sign that it's going to be a wild year.