Elsie's Birthday

For blog post #2 today, I wanted to report on Elsie's birthday. Elsie turned 7 yesterday and we had a great day celebrating her. We started the day with a birthday breakfast and opening family presents. We then spent the rest of the morning getting ready for an epic Taylor Swift party with seventeen 6 and 7-year-old.

After much prep work, the party was about as smooth as possible. We had loads of Taylor Swift fun. We painted guitar keychains, played T-Swift bingo, had pizza and cupcakes, had a karaoke dance party, and made friendship bracelets.

 Once all the friends went home, Elsie opened her presents from her friends. She was very spoiled and got TONS of Taylor Swift themed presents. She then got to spend several hours opening and playing with her new presents while we cleaned up and recovered from the party. We ended the day with a fun birthday dinner at Red Robin.

We are so thankful for Elsie and to have her as part of our family. Elsie loves big and feels big. She always brings the fun and energy. We can't wait to see what the year brings for her.

Grandma Clifford's Funeral (w/ Valentine's Bonus)

 I feel like I have been singing the same song a lot lately. I missed getting to blog last week and now I have too much to report. It looks like another two post week for me. We will start with why I didn't get to post last week. Last Sunday we were traveling back from Arizona from attending Grandma Clifford's funeral.

It was a whirlwind trip, with lots of great time spent with family. We had the funeral in Tempe and that evening, made the three hour drive to Safford so we could be there for the burial the next morning. We are going to miss Grandma Clifford so much, but the knowledge that she gets to be with Grandpa Clifford again and the idea that she is now able to hear, bring so much joy and comfort.

When we weren't engaged in funeral related activities we tried to spend as much time with our Clifford cousins at possible. We had lots of playdates and the girls didn't go to Safford, so they got to stay behind and have a sleepover with their cousins.

We somehow also snuck in a trip to the trampoline park. This has become an Arizona favorite of my kids. It also helps that we seem to come at times when all the kids in Arizona are in school and we pretty much have the trampoline park to ourselves.

While the circumstances of our visit were not what we had hoped for, it was so great to be in Arizona with all our family there. I really don't miss Arizona, but the people there are a different story.

Since we were in Arizona for Valentine's Day, we had an early Valentine's Day Love Hunt before we left. Here are a few pictures from this year's hunt.

Sad Times, Happy Times

This has been a difficult week. On Wednesday, we learned that Jeremy's grandma Clifford had passed away. We knew it was only a matter of time as she had fallen recently and broken her femur at the hip socket and since had been failing to recover or improve. It has been a shock and difficult, nonetheless. We will be headed to Arizona soon for the funeral and, while it will be under sad circumstances, it will be so nice to spend a couple of days with Jeremy's family.

On a happier note, also this week C.C. and I had a girl's day with some of her friends to celebrate her friend, Ruby's, birthday. We started with a shopping extravaganza at the mall. The girls definitely scored some great finds, but the mall was crazy! We didn't realize that it was Lunar New Year and the mall was having a celebration. They were having a performance downstairs in the main area, but we tried our best to avoid it. Ultimately, we made our way upstairs to the food court. Most of the girls got boba, but since C.C. isn't a fan, she got a chocolate milkshake and we all sat in front of the boba place to enjoy our treat. Little did we we know that the performance was about to move right in front of the boba place, right next to our table. I also didn't know that one of the dragons would come up and dance right next to me and put his mouth over my head. That was an experience not to be forgotten.

After the mall, we had a fancy dinner and then the girls went swimming at the hotel pool. Part of the party was an overnight stay at a nearby hotel. Given our "no sleepover" rule, C.C. didn't get to stay, but  she still had a blast. I have to say that I am not ready for her to be this grownup, but apparently it's not up to me.

Taxi Mom

Nobody tells you that when you become a mom, much of your time is going to be spent in the role of taxi driver. I think this becomes more pronounced as the kids get older and are involved in more and more things. This felt particularly true this week. I'm not sure what else I did besides drive my kids to and from their various commitments. Thursday, for example, I counted 4 trips back and forth to the high school and that was just for Merrick AND I even sent Jeremy for the last pick up after practice. It's a lot, but I'm also really glad that my kids are involved in things that they enjoy and give them fulfillment.

This week, I committed to one extra taxi driving duty. I took Elsie and Liam, a boy from our church, to their schools' Family Night at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). Liam's dad recently took a new job in Michigan and his mom was out there trying to get him settled. While Liam's grandparents were holding down the fort, I took Liam with us to the OMSI night to take one thing off their plate.

Liam is younger and has a little more "boy energy" than Elsie, but we still had a great time. I don't think Elsie has been to OMSI since she was little, little and she didn't remember what it was all about. It's such a fun, hands-on science museum. We all had a great time and we left with them both talking about the next time.

This week, I imagine, will be more of the same, running my children all over creation...unless...there is a chance we might get snow. I would not be sad about being stranded in my house for a few days.