Endless skies

50!

Along with all the other excitement this spring, Curtis turned 50 over Memorial Day weekend. One can't celebrate without a cake candelabra in donut, right? 

As requested, a select group of guests, oatmeal cake with cream cheese icing, and a whole lot of candles. No, the house didn't burn down. Ha. 

He picked his own pinata, and had a Lego building contest along with tacos and beverages. 

We hiked down into the Sluice Boxes to celebrate birthday weekend, and Curtis caught a fish. That makes two for the spring. 

Jonah hiked and fished in his soccer shoes, which didn't bring him good luck on the fishing front, but was still fun. 

We might make this an annual picture :) 

Looking toward the horizon... 

And, at our feet. 

First day, last day of school :)

First day, Fall 2016

Last day, Spring 2017... 

When school starts again in August, Laurel will be in 6th grade. Here, that is the last year of elementary school. Jonah will be in 4th grade, and Elijah in 2nd. Elijah's teacher is someone I went to elementary school with and have known my whole life. And, Silas will start kindergarten. He will have Miss M., who was Elijah's beloved kindergarten teacher. For one year, all of these children will attend the same school, on the same schedule. #bliss

Color Run!

Base here has an annual color run. It is one of our favorite things. We invited friends this time, and although the wind was blowing about a hundred miles an hour... 

Here is a before picture: 

Curtis won the prize for being the most photographed by base public affairs (by FAR). 

Wish you were there? :) 

Ballet, tennis, soccer, and basketball

The finale of the dance season arrived. 

The final music has been from Jewels, with music from several classical ballet composers. Learning about that part has been an interesting connection with violin.

And, the finale of orchestra, with the start of summer music... It is strange to sign her up for things called sixth grade this or that. Yikes. Really? 

One boy here has played baseball. This one. He has loved it, even if it has gone on for about a 100 days. Next year, we have to re-think how we do baseball. It makes him this happy though. 

And, soccer, of course. For some reason, I had only terrible photos of soccer. 

Three boys, three soccer games every Sunday, all spring. And, most Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer. Curtis & I are both coaching. I am mostly just the coordinator of Elijah's team. I do have an official coach shirt, however. 

Tennis is the sport with a ball that L has agreed to learn this summer. The first lesson was rough, but she is getting in the groove now.  The boys love tennis. Maybe that is predictable? 

Elijah & Jonah played in a three-on-three tournament the first weekend in June. Elijah's team finished a joyful second. They had so much fun together, even though their day included games until 6 pm. 

Jonah's team had two very tough losses. There were hard lessons for these boys. This week, he was ready to play basketball again, and to love it again. 

Best fans ever... although, both will start kindergarten, and have a full season of soccer under their belts. 

Backyard Journal {Part 2}

Early spring passes into summer quickly... And, almost all of our tulips and daffodils have been replaced by iris that haven't opened yet.

Flowers here bloom in bursts of color, and this is the purple season compared to fall when more will bloom yellow. 

There are all different shades of lilacs from this light to a very rich purple. 

This happened in our yard this week too, for the first time. 

The mama duck brought all her babies to the waterfall! 

The color values make me cringe, but the unfurling I love. 

Here too. 

Bleeding hearts. 

Wish these would bloom all summer. 

Not yet...

Elijah was home sick from school (not very sick, clearly) one day last week. It was a stunningly beautiful day. We spent some time reading in the hammock, and I realized that although these wild things are in school until June 8, I am ready for the pace change that summer will bring. 

Silas will finish first... next week is his last week of preschool. They have been celebrating and having fun every day this month. These are from the 100th day of preschool. He and Laurel made his shirt together. It shows 100 letter S. The volcano was a recycling project, also with a sister assist. 

The end of the Si and mama time weighs on my mind a little. I wish I could be in his class for every volunteer opportunity, but I need the mornings of quiet at home to finish loose ends before everyone is home for the summer. And, for sanity purposes too. Still, we've worked on our Little Free Library project. We've spent this year filling the boxes around down with books for children donated or bought cheaply. 

I've learned some things- Children's books are popular. The parks in our town are heavily used by children, and totally a worthwhile investment. But, I've also learned that the books aren't being returned. The boxes are almost always empty of kids' books.  I need to find a way to mark the books with a suggestion to return & share. There are eight Little Frees in our town, so lots of places to return. 

I am not sure what Daisy will do without Silas and all her kids in the fall. She cries to have them leave, cries when they return. She and Silas are a pair. 

I've also tried to fit in some mama & Si field trips- this was Giant Springs- and play dates with his friends. His best preschool friends won't go to our neighborhood school, and that is a little disappointing. He will know many others though. 

And, this. The nap is very rare. We read chapter books as often as we read picture books. I will miss the nap, probably way more than the Silas will because I have had that opportunity for way more years. heh, heh. 

Jonah + basketball = Fun!

Jonah played basketball on base, and in a general league, followed by a competitive league (where they keep score) at the Salvation Army. His dad coached his team in general league and at base. For the competitive league, he experienced having a not-dad coach, and might have missed his dad :) 

These pictures don't do justice to how graceful he is with this long, angular body he has these days. 

Although I subscribe to the philosophy that it should mostly be fun, I find that I remain competitive. Ha. That said, we were proud of Jonah's weeks leading his league in rebounding, and of his ability to see and make a pass. Our Jonah is lots of things in his sports, but among them is unselfish. Not in a perfect way, of course, but he would be happy to make a pass to allow a team mate to make the shot. He likes games where everyone gets a chance to score. 

This is Jonah & his best friend, W. Look at how big Jonah's feet look here. Can we pretend it is an optical illusion? He and W played against each other in the end of season tournament. They are fun to watch together because they play at recess so much, they're always smiling and sparkling over their smooth moves. 

Although we've officially moved on to soccer and baseball, Jonah will play with W and two other friends in the Spring Fling Hoop Thing which is a 3 on 3 tournament here in a couple of weeks. :) 

Fake Running...

We ran the Icebreaker, and we were together as a family at the beginning and the end. Run is sort of a relative term. Elijah and Jonah definitely ran. Laurel mostly ran, but she didn't rush. Silas, my mom and I ran occasionally, but after I nearly tripped over Silas, we ran less. My dad, as is usual for him, did is own thing, and that did not include running. 

This is at the end, where we all got our medals. Because way to go us. 

*More fake running in May. Both school and the base are doing color runs. Cross your fingers that Silas will still be at a pace I can keep up with then... 

Spring Garden Walk, Part 1

Our back yard bursts into bloom in late April. It is a beautiful thing, in part because it just happens by magic. I imagine what Carol was thinking when she planted hundreds of bulbs, rainbow hued, and unique. 

These star flowers are some of the first to bloom, when everything else is still brown. 

Deep purple, violets I think. They carpet the big flower bed first thing... 

Pasque flowers... 

Mini-daffodils

Forget me nots. Aren't they a beautiful blue?

Friend of the daisy... not sure the name.

Pink hya

Grape hya

Confessions

1. My friend Joan swooped in with lipstick help for the ball. She made a special trip to lend me these four. Why? I am lipstick illiterate. I have been (rarely!) using the lipstick someone (I can no longer remember who) picked out for my wedding since that magical day. One of my children destroyed that lipstick, and so I was adrift. I just went ahead and took a picture, so I could buy these lipsticks and be safe for 15 more years. Or so. 
   
   
   
   
2. I had to re-learn how to study this spring. I had three classes which all were due on April 1. They were Children's Literature, Young Adult Literature and Google for the Classroom. I am working to get my teaching certificate back up to date, and they were classes to accomplish this. It is much harder to finish individual work like this in my current place in life.  I really struggled with balance, and I find my own standards for myself can interfere too. 
   This is a stack of some of my class books. I confess that I took over the dining room table for much of March, even when I had to push the Legos way off to the side :)  We didn't eat in the dining room until Easter. 
3. Our family committed to serving families at the Cameron Family Center, the place where homeless families find shelter here.  We serve a meal, clean up after, and talk with the families once a month. It is one of the most difficult things I do. The realities that others face are difficult in ways I can only see through a glass darkly. I know all the reasons I need to step out of my comfort zone on this, and why my children need to see from a safe vantage point, what it looks like to serve. I know it is hard for them too. But, important. 
   
   
4. I can do lots of stuff. That includes publicity, membership and scholarships for the Malmstrom Spouses' Club. Right now, I am trying to figure out the distinction between what I can do and what I enjoy doing. And between what I am doing as a service as opposed to what I am doing because I feel passionate about it. Oh, that it were so black and white. 
   Case in point: This is one of six doors I worked with a couple of other mamas to decorate for teacher appreciation week at our school. The PTA committee for teacher appreciation asked for a huge amount of money. The appreciation will be lovely and catered. But, it won't come from the kids. I wish the money had been spent to enhance library collections or technology, and the kids were celebrating their teachers.  The edict about the doors was snotty. But, I don't have time for ridiculous drama over paper. I declined the PTA board, but I will have four kids at this school next year. I have to figure out what my role will look like, hopefully in balance with other parts of life. *To be clear: The school in our neighborhood is unique for many reasons. Understanding the history of some of the long held ways of thinking has been a challenge. 
5. I sold or gave away almost all of my baby things in the past month. It has been so hard. No doubt, I am blissed out by the bonus garage space, but oh, the miles I put on this stroller. It was purchased four states and three children ago. We bought it because I had a terrible wreck while pregnant with Jonah in a lesser stroller. It was worth ever single penny. And, we are done with it, have been for almost a year, actually. So strange because I just didn't imagine this day would come. 
6. My photo files are full of picture after picture of tulips, in my yard, in the court yard at Ursuline, anywhere, really. Perhaps because tulips prove that winter really can't last forever, or because all things really are beautiful in their time...