Harper can pump, Rielee's chicks, reading

 Harper was super excited Sunday, she mastered pumping and could go really, really high!

 Rielee showed us her 3 new chicks.  She was happy that 2 are Aracaunas and will lay blue or green eggs.

They were dressed up and out scootering, then had to play monkeys.

Ava looked so cute in all her pink.

After bath time, all three sat down to read.  Ava and Harper read their take home books to Rielee, then she read several books to them. 

Softball, volleyball, the new project

 This was Lexi playing at Kelso Thursday, she is easy to see out there with her distinctive, thick curls.

 Rielee played in her last tournament of the season in Longview Saturday.  They took 3rd, it was fun to see how much they've improved this year.  I stayed at the tournament with Rielee while Des, Gabe, Papa, Parker and Olivia went to Salem for Parker's basketball tournament. 

Gabe and Papa continued on to Eugene to pick up a project-a 1977 Fiat X19.  Parker will help Papa restore it.

The Dolans

 Laury and Will came over for coffee this morning,  Uncle showed them his "game room" for the kids, and they humored him by playing air hockey a little.  We got to see a scrapbook Laury made for Will about his basketball at SWOCC, it was really nice.

We met Emmy in her classroom after school with a skirt for her projector table.  She wants to hide all the wires and be able to store things under it. It was a bit long so I'll hem it and get it back to her Monday.

Toe writing

The girls had been coloring and decided to play dress up when they dropped their crayons on the floor.  They impressed Papa by picking up a couple with their toes so he challenged them to try writing their names.   Ava did it but Harper's toes needed some help from her fingers before she could finish.  Not fair, she said,  she has twice as many letters in her name than Ava.

Seeing Parker outside cutting wood with this old hardhat on reminded me of  Dad.  Parker wasn't sure where he got it, but thought it might be Grandpa Harold's.

Monday madness

This was a chaotic but happy morning.  Ava and Harper got up early since they knew Rielee was coming over to eat breakfast and play with them before school.   They played a game of  Tumbling Monkeys and then played Barbies.  When I said I needed a picture of them, Rielee thought of this one-she and Harper doing bridges while Ava crawled underneath.   Plus, Ava woke me up in the middle of the night to remind me that I forgot to sew her blanket and asked if I could do it in the morning, so I had to hurry and add another mile of thread to her poor little blanket.  She's not about to give it up though, she said she's keeping it until she's grown.  After the twins left with Papa for school, Rielee wanted to play Scrabble.  We got through half a game before her ride came, we'll finish it next time she's here. 

Macee and Auna Spokane

Macee sent me this picture yesterday, she went to watch Auna and her club team compete in Spokane.  Macee said she doesn't miss her club playing days one bit. 

 I heard Will out playing basketball when I was working in the yard, he's home for spring break, so we asked him over to have pizza with us.  Alan happened to stop by just as we were opening the pizza box, so he had some, too, and we all watched some of whatever March Madness game was on at the time.

Lexi softball

 It was Pajama Day so the girls had theirs on when we picked them up at school Wednesday, they ran right out to play some ball as soon as we got home since the sun was out.  They did some pretty good hitting.

 Parker tried out his new chipper attachment on the limbs of a fir tree he cut down for me, he was very happy with it.  That and the splitter make firewood cutting much easier.

I had to take a picture of the girls on the way to school this morning since, after 5 1/2 years of sitting in the same place, Harper decided they should switch sides, what the heck?

Union played at Woodland today so Papa went to watch.  He said Lexi played well,  had a base hit and came in and scored, maybe twice, he couldn't remember.   Plus, she made a great diving catch.

Union won 8-4, he thought...(he said the girls were distracting him from the game.)

Lexi's cheering section.

Flu week

Harper got sick Monday night and both girls were out of school the rest of the week.  They stayed with us on Wednesday but then I got sick so they went home in the afternoon.  They came up today and we let Papa take care of us.  It was a long week of fevers, chills, coughing, sore throats, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, you name it.  No fun.

 Still getting their strength back, they just wanted to sit and color this morning, and even asked Papa to color with them, that was a first.  Papa played blocks with them, too.  They would play for awhile and then curl up and watch some cartoons.  We let them take long solo baths, they enjoyed that.

By afternoon they were feeling pretty perky, being silly and cracking each other up, just happy to be feeling good again.  Now Rielee and Auna are sick, too...

 

Sunday

Papa gave Rielee a mug he found in Yakima for finishing her second  session of ukulele lessons.  He thought it was perfect since "You Are My Sunshine" was the first song she learned to play, and she is his sunshine, too.

 We got the Jeep out today and were surprised to find that Harper and Ava had completely forgotten how to drive it.  Harper was terrified and nervous, she drove over to Rielee's and that was it, she rode her scooter.  Ava and Rielee took turns and Ava started getting the hang of it after awhile.

 All the girls helped rake and pick up cones for a penny a cone, Rielee made $5, Ava and Harper made about a dollar-it got old pretty quick for them. 

 Rielee dug up a bunch of worms while she and Mom were cleaning out the strawberry patch,

 she fed them to the chickens while the girls watched.

Ava had some sniffles all day but she got a lot sicker overnight with a high fever and then started throwing up this morning.  Needless to say she stayed home from school.  She didn't move from the couch all day, poor thing, and took about 4 hour nap. 

State basketball

Getting ready to play Naches Valley

 We went to Yakima Thursday to watch the Castle Rock boys play in the State Tournament. They lost their first game to Zillah 61-48, but beat Naches Valley 38-30 on Friday. 

Bridget and Jillian getting ready to cheer for their cousins as they played Kings Way Christian this morning. Tor wasn't there yet, he came a little later with Dad. 

The game was close all the way, but they ended up losing in overtime 69-62, and took 6th place, the first trophy for Castle Rock boys in 20 years.  We were so proud of Ty and Brock and the rest of the team, they played some great basketball and were really fun to watch. 

Awards day

Rielee was all dressed up for the "Golden Pencil Awards" in her class today.  They were told to dress as if they were going to a movie premiere, there would even be a red carpet.  We couldn't go since tickets were limited due to their very small classroom, but she won an award for "best word choice".

 This is why we love to pick the girls up at school--seeing their happy faces!  Ava is carrying a "Gotcha" she received today for "following instructions".  She was really proud of it since she got it in another classroom. 

 They played outside with Rielee and Sophia after school.  Harper caught some air kicking the old volleyball around, they played hot potato with it, too.  Ava and Harper wanted to play baby and Mama but when they both picked Sophia to be their Mom, Rielee was kind of put out.  She changed the game to teacher and students and gave them cartwheel lessons instead. 

 Then she showed Sophia the fine art of building a volcano.  They worked for a long time on it

and were freezing by the time they got done, but it turned out great.  Ava and Harper went right in and got in the tub to warm up.

Sandbox

The kids played in the sandbox yesterday for the first time this year and we definitely need some new toys by the looks of Harper's bucket.  The twins were so excited when they got here because there was a little girl at the play fort (the granddaughter of our neighbor).  They had lots of fun playing  with her and the fun continued when Rielee got home from church and came over.