Our Little Performers

Earlier this month Ella was honored to be one of the few chosen to represent our school at a big Fine Arts Festival many schools share.  There are all different types of categories you can enter and Ella was picked for the two she chose, writing and speaking.  Her writing piece was called "Integrating Technology into the Classroom" and her spoken piece was a fun monologue, a children's book actually, called "So, You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?"  The kids head down to another school to compete for rankings of Participant, Good, Excellent, and Superior.  In both of Ella's categories she was given nearly perfect scores earning her two "Superior" rankings...which is somewhat rare for 5th graders, the youngest to participate.  Even though Dave and I could not be there due to work, we are obviously SO proud!  And so thankful that many other school families went to cheer her on, send us videos, and share stories.  One other mom was asked by the judges if Ella was her daughter and told her Ella had a real future in acting and our school's drama department is lucky to have such young talent.

A few videos (broken into 2, so my friend could text it to me) of Ella's acting piece.

Then yesterday our youngest took the stage for her big annual dance recital.  Delia chose to be a part of a jazz class this year and did love it, even though the choreography was harder.  She cracked me up with all her poses and expressions for my pictures.  ("I'm supposed to be sassy in this number, Mom!")

No photography at the performance, so these are all from the dress rehearsal.  Delia worked hard learning this dance for the past 6 months, and while she wasn't perfect, she totally did her best and had a great time on stage!

Delia's favorite part of dancing is always that high energy curtain call.  She just loves taking her bow to huge applause and then joining in the big dance party that breaks out on stage.  She was undecided about if she wanted to commit to another year of dance and all the hard work that it is.  Then she experienced the adrenaline rush of performing last night.  She's in for another year! :)

We're so proud of our brave, talented girls!!

Amigos de Guatemala

One week in May we were blessed to host our Guatemala missionary friends.  Dave has made multiple trips to Guatemala for the purpose of building relationships with the rural community our church has partnered with.  It's SO cool to see the fruit of those efforts-- one being the friendship we share with Sadoc, our point person in Guatemala.  He and his family were in the states looking for supporting churches and doing work with the denomination.  He shared that after all this "work" it was so good for their visit to our little corner of the map to feel like vacation with friends.  

We shared some meals and catch up times with them.  One day Dave took them to Yosemite (the girls and I were in school, bummer).  And another day we took an outing to the blueberry farm with them.  The blueberry farm is owned and operated by 3 families from our church-- and all three have been on one of Dave's Guatemala trips!  Since we share an interest in agriculture with our Guatemalan friends, this was a really perfect place to visit!  Bonus-- taking home several buckets full the best blueberries in the Valley!

  

Only Sadoc speaks fluent English.  We had lots of fun trying out our limited Spanish words and learning some new ones with his wife and kids.  How we laughed when our 3 girls found a commonality that transcended cultural and language barriers! :)

Catching You Up on May

Time to give the blog its monthly attention!  Remember when I used to post something every day? :)  Once again, this post is mostly brought to you by my Instagram account, so if you follow that, you are already caught up and can mark this as "read"!

 To promote our school book fair, the kids had a "Dress like a favorite book character" day.  I loved that my girls thought hard about this and created outfits that truly reflected favorite characters...and were made with things we had in the house!  Delia went as Kaya from her American Girl Doll books and Ella went as Roller Girl, one of this year's Newberry winning graphic novels.  She decided to leave the roller blades at home. :)

 One Sunday I was talking to some dairy-farming friends about our sad, dry garden and its victimhood of last year's drought.  The next thing I knew, I was arranging a time for them to swing by with a cow trailer full of the nutrient-rich fertilizer this particular dairy is famous for composting!  We had lots of laughs about how we are unexpectedly and constantly blessed by our church friends sharing their skills and resources with us.  This time is was poop!  Not only did they deliver 5 yards of beautiful compost, they helped me spread it around the veggie garden and flower beds.  I think it's working,  My plants have grown like crazy this month!

 Another night we spent at our school's Family Fun Night.  The velcro wall was popular with Delia and her friend Kate.  But, our goldfish only lasted about 36 hours this year.

Ella is part of a church club for girls and they closed out the year with a 50's themed Mother Daughter Night.  Ella and I enjoyed getting our poodle skirts on (mine is the one my mom made me in high school!) and spending the night together.  Each class does a little skit or performance and the 5th graders and their moms played a Newlywed Game on the stage.  Ella and I did not score very well, but we had lots of fun!  And seeing everyone's fabulous 50's fashions was a real highlight.

We've been part of a Supper Club with some church friends for a few months now.  The couple that hosts pick a theme and distribute food assignments/recipes.  In May we hosted with a "Chicago Style" theme that was a huge hit.  But, how can you possibly go wrong with beer-boiled brats, ribs, real French fries, bbq beans, and Portillos famous chopped salad and chocolate cake?

In May we also enjoyed the annual Council vs. Youth Group softball game our church hosts.  This year Dave was traded to the other team (the "Old Guy" team, we teased him), so we rooted for the other side for the first time.  As they usually do, the Old Guys took the victory, so we got to finally celebrate a win with the trade of our favorite player!  (Open this picture to see two funny photo bombers hanging on the fence behind the players!)

A proud moment for Delia.  This girl has struggled with math since day one of kindergarten (my genes, I'm afraid) and the grades that come home on tests are mostly a much different looking number and letter.  Last week she brought home HER FIRST A and proved something Dave and I have been telling her for years-- she CAN do it.  We got this little beauty displayed on the fridge!

On Thursday and Friday this week I was done teaching students.  I'll still be at school next week attending my Pre-K graduation, cleaning my classrooms, and filling out student profiles, but I said goodbye to my sweet 36 kiddos last week.  It's a bittersweet time that gives me all the feels.  I feel sooooo happy to be done.  Relieved to have survived this challenging year.  Excited for a summer full of fun with the family.  Thankful for these teachers (and others not pictured) who were not only my co-workers, but also dear friends.  And sad to say goodbye to each student who I came to call "mine" this year, some I'll never see again after graduation.  As I get teary again even typing that out, I'm gonna focus my mind on the fact that we leave for a very fun vacation in exactly a week!

Raindrops on Roses

What an answer to prayer-- we've had lots of rain days this season! Thank you, Lord!

A Tribute to the Equinox

Eleven years ago, when we found out we were pregnant with our first baby, we made the easy decision to trade in Dave's little pick-up truck for a new, roomy SUV that could haul car seats and strollers.  It was one of the first major life changes we made that acknowledged the new stage of parenting we'd be entering.  And for over a decade this was a good car for us.

But, as all 11 year old cars are prone to do, it started requiring more money than we were willing to dump into it.  It left me stranded and calling AAA two times last year.  It had a host of little and big things, from the transmission to the key fabs, that were no longer working well on it.  We've been saving up and researching for a while and we set Spring Break as our new car shopping time.

Here is a little look back at some fun moments in the Equinox:    

 Shortly after we bought it, here is my car and my pregnant belly at the coast.

 This is the day we loaded our new family of FOUR up in the Equinox and brought Delia home from the hospital.

This is one of the many Christmas trees it carried home for us from the tree farm.

And here is our last goodbye at the car lot.  This car carried my babies around in their various stages of car seats and boosters for years.  It had milk sippie cups go bad in it, it had kids puke in it.  It certainly saw its share of both tears and dance parties.  This car mowed down a coyote on a dark night in Napa and didn't even show any damage.  It made hundreds of trips to school and took us on countless outings.  For 11 years, this car kept us safe in all our travels and we are thankful for it.  

But, similar to when we bought it, we acknowledge that we are in another new stage of life.  Since all my car does is drive back and forth to school, we don't need a big car any longer.  In fact, something small, but comfortable, that gets 40 miles to the gallon is pretty appealing!  So, our new car is a zippy, little, subcompact Honda.  Because it is one of the cheaper cars that Honda makes, our budget allowed for all sorts of bells and whistles that I've never had before!  My mind is a little boggled to also realize that while the car we traded in brought our babies home from the hospital, the new one we bought last week will the car those babies learn to drive in just a few years!

Spring Break Staycation

For our Spring Break, we decided to try something totally new: a complete Staycation.  This Spring Break had a new car purchase in it, so we decided to refrain from spending any money on vacations or even day trips.  Instead, I filled each of our days with friends the girls have been asking to see and playdates we've been meaning to have.  

So, I give you this Friends Post, which is the way we spent a lovely week off of school:

 Okay, this is not technically from Spring Break, but it's a friend picture I wanted to include.  Ella went away for a whole weekend to a church camp.  She had a blast!  She was put in a cabin with lots of her good friends and kept busy with all sorts of fun activities.  It was the longest I have ever gone without talking to her and I'm so happy she's the kind of kid who loves an away-from-home adventure.

 Right before Spring Break, our school hosted its annual Open House and Spring Program.  We always enjoy the opportunity to get tours of the girls' classrooms and chat with their teachers.  The program is only for kids in grades kindergarten through 3rd, which means we are officially done.  Delia and her classmates sang their Fruit of the Spirit songs wholeheartedly and ended our years of Spring Programs on nice note!  (Do you like that pun I just did there?)  Above is Delia with two of her good friends Kate and Sara.

Our Spring Break kicked off with a morning with long-distance friends, Heidi and her kids.  They happened to be in town and were kind enough to squeeze a visit with us into their schedule.  We were so blessed to catch up with these dear friends and hear all about how life is going now that Heidi's chaplain husband is deployed.

Another night I got a playdate with some of my friends!  :)  My good buddy Jetta hosted a Girls Night Out Badminton Tournament and Movie Night for her birthday.  These ladies were a riot and this night was SO fun!  During our tournament we had every kind of weather: blinding sun, extreme wind, even down-pouring rain!  Competitive Jetta made us play through it all!  I am blaming the crazy weather, and not my sub-par badminton skills, on my team's (The Badminton Babes) last place finish.

 Over Spring Break, our youth pastor and his wife had their baby-- a perfect and sweet baby boy named Judah.  He actually came a week early and he actually disrupted the Easter weekend preaching schedule quite a bit, unexpectedly doubling Dave's workload.  But, all worked out just fine!  And what joy we had spending a morning meeting him and showering his wonderful parents with some gifts and meals.  Ella is getting hooked on this "holding newborns" thing and would hardly share him! :)

The girls ask me often to let them have friends sleepover and, you guys, I just don't feel like I have the energy for this in a normal work week.  Spring Break was the perfect time to finally get this sleepover on the calendar.   It ended up being a lot of fun--  with a lot of playing, another movie night, and even an impromptu dance party.

 Delia had her friend Kate over and it was so sweet to listen to them reading books to each other for an hour in the bunk beds they shared.

 Ella had her friend Emily sleep over and they felt so grownup sharing the little guest house, where they listened to music, played cards and slept for the night. They also enjoyed rollerblading around our church parking lot the next day.

Our Spring Break's Grand Finale was a Saturday morning with another good friend, Rachel and her boys Evan and Zane.  We met at the Home Depot to make butterfly houses together and then spent some time at the park.

On the Sunday before school started up again, we reminded the girls of the big Spring Break trip we made to San Diego last year.  We asked which break was better, expecting that obviously they'd choose the one that had theme parks, koala bears, and killer whales in it.  They did not!  A break full of relaxation, movie watching, game playing, book reading and LOTS of time with friends was just as satisfying they reported!  And I think I may agree with them.

These Easter Greetings are Only Two Weeks Late...

Happy Easter, dear friends and family!  We hope you had a joyful day of celebrating God's love and grace and the miracle of life after death!

Here are a few shots of our Easter festivities:

Dying the Easter eggs. 

Getting dolled up in our Easter Sunday best. 

Sharing fellowship, ham buns, and a mega Easter egg hunt with our church family. 

Discovering our love for holding newborn babies on one of the newest members of our church VM family. (Fun fact about this growing family: it is impossible for them to get and keep any sort of updated whole family picture.  There were over 60 in attendance on Easter, 2 were newborns, and at least 2 more babies are on the way this year!)  

Realizing that my girls and their friends in this big family are the "older kids" in the bunch!  With all the new babies (many being born to the kids we had in our high school youth group 10-12 years ago!), there is a new crop of littles.  Not going to think about where that puts Dave and I on the age scale! ;)

Wicked Weekend in the City

Knowing how important quality time is for Dave, I gave him the gift of a fancy date in the city for his birthday back in December.  We went on this date last weekend and it was wonderful!  

  

We stayed at our first 5 star hotel, the Fairmont.  It was fun to explore all the luxury and history this SF landmark had to offer, but we realized we are definitely Best Western kind of people! :)  When we called ahead to inquire about parking, they told us that since we were guests, they'd be happy to valet park our car...for a mere $98 a night!  We found an overnight parking garage a few blocks away that was willing to provide this same service (minus the valet) for $30.  Score 1 for the cheap, Dutch couple. 

On the rooftop garden, it was cool to watch the cable cars rumbling up and down the street.  And in the hotel's hallways it was fun to take in rows and rows of photographs showing all the presidents, world leaders, and movie stars who have stayed at the Fairmont.  I snagged the below pic of a favorite singer, Ella Fitzgerald, for our oldest daughter. 

The highlight of this weekend was the show I booked us tickets for back in November-- Wicked!  I have only ever heard great things about this musical and even still our expectations were exceeded!  The music was fantastic.  The performers were amazing.  I do believe this is even the Broadway cast on tour.  The sets and production blew us away.  Seeing it in another historical landmark, the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco, was pretty neat too.

 (This is the ornate ceiling at the Orpheum.)

With our car tucked away in an over-night garage, we limited our outings to ones we could walk to.  So, the morning after Wicked, we spent some time wandering around the nearby Grace Cathedral.  With features like these gold doors depicting Bible scenes, this place was beautiful!  We spent a lovely morning sipping coffee in the cathedral's prayer garden, talking and listing to the cable cars clang up and down the street right beside us.

Friends from work gave me tons of suggestions of favorite places to eat.  On Friday night was had a fabulous, authentic Italian dinner at an intimate cafe that had about 10 tables in it, and a line out the door by the time we left.  On our way home Saturday we stopped for lunch at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen and gobbled up fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of crispy maple brussels sprouts.  It was DELICIOUS!  Definitely recommend!

Ella was at a church camp for the weekend and Delia spent the night with some friends.  We're so thankful for even this small window of time to reconnect and do special and super fun things together.  Life has been busy and our schedules often have us just passing each other.  Dave and I probably talked more in these 2 days than we have in a month.  I'll always remember our fancy weekend in the city, and already have my kids singing all the Wicked Soundtrack songs!