Easter Adventure & Easter Sunday

Scott, Jenny and I headed up the Easter Adventure at church again this year on Saturday, April 8th. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but that was because we were having such a fun time. 

We did get a picture in front of the Bunny Booth though. This year we changed a few things to make the flow of the event work better. One of those was moving the Bunny Booth toward the exit instead of the entry. It really worked out well. 

All the volunteers gathered together in the lobby to pray over the event. 

There is no way this event could be what it is without all these lovely people. They are so committed to serving our community! One of the coolest things we added this year was a prayer table where people could come over and ask for prayer. I saw numerous people throughout the event getting prayed for. It was awesome! 

Brenda is always my "go to gal" for being the Bunny Bouncer. She's the one that hangs out with the Bunny and makes sure that the Bunny gets a break and then she brings in a relief Bunny. It can be a "hary" job, but somebody's gotta do it. FYI...I'm pretty sure that's Jack in the Bunny suit!

The next day was Easter Sunday at Ga-Ga & Pa's

The normal crew was able to join us for the celebration. The Martin, Kuch & Oliver kids! 

Love these goofy kiddos! 

Look at these handsome older boys!!! 

And these sweet younger dudes!!! 

And these beautiful young ladies! 

The beautiful table setting! 

Pa filling up the glasses with sparkling cider!  

Since the kids can't fit at the big table with all us adults we have them go through and get their food first. 

Pa has a special table set up in the family room for the girls. The boys sit at the pub table which is in the breakfast nook, but no one got a picture of them this time. Oops! 

Look at that yummy food! Ga-Ga made one of my favorite meals No Peek Chicken! 

Look at these adorably festive cookies. I believe Christina made them! 

The weather was not nice this year so we had to hide the eggs inside. It's always a bit more chaotic, but it works out! If I remember right someone was missing an egg...not sure if we forgot where we hid it or if there was a miscount from the beginning...who knows, but it wasn't the end of the world. :) 

Ga-Ga had all the kids Easter Baskets lines up on the stairs. 

Ella always gets different stuff since she can't have any dye. 

Everyone going through their baskets. There was some trading going on! 

Addison just loves to play around with other peoples hair. She did this amazing French braid for Ella! 

With her hair so long and curly it's so hard for me to do a French braid...it turned so good! 

Such a fun day celebrating with friends and family. We know it's not about the eggs or the candy. It's about Jesus and how he died on the cross for all our sins and paid our penalty. He died so that we might have life! The best part was He didn't stay dead...the grave had no hold on Him just like death has no hold on us if we believe in Him. What a beautiful thing to celebrate!

A Compilation Of Charlie Being The Cutest Kitty Ever!

This last winter Charlie has turned into quite a little snuggler! 

He used to never sit with anyone, but not he sits with us all the time. He especially sits with Jack a lot because he's usually the first person done with school. 

Who is this kitty?

Precious boy! 

He's also taken to sleeping on Ella's bed...sometimes even all night with her! 

You always have the greatest feeling when he picks you! I've been chosen!!! 

Could he get any cuter!?!

He does still love his perch though too! 

Sometimes he just needs to stretch out a bit! 

And if he fits he sits! 

Sometimes he doesn't want any light getting in so he curls up in the tightest ball! 

He also likes to sit up to the table to see what we're doing! 

Charlie is so spoiled too. We give him food almost every night at dinner. If I'm making chicken I'll cut up some chicken and give him some or anything they we eat really. He knows if that food is his. I always put it in small plastic IKEA kids bowl. The moment he sees it he starts talking up a storm. He loves it! There honestly isn't much he'll turn his nose up to. We also bought him some of those kitty gogurts....that are filled with cat food. He devours those. 

He's just a spoiled kitty and we love him so much! 

The most recent adorable thing he's done is he's finally decided he should sit in the saucer chair in the living room. We knew he would love it and we've tried to put him in there, but no way....he wasn't having it. Then one day we came home and there he was. It only took him over a year to work up the nerve. Silly kitty! 

Owen's Officially A Driver With No Braces And He's Employed!

On Saturday, February 25th, Owen passed his driving test!!! He had already taken the test two times last year and not passed. He knew what he was doing, but he unfortunately would let his nerves get the best of him. Our friend Micah offered to take Owen out for a mock drive test. On January 30th, he came over with the kids and then him and Owen headed out. He had Owen drive around all over downtown Kent...which is where the drive test would be. They were gone for an hour and half. He was so complimentary of Owen's driving. I really think having Owen do that with someone that wasn't his parent really did boast his confidence in himself a bit. 

Michael also took him downtown Kent a couple more times and then we scheduled the test. I really was not wanting to push him, but to encourage him that he knew what he was supposed to do and he could do it. He is a great driver. I also really wanted him to get his license before we got to the point where we had to renew his permit. 

We are so proud of Owen and excited for him since this is going to open up so many opportunities for him.  

On Thursday, March 2nd, he drove off on his own for the very first time. He has piano lessons every Thursday so he drove himself to lessons. 

Of course I was that mom that stood at the door taking pictures of him driving away all the while silently praying that God keeps him safe! 

Off he goes!!! 

He's back!!! 

It felt so weird with him being gone. It wasn't like he was out with Daddy or at church or with a friend. He was out on his very own all by himself. Such a crazy huge step! 

He has done amazing driving! He's even stops at the library and picks up books for us. I've had him take Jack to his Orthodontist appt and go up to Fred Meyer's to pick up Ella' Rx. It's so awesome! 

On March 28th, one week after Ella got her braces removed it was Owen's turn. Last picture with braces!!! 

Look at those gorgeous straight teeth! 

Back on March 14th, Owen had his first job interview. He applied to be a Ride Technician at Wild Waves. Michael gave him a practice interview to prepare him. His actual interview was only about 5 minutes long. The very next day he got an email with an offer letter. I'm so proud of him! 

On April 1st, he attended Orientation. 

He got his parking pass and his name badge! Next up for him is Ride School which will be on Saturday, April 22nd. Wild Waves opens on May 27th this year so I'm sure he'll be working a few days prior to that. This is just the beginning of so many changes for him and it's excited and a little scary at the same time. Our summer is going to look different that's for sure...with him working he won't be able to go on every adventure with us, but that's just life. 

This is the reason I wanted to go on that amazing Christmas Trip. I knew this would be the year of great change. Change isn't bad it's just different and it's the unknown that's scary, but it's our job to raise these kids to be fully functioning adults one day and he's well on his way and we couldn't be prouder of our sweet young man!

No More Braces For Ella!

On March 21st, Ella more than 2 year journey with braces came to end! 

Yay...they're coming off! 

Last picture with braces! 

Nice straight teeth! 

Now if you look closely you can see the 2 smaller teeth on either side of Ella's big front teeth. Those are her adult teeth even though they are small. They are called Peg Laterals. They never fully developed. This whole day of getting her braces off was quite an orchestrated masterpiece. We had to be at her Orthodontist office at 9am for debonding....getting the braces removed. Then we went straight from there to my dentist office where she was getting her teeth bonded. My dentist was actually creating teeth for her. 

Look at how nice her teeth look! It really is an art form. Of course her gums were pretty swollen which they said was totally normal after getting your braces removed. 

After getting the bonding done we had to go back to the Orthodontist later in the afternoon to get her teeth scanned for her retainer. After that it was home to quickly change into her Gee for Taekwondo. It was a crazy busy day, but so worth it and it all worked out timing wise which was such a blessing. 

One of the things Ella was so excited about was getting to actually bite into an an apple!

After about a week her retainers came in and crazy enough her front teeth during that week had already shifted a bit so there was a gap. Because her teeth were in the correct place when they scanned for her retainer the retainer moved them right back to where they needed to be. Now she has to wear her retainer for 6 months only taking it out to eat and brush and then after that she only has to wear it at nighttime.

Zeke's Dino!

For one of Zeke's Science projects he was supposed to make a dinosaur using paper kind of like paper mache. He tried to do it all on his own and he worked so hard, but it was not going well at all. I was so proud of his effort, but by the end he was in tears. It was so sad! So Daddy stepped into to assist! He researched online a bit more and came up with a game plan. The first thing they needed was a strong skeleton. The used cardboard and then hot glued on pieces of paper to make the skeleton look more bulky. Then they covered the whole thing in masking tape. 

After that they had to make the paper slurry. Michael used newspaper and green construction paper. The mixture had to soak overnight and then he used the blender to puree it. One of my wooden spoons was a casualty! 

Then they started slapping on the slurry over the dino skeleton. After they got the skin on the dino they used water to smooth out the lines where the globs of paper met. 

Here's the finished project! It was a process, but it turned out so nicely! Zeke was a happy boy!

Ella's 13th Birthday Party!

Ella's actual friend birthday party was held on Saturday, March 4th, at Tower Lanes in Tacoma. We had wanted to have it in her actual birth month, but it didn't work out for one of her friends that she really wanted to be here. The funny thing was I thought about asking Jen if Logan could come over, but then I thought no that's too much to ask for them to come over the pass during winter just so Logan can come to Ella's party. A few days after that I got a text from Jen asking if Logan could stay that weekend with us because she had an audiology appointment. Crazy amazing timing right! It was so awesome! 

Logan ended up getting dropped off at our house on Friday night and she spent the whole weekend with us. Aidry's mom dropped her off Saturday morning and then we headed out to Tacoma. 

June is Ella's newest friend. They met at choir. June is just the sweetest girl. She loves to gives gifts. She has made Ella so many bracelets...most of the bracelets that are on Ella's wrist are from June. 

Bowling was full when we first got their so the girls did mini golf first instead. June's mom Laura was there so we hung out and got to know each other better. 

It's always hard to tell if the kids are having fun mini golfing, but they really liked it. In fact they asked if they could do another round after they were done bowling, but June wasn't able to stay that late. 

The girls got set up in lane 16 which I thought was awesome since Ella was born on the 16th! 

This was June's first time bowling...ever!  

In the middle of bowling the pizza came out. So we paused to have a bite to eat! 

Next up was the cupcakes. 

Logan wanted to sing Happy Birthday, but Ella didn't want them to make a scene so we told her we'd sing quietly. 

It didn't end up being quiet and thankfully she was a good sport about it. Sorry for my horrible loud singing voice! 

She's so adorable! 

Time for presents! 

Again I stink at pictures...she got so spoiled! She got a bracelet kit, a mini backpack and matching purse, LED lights to put in her room, Pandora earrings. I know I'm forgetting stuff. They lavished her with gifts. It was so sweet! 

After they finished up bowling they weren't quite ready to go so we headed over to the arcade. It was a bit confusing because you have to load money on a card instead of using tokens. Laura put a little bit of money on the card and the girls used it up super fast. The card also stores your tickets so no paper tickets anymore either. So bizarre! 

Sweet Logan Alice....so happy she could come hang out for Ella's Birthday Party weekend! 

 I absolutely love this picture of me and Ella. I've heard people say we look alike, but now I can really see it. Love my girly!

Old Honda - New Honda!

On Friday, January 6th, Michael and I ended up at the Honda Dealership in Burien. My Honda Odyssey had been having problems for awhile. The main culprit had been water. We had to replace the seal for the sunroof last year and that cost a pretty penny. But there was still water getting in the van. It smelled musty and you could feel the moisture in the air. Sometimes there would be water all over inside of the windows and you'd have to wipe them down to drive. The seatbelts would even feel damp. There were other things as well such as the slider door on the drivers side would just choose to not work sometimes. It was annoying. We had had that van since November 2011 and we had planned to have it for longer, but once water starts getting into a vehicle it really goes downhill after that. 

I had originally asked Michael to contact the dealership to see if we could get our van fix. I told him it needed to get fixed or it was dead to me. He actually started looking into things and found that it would just be better to buy a van. He had looked at used vans, but it was only going to save us about $4K to buy used. For that small amount it made more sense to buy new. 

He'd been emailing back and forth with Elijah from the Honda in Burien so we met with him that Saturday to find out how much they would give us for our old van in trade-in value.

It ended up being a good price so we negotiated the deal and sign on the dotted line for our new Honda Odyssey. The only thing was it was going to take about a week for the Honda we wanted to show up because it was still in transport. That was okay though we didn't mind waiting. At first I thought we'd just take our old van home until the new one showed up, but nope....we sold it to Honda so it wasn't ours anymore. 

Out to van we went to take everything out of it and load it into the loaner. 

She was a good van and got us lots of places on lots of adventures! 

They ended up giving us a small loaner car that was fun to drive around in for a week, but I was ready for my new van!

On Saturday, January 14th, we were able to go pick it up. Of course we had bought the car, but hadn't even seen it yet so we did have the option of canceling the whole deal. We drove it around and loved it. Of course there was all sorts of things to figure out that would take time. 

The next day was Owen's actual birthday so we spent that day focusing on him. The following day, Monday, January 16th, Michael had off because of MLK Day. We spent a lot of time in the van programing things to our liking. 

Zeke and Ella came out to be with us and ended up using the new headphones to watch a movie in the van. 

This is the reason why we go with a Honda Odyssey....sure there are other nice vans out there, but for me it's all about the entertainment system. My kids are great travelers and there's a reason for that. Yes, other vans have screens too, but they are in the back of the headrests and only in the middle seats. Honda has the central entertainment system so everyone watches the same screen. I don't mind my kids watching movies when we go on trips, but I want them to do it together. I do not bring their tablets on trips. I want them to engage with each other. We've even had situations where Owen doesn't like the movie that was chosen, but he has the choice to read or draw or watch the movie. 9 out of 10 times he'll end up watching the movie and he'll be laughing and having a good time. Then later when they are talking about the movie they can engage with each other. They all weren't staring at their own individual games or shows off in their own world. Okay....stepping off my soap box now! :) 

It's like an airplane cockpit...kind of! 

That's a nice looking van! I love the blue it's call Obsidian Blue. The only thing is it does show dirt more easily than the old van. I see a lot of car washes in our future! 

And of course isn't this just what happens when you get a nice new car. On March 3rd, in the Winco parking lot while I was shopping, some person backed up and put in a dent in the front of my brand new van. Thankfully it's still drivable. It's still over $3K worth in damages because the bumper has so many sensors. They are actually having to completely replace the bumper, the side panel and the whole headlight assembly. It's nuts! Our van is scheduled to go into the shop on May 3rd if they have the parts for it. They said that since the van is brand new they are making the van not extra parts right now. It will get fixed and we're thankful for insurance to get it fixed.