school spirit, the lookalike, and claustrophobia

If I could go back and change one thing about my childhood, I would want to be a cooler kid than I was..... cool like my kids are.

They're not the ones that are super-popular. But they don't make enemies, and people just like them. I think Darcie has served in student government (every year since 8th grade), because people just like her. I was never that cool kid.

I only caught a couple of her outfits for our recent Spirit Week. First, Toga Day:

(which looks suspiciously like part of her 3 Kings outfit from Christmas Eve!)

And Character Day:

(Little Red Riding Hood.)

She knocked her finals out of the park, in part -- thanks to heavy-duty note-taking like this:

I don't like to blare the news all over Facebook, but she's worked really hard to keep straight A's, and we're pretty proud of her for that.

In other news, the Haven has seemed rather quiet lately. Brandon, Cecilia, & Giselle are away at school again. Cameron is gone off to school, as well. And Alyssa's off in Boise now -- going to school. We have three college kids at once!

(We sure miss this little cutie! They're so far away, we have to be content with Skype and a few photos. Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks???)

Darcie is often gone after school for student government, working concessions, meeting with a teacher, softball workouts (Yep! That's starting up again!!),.....  and occasional social life activities. I'm having to re-think meals around the house again. A lot of our favorite meals make really large quantities, and we end up with leftovers for days! Note to self: stop cooking for an army!!

But we're adjusting. Miss Emma is growing quickly! Oh-my-goodness, this child is going to be grown out of her school clothes pretty dang quick! She's lost two teeth, and is working on another loose one. But the two real ways we know she's growing is 1- measuring chart in the kitchen, and 2- growing pains.

She is very much like Alyssa, (and Darcie, too) in that she gets growing pains at night. She'll creep into our bedroom, whimpering, and head over to Todd's side of the bed. (I sleep more deeply than he does, so he responds much faster.) And she'll be having leg aches that have woken her up. He rubs her legs, and will apply pain cream, too. Poor thing!!

She looks so grown-up in that picture! (We were headed off to church.) She reminds me a lot of what I looked like when I was her age.

(That's me at age 6, same as Emma. Any resemblance?)

She's usually pretty healthy, but if she gets sick -- we know it: because it wipes her out:

(I'm still a sucker for sleeping photos of my kids!)

Last month was the Sadie Hawkins' Dance at school. Instead of asking a boy, Darcie went with her friend who was DJing the music. They still dressed alike, and were pretty cute!

(It's the awkward date photo!)

And finally, some photos from the latest remodeling project: the Laundry Room.

Actually, the laundry room remodel is kind of in preparation for the Master Bathroom remodel. We're just taking this one step at a time.

But it does mean taking it down to the studs and the subfloor.

The wall on the right backs up to the dining room fireplace. (And the two fireplaces that are downstairs.)

Hmm... that's a good amount of dead space behind the wall.  We'll use some of that. What we didn't know about was the massive amount of cold air that was coming down out of the attic and heading for the basement, through this dead space behind the wall. Doing this in January helped inform us. If we'd been doing this in July, we would have had no clue about it.

So, Todd fixed it:

(That wasn't all. He also put expanding foam in the cracks, too. No more cold air!!)

On the other side of the fireplace, the gap behind the wall goes nearly to the basement floor. Before tearing into this wall, there have been times in the winter, that we've walked barefooted by that angled wall, and wondered why the heck the floor felt so cold. Todd decided he needed to go down and check under that part of the floor. 

("A rather tight pinch, but if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch!")

Todd is actually claustrophobic. 

Fortunately, it didn't bother him to check down there.

The other thing we decided to do, is to move the door to the laundry room. It's going about a foot to the side. (This means fixing the flooring in the hall too -- Domino Theory of home improvement once again!)

We also thought it would be a good idea to beef up the floor joists underneath the laundry room. When our washer gets going on full spin, no kidding -- it shakes the whole room!! It can rattle the window. It's pretty intense. For that reason, and others, we've considered replacing the set ...

Since we're planning on putting tile on the floor in the laundry room and the master bathroom behind it, strengthening and stabilizing the floor is a good idea. Already we can tell that the floor has much less "bounce" than it did before.

And re-routing the dryer vent  is also happening.

I'm pretty excited to see how the finished room will look, but we've got quite a bit to go on it. Todd has found that his body can't quite take the beating that he's given it in the past, so we need to re-think how hard he's working. I don't want him to be broken!

I am SO thankful for his talents!!

May Days and Wrapping up the School Year (Yay!!)

Honestly, if it weren't for a camera card full of photos, I'm not sure if I'd remember anything that happens in my life! Can I just say how thankful I am for digital photography? Yep!!

 

I'm sitting here on our back deck swing, as a rip-roaring thunderstorm is zinging through our valley right now. My thoughts are running like this.....

 

1. Well, at least it's cooling off from the heat of today.

 

2. Hmmm...... now I won't need to worry about watering the garden! (Or my pots. Or the lawn. Or the new roadside plantings.)

 

3. My poor delphs! (I have staked many of my delphinium blossoms, but not all of them. Worried that the un-staked ones are getting blown down.)

 

4. Wonder if the at-the-park graduation party we were going to this evening is still "on"....?

 

Having said that, I love summer rainstorms and watching them from our covered deck is fun! But how about pictures from ... nicer weather?

 

 

... a little lawn golf at Grandpa & Grandma's house ....

 

 

One of the few photos I got of the last spring band concert. (Darcie is located right under the conductor's arm)

 

And usually I try to post family news on the blog before I post it on Facebook. But that becomes harder when I'm further behind on the blog, and Facebook is so instant. So, the preschool graduation photos went on Facebook first. But here are some different photos for you, just to stave off the yawn factor that you may feel coming on.....

 

(super-excited!)

 

(Singing, "This Little Light of Mine")

 

... and getting her diploma from her teacher.

 

Darcie had her National Honor Society Induction Ceremony....

 

 

So proud of her. She's not the first of our kids to be in Honor Society, and hopefully not the last, either. She's been working really hard to keep her GPA high, and I hope it pays off for her.

 

And though we were a bit late, we actually did get the garden planted!!

 

 

Despite the fun of planting corn, Miss Emma did get a bit distracted ....

 

... as she re-discovered the hideaway between the rows of overgrown forsythia bushes.

Fortunately, I have these two to help me out with finishing the planting:

 

And the bleeding hearts bloomed! Not that they don't usually bloom, but I love that they're right by our front door and we get to see them whenever we're coming or going.

 

Emma was excited when I finally chopped down the old daffodil greens, and we cleaned up and set out the fairy garden things. We even bought a few new accessories, so she was extra-thrilled.

 

And the spirea bushes bloomed in a BIG way this spring, making a perfect backdrop for our dark pink peonies.... they timed out nicely together.

 

One of these days, I'll have to grab a photo of our back "view" -- the hillside that is usually striped is one solid green mass this year. More on that another time.

 

There are more exciting things that happened in May, and I'm getting to it.... um, ..... soon.

 

 

 

The End of a Softball Era

Where has the time gone?

 

Wasn't it just yesterday that we watched 12-year-old-Alyssa pitching at the Little League Idaho State Softball Championships?

 

 

Obviously not -- but sometimes it feels that way!

She's changed so much over the years. And not just the fact that now she usually wears contacts instead of glasses. And no longer wears a sliding pad on her leg. (And has the road rash to prove it, too!) But I think the "pitching look" on her face is actually the same!

 

So, last week was the final regular-season home game for the Varsity softball team. Senior Night.

The night when all the seniors and their parents actually get a little teary over softball. And it was not without smiles that evening, too:

 

 

(Alyssa was teasing the assistant coach, right before her at-bat. For Alyssa, being a senior on the team has made her more relaxed, and less stressed during games. I love that she is enjoying the game again!)

 

And her at-bats that afternoon/evening were awesome. She's hitting really, really well right now. So is Darcie -- who is cruising to being the ace player when *she* gets to be a senior.

 

 

(Alys bats 4th in the lineup, and Darcie follows her at 5th. Which is why you see Darcie in the on-deck circle in the background.)

So, it's a tradition that the senior families create a memory board for their girls -- kind of a photo collage of their life, especially their softball-centered lives. It was really windy that day, so instead of using easels, we ended up putting the posters on the wall of the building there at the fields. This is all four of the senior posters....

... and this is the one I made for Alyssa. I included photos from other parts of her life, including Prom pictures, band pictures, Junior Miss, Gold Voices, and a photo of her in her "scrubs" for her CNA class.

 

Between the two games of the double-header, the seniors and their families step out onto the field, and messages/thoughts to and from the seniors are read over the P.A. system. It was enough to make this bawl-baby softball mom get a little weepy...

Four seniors this year, and their families:

The girls...

 

I thought it was really nice that one of Alyssa's very best friends came and braved the wind and the cold to sit on a bleacher and watch Alyssa play softball:

Alyssa pitched the second game of the doubleheader (as she usually does).

And her sister, Darcie -- the amazing catcher:

 

Alyssa's long legs are a bit too long for the uniform pants. Last year, when they wore black pants, she just wore her own pants, which were long enough. This year, with the new uniforms and purple pants, she just goes around pulling her socks up a lot:

(after hitting a double out to the fence)

As hard as Alyssa works during her games, Darcie works just as hard -- as evidenced by the ice packs after the games were over.

 

The highlight of the evening was that Alyssa hit a walk-off home run, which ended the game in a mercy-rule score of 15-4 in the 5th inning!! It was an awesome way to cap her senior night, and I know she was pretty happy about that. So thrilled for her!

Because she has Darcie on the team with her, Darcie was the underclassman that brought a gift bag and flowers for her, as well as writing a personal message to be read to the crowd. The bonus is that Darcie knows her so well, she knew what Alys would like to get. Chocolate topped that list! (A girl after my own heart.)

Todd ordered a beautiful arrangement of flowers from his favorite florist, who did a great job with them....

 

Alys didn't open her gift bag until we were back home after the games, and she'd showered off all the field dirt. Can I just tell you how surprised and happy she was to get a gift card to her favorite hot chocolate stand?

 

I think that look tells it all. And a "sisters" photo frame -- so perfect for these two:

 

It was another teary moment at home, too.

 

Yeah, that says it all.

 

I love that these two love each other so very much, and that it shows. A lot of people marvel that they don't seem to argue or fight at all -- it's true, they almost never have cross words with each other. Not even when Darcie threw that softball back to Alys when she wasn't ready, and the throw was rather hard..... well, Darcie got The Look for it.  ;-)  We are so very blessed.

 

I don't know which one of these girls is going to miss the other one on the softball field more: the one who's leaving it, or the one that will still be out there, alone. Well, obviously not "alone", but without her sister. It truly is the end of a softball era for our family.

 

So proud of you, Alyssa! You are such an amazing girl and I love what the softball experience has contributed to your personality and character. It is part of you, but not all of you.

 

Alys has chosen not to pursue softball at the college level. I know that comes as a surprise to a lot of people. She's had colleges interested in her, and she plays at the level to be competitive in college softball. It was a hard decision for her to leave softball behind, but that is what she is doing. She is planning to major in nursing, and will be focusing her energies on keeping her grades high for that goal. We can't fault her for that, and we're 100% behind her on this.

 

We have a few softball games left: it's district playoffs now. I don't know how far this will take us, but I plan to be there for every one of these moments.