Sophie's Birthday

Today was Sophie's 4th birthday so we first picked up Bridget and then got Jillian from school.  They got to take Sophie to Petco to pick out some birthday presents for her.  That was no easy task as they had to check out all the animals there, except the reptiles, and also look in all the dog aisles.  They ended up with a collar that had a "bling" crown on it, a ball, a sack of little treats, and two huge bones (one for Mocha too).  Then after a stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen, it was home to try to get a picture.  Surprisingly, Sophie was the hardest one to get to pose this time.

GBOP

Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin gave the kids a GBOP (Great Big Outdoor Playball) for Christmas, but we weren't able to use it until now when the weather was nice. It's too big to use inside; in fact, it wouldn't even fit through the door. Daddy inflated each of the sections using the air compressor, and then handed it over to the kids, with some warnings about keeping it away from pointy things. They rolled around inside it in the backyard for a bit, but we decided it would be way more exciting to go to an open field where we could push it around at high speed. We took it to the RA Long field, and each kid got many chances to ride inside it while everyone else pushed. They bounced around inside it pretty good, and kept begging for more. Even Tor liked flopping around inside it.

Basketball Shorts

Tor is thrilled when he gets to wear a basketball shirt.  So now he has basketball shorts to match and  when he first gets them on he runs to everyone to show them his shorts, especially Brock and Ty.  It seems that when he has on his whole outfit he does a lot of shooting too.  If this was all he had, he would wear the same outfit every day.

Baths, Escape, and Football

 This bath time Friday was an hour and 10 minutes long.  They played and played.  They are a little apprehensive of having the jets turned on, but finally they wanted them on after an hour.  They like it afterwards because the jets make lots of bubbles that they can hide things in or pretend it's whip cream.  One thing I forgot to add:  While they were in the tub, Mommy called, so I told Bridget to come to the edge of the tub to hand her the phone.  She took it and immediately put it under water.  End of conversation with Mommy.  Papa took the phone to dry it and Heather called back to see what happened.  After drying out, the phone did work again.

 Tor asked me to open his backpack that's full of tools.  He promptly took it outside to the fence and worked hard on trying to cut a way out to escape.  He made a face of disgust when it didn't work.

After Daddy got home, they had a spirited game of touch football, except Tor didn't get that concept. It was girls against boys and I'm not sure who won.  When Tor got the football, he would run and run all over.  Great fun.

Weekend School

Jillian was adamant that Bridget have school on Sunday, saying that she hadn't been to school in over a week. Bridget responded that she didn't want to go to school -- she wanted to play. Eventually, Bridget gave in, as she usually does under Jillian's constant demands and pressure. Jillian made up a page of some assignments for Bridget to do, set up a desk and chair in their bedroom, and got her to work. This picture shows Bridget doing her studies, while Jillian stands by to help out.

Hiking

They all love this nice weather.  As soon as Jillian got home from school Thursday we went on a hike in the woods.  Jillian even saw a snake on a path she was taking but kept on going.  She is fearless in hiking as well as everything else.  She made her own trails through brush and stickers and didn't have a clue where she was going.  Meanwhile Bridget obediently follows her anywhere, with my help getting her over obstacles, and Tor just forges on in last place, keeping up without a complaint and loving it.  They found some abandoned things, a big oil barrel and a big scoop from a big rig, that they were fascinated by and wondered why people were littering.  Finally we came out where there was a wide path home and they were tired kids.

The sand box is all set up now and I had a big bag of almost every animal so they spend a lot of time making habitats for most of the animals.  I really enjoyed looking at all the creations.

"Sweetie pies"

 This is the door alarm that Jillian made me for my birthday.  She came up with it all on her own and while she was making it in the kitchen, I wasn't allowed there.  She put bells, snowflakes, and a cross on it.  She even wrapped the cord around to hang it.  She was trying to put it all together with glue but finally Papa helped her out with the glue gun.  I am so excited when they make something special.

 Bridget spent a lot of time on this card.  It has the play fort, slide, and scooter in the picture.  The bottom part was a maze for me to follow to get from one side to the other.  She is a very clever girl.  She also spent time making me a crown to wear with a tree, stars and a rainbow.  She is getting good at writing her name too.  It was also a very special present.

Jumping Rope at the Blazer Game

Jillian had raised the second-most money for Jump Rope for Heart this year at Olympic Elementary, so she won a free ticket to the Portland Trailblazer basketball game against the Utah Jazz where she would get to jump rope on the court during the pre-game with lots of other kids. Papa Ken and Bev, and Auntie Sheryl, Andy and Karlie also came along to watch.

The AHA chaperone took Jillian down to the floor level while Mommy, Daddy, Bridget and Tor were in the 100-level to take pictures and watch. Jillian marched out there with nearly a hundred other kids, and then got right after the jumping. She worked on doing all of her tricks that she had been practicing at home (backwards, one-foot, cross-overs, etc), but since her tummy was full from having just eaten dinner, she had a side-ache and had to take frequent breaks. Still, she put on a good show for the 10 minutes she was out there.

In the photos, Jillian is wearing the neon yellow shirt, black tights and pig tails.

Spring Break Beach Trip

All of us had been looking forward to getting away to the beach cabin for Spring Break. The weather cooperated about half the time, with rain at the beginning and end of the trip, and beautiful sun in the middle. We got there on Tuesday night and went to bed right away, so when we woke up, we were already there and ready to go. Here's a photo of our first morning, sipping coffee and hot chocolate at Adelaide's.

Later in the day, it was nice enough to head to the beach. The kids were busy little diggers, making holes and castles in the dry sand. We tried the water, but it was freezing, so we stayed in dry sand the entire time. The kids also did a little exploring in the dunes, where this photo was taken.

 

They also brought their kites with them. These were a little more manageable than Daddy's stunt kite. After nap time, it was quite a bit windier outside, so we drove to the beach so they could fly the kites. Here's a photo of Bridget flying her princess kite.

The kids couldn't wait for Andy and Karlie to show up at the end of the day. They were looking forward to showing them everything about the beach cabin. They arrived later on Wednesday, and it was a wild time for about an hour before things settled down with jammies and a video. All of the kids slept together upstairs in the single beds (Bridget would only sleep in the same bed with Jillian ... just like home) and did alright up there, particularly since Auntie Sheryl was up there with them.

Thursday and Friday were typical days at the beach. We had coffee and hot chocolate in the mornings, along with pancake, eggs, sausage & bacon for breakfast. There was lots of outside yard time, with bike riding and ball throwing / hitting. We made several trips to the beach where the kids dug in the dry sand, jumped some waves, explored the dunes, and flew some kites. One trip was made to the Astoria Pool for about 2 hours of swim time. And, evenings settled down with videos and snacks / treats.

All in all, the kids had a fun and exhausting time.

Grannie's Birthday

Grannie's birthday was last Tuesday, and the kids all got to come up and play for the day. They spent part of that time making some gifts for Grannie (which she is opening during her party in the photo below). Jillian made her a door-opening alarm, and Bridget made her a crown to wear.

Hourly Wages

Jillian and Bridget found out that Ty and Brock make some pretty good money for working at Grannie and Papa's house, so they asked for some jobs, too, to help pay for their Lego addiction. Here's a photo of their job ... raking sticks. Bridget made it about 30 minutes, but Jillian was determined to work for the full hour and get the entire hourly wage.

Easter Sunday

It was quite the busy day this Easter Sunday!

We started our day by going to church where we saw Auntie Greta and Adam. The kids all got to put lavenders on the cross, then they all went to Sunday school while Tor stayed with Mommy and Daddy. As soon as the service was over, we headed straight home to meet up with Papa Ken and Bev for brunch. Everyone ate a lot and then the adults relaxed at the dinner table and drank coffee while the kids ran wild.

We then took off for Castle Rock and met up with lots of Piercys. For the egg hunt, Jillian went with the big kids, while Bridget and Tor had their own little area. Jillian held her own, doing very well finding lots of eggs, and continued looking even after everyone else was done. Tor was mostly thrilled to have just found a basketball-egg, and Bridget was the helpful big sister, giving some of her eggs to Tor. At the raw egg toss, Daddy and Jillian partnered up and did really well. Jillian caught a bunch (right over her head - yikes!). Mommy and Bridget joined together, but were out in the first round. In the egg roll, all the kids  made a few rolls and got some fun prizes. Neither Mommy nor Daddy had any luck in the adult egg roll. We finished out our time there relaxing and visiting. The kids were tired and delirious on the way home.

Crafty Girl

Jillian likes to design her own crafts so she made this one.  First she collected sticks and we hot glued them together.  Then she found a fill she wanted and proceeded to make 5 chicks, a daddy, mommy, big sister, little sister and tiny brother.  It turned out very cute.

Easter Lilies

 Another example of Jillian's climbing on everything.  We'll all have a lot more gray hair by the time this phase is over.

 There is an old house on our property that has been empty for quite awhile.  I let the kids roam through it, trying to turn on lights that don't work, and finding all kinds of hiding places.  They said they want to make it into a play house and paint the rooms but I don't foresee that happening, although that would be an improvement.

After the house we walked way down in the woods and they were super excited to find lots of Easter Lilies to pick for Mommy.  Even Bridget went willingly into the start of the canyon when last year she kept wanting to go back to the house.  Tor loved the exploring and wanted to keep going even farther.  Note the small basketball he carried the whole time.  He had on a basketball shirt, under his coat, that he was so proud of.  When I tried to take it off to put on his pajamas, he got upset, so I found another top with a basketball on it and he was happy again, and took the new shirt to bed with him to wear the next day.