Carrigan Turns 11

 It been a fun weekend, the perfect combination of crazy and relaxing celebrating our C.C. girl.  Yesterday was her actual birthday, but the fun started Friday, shortly after school with an epic friend party.  The girls played games, Hide and Seek and Sardines.  We had a piñata with a C.C. style twist.  First of all she made the piñata herself, because that's how she rolls.  We then filled the piñata with silly challenges the girls had to do to earn ice cream with ALL the toppings.  They had to complete 4 challenges to get ice cream and one challenge for every topping they wanted to add.  They ate pizza and ice cream with a ridiculous amount of toppings.  They wrapped up the night with a movie and popcorn and then sang and danced to Taylor Swift videos until parents came.  It was a 5+ hour fun extravaganza.

 Yesterday, was her actual birthday and the day had a whole different vibe.  She had picked out the food she wanted at each meal (cinnamon rolls, Wendy's, and homemade soft pretzels with cheese), but had not planned much else.  We opened presents shortly after breakfast and asked her what else she wanted to do for the day.  She said that she wanted to hang out at the house, play with her new toys, and play games.  As the weather outside was terrible and she had lots of fun, new things to do, we were happy to oblige.  We spent much of the day figuring out her new knitting machine, playing with her flying orb ball, designing fashion, and building a "floating lantern".  By the end of the day it looked like a birthday bomb had gone off in our house, but it was a nice change of pace from our typical busy, game filled weekends.

We love our Carrigan girl so much and were so happy to have this time to celebrate her.  It's hard to believe that she is 11 now and will be off to middle school in just a few short months.  The future is bright for this girl and I can't wait to cheer her on all the way. 

Like the Big Boys

 Hold on to your hats people.  This blog is coming at you a day early.  Tomorrow is going to be whirlwind of games, church, and a family gathering.  If it doesn't happen today, it probably won't happen.

The highlight of the week came just today.  After many years of playing baseball at what seems like every baseball field in Oregon and SW Washington, today we finally hit the jackpot.  Today, we played our games at the home of the Hillsboro Hops, the farm team for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  It was so awesome to watch Merrick throw his first pitches and get his first hits in a major league stadium.  The games didn't go the way we hoped today, but it was still so fun to watch.

The awesomeness of the day was mostly lost on girls, but they got to have their fun too.  I had learned about a new park over by the stadium this week and we decided that, despite the rain and cold of the day, we would check it out.  Turns out that even with the rain and the cold, it was worth it.  It was a very cool, all inclusive park that had giant wooden monkey sculpture that you climb inside, with climbing walls, ropes, and slides.  We didn't stay too long, but before we could even make it to the car, the girls were asking when we could go back.

Tomorrow, it's back to the regular old stadiums, but today, today we played like the big boys.

Teeth and Growing.

This week has been full of reminders that my kids are growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it.  In one week we did course selection for middle school for Carrigan and course selection for HIGH SCHOOL for Merrick.  You read that right.  Somehow, my once little boy (ok he was never little but you get the point), is off to high school.  He took field trips to both high school choices this week and when I picked him up his commentary was, "Mom, high school is terrifying.  There are like grown men. They all have full beards."  If this was Merrick's takeaway, I can't imagine how the kids who aren't 6'5"felt.

As yet another signal of growing up, Merrick got round two braces this week.  This was scheduled for a few months ago, but with all of his heart and ankle stuff, had to be rescheduled.  Braces hurt and he spent the next several day struggling to eat much of anything.  I think things are turning the corner though and hopefully he will be able to eat again soon.

With all the registering for new schools and getting braces, Elsie was apparently feeling left out of the growing up and decided to lose another tooth.  This tooth has been fairly wiggly for about a week, but had been hanging on.  On Friday, I picked her up from school and she burst into tears.  She said that she had swallowed her tooth.  She had been eating a granola bar at snack time and felt something hard in her granola bar. She "tried to crunch it and couldn't so she just swallowed it".  Turns out it was her tooth and she was DEVASTATED.  She was unsure if the tooth fairy would come and she had cried most of the rest of the day after that.

I scooped her up and whispered to her that I was so excited.  I had heard that when you swallow a tooth, the Tooth Fairy brings you something extra special.  Merrick and C.C. had never done that so I had never gotten to see what it was, but now we would get to find out.  We spent the rest of the afternoon turning our frown upside down and wondering about what it might be that the Tooth Fairy would bring.

Turns out that the Tooth Fairy came through.  In addition to the usual money, the Tooth Fairy also brought something extra special.  Thankfully, Elsie is feeling much better about the whole experience.

So its been a week of reminders that my babies are growing up.  If anybody has found a way to stop that from happening, please loop me in.  I don't know how much more my mama heart can take.

Somethings Never Change

It's been an interesting week.  Merrick was off Monday due to a teacher grading day and the girls stayed home on Thursday because there was a potential safety issue at their school and we where not taking any chances.  Add to that an early release and an all-day career fair and it adds up to be an out of rhythm kind of week.

There is one thing that never changes though, and that's sports demands.  Carrigan had volleyball, although I didn't think to get any pictures.  Boo for mom.

Elsie had softball.  They were running drills and Elsie started off at first base.  It was just a little too perfect as that has been Merrick's happy place for so many years.

As to be expected at this time of year, Merrick had baseball.  This weekend's games, on the whole, were not fantastic, but there was one moment that will certainly be remembered.  Merrick was on third base and decided to steal home on a passed ball.  Unfortunately, tall Clifford men weren't made for head first sliding and it didn't go as planned.  His face ended up hitting the turf and his helmet came off.  It caused him to scorpion, with his feet coming up over his head.  Today, he is sporting the battle scars, but the important thing, as evidenced by the fist bump to his teammate, was that he beat the tag and scored.

She did it!

 This was a pretty routine week.  Merrick had practice most every night, physical therapy twice, and an orthopedist appointment.  Carrigan had volleyball.  Elsie had softball. We had a plumber come to start addressing our tub leak.  Jeremy and I both had work.  All in all it was another busy, but unremarkable week.  One small highlight was that the orthopedist was happy with Merrick's progress and, while he still has a fair amount of swelling, she said he does not have to come back and can just continue to see the PT.  The real highlight of the week, however, came just after the orthopedist appointment.

For Elsie's birthday, what she really wanted was to get her ears pierced.  I knew that we had to get it done somewhere that they would do both ears at the same time (not the piercing place we took C.C.).  After a lot of research, I decided we should just do it ourselves in the comfort of our own home, with all the stuffies and emotional support a girl could ask for.

Since her birthday, despite really wanting them done, Elsie has been too scared to pull the trigger.  On Tuesday night, despite not having mentioned it before, Elsie was in tears that we had not pierced her ears that day.  I promised her that we could do it the next day if she really wanted to. On Wednesday afternoon, after Merrick's orthopedist appointment, I confirmed that Elsie was still wanting to move forward on piercing her ears.  She was still all about it so I called my mom to come be piercer number 2.

Let me just say, sitting still is not Elsie's forte.  The fact that I was able to mark and subsequently get them pierced in the locations we were intending was nothing short of a miracle.  For the most part, the piercing went off without a hitch.  We did have a small issue where we couldn't, for a moment, figure out how to get the piercer to release off her ears after it was done. Thankfully, my mom figured out you just had to slide it down off the earing to release it and Elsie was soon free.

It took us about a month and a half to get it done, but it's finally behind us and she could not be happier about the result.  

Spring Break and Easter 2024

 It has been a busy week, with Spring Break this past week and Easter today.  We stayed in town for Spring Break this year and we definitely made the most of our time.  In light of that, I apologize for the picture dump that is about to happen.

After almost 13 years in Oregon, we finally made it the 5 minutes across the river to the End of the Oregon Trail Museum.  Merrick and Elsie's excitement to be there ebbed and flowed, but C.C. was in it to win it.  We made candles, cloth dolls, and journals.  We loaded a wagon, played dress up, solved puzzles, played games, felt furs, and filed a land claim.  Really, the only boring part was a movie that we watched, but all in all, it was lots of fun.

Tuesday, we took a break from the fun and did some yard work and shopping.  We were also going to hang out with our Brown cousins, but the day took a turn when Nana fell down the Brown's stair and had to be take to the hospital in an ambulance after losing lots of blood.  She ended up needing 5 staples in her head, but is ok.  I have pictures from the ordeal, but they are a little gruesome and I promised her I wouldn't post them.

Wednesday, we were back to the fun and Jeremy took the day off and joined us.  We started the day by spending WAY to much money at the Nike Employee store.  We then went to Next Level pinball museum and arcade.  We have been there one other time and it is always a blast, although a bit of sensory overload.

Thursday, we did take two on hanging out with cousins day.  Merrick spent the day at the Brown's and we had Isabel over here.  Thankfully, this attempt at hanging out was all fun and didn't involve a trip to the hospital.

Friday, we wrapped up our week of fun with bang.  The kids and I visited Fort Stevens at the northern most beach in Oregon.  The draw to this beach is the famous ship wreck on the beach.  That was really cool to see, but my kids had way more fun with the sand dune there.  We camped for the day at a plateau at the top of the sand dune and spent the day building, playing frisbee, and running a jumping off the edge of the plateau and sliding down the dune.  While there, we also traveled up the beach to where the Pacific Ocean meets and the Columbia River.  We also went to the ruins of the old battery of Fort Stevens.  It was this really cool bunker built into the side of a hill.  You could climb up and explore all three levels, just to end up at ground level at the top.  We ended the day at a diner and got milkshakes for the drive home.

Today is Easter.  We have been so blessed this week that, in addition to all the fun, C.C. has had a video to share with us each day with an Easter message.  We missed a few days, but have made it a priority to make them up.  Even though we are working hard to keep the true meaning of Easter in our minds, we did enjoy a visit from the Easter Bunny this morning.  We will go to church in just a little bit and we will wrap up the day with a family dinner here this evening.  It is shaping up to be a wonderful Easter.