April

April always begins our end-of-the-school-year-busyness and this year was no exception. The snow eventually stopped falling and started melting. Enough so that we were able to rake and actually hunt for Easter eggs on the front lawn this year! By the end of the month, Ella and I were burning calories and saving gas by riding the bike (with her in the trailer) for some of our errands like grocery shopping.

Lem and Sycely are both winding down their school years with lots of special events. It’s hard to believe our little Boo is almost a first grader! Sycely got into Chinook’s Open Optional program so she’ll be experiencing a new, exciting, student-centered, self-directed educational setting for the rest of her elementary years. She’s learned so much and grown so much academically and socially this year. We are so proud of the little person she’s becoming and are so grateful for her teacher who’s invested in her all year (even if she did recently send her home with an ant farm because “she’s shown an interest in ants lately” and even wrote a report about them!) Lem’s hockey team finished their season by winning the league championship; now on to softball season. And of course, his year is wrapping up with all those other celebrations and occasions like Senior Fun Day, AP tests, Baccalaureate, Prom and Graduation!

We got to visit with both my Dad and Kate this month. Kate came into town for a few days for work training and we got to have her over for dinner and some visiting and fun with the girls. I was able to join her and her colleagues the next night for some shopping and dinner. It was a nice treat to get to spend some one-on-one girl time with her here in the big city.

We also met up with my Dad for a few hours in Soldotna on the weekend. We met up and their newly built, super awesome park and let the girls play for a while then headed to McDonald’s for lunch and the world’s messiest ice cream cones :)

Prom was also a big event for us this month. Nanny and Papa kept the girls overnight while Lem and I had dinner and attended the dance. The planning crew did a pretty great job of transforming the gym into an Arabian oasis, complete with tents, ice sculptures and floor pillows.
Sycely’s such a big girl that she’s been getting to do some pretty cool big girl stuff, like going to a movie with Uncle Ian and Aunti Kathryn. She’s also gearing up for her upcoming dance recital where her group is performing to a very big girl hip hop version of True Colors in some wild and crazy (or funky as Sycely refers to anything related to this number) neon, 80s style outfits. Ella is, well, Ella! She’s a character and is so perceptive that she’s constantly surprising us with her insights. She’s weaned off her “security panties” and is strictly attached to her new elephant lovies. She picked out the fabric and I sewed 5 or 6 for her so we have LOTS of extras in case we need to wash one, misplace one, or who knows what else! It’s so crazy to think of her as an almost-pre-schooler! Despite the fact that she talks like she’s 16, she’s still a tiny, scrappy little thing and she’s just a crack up. She sure does love her big sister though, and has started giving hugs to all her friends at school in the morning when she says good-bye to Sycely. It’s so fun to listen to the two of them playing together and assigning roles and playing out scenes they make up together.

Like, much of the world, I somehow caught the Royal Wedding bug and spent a lot of evenings watching TLC and BBC specials on all sorts of Royal Family subjects. While I didn’t stay up on night watching the live coverage of the wedding, I did host a Royal Wedding Tea Party that afternoon to watch the replay of the wedding with my girlfriends. Bust out the party dresses and oversized hats! Some of us even busted out our wedding dresses for the occasion. It was a fun little party for us girls. I made a sign for the door, decorated with rose petals on the floor, and hanging red and white decorations, and red and white flowers. We enjoyed some delicious cucumber sandwiches, cookies, mini muffins, fruit and of course, tea!
So, that’s April. Now on to May, which will bring the start of softball, Sycely’s dance recital, the end of the school year and the start of summer! And of course, Lem and I get to go on our long-anticipated cruise to the Bahamas!!!