Hello, Summer!

After 177 days of school, today desks were cleaned out and goodbyes said.  Ella's been riding a roller coaster of emotion these past few weeks, some days really happy about beginning the exciting summer we have to look forward to, some days actually crying about how much she'll miss school, her friends and her teacher.  We know it will take a good week to adjust to a new schedule (especially since Delia still has a few weeks of preschool left), but we made today all about celebrating!

Our countdown to the last day of school chain is looking so strange with just one little link left on it!



We started the year off praying that God would place Ella in the class where she would grow the most and be the biggest blessing and today we thank God for answered prayers!  Ella has learned so much this year and we believe Mrs. D.J. taught her well.  Though she doesn't look too much different from the first day of first grade, her brain has definitely grown! :)

Today was just a half day, so the whole family went to pick Ella up.  After a fun lunch out at the pizza place by school, which was PACKED with fellow classmates and friends, we unveiled a few last day of school surprises at home.  One was this sign I painted, which was supposed to go on the outside of the house, but kept blowing away.  And the other was the pieces to make a Hello Summer craft-- a literal Summer Bucket List. 

We all sat down together and brainstormed things that we want to try to do this summer.  As we do them, we'll drop the clothespin inside the bucket.  In August, we'll see how productive we were in having summer fun!  So far, Summer Bucket List ideas include:  Eat popsicles while running through a sprinkler, color new states on our USA map, go to a fair, pick berries, spend an entire day in jammies, paddle or row a boat, go tubing, eat peaches picked right off the tree, hug Uncle Kyle, see a new National Park, play outside until it gets dark, go on bike rides, read 100 books, see fireworks, make a sandcastle, swim in a swimming pool, hike the Glacier Point Trail in Yosemite, ride a roller coaster, jump waves in the ocean, go to a ball game, do crafts, stay in a hotel, eat tomatoes from the garden, ride a water slide, spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, have friends over to play, go camping, make s'mores, go fishing, have a picnic, look at stars, run out of sunscreen and SLEEP!

The Latest Fashions from the DR

Thanks for the box of dresses and necklaces from your trip to the Dominican Republic, Grandpa and Grandma!

(No, it's no where near cold here, Ella just felt especially beautiful in her new dress and thought this is the type of pose a model would strike!)

A Fairytale

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little first grader who went on a field trip with her class to the zoo.  On the way, her bus passed Fairytale Town and she recalled fond memories from the last time she visited.  "Please, please, please can we go back to Fairytale Town?" she begged her kind and equally beautiful mother.  :)  The child's mother thought it was a great idea, but alas, the child's hardworking and extremely handsome father had a very busy schedule and no free Saturdays.

Finally, a Saturday was found with no service projects, no anniversary parties, no Classis meetings and no weddings.  The family jumped at the opportunity to share an outing together.  The child and her spunky younger sister literally jumped for joy when they arrived at Fairytale Town.  The first grader said, "Fairytale town is my second most favorite place in the entire world!  My first favorite is Hawaii, even though I have never been there."

The two sisters spent the day happily sliding down the Old Woman's shoe, climbing on the beanstalk and giant's feet, driving Cinderella's pumpkin coach, zig-zagging through a crooked mile, falling down a rabbit hole, playing in Sherwood Forest and visiting all their favorite fairytale animal friends.

Little did the family know that it was a special Farmer Appreciation Day in Fairytale Town, so they enjoyed some fun extra stuff too!  They got to actually pet a bunch of animals-- like bunnies, ponies and chickens.  They got to do a craft with real sheep's wool.

The family got to see the lambs who followed Mary to school get sheared and then see that wool get spun into yarn.  The sheep seemed pleased to receive summer haircuts and didn't put up any fuss about donating their locks.

The family also got to learn about things like honey production from bee farmers and asparagus harvesting from asparagus farmers.  The two sisters and their parents filled their bellies with free samples from the Whole Foods booth and came home with pots of strawberries that they planted themselves.

A fun day was had, thanks to one little first grader's idea to revisit Fairytale Town.  And they all lived happily ever after.

Best Blueberries

Today we discovered a new U-Pick blueberry place.  It is brand new and features rows upon rows of pristine and weed-free blueberry bushes.  The blueberry field is beautifully bordered by a hay field, a vineyard and a cute little pond.  The prices are great-- we took home a big bucket's worth of berries and paid just $6.  There's a play area for kids, a whole bunch of funny looking scarecrows (who are named after weeds!) and lots of hunting for birds' nests and eggs to be done.  And the blueberries are UH.MAZ.ING!  Definitely the biggest, juiciest berries we've ever had and perfectly sweet or tart tasting, depending on how blue or red we picked them.  The best part about our new favorite berry picking place?  It's owned by a family of dear friends from our church!  I like to protect our anonymity a bit on the blog, so I won't write the farm's name or location here, but I strongly urge you to get this info from me and make a visit if you're looking to go berry picking!  We'd love to promote our friends' new business, especially since they're doing such a stellar job running it so far!

Seriously, check out these blueberries.  They're the size of quarters!

I told our friends that they should not only weigh the bags of berries people pick, but also the pickers before and after!  We sampled our fill--  mostly from Delia stuffing them into her mouth, and then ours, with the exclamation, "You gotta try THESE!"

Forgive me for being pretty bossy in this post-- first telling you where you must pick your blueberries and next telling you that you must make this recipe I discovered and fell in love with this winter:

Blueberry Buckle

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INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
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TOPPING:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cold butter
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DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into greased 9-in. square baking pan.
2. For topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture. Bake at 375 degrees  for 45-60 minutes (recipe says 45, but mine always takes closer to an hour) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Mother's Day...My New Favorite Holiday?

I can honestly say that being a mom is probably my greatest blessing in life.  My girls are pretty easy to raise right now and I can't say that I find motherhood overly stressful or even much of a burden.  So, I get to do a job that brings me joy every single day and then I get a whole day to be thanked and celebrated for doing it?  What a sweet deal Mother's Day is! :)  My Mother's Day was especially sweet, thanks to one super thoughtful husband and two very affectionate and enthusiastic children.

I was roused from bed by a family carrying armloads of cards and gifts.  Each was carefully picked out or made and each brought me a huge smile.  Delia warned me that her Mother's Day surprise would be tons of snuggles and she delivered!  Dave got all his Sunday service preparations done early, so he was home the entire morning to help get the girls ready.  This break allowed me just enough extra time to actually bust out the curling iron!  A gift of indulgence, indeed!

After church, my big Mother's Day surprise was a picnic lunch in one of my favorite spots-- Knight's Ferry.  Dave packed a cooler with a bunch of my favorite foods that he secretly picked up this week.   We took a short walk and found a lovely, shady spot in the grass right by the river's rapids to eat sandwiches from my favorite deli, my favorite chips and cookies and fresh pineapple and strawberries.

Ella and Delia wrote and performed a special Mother's Day song for me.  The most memorable lyric was something about how "Mom was great, even better than chocolate cake."

My outing ended with homemade ice cream from the old fashioned Knight's Ferry Sweet Shop.  It was a beautiful breezy day and the shop's front porch was the perfect place to park it for a while and lick our cones.

I have a LOT of amazing examples of what it means to be a Godly mother and it is truly my prayer that each of you, mother figure or friend, feels gratified, blessed and given opportunity to glorify God in your daily journey.  And I wish each of you a day as wonderful as the one I had!

Splash!

It's May and our thermostat is already registering triple digits. 

It's Saturday and Dave was busy with an all-day Classis meeting. 

Two good reasons to pack a picnic lunch, go for a little drive and explore two new splash parks a few towns over.

Our park investigation had these two little splashers giving two thumbs up.  Let me know if you want park names and addresses, local friends!

Crazy May

There are just some months that you know are gonna be nuts.  October, December, March and May are our full-calendar months.  May is jam-packed with birthdays, anniversaries, end of the year parties, graduations and weddings.  This week we received our 11th invitation to a graduation party!  We actually have one day that has an end of the year pool party, 2 grad parties and a wedding all squished into one calendar square, and the timing works out that we may just be able to pull them all off!  There's been something every night this week, including two of our favorite May events-- Dave's annual Youth Group vs. Council softball game and Delia's Preschool Open House.

The church softball game is truly a highlight of the year.  The girls love running around the park with all their little friends and I love sitting on a blanket with my own friends chatting and laughing over the high schoolers and older male leaders of our church competing.  We cheer when the petite freshmen girls get a hit and we cheer when the mature elders make it on base or get an impressive catch.  Though Delia was rooting for the "Yoof Goop", it was the council who took home the victory this year.  It's great fun and great for our church family!

This Preschool Open House is our last one!  Though it's always the same, Delia still takes huge delight in going through the steps of showing us all around her school.  Her tour is thorough-- from the Bible, letter and number books she's been working on to the potty she likes to use, we definitely see it all!

 We get to read her surprising answers on the My Favorite posters. (Apparently we have a pet bunny named Crystal???)

We get to see her classroom's new pets-- this spring it's baby chicks and a bunny.

 We get to eat cookies on the bench outside.

And we get to see Delia show off her newest playground skills-- recently it's making it about a quarter of the way across the monkey bars.

The May calendar may have very little blank space on it, but the stress level stays low since it's all fun stuff.  We'll have time to rest and catch a breath in June, right?

Best. Party. Ever.

This weekend Delia was treated to princess-o-rama when she went to a birthday party for a preschool friend of hers.  This party was out of control!  You name it, the mom planned it and the little girls delighted in doing it-- treasure hunt, homemade and monogrammed purse goodie bags, bouncy house, individual princess cakes, pinata, tables spread with fancy finger foods, face painting, even a surprise visit from a "real" princess!  I guess there's a company in the city that actually hires out Disney princesses to come to your little girls' birthday parties.  Belle arrived in her "carriage" (aka chauffeur-driven car from San Francisco) and spent 2 hours telling stories, doing art projects and magic tricks and sharing her special sparkly tea.  This was totally Delia's scene and she loved every second of it!  Here's one of the pictures I was given today that the professional photographer took at the party.  All we could say was, "WOW!"  This is a party that will be remembered and talked about for a looong time!

Zoo Field Trip

One week ago, all the first graders of Ella's school took a field trip to the zoo.  I actually had something on my calendar for this day, so I was not able to go, but, there was no shortage of parent volunteers.  I have to believe that all those moms and dads who went willingly have never been on a long, field-trip-bound school bus ride with 60 excited (and a few motion-sick) kids.  And I have to admit that I was not devastated to miss out.  Anyway, Ella was blessed to have another mom watching over her for the day, who was kind enough to take pictures and write me a message describing Ella's full of wonder reaction to each of the animals.

Again, it's hard to believe that this school year is winding down!  As I remember all the way back to the first weeks, I recall how Ella got off to a somewhat rocky start.  We're so thankful that she found some more new friends, eventually adjusted to the routine, liked her teacher and learned a good amount this year!

Get to Know Ella

Since it's officially her birthday month, I took some time to interview Ella.  The following are her answers and her 7 year old portraits...

Age: (Almost) 7

Favorite colors: silver, gold and black

Favorite food: mac and cheese

Favorite book: The Boxcar Children

Favorite movie: Wall-E

Favorite song: "He's Wild!" (VBS Songs)

Favorite thing to play: making fairies and fairy houses or pretending to be the Boxcar Children outside with dishes

Favorite part of school: when the art teacher comes and does cool art projects with our class

What I want to be when I grow up: a queen

The perfect day is: to go to a water park and ride the water slides

My best friends are: Chloe, Sydney, Bianca and Kiana, oh and Delia!

I hope when I'm 7, I'll...

1.  Have a nice 2nd grade teacher

2.  Get to run in another race

3.  Read a big chapter book all by myself