Category Archives: David

David, Family, Project 365

Happy 14th Birthday, David!

4 Comments

Today is David’s birthday, and what a glorious day we had.

Awaiting his birthday breakfast.

Awaiting his birthday breakfast.

Next weekend all three children will be heading off to winter camp with the church middle and high school youth groups. Normally they can count on plenty of snow with sledding and outdoor games to fill their happy hearts. This year, however, it’s been unseasonably warm, and the kids are starting to panic in the fear that there won’t be any snow at camp.

Cue – snow starved, sad, pathetic, worried faces.

I know, I know, obviously we do not live on the east coast. Sorry Boston, but here in Washington we have NO snow anywhere in sight, and the kids fear spring is rapidly approaching.

David decided he didn’t want a big birthday party this year. When he turned thirteen last year, we celebrated in style with an Olympic Theme. There were games, friends, pizza and an entire sundae bar.

How to make this year special without a party?

Snow! That seemed a pretty obvious answer. In the summer the answer is usually the beach or lake or pool or some combination. But, with camp looming SNOWLESS in sight, we definitely needed to do something.

Thankfully we live near an incredible mountain. “The Mountain” as folks call it around here.

If I would let him, Tim would pretty much take pictures of Mt Rainier ALL DAY!

If I would let him, Tim would pretty much take pictures of Mt Rainier ALL DAY!

The weather promised to be good. The Mt Rainier webcam promised some sort of snow. Even if it was just along the edges of the parking lot, I was determined to go. Daniel suggested everyone bring a friend on our mountain adventure. Smart idea! So James, Eli and Julia joined us. I brought Tim as my bff. ;) I also let him drive and treat us all to food on the way home. I’m smart too.

Friends – check
Boots – check
Snow pants – check
Gloves, scarves, hats – check
Picnic lunch & sodas – check
Sleds (borrowed from friends) – check

And off we went. The drive was beautiful. It was sunny and warm without a hint of snow except for glimpses up on the mountain. Uh oh.

No jacket needed until we get to the mountain on this gorgeous Feb day.

No jacket needed until we get to the mountain on this gorgeous Feb day.

On the way to the lodge - sunny and mild.

On the way to the lodge – sunny and mild.

We walked the trail around Longmire – beautiful, but still no snow! Thankfully we “adventure” with the best group ever. And they know how to find fun in every aspect of the day.

The birthday crowd!

The birthday crowd!

Climbing a tree

Climbing a tree

Upon reaching Paradise Lodge we discovered the sledding was closed (not enough snow), but, oh my, there was definitely plenty of snow! We bundled up in our assorted winter gear and set off to explore. The kids were soon way beyond us on the slope. Tim and I clambered, slid, climbed, and walked alongside the Lodge and up into the mountain snow enjoying the gorgeous day for ourselves.

Julia and Sarah

Julia and Sarah

Run up that hill or slide down it - all fun!

Run up that hill or slide down it – all fun!

At one point, we saw the birthday group – WAY up on the top of a snowy spot. We were down below, on a walking trail of some sort. The kids had climbed up from the other side.

Look closely - you can see them.

Look closely – you can see them.

They had discovered a way to “sled” without sleds – basically going down on their backs with a “catcher” at the end of the hill. Thankful they weren’t careening wildly off the mountain, Tim and I climbed up to join them.

The kids are "thatta way."

The kids are “thatta way.”

Or you could try sledding face down.

Or you could try sledding face down.

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” David exclaimed at one point.

My birthday boy!

My birthday boy!

That’s a pretty good thing to be able to say on your 14th birthday.

As always, I wish I had taken dozens (hundreds?) more pictures of our wonderful Birthday Celebration. But all that means, I’ve decided, is that we need to go back for another adventure soon!

Project 365 – Day 47
Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

David, Holidays, Project 365, Sarah

Nutella Valentine Mailbox

4 Comments

Each year our homeschool co-op has a fun Valentine’s Day party. The halls or sides of the gym are lined with creative Valentine Day boxes – from small paper bags covered with hearts to large Dr. Who’s Tardis. Last year we made a tall Starbucks cup out of a laundry basket with a pvc pipe wrapped in green paper as the straw.

And we won a prize, oh yeah we did.

This year we decided to make something chocolately and silly in honor Tim.

A Nutella Valentine’s Day Mailbox

We started with a tall rectangle laundry basket – it was the perfect shape. We searched and searched for brown paper. Who knew that would be the difficult aspect of this venture. We went to The Dollar Store – no brown poster board or table cloths. Next, on to Michaels – no brown poster board or table cloths. Next a trip to Target. We looked again. Nothing. Seriously? Seriously? I suggested Good Will for a brown curtain or random piece of fabric. David thought maybe Hobby Lobby. Sigh. We’d already been to Michaels. Thankfully all of these stores are close by.

Laundry baskets are versatile - useful in so many ways!

Laundry baskets are versatile – useful in so many ways!

Of course, this was AFTER a long day of school, mentor visits, Trader Joe’s shopping, science projects and cooking at a friend’s house.

We decided we’d try Hobby Lobby and, if we couldn’t find anything brown, we’d switch to silver wrapping paper and make a large diet Coke can. Sarah didn’t want us to give up, but David and I needed a Plan B. Ha.

Hobby Lobby proved to be a treasure trove of BROWN products. Who knew! First we found a package of dark brown napkins on clearance. “I think we can wrap the laundry basket in napkins if we have to,” I told the kids. At this point they were ready to agree with anything just to get started. “Mom, you do realize it’s almost time for dinner and we haven’t STARTED making this?”

What’s your point, children? Dinner can wait, we have a mailbox to make! There are prizes on the line here.

After napkins we stumbled on 12×12 pages of scrapbook paper in the PERFECT shade of brown. We gathered enough to cover the basket and matched them to the napkins (just in case). Before checking out, we wandered around the store a little longer. In the clearance section, in the back aisle we found a collection of poster size paper. What color was on the bottom of the stack?? Beautiful brown. And on sale. Hooray. Jumping up and down in the middle of Hobby Lobby is totally normal, right?

We (okay I) designed some Nutella Valentine Day cards and printed them out. Sarah organized them all and then David taped a Pixy Stix to each card.We’ll put them into the mailboxes tomorrow during the party. We didn’t have the time to make homemade Nutella brownies or cookies, or the funds to buy little Nutella single packs for all 69 families (or the 167 kids) at our homeschool co-op. Even I draw the line at some point.

Homemade Valentines are so much fun!

Homemade Valentines are so much fun!

While the boys played computer games, Sarah and I wrapped the basket in the brown poster board. Using some leftover foam board, we made a lid (cutting a hole for Valentines and treats). Sarah divided a piece of white poster board into strips, drew on lines and fashioned an edge to our lid. After taping it all on, we printed out Nutella logos and even found a place where we could request personalized Nutella labels. The kids kept exclaiming over the tape, “Mom, this tape is amazing! It works so well.” Oh dear, I guess that Dollar Store tape we used at Christmas was NOT the best. LOL.

Sarah and David's personalized Nutella labels.

Sadly we are out of real Nutella.

Finally we were all done. So festive! We were all pleased with the final product! Maybe we’ll win some sort of a prize this year. I hope the kids will share it with me. ;)

The final product!

The might be a big enough Nutella jar even for Tim!

Project 365 – Day 43
Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daily Life, Daniel, David, Project 365, Sarah

Weekend Silliness

8 Comments

Daniel and Sarah both had friends spend the night on Friday – keeping our house full of life and energy. Tim, in a sneaky move, escaped all that life and energy and spent Saturday in the Duckabush visiting his parents and helping with the never-ending internet challenges. I love, love, love that our kids really enjoy having their friends over and that their friends feel welcome and at home here. That said, I near-as-a-whisker got rid of the whole bunch of them to enjoy an entire day alone.

“Mom!” Daniel wheedled. “We’ll spend the whole day cleaning.”
“Um,” a raised eyebrow.
“Okay, not ALL day. But we’ll definitely clean for you. You won’t even notice we’re here.”
“Fine, but I don’t want you and James and David playing computer games ALL DAY. Even if it’s raining.”
“Sure, sure, Mom.”
“And you’ll play some board games? You know, ones that require cards and pieces and sitting around a table, not just a keyboard and mouse?”
“Sure, sure, Mom, you got it.”
“And you’ll put together David’s bed for him?”
“Mom, we will do whatever you want.”
“Heh. Right.”

Easy-going and flexible? Or pushover and permissive? Hmmm. Well, Friday afternoon Sarah’s friend Tarah came home with us after co-op, and Friday evening I found myself driving to pick up Daniel’s friend James. And, once again, the living room was stacked with mattresses – the boys have discovered they don’t really like sleeping on the floor or lumpy couch. They cheerfully carry down the twin and full size mattresses despite the hassle – I think they like being close to the computers and the kitchen. Last weekend they made pancakes at 3 in the morning to send Joshua off to the airport with breakfast in hand.

Crazy, awesome, silly kids.

Daniel helps James and David play the piano.

Daniel helps James and David play the piano.

True to their word, after I forced encouraged them to get off the computer, Daniel and James helped David assemble his bed. At least they got all the mattresses off of the triple stack on my bed. I think they hauled an extra twin mattress out to the garage where it will await Joshua’s return or another sleepover.

Happy to have his bed frame back in place.

Happy to have his bed frame back in place.

Later that morning, as the rain and grey day was turning me into a thoroughly sad and pathetic creature, a beautiful friend came by and swept me off to Starbucks. There is nothing quite like laughing and laughing with a beloved friend, hot, fresh espresso in hand. Ah. When I walked back in the house, the kids were all sitting on the floor playing 7 Wonders.

The little fakers!

The little fakers!

“Awwww, kids, you’re playing a game! I’m so happy.”
Loud, raucous laughter.

Turns out those rascals STAGED a board game to fool me. LOL! They heard me coming in and quickly sat down to FAKE their game time. I laughed and laughed with them and felt loved that they knew what I wanted and thought about me. The boys put away 7 Wonders and switched to a real game of DC Comics Deck Building.

I know these days are somewhat fleeting – of kids piled on mattresses, the counters and sinks filled with dirty dishes, the table covered with cards, and computer matches going late into the night.

Today David and Sarah joined us for a mini-road trip to pick up Tim’s new car. It was a long day. David and Sarah did school and worked on their play scripts in the back seat while I read to Tim from Francis Chan’s new marriage book, You and Me Forever. On the way home the boys were in the new car and the girls in the rental. Sweet time of conversation with my beautiful little girl, growing up before my eyes.

Daniel missed us while we were gone (right, Daniel? Daniel?). Okay, Daniel spent the day with the friends (thanks Pritchards for having him over), playing Ultimate frisbee in the rain, and then babysitting for a church small group. I don’t think he even noticed we were gone for 11 hours.

Icing his back after a hard day of frisbee.

Icing his back after a hard day of frisbee.

Thankfully Tim still had some energy left for a good conversation with Daniel about school, sore backs, and some possible future plans.

This couch is good for napping, reading, and father-son talks.

This couch is good for napping, reading, and father-son talks.

It was a full weekend. And tomorrow the week starts again. Whew. Blessed, double and triple blessed to be the mama of this silly group.

Project 365 – Day 39
Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

David, Project 365, Sarah

Running Buddies

5 Comments

Sarah and I are on a new plan. We decided to commit to losing a certain number of pounds, by her birthday (July 16). Basically, we eat according to loose THM standards, alternating between ‘E’ (low fat) and ‘S’ (low carb) meals, with no snacking. It is a hard, but livable plan — lots of people do a modified THM plan for months and years at a time.

We also have started walking together at night. Not to be left out, David has joined us in our exercise and no-snacking discipline, which is very encouraging to me. For some reason it is a lot easier to go out walking and jogging at night when I have my two cheerful buddies with me.

Back in July, we all were running, but it was pretty miserable, so I decided to start more gradually, this time. We walk a certain distance (about 1.2 miles) and I’m slowly adding in a little jogging, along the way.

“OK, how ’bout we jog from here to that white mailbox,” I’ll say to Sarah. If she agrees, then we do it — and we often find we can go further and faster than we thought. After we catch our breath, we do it again.

Today it was raining, but David and Sarah are Washington bred, and didn't mind at all.

Today it was raining, but David and Sarah are Washington bred, and didn’t mind at all.

Some days we walk a lot more than we run, but today we were down to about a 12-minute pace, which means we’re doing a fair bit of jogging (our walk-only pace is more like a 17 or 18-minute mile). Hopefully over time, we can get down to a 9-minute mile (which was my best pace last summer).

I’ve found that dieting alone just doesn’t do the trick — my body seems to need some kind of exercise to keep it in fat-burning mode. Otherwise, my metabolism decides we’re in famine mode, and I burn less calories as I eat less, which seems extremely unfair.

David and I were laughing about our the imaginary Calorie Foreman in our stomach’s control room:

Foreman: “OK, boys, it seems Tim has been marooned on some terrible and snack-less desert island. We’d better ratchet the furnace down a bit, until he is rescued.”

Down at the bottom of the bar on the left of this blog is a progress meter for our weight loss. Sarah and I are neck-and-neck at this point, but we’ve made a good start. We’ll keep you posted.

Project 365, Day 36
Tim

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

David, Project 365, Sarah

Playmobil Break

5 Comments
So many people - so little time!

Enough Playmobil people to populate an entire city!

Daniel and his friend James cleaned up the garage this weekend. And by clean up, I mean they piled all my Christmas bins and random projects into nice, tidy stacks against the edges and walls of the garage. I’m not sure I will ever be able to find everything. But then, Daniel would probably say that was my fault for leaving it a mess and hinting that they should clean it up before the party. Ha.

Time for some Playmobil

Time for some Playmobil

With all of the Christmas containers shoved aside, you can actually see things on the shelves in the garage. At some point during our party on Friday night, someone took down some Playmobil for the little kids. Several years ago I bought a HUGE amount of Playmobil from a friend who offered me a deal I couldn’t resist. I’ve organized and separated the pieces into separate containers, but nothing has been played with or enjoyed in a long while.

Sarah has a knack for building.

Sarah has a knack for building.

During our school reading today, David and Sarah pulled out four of the Playmobil bins and started to put the castles together. I couldn’t resist getting a few pictures of them, and we ALL wished the afternoon reading/playing time could have stretched on longer.

For now the living room is still covered in people, odd pieces and wonderful potential Playmobil fun.

Nothing like a little hands on activity during reading time.

Nothing like a little hands on activity during reading time.

As long as I don’t worry about company or having a tidy living room, we can leave out the Playmobil and enjoy them this week. There isn’t as much time for “play” as there used to be when the children were little. Interesting how homework, friends, and computer activities (games, social media, etc) replace simple “playing” as the kids get older.

Even though I am constantly decluttering and giving away bags and boxes of things, I insist on keeping Legos, Playmobil, Knex and shelves and shelves of kids’ books. I love toys that encourage creativity and inspire the imagination.

Project 365- Day 2
Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts: