April

April brought more beautiful flowers to the yard

We visited a fish hatchery

The fish were being vacuumed into this hose so they could be sorted and tagged. Pretty fascinating stuff.

Sean had an orchestra competition that I chaperoned. It's fun to see how much his group improves between performances. 

We went to a Nordic museum in Seattle with our friends. It was a fun adventure.

We decided to check out Ballard Locks since we were so close. 

The kids found a hill to run and roll down at least a dozen times. 

Last month, I put up an ad for people to come take away my rocks. Previous owners of this house laid down plastic sheeting and then covered that with a couple inches of river rock. Over the years, weeds and grass have grown over the rocks. When I wanted to put a garden in, we had to move a million rocks (at least) from the corner of the yard. We dumped them on the side by the fence. Well, now people have been showing up to haul them away. It's been amazing and I've been able to plant a few more things where the rocks had been. It's so fun to have new options in the yard!!

Not quite finished, but some new plantings and mulch where there were only rocks for years and years.

This little lady set up a library for her ponies. How cute is that?! 

Sean and I took a field trip to Seattle to do an underground tour. 

We stopped at Top Pot for a donut and tea. Sean's taste buds exploded!

The tour was pretty cool. Our guide made it really fun for all the kids.

This glass turned purple over the years because of a kind of gas in it. Something like that.

Sean being so cool in Seattle.

I read this book during the month and it really resonated with me. I prepped the kids and we started a screen fast at the end of the month. 

On the 2nd day of the screen fast, the kids used some of their money to buy a pool. It was off to a great start! I don't want to say a ton about it, but here are some of my favorite results:

-Less whining about helping around the house

-Less fighting with each other 

(Matthew and his cousin were getting along better too)

-More creativity

-More time to talk 

-Matthew got interested in cooking and made a couple dinners and several desserts

-Sean also cooked a delicious meal

-More laughing

It was seriously the best. Now I know how much playing on screens really affects all of our attitudes (mine included). It was a worthwhile experiment and helped us reevaluate how we spend our time. 

March

Besides celebrating Jon's birthday early in the month...

I did some cross stitching and embroidery work

I took the boys mini-golfing and to the driving range

We enjoyed lots of parks on sunny days

McCormack Woods

Ilahee State Park

Jurgen's Park with Oregon cousins

My yard (kind of like a park)

Shine Tidelands State Park

There was a fallen tree stretching out into the water quite a ways. Sean ran out there like it was no big deal. Matthew and I were a little more cautious, but we made it. Then the boys saw this little dinghy and asked if they could play in it. It looked pretty abandoned because there was a bunch of water in it and a bucket. I told them they could take it for a little spin. They really liked that. 

My niece was Sebastian in The Little Mermaid at her school, so we went to watch one of her performances. She did a great job!

We enjoyed some spring flowers and birds in the yard

We spent part of spring break in Oregon with family

In December, I made two quilt tops from Jon's work shirts. I then turned them over to my mom to quilt. She finished them up so we got to bring them home. There is one fore each of the boys to take when they move out some day. They are very snuggly and I'm so grateful to my mom and my aunt Heidi for helping me with this project.

My cousin's family moved in with me in February and it has been so much fun to be together! We take turns cooking and cleaning. We support each other's parenting. We play games and laugh together. And we drink copious amounts of tea.