Ella's School Awards Assembly

Ron and I met at our kids' elementary school today to attend the first awards assembly of the school year since Ella was chosen by her teacher to get an award.  Ella didn't know that she was receiving this award, so it was fun to surprise her as she walked into the gym with the rest of her class.  This month, teachers were handing out awards to students who exemplified the qualities of kindness and respect.  Ella was chosen for respect and this is what her teacher said about her at the assembly:

"This person demonstrates respect by making eye contact and greeting others by name.  This person waits patiently for their turn instead of blurting out when they have something to say.  This person asks questions politely when instructions are unclear or confusing.  This person is a leader and encourages others to be the same.  They see the value in doing the right thing and treating others with care.  I am so pleased to present the award for respect to Ella H."

Ella's class ended up sitting right in front of the first row of parents where Ron and I were sitting.  Here is the cute picture I took of Ella as she was smiling back at us.

Ella standing at the bottom of the stage after receiving her award.

A close up of my darling, 6th grader.

Ella walking out of the gym after the assembly was over.

The group picture of all of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students who received the Respect Award.

Ella standing with the group.

And one more photo of Ella before she headed back to class. I am so proud of what a respectful, hard working, and kind student that Ella has grown into.  The words that her teacher shared about her made me so proud.  What a wonderful young lady she is becoming.  Well done, Ella!  We sure love you!

Welcome to Ella's Spa

Since it was late start Monday today, I left Ella and Emmett home alone while I went to an 8:50 physical therapy appointment for my back.  They knew that they would be home alone for about an hour and I told them that they needed to play together and stay off screens while I was gone.  When I got home, I heard them yell to me that I needed to come upstairs to see what they were doing.  When I walked to the top of the stairs, I burst out laughing when I saw the hilarious sight in front of me.  Emmett was currently being a customer at Ella's spa.  Ella had calm, relaxing musical playing on her tablet while she was massaging Emmett's face who was laying in blankets on the floor with a spa headband around his head and under-eye patches under his eyes.  Ella had her skin care caddy on the floor next to Emmett and had been using all sorts of lotions and sprays on his face.  It honestly was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen two of my children playing together.  As much as these two fight like cats and dogs, when they do play happily together, they are the cutest things around!  

Ella smiling at me while massaging Emmett's face.

A very happy and pampered boy giving me a smile.

Toothless Emmett

Unlike the other three children, I have not done a good job documenting Emmett losing his baby teeth.  In fact, I haven't documented it all.  Life is just so busy these days, that I can barely keep up with all of the blog posts that I need to do.  So, after Emmett lost his fourth tooth last night and he now has a gaping hole in the front of his mouth, I decided that it was time to do a blog post on our "Toothless Emmett."

Tooth #1:  Emmett lost his first, top tooth on December 30, 2024 while we were up at Priest Lake.  The five of us were all skiing at Schweitzer that day and Emmett lost his tooth while he was back at the cabin eating an egg mcmuffin sandwich for breakfast.  This top tooth had been grey for months as he must have bumped it when he was younger and killed the root, but none of us knew it at this time.  It looked very sickly and so we were grateful to have this tooth come out first.

Tooth #2:  Emmett lost his first, bottom tooth while Ron was brushing his teeth some time later in the winter or spring. I think it was during the month of March, but I could be wrong.  The funny thing is that they didn't realize that it had fallen out until after he had spit and rinsed.  So, the tooth must have washed down the drain as they never found it afterwards.

Tooth #3:  Emmett lost his second, bottom tooth while I was brushing his teeth at grandma's house in Issaquah some time in August.  We had gone up to Issaquah to spend the day at Lake Sammamish and went to my parents' house afterwards for dinner.  While I was getting Emmett ready for bed before driving home, he lost this third tooth while I was brushing his teeth.  Luckily, this tooth did not go down the sink drain.

Tooth #4:  Emmett lost his second, top tooth last night while we were at Uncle Chris' house to celebrate his birthday.  When it was time to leave to go home, I yelled down to the kids in the basement that it was time to come upstairs.  Since Emmett was sitting on the floor of the rec room, he went to quickly jump up and his knee hit his mouth, and out popped tooth #4.  At the time, Emmett had no idea that he had lost his tooth and, instead, came running upstairs screaming and crying since he was in pain and his mouth was full of blood.  Luckily, Ella spotted his tooth on the floor and brought it upstairs rights after him.

And now we are all caught up on the sagas of Emmett losing his teeth.  He has the cutest gap in his mouth when he smiles and we all can't wait to hear him sing, "All I Want for Christmas is ALL Four of My Front Teeth," in December!

Lia for Vice President!

It was just announced today that Lia is the new Vice President of her high school's drama board.  We are so proud of her!  Considering the fact that she didn't know a soul in her high school's theater department when she first auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie in January 2024, this is a huge accomplishment.  She is now in the midst of her fifth production at school and has grown so much.  She has made a lot of friends and done an amazing job in all of the plays that she has performed in.  Lia had to give a speech in the theater in front of a large group of her peers to be considered for this leadership position.  I am so proud of her for having the courage to do this and am also so happy for that she gets to be Vice President on the drama board during her final year of high school.  Well done, Lia!

Emmett's 1st XC Meet

Although Emmett is not running with his running club this fall due to playing soccer, he had the opportunity to run in the Fort Steilacoom Invitational today when Logan's club opened up this meet to siblings of members.  Since Emmett's soccer game wasn't until a few hours later, he agreed enthusiastically to run the 1-mile, youth race which was for runners in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.  Since Emmett has never trained with the running club this fall, he has never even had the chance to practice running one mile on a cross country course which is full of hills, grass, and uneven terrain.  But being true to Emmett's form, he just went for it.  Since he only ran a 1-mile course instead of a 2-mile course (like Logan), I only saw him take off from the starting line and run past me at the finish line.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw him rounding the corner to head for the finish line after just a few runners had passed me.  Since Emmett is so young and a completely inexperienced, long-distance runner, I was blown away when I saw him cross the finish line with the timer showing 7:24!  Afterwards, I learned that he came in 13th place out of 54 runners, the majority of which are older than him.  He also beat several runners on his team who have been training three days a week for several weeks.  When I made it over to the finish line, I found a very upset and crying Emmett being comforted by Logan who had luckily found him before I had gotten there.  He immediately said to me, "Every part of my body hurts right now!"  As sad as this was to hear, I almost wanted to burst out laughing as I realized that this poor boy had no idea what it felt like to race in a long-distance meet as running short distances at track meets last spring had been his only experience with running.  He just gave it his all and did such an amazing job, especially considering how young he is.  It's just a shame that Emmett plays soccer in the fall as I think this boy has the potential to be a powerhouse, long-distance runner!

Emmett running down the straight away towards the finish line.

Battling it out against another runner.

Emmet sprinting past me.  Look at that running form!

Approaching the finish line with 7:17 on the clock.

A not-so-happy Emmett posing with his proud, older brother after his race was over.  Logan also did a great job and ran his 2-mile race in 14:24 and came in 18th place out of 135 runners.

Logan's age group (Middle School Boys) came in 2nd place for their all-around, team score.  They were awarded a trophy at the little awards ceremony afterwards and Emmett was able to go up with the older boys and stand on the stage with them.  By this time, Emmett had perked up and was very happy with his performance, especially after learning what a great job he had done.  As we were leaving the meet, he said to me in the car, "Sometimes when I was running, I would just zone out and forget what I was doing.  I felt like I was running on clouds before I remembered that I was running in a race."  Now if that really was the case, long-distance running sounds really dreamy...but I know better.

Logan's First XC Meet of the Season

After practicing with his running club for a few weeks, Logan ran in his first XC meet of the season this morning at Bellaremine Prep High School in Tacoma.  We were up bright and early for Logan to run his one mile race at 8:50.  I thought he did a great job and, although he was not thrilled about his time, I reminded him that this is just the first meet of many this season and that his times should continue to improve over the many weeks to come.  I am just proud of him for taking his second year of running cross country so seriously and can't wait to cheer him on at several races over the next few months.

Logan lining up with the rest of his team before the race began.

Logan coming around the corner about half way through the mile.

Approaching me...

and running past me.

Logan sprinting on the final stretch of the race.

Giving it his all!

Approaching the finish line with 6:29 on the clock.

Senior Happenings...

It's been a busy last few weeks of summer, juggling a few more trips with daily outings with the children while helping Lia with some senior activities.  She had her senior photos taken by my friend, Jenny, at Swan Creek Park in Tacoma on July 31st.  On August 21st, I helped her paint her senior parking spot in blazing heat for 9.5 hours on an asphalt parking lot with no shade.  It nearly killed me and my back, but we managed to produce an amazing, Harry Potter-themed parking spot inspired by the Maurader's Map.  On September 1st, Lia had a few of her friends over to decorate and paint their "Senior Overalls" which are white overalls that many seniors wear to school on spirit days and to football and basketball games.  Needless to say, Lia was all ready to start her senior year of high school on September 3rd.  I hope it is an amazing and fun year full of wonderful experiences!

July 31st:

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Lia's evening photo shoot.  I love this one of her sitting in a field of dandelion fuzz and wild flowers.

This action shot of Lia kicking the water in Swan Creek is my absolute favorite.

Lia wearing a borrowed cap and gown from her friend, Alyssa, who graduated in June.

Crossing the river on a fallen log.

Posing in front of a massive, fallen tree.

August 21st:

After sweeping, taping, and painting the primer coat, Lia and I painted a very thick layer of yellow over her parking spot.

Lia's friend, Sienna, came to help us for a few hours in the middle of the day.  Here are the three of us standing behind Lia's parking spot right after we finished painting the yellow color.

While the yellow coat dried, the three of us found some shade and took a very well-needed break to eat lunch.

Sienna was a huge help with painting some of the detail work on Lia's parking spot.  She helped us sponge paint the brown border and then hand paint the "Mischief Managed" letters in the Harry Potter font with stencils that I had hand cut a few days earlier.

After Sienna left, my friend, Jill, came to paint the phrase, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," in the middle of the parking spot while Lia and I painted foot prints all over.

After 9.5 hours, a tired Lia poses at the top of her parking spot!  We were so exhausted, sweaty, hot, and sore when we finished at 5:30 in the afternoon, but were also so pleased with the finished product.

A close-up of the "Mischief Managed" words which was the most complicated section to paint.

September 1st:

Lia, Hope, Ani, and Erika taking a break from painting their overalls on our deck to pose for a picture.

A close-up of these four, cute girls who have been such great friends during their high school years.  I'm so happy that Lia has one more year with them before they go their separate ways next fall.

After the girls left, I convinced Lia that splatter painting her overalls would be a great way to fill in all of the white spaces left on her pants after she had finished painting her words and designs.  After she had me do the splatter painting, Lia dried each side of her overalls with a blow dryer in the backyard.

The finished product!  

Lia wearing her darling overalls complete with little bows that I hand sewed on the front side.

Lia showing off the backside, complete with theater masks, her initials, and her handprints.

My dear friend, Sarah, mailed Lia several friendship bracelets with the number "26" on each of them.  Lia handed them out to her friends on the first day of school.  Here is a cute picture she took and posted on Instagram.

Lia wearing her overalls for the first time tonight at her school's first home football game.

A group of senior girls posing in the stands at the game.  What a fun tradition!