March

Here’s what we were up to in March:

Jonathan had a continuing ed session for teaching ski lessons

Silas played basketball on the middle school team.

Silas had two band concerts in March. The first was an “extravaganza” with all the other bands in our school district. He’s just to the left the middle of this pic.

This is at his concert later in the month – just his middle school band.

Layla played rec basketball with her team, the Jelly Beans

Silas and Layla had a piano recital

Senior Assassin started. It’s a game the high school seniors play with Nerf guns. Basically, the kids are on teams of two and each week they are assigned another team, which is their target that week. If they manage to shoot one of their targets (or one of their assassins in self-defense) then they are still in the next week. It’s $20 to play, so the winner and runners up walk away with quite a bit of money!

These girls were after Avery & Dalton the first week.

Erika and Avery had a scare leaving our house one evening

Here is Avery and Dalton’s first attempt to get their target. Kieron dressed as Avery and baited them.

There was disagreement over whether they indeed shot their target, so they agreed to a duel. This time they got him.

Layla went to a lot of birthday parties. Here are a couple pics from her friends’ Wicked themed party

Fun with slime!

We celebrated St. Patty’s Day by going ot dueling pianos at Saints & Scholars.




Loving on our pets

Look who’s getting tall!
Our friends who often watch Phoebe when we are out of town adopted a French Bulldog, Dottie, so naturally, we had to introduce them!

We went on a walk and realized we can see Snoqualmie Falls from a spot on the golf course not far from our house!

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Avery Turns Eighteen

We now have another adult living under our roof! It’s hard to believe eighteen years have come and gone since we became parents, but it’s true! Avery’s birthday was an emotional day for Jonathan and me. We woke up before any of the kids and each wrote Avery a heartfelt birthday letter, then looked through old pictures together.

We couldn’t be prouder of Avery. At eighteen, he is a good friend, a hard worker, driven to do his best, and a lot of fun to talk to! He balances school with sports, work, a girlfriend, personal interests and spends a lot of time with friends.

Avery’s favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, favorite solo artist is Kendrick Lamar. He enjoys following football, and of course, roots for the Seahawks. He doesn’t care for TV much, though he does play some video games with friends. Avery spends a lot of time in the gym or outdoors hiking, skiing, running, swimming and backpacking.

He is excited for college and has not decided what he wants to study yet, though he’s giving a lot of thought to the medical industry.

Happy birthday, sweet Avery Liam. We love you so much!

French toast for breakfast

Dalton stopped by to hang out and wish Avery a happy birthday.

We took Avery to 12 Moons Sushi at the Snoqualmie Casino, for birthday lunch, thinking he could do some slot machines on the way. We didn’t realize you have to be 21 to gamble at this casino because of all the bars, but he loved the sushi!

It’s ironic that Avery work his Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt to lunch. Kieron took a bite of the Thai Chili Pepper on his plate, and then Avery decided to eat his whole pepper, seeds and all. He subsequently started sweating, sniffling and drank all his water. Fortunately, he had creme brulee on the way to cool things down!

Last day as a seventeen year old!

It’s getting real!

A few old pics!





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Silas Turns Thirteen

Silas turned thirteen this year so we now have a house full of teenage boys! We joke that Silas has become spicier as he inches closer toward teenhood, but he’ll always be our Sunny Si.

At thirteen, Silas is an incredibly hardworking student, and always up for trying new things. This year he did basketball, track, key club, debate club, band, piano and put in many hours on the mountain skiing and snowboarding. Jonathan and I are impressed with how on top of things Silas is. He gets up at 5:40am on his own each weekday morning, makes his bed and gets himself ready for school and out the door by 6:50am. He is truly a quintessential third child!

Happy birthday, Silas Tristan! We love you to the moon and back!

Silas always requests sausage balls on his birthday. We’re happy to comply!


Silas and his friends went to Seattle Escape Games to do an escape room for his birthday. They almost made it out, but not quite! Here he is with Mason, Ethan & Justin.

Opening up his favorite gift – a 3d Printer! He was beyond excited and it’s a pretty cool and useful thing to have around!

The unboxing…

With his printer, and wearing his 2nd favorite gift – a WWU sweatshirt. He is so proud of his big brother!

His first creation – a dragon!

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February

February is a short month anyway, but it went by fast. Jonathan and the kids did a lot of skiing! Layla and her friend, Millie are both fearless and do Black Diamonds together!

Mount Si High School Class of 2025! (Avery is in the middle, sort of in the upper left quadrant.)

Layla is playing rec basketball and loves it! She gets pretty aggressive on the court too!


Layla and I went to see Sleeping Beauty at Pacific Northwest Ballet

 

At the Boat Show

High school swim team was well underway and Kieron enjoyed his first season. This was senior night, where they recognized Hayden & Colin.

We had some late start days due to snow

Silas had a great season of middle school basketball

I went to Pullman to celebrate Papa’s birthday

We went out to Rico’s for birthday dinner

I volunteered to help at the school during a Pacific Science Center event. It was pretty cool!

Valentine’s Day   

Avery and I went to Bellingham for a college visit day 

My old apartment is still there! (It’s the one in the middle.)

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Mid-Winter Break in Arizona & Louisiana

We visited our friends, the Stryjak’s, at their new home in Arizona for mid-winter break. Silas and Layla came with us while Avery stayed home and watched over the pets. Kieron went to the Big Easy with Nana.

Niki and I walked most mornings
   

There was lots of pool fun! They just finished their pool a couple weeks before our visit.



Lunch at The Olive Mill while the boys work

San Tan Flat had a very cool, southwestern vibe


We spent an afternoon Revel Surf Park, a water park in Queen Creek. They had a man-made beach and surf lessons, but the big hit with our kids was jumping off a set of high jumps.

Jonathan had people cheering for him!

Go karts!




A little more fun at the pool before heading back to rainy Washington
  

Kieron and Nana went to New Orleans for his double digit trip. Here they are before they left.

The Muddy Mississippi

Trolley

Memorial for victims of New Year’s car attack

They went to a WWII museum – P51 Mustang

Artillery Shell

Enigma Machine
 

M4 Sherman

Battle of New Orleans

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde
 

Steamboat Ride


They did a cooking lesson together. Kieron’s favorite was the artichoke and shrimp bisque

This is an online pic of an abandoned hospital they saw that is said to be haunted.

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