Wait, what? Is it May already? Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  It's been a wonderful day of Kip cooking and homemade cards from the kids.  I hope that everyone has felt as lucky as me today.  Kip made chicken and dumplings for dinner, or, as Rachel called it, chicken and dolphins. 

The last few weeks have had some major highlights!  Working backwards...

Yesterday Caleb played in his last soccer game of the spring season, and they won!  Caleb made a goal and was thrilled to end the season on a high note.  We unfortunately took no pictures all season, because I am usually lucky to get out the door with all kids intact and clothed, and I did not remember the camera even once.  But we did order a copy of the official photo they had taken.

Go Blazers!  We were really happy with his coach and will try to get him on the same team for the fall.

Earlier this week we went to the Orchard Options book fair, which is the public school "option" we are planning on participating in this fall.  It is for homeschoolers and they attend classes like science, art, PE, and computers each Monday.  woo hoo!  They cover the cost of some of the materials we use at home the rest of the week.  Looks like it is a blend of the Vision program and Living Springs co-op that we did in Fruita, and we are excited about it.

We fed the missionaries on Monday and they are probably wishing we would stop signing up to feed them.  We turned the pork chops into charcoal.  Whoops.  Time before that (2 weeks ago) I forgot to put the roast in early enough, so I cooked it on high and it was chewy like leather.  Mmmmmm.  Sorry guys, maybe next time we should just order pizza.

Last weekend we drove out the Billings to visit the Allens for the first time in their new digs.  It was awesome!  We left Thursday night and stayed in a motel in Casper - free, thanks to all of our Marriott points from last summer!  We got there Friday afternoon and had the most fantastic time together.  Sarali and I went to Time Out for Women there, a sort of inspirational women's conference, and they kids played, and played, and played, baseball, basketball, and feeding the ducks with the dads.  We were so glad to see them again.  When it was time to leave, poor little Caleb was in tears and wanted to know when we were coming back, next weekend?  Next month?  Could we move closer?  He misses his buddy Parker.

 Ella LOVES cats.  This was the neighbor cat that she befriended.

 7 out of nine total kids (babies are elsewhere)

 Caleb and Parker, eating cookies and playing basketball with cool shower hair.

 Rachel and Brita

Sadie and McKinley

Us and the Allens after the men whooped the ladies at the Monopoly Deal card game.

Before we left for Billings, Caleb competed in his first cub scout pinewood derby race.  It was fun, but speaking as a mom, I am glad it is done!  It was pretty time consuming there for a while and very budget consuming, what with buying saws and paint and weights and stickers and axle aligners and list keeps on going.  Caleb won second in his wolf den, and got an award for "Most Creative," so he was happy.

 Caleb's car is on the far right, piloted by a Lego man.

 

We tried not to make too big of a deal of this blue car that was racing with the older Webelo scouts and beating pretty much everyone...and was Ella's car. Tee hee.  She won second place overall.  We were not trying to sabotage the race, really...they said there would be an open class division for siblings or dads to enter, so that's what we were doing.  Kip shoved the wheels on Ella's car right before we left for the derby, then she creamed almost everyone.  Like I said, we cheered with her, but tried not to make too big of a deal about it. :)

Weekend before that, I quickly flew out to the Boston (Worcester) for Great-grandma Erickson's memorial service.  It was a fast but wonderful trip and I had a great time meeting a lot of the people I had heard stories about from my mom, and visiting places, and meeting people who knew and loved my grandma.  Mom did a great job putting everything together and even though I was only technically there for around 24 hours, we made the most of it.  

During that week I finally finished the last of my "volunteer" assignments (meaning someone at church asked to help with something and I said yes), the teacher appreciation dinner, which is a big hairy deal around here.  The Parker Stake and Parker South Stake seniors at each of the four high schools nominate a teacher, write a blurb about them, then present them an award at a big dressy dinner.  No pressure.  At least each high school does a separate dinner, so this was only one school.  I was in charge of the servers and it all worked out, no one spilled anything on the guests, or broke any dishes, and I only had to deliver two desserts to people who were forgotten.  Whew.

I think that about catches us up, although I have failed to mention that we also got a whole new roof installed a few weeks ago.  A crazy windstorm in April blew a number of shingles off -  (me: "WHAT?  We JUST replaced the furnace!  What next?!) -  so we called up our new insurance company of 5 days and they agreed to come look at it.  Verdict: Substantial damage, they would replace the entire roof and we only pay the deductible.  YYYEEEESSSS!  The roof was original (20 years old) so we knew it would need some kind of attention in the next few years, but really, it could not have worked out better than that.  Miracle.  We changed insurance companies and got better coverage 5 days before a major windstorm blew off our old roof, so we got a whole new for the price of a deductible.  Miracle.

Finally, I thought I should throw in a picture of McKinley loving bathtime...

And Rachel...have I mentioned that she's three and very...um, opinionated?  And loud?  I thought I should pull out the camera and document her awesome fits for a blog post, but every time she started in and I pulled out the camera, she hid her face.  But you probably get the idea.