Last Meet of the Season

The girls had their last gymnastics meet of the season this past Sunday. This was a farily big meet compared to the last one, as there were a total of five gyms. They did well and had a pretty good time (something about those cheesy trophies at the end!!). They are still in recreational level which means they give the girls an individual score in each of their four events, but they don't score them against each other. Since they contend they don't really like gymnastics, they will probably just continue in the recreational level until they find something they do like (or we get sick of paying for it!!).

Nick, on the other hand, is moving up!! They sent home summer placement notices last week and his came with an "invitation" to move up from the boy's pre-team, which they moved him up to mid-year this past year, to the boy's 4A team. I think they start competing at this level; if not this one then when he moves up to the next team (Level 5) he will. He was VERY excited!! He does not have a great love for gymnastics either, but it did his little ego GOOD to be invited to "the team". So he will likely continue through the summer with the six hour a week workouts.

Below are just a couple of clips from the meet.

All chalked up and waiting for their turn on the bars.

And the big payoff....the trophy!!

Emma - Floor

Sara - Floor

Front Deck Starting to Come Together!

Last summer Will expanded (significantly) the front deck and made it usable space. There is still work to be done on the stairs and section along the driveway, but the biggest part of it is done. On Monday we treated ourselves to some new deck furniture and actually had a couple of warm afternoons to use it. We had dinner outside and the kids sat and did a little homework!!! But, the cool temps are back for a bit, so we will enjoy it through the window for now!!!

Before and After

Finally!! It only took me....well, I've lost track of just how many years ago mom and dad gave us the piano. The bench was ready for a new cover then, so you can see what three young kids and another few years did for the bench. We kept it covered by the plaid blanket to hide the yuck!! So at LONG last, the girls and I went to the fabric store a couple of weeks ago, purchased some new material, and made a new cover. It's not perfect, but WOW is it an improvement!!!!!! And, Will got a new staple gun out of the deal!!!

THEN

NOW

Capitol Hill Elementary Annual First Thursday event

Each year in April the kids' school hosts a First Thursday art show. All of the works of art they have done over the year are displayed throughout the halls of the school for families to come and view. There are stations throughout where kids can do poetry readings or play a solo on whatever instrument they happen to play. The cafeteria is set up like a lounge where they serve horsdevours and listen to kids play their piano solos. Anyone can volunteer to play....and guess who volunteered from the Pardy family!!!!

Things got a little chaotic around Nick's piano solo, so somehow we managed to make it out of there without getting to photograph most of their projects.

One of Nick's works of art (that we actually made it to see).

The girls watching a couple of their friends do a poetry reading. I couldn't pay them to get up and do one! :-)

Our first taste of Spring weather....ahhhhh!!!!!

There is nothing better than the first day of spring sunshine and warm weather. Unfortunately it only lasted a couple of days. But it was long enough to get to the nursery and get some plants to add a little color to the drab winter look we were sporting around here!! The kids and I spent the whole day out in the front planting all of the pots while Will spent the day working on the stairs for the deck additional. A perfect day!!!!

Hard at work planting (and yes, that is a helmet Sara is wearing! She wanted to be prepared to dash off to her bike at a moment's notice!!)

You can see the lumber and signs of "stair" progress in the background. Within a couple of weeks the stairs should be done and the rail around the smaller section of deck finished--yipee!!!!!

Spring Break '09

We came down to the beach house for the last half of spring break (Wed through Sun). The weather was pretty crappy most of the time....cold, windy, raining sideways but we managed to get out a little bit before the never ending series of storms hit!! We spent the first couple of days with the Murphey family (they had been down for the whole week and got all the nice weather!!), and then we had come friends come out for the weekend.

Hanging with the Murpheys.........

We spent a little time at the tennis courts learning to play tennis.

And played a little freeze tag on the beach......

......while Molly Murphey sat and made "cakes" for all of us.


After the Murpheys left on Friday, our friends the MacMillians arrived to spend the weekend. We managed to get one outting down to the beach before the storms hit.

Emma, Sara, and Emma Rose.....kites in hand and ready to head down to the beach

Nick and Jack getting their "weapons"

Will getting his "windmobile" built so he can take it for a spin on the beach. Turned out the wind was not strong enough. And when the wind finally came it was so strong he would have ended up in Lincoln City had he gone out!!!

So much to blog....

So little time!!! Lots to catch up on. Between the plaque that struck in mid-March, followed by the spring break trip to the beach and then switching to a new computer, opportunity and access to photo files kept me off the net for a while. But we are now back up and running to stay tuned for lots up updates to catch up!!!