Refined 39 Bday

Mark turned 39. I must say, I continue to be honored to have him has a my husband -- he is such an incredible person, father and husband. I HEART HIM. This year my sister let us stay in her place in Hood River so we could celebrate in one of our favorite places. Hood River put on a good show for us...GORGEOUS weather and amazing food and beer. We only got to stay one night as Frances had her final game and we were running the Shamrock Run on Sunday am. That said, we managed to squeeze in a magical hike that we got to see all three mountains - PERFECTION.  We played at the park two times and got to have lunch at the new Solstice restaurant. Gordon was able to come too. Pretty much a perfect weekend celebrating a pretty awesome dude.

SPRING SPRING SPRING SPRING

This week has been gorgeous. We couldn't resist -- dinner was needed on the deck....even if we did have to wear our coats.

End of an AWESOME year of Basketball

This was Henry's first year of club basketball. I had to admit I was nervous. The tryouts were INTENSE. I was nervous about the pressure on him, the level of play, the other parents. Thankfully, we got an AWESOME coach that was incredible with Henry and taught him SO much and he had wonderful teammates.  Henry was very lucky to have his cousins and Aunt Brookie and Oskie there to cheer him on in his final weekend of play. I am actually sad the season is over....even though having one day off on the weekend will be nice...for two weeks...and then Spring soccer starts.  

Cousins are Cool

My sister Jenny was originally supposed to go to NYC for Spring Break. That said, it was supposed to be colder in NYC than in Anchorage and she couldn't take it. SO...lucky us...they came to Portland instead. The kids and I took Friday off and we all went to the Evergreen water park. AWESOME. I didn't really get any pictures - WAY TOO MUCH fun. I love those kids so much and had so much fun with my sister. NEED. TO. WIN. LOTTERY....so I can buy a Jet.

Lunch with Papa

My parents leave tonight for a long trip that involves going to Africa. It is rough. We had a special lunch date with Papa.

PJ Day at School

It was PJ day at school. It is adorable and awesome how excited the kids (and teachers) get to wear to PJs to school all day. Henry and Frances wore matching Sports PJs -- holla.

Such a sweet relationship

Henry's game was in a small gym with only one row for seats. Sweet Maggie has to go to at least two basketball games a Saturday. She is a trooper. Last Saturday though the small quarters was too much, so we went to stand on the other side - where the benches were. The game was nearly over and there were seats next to Henry, so while I was taking a picture, she crept over to Henry and this is what I caught. They have such an amazing and adorable relationship. 

Valentines Day Party

Kinder valentines day is awesome. They require each kid to write a valentine to the other kids to help them practice writing, and then at the party, reading. BEYOND adorable.  The teacher requires them to read a card, go and say thank you to the person, and then they can open the card. So the whole event is a criss cross of kids saying thank you. Frances has so many sweet kids in her class. SO FUN.

Monday Creation

One interesting thing about the snowstorm was that the kids played with neighbors they don't usually play with. I was really cool. The Monday they had off of school they spent the entire day building Igloos in front of each house. Overall great...minus Frances telling me she was building with "BEAUTIFUL yellow snow". Oh dear.

Epic Snow Weekend

Yup...I am using snowboarder language...this weekend was an EPIC winter weekend (I have been watching the Olympics and that Sage dude...).  We got a lot of snow (our first in this mild winter) and it just kept coming! The snow was really light and perfect for playing outside. Mark and I were like gitty kids, taking turns with who got to go outside and play or ski/board down our hill.  Henry came up with an Olympics and we have had a lot of metal ceremonies. Today, the snow is covered in a very thick layer of ice and is scary to go out on -- so not as fun, but beautiful...from inside. The melt is going to be nasty. I have a feeling we have two more days inside. Thank god we have enough space to play in different areas as I a feel a case of the stir crazy may be starting to approach...