Ella's 12th Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Ella's 12th birthday as a family. It's so hard for me to believe that this darling, little girl of mine is now 12 years old.  Where did the time go?!  We were blessed with a beautiful, spring day and we started off with our traditional birthday waffles.  Since everyone else was already at work and school, just Emmett and I sang "Happy Birthday" to Ella before she enjoyed her breakfast.  I then dropped her off at school with three batches of homemade brownies for her to share with her classmates and favorite friends and teachers around the school.  We skipped our club track practice in the evening, so that we could have Ella's family party.  My parents drove down to join us and we spent a wonderful evening celebrating Ella with dinner, gifts, and dessert.  She seemed thoroughly pleased with everything--especially her new clothes.  Due to other plans, we will not be hosting her friend party until the end of April, so I am grateful that we were able to celebrate her big day together.  Happy Birthday, Ella!  We sure love you!

Ella and Emmett posing next to her birthday waffles.

Ella blowing out her candles!

Since Ella had to miss our family Easter get-together at my parent's house on Sunday due to competing in her state gymnastics meet, she was unable to participate in my mom's Easter egg hunt.  As a result, my mom was able to go out into our backyard and hide all of Ella's treats for her to find after school.  Here she is pulling a bag of candies off of the branch on one of our cherry trees.

We then enjoyed eating a dinner of Ella's choice in the dining room.  The menu included ham, homemade mac 'n cheese, deviled eggs, rolls, Caesar salad, and a fruit platter.

After dinner, Ella was able to open her presents in the living room.  Here she is posing with the darling, stuffed monkey (that she named Punch after the viral monkey in Japan) that her friend, Sam, gave to her today.

The boys being silly while watching Ella open her gifts.

Ella showing off the new heels she chose to wear to church.

Ella holding up her new hoodie that she got at the state meet on Sunday.

Our family posing with Ella before singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Ella waiting to blow out the candles on her chocolate cream pie.

Blowing away with Emmett photo bombing in the corner of the picture.

All four children posing with their grandparents at the end of the party.  I'm so grateful that my parents are still able to drive down to join us for all of my children's birthday parties!

It Finally Happened!

People started commenting to me during Logan's 7th grade year about how tall he was growing.  Since I live with him and see him on a daily basis, I do not notice these kinds of things until people start pointing them out.  At the beginning of Logan's 8th grade year, we noticed that he was starting to creep up on Lia who has always been the tallest child of our family.  We started having them stand back to back on a regular basis this school year to see if he had grown taller than her.  Yesterday as Logan was heading out the door to church, we had the two of them stand back to back again and discovered that it finally happened!  Logan is officially TALLER THAN LIA!  I just can't believe it!  Needless to say, Lia wasn't thrilled about it, but I think we all knew this day was coming.  Now it will be interesting to see how long it takes Logan to grow two more inches and pass me up.  And just like Lia, I am NOT going to like it!  Why are all of my children growing up so fast?!

An Early Easter

Since my brother was visiting from Montana, we decided to celebrate Easter a week early this year.  As a result, we did all of the things Easter related during a very busy weekend of Lia's final three Freaky Friday shows and Ella's state gymnastics meet.  But with some planning, I was able to pull it off.  We gathered around the kitchen table on Saturday morning after track practice to dye Easter eggs together.  We then woke up Sunday morning to the children's Easter baskets waiting for them on the living room couches.  The children then found their hidden Easter eggs around our house before getting ready for church at eleven o'clock.  Since Ella and Ron had to leave while the rest of us were at church to drive the 2.5 hours north for her to compete in the state gymnastics meet in Lynden, the three other children and me drove to Issaquah to spend the evening with my family.  We enjoyed eating a delicious dinner together before participating in my mom's Easter egg hunt in the house since it was raining really hard outside.  We made the most of it and enjoyed finishing off the evening celebrating both of my parent's birthdays that are in the next two weeks.  We watched both of them open gifts and enjoyed eating cake at the end of the evening.  Although we missed Ella and Ron, it was a special treat to have Brent and Susie join us for this holiday. 

March 28th:

We let Lia sleep in on Saturday morning after a long performance on Friday night.  The three younger children colored eggs with Ron and me.

A sad Emmet coloring one of his eggs before dyeing it.  He had just gotten scolded by Ron and was not feeling happy about life when I snapped this picture.  The poor guy.

Ella drawing a design on her egg with a permanent marker.

Logan working on one of his eggs.

March 29th:

Emmett's basket and goodies laying on the couch before the children came downstairs to find them.

Ella's basket and other presents.

Logan's basket and other gifts.

Lia's basket and goodies.

Emmett holding up his new dog and hedgehog Palm Pals stuffed animals that he found in his basket.

Ella holding up her three new Palm Pal stuffies.  These are a current favorite of the two younger children.

Logan still enjoys building complex Lego sets from time to time.  He was excited to discover that he gotten the Star Wars BB-8 Lego set to add to the other droid sets he has already built.

Lia wearing her new Disney Belle ears while holding up her basket.

Emmett giving me a thumb's up after finding an egg hidden on the window sill behind the curtain.

Ella finding an egg on top of the thermostat.

Logan finding one behind the blinds.

Lia showing off an egg hidden in a Mason jar in the pantry.

The three children were assigned different areas to hunt for their twenty goodies at the grandparent's house on Sunday evening.  Emmett was given the basement rec room to find all of his treats.  Here he is finding one on top of the old-fashioned phone.

Lia had to hunt in the storage room.  Here she is pointing to the three little candy bars that my brother, Brent, hid for her on a toy train.

Logan and Trenton were both assigned to the garage.  Here is Logan posing for me by grandpa's lawn mower while searching for candy that Eric had hidden for him.

Although Riley is now off to college, Vivi came home last summer and is working this school year while living at home.  So it was fun to have her join my three kids and Trenton for the hunt this year.  Here is the traditional, group cousin photo that I was able to take of the kids after the hunt was over.

Ella Competes at her Final State Meet

Since Ella moved to the Xcel gymnastics program last June, we learned that the location of the state championship meet moved from Tacoma (which is just 20 minutes away from us) to the town of Lynden which is just five miles South of the Canadian border.  Since a section of I-5 is currently closed due to a rock slide, there is a required detour that makes it 2.5 hours away.  After learning a week in advance that Ella's meet day and time fell on the Sunday afternoon and evening when we were supposed to be celebrating an early Easter at my parent's house, Ron agreed to take her on this 10-hour day so that I could be with my family instead.  Although I was sad to miss seeing Ella compete in the most important meet of the season, I was so grateful that I would not have to make this 5-hour, round trip drive and be gone all day long after a very busy weekend of getting ready for Easter and attending two of Lia's three Freaky Friday shows.  After helping Ella get ready and saying goodbye to her before heading to church, she and Ron left home at 11:45 in the morning to make it there for her 3 p.m. check in time.  After warm-ups, Ella started out really strong by earning a 9.25 on floor.  She then continued to do well and earned a 8.52 on vault and a 9.15 on beam.  Sadly, she fell on beam and didn't perform very well overall and earned a really low score of 7.1.  This was a very frustrating and disappointing way to finish a really strong start to this important meet.  Luckily, since Ella is leaving competitive gymnastics for good this spring, she wasn't as devastated as she could have been as she is just ready to move onto a new sport and try something new.  She did end up medaling for bars which was a fitting finish to her gymnastics career as this event has always been her strongest event in gymnastics.  I am proud of how hard she has worked these past four years and for her commitment and dedication to such a grueling and demanding sport.  She has learned and grown so much, both mentally and physically, and I will forever be grateful for her years being a competitive gymnasts with Ascend Gymnastics.

Ella's coach gave turquoise sunglasses for all of the girls to wear at the beginning of the meet when each of the teams were introduced.  Here are Ella and three of her teammates being introduced at the beginning of the meet.

Ron only took a few pictures of Ella competing on floor before switching to video.

Ella performing on floor.

Ella on the medal stand for bars.

Ella standing proud in front of the photo back drop after the meet was over.

Lia Stars in Freaky Friday

After auditioning the first week of December, Lia found out that she had gotten the lead role of the mother in her high school musical, Freaky Friday.  After auditioning for so many musicals over the past four years and getting supporting lead roles or ensemble roles, this was a dream come true for her--especially as a senior!  After rehearsing in December, January, February, and March, Freaky Friday opened on Friday night, March 20th, which was the first of five shows.  I was able to attend four of her shows and was absolutely blown away by Lia's performance.  She has grown so much as an actress and a singer during her high school years and just knocked it out of the park with her performance as Katherine Blake.  It was so amazing to watch Lia perform for over two hours, reciting hundreds of lines and singing a multitude of songs.  Her voice was so strong, clear, and beautiful and she brought me to tears every time she sang her solo, "After All This and Everything."  So many family members, friends, teachers, and church members came out to see Lia perform.  It was incredible to see the support she received from so many people and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that she was given to shine in this role during her last high school musical.  Well done, Lia!  You are a superstar!

Lia talking with her daughter, Ellie, at the beginning of the opening act.

Lia talking to her daughter, son, and fiance in the kitchen before the two girls switched places.

Lia speaking to her daughter and two friends.

Lia belting the final notes to the song, "What you Got."

Lia singing the song, "Somebody Has to Take the Blame," during the parent teacher conference.

Lia singing, "Parents Lie," while driving with her little brother, Fletcher, home.

Lia and her daughter trying to break the spell before the wedding.

Lia and her fiance, Tyrell, singing, "Today and Every Day," at the end of the play.

Lia and her daughter (played by dear friend, Abby), running out onto the stage for the final bow.

Lia bowing to the audience.

The final cast pose at the end of the show.

The cast of and stage crew members taking a final bow.

On closing night, March 28th, the sophomores honored each of the seniors one at a time and presented them with a special sash.  It was a total surprise and such a special way to close the show.

Lia posing after the show with her dear friends, Charlie and Abby, who played her son and daughter in the musical.

So many friends came to see Lia in this show.  On opening night, her good friends, Mollie and Ryan, from elementary school came in addition to two of her best running buddies, Erika and Willow.

A huge group from NWTL came on opening night, too.  Here is Lia and Spencer (who also performs at Rogers) with six of their lab friends:  Irene, Nerie, Addy, Mary, Claire, and Braden.

Another large group of NTWL buddies came on the second night.  Here is Lia posing with Spencer and Tyrell (who also is at Rogers) with Mckenzie, Carson, Nickari, Max, Eli, and Ella (who was allowed to be in the photo as a former lab rat).

Our entire family also came to cheer on Lia on the second night.

Lia had so many people come to the closing show.  The biggest treat of all was to have all three of my brothers and sister-in-laws and my mom there.  Brent and Susie drove all the way out from Montana to see this show.  This was the first time that this many people from my family came to see Lia perform.  Although we had bought a ticket for my dad, he sadly decided that he didn't feel up to going a few hours before and didn't make it.

Lia's beloved junior high school drama teacher, Mr. Burris, has been so supportive and has come to see her perform in every high school musical.

Lia posing in the lobby with Marcus, one of her dearest friends from NWTL, who came to the final show with his mom, Ginger.