Spencer had three last track meets in May and they were all away meets. Mason and I went to two of them. This one was at Glencoe HS just a block away from the apartment we lived in in Hillsboro when Spencer was 6 months - 2 years old. Spencer ran the 1500 in 4:48 that evening and took 4th place in the JV race.
Mason helped me stamp tea towels for Mother's Day gifts this year.
I take a ton of pictures of kids at preschool, but hardly any of teachers. Here's Jenelle and me on Star Wars day. I made 45 of these Yoda hats with the kids that day. Mason loved my hat and claimed it for himself at home.
Mason got to play one indoor soccer game this season. Indoor is fun because it's on turf and the ball remains in play when it bounces off the side walls.
Someone was less than thrilled to be my date to a wedding reception when Alan was working and Spencer was at a friend's house. Haha!
I needed updated pictures of the boys for our walls so we did a backyard photoshoot. Sadly, I didn't think to take one of them together and I need that for my gallery wall so I didn't wind up using these. Here are the good ones with a few outtakes.
Spencer is just a tiny hair shorter than Alan now!
Mason made this awesome robot with a jetpack out of recycled materials in STEM class at school. STEM is his favorite "special" class.
I can't remember what the grumpy face was for, but Mason spent a lot of time in May making mud trenches for his dinosaurs and outside trucks next to our back porch. :)
This was the district JV meet in Hillsboro. It was in the high 80's that afternoon and that felt super hot for these athletes. Not ideal at all, especially since Spencer had run in another meet just two days prior and he was running both the 1500 and 3000 at the same meet for the first time. He worked hard though and felt ok about his performances (4:43 in the 1500 and 10:19 in the 3000) even though they weren't PRs.
Since the 1500 is at the beginning of meets and the 3k is near the end, I knew Mason and I would be there for a long time. We found a shady spot of grass to spread and blanket and had a picnic and played card games while we waited. It was great weather for that!
Mason's soccer game the next day was also unseasonably hot. And, it was a double-header right in the middle of the day. One of the parent's brought a 5-gallon cooler of Gatorade and the boys sat around that and drank every chance they got. Totally not necessary, but the kids loved it and it made the games less tortuous.
I think I took this picture because Spencer was finally eating his Cadbury egg from Easter on May 13th. He thinks it's fun to save holiday candy for a long time.
Mother's Day photo shoot at the temple. I love these boys of mine and I love being a mom.
Teenager napping with a pile of stuffed animals on Sunday afternoon. Hehe!
Someone in our neighborhood has this snowball bush that blooms every spring. My Grandma Heap had one that she loved on her front lawn in St. Johns when I was little so this one always reminds me of her and makes me smile.
Alan turned 43 on May 20th. It was the first Saturday he had off work in about two months and you can tell what kind of a guy he is by what he chose to do on his birthday. After a run, breakfast, and presents, we spent the afternoon going to Mason's soccer game and Spencer's piano recital. Alan chose to have Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner at home instead of going to a restaurant and of course we had his favorite German's chocolate cake. The boys and I are so blessed to have such an unselfish, hard working, fun loving dad in our family. I love you Alan!
Spencer earned his 2nd gold cup for the Junior Piano Festival at his recital this year. He has participated in the Junior Festival each spring for the past 6 or so years and it usually takes 2-3 years to earn enough points for a gold cup. This award represents a lot of hard work and is a pretty big deal. We just adore his teacher, Kristen Cichoski. She inspires and pushes Spencer to improve in all areas of piano performance and is so positive and encouraging. Any time we think about moving away from Sherwood, I feel like losing her as a teacher would be one of the biggest loses.
We had Alan's special birthday breakfast the next morning before Church. Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.
Debbie gave me a few iris and daisy starts from their house in Sherwood before they moved over 10 years ago. I planted them in our front yard and they have multiplied and were especially beautiful this spring. The only problem is that they get so tall that any wind or rain knocks them over.
Finally got my garden planted towards the end of May. Not as late as some years, but still later than I would have liked.
Orthodontist fun!
Spencer had his final band concert of the year on May 25th. His clarinet skills have vastly improved since last summer and he made a lot of good friends in band. It has been a great community for him and he will do it again next year. Spencer even got an award for the most improved, but that's probably not too hard to do when you're the only one who just started their instrument this year. ;) I admire his confidence and bravery in being willing to just jump into band like he did.
First bbq of the season!
Alan and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on May 30th!! We would have loved to have done a big trip like so many of our friends do for this milestone but spending so many years trying to adopt has prevented all of those kinds of things for us. We did get to spend an afternoon kayaking on the Tualatin River though and that was beautiful and fun. We would both prefer a quiet date in nature to anything crowded, fancy, or expensive. After kayaking, we had a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Bridgeport. Happy 20th years to us!!
And last, 2nd graders at Ridges always do a super fun "desk sale" at the end of the year. They get to earn play money for good behavior the last few weeks of the year and then have a day when they can bring small toys or crafts from home to sell to each other. It has been a highlight of the year for both Spencer and Mason. Mason wanted to make most of his items to sell so he hot-glued pom poms onto pencils to make pointers and we made a couple batches of playdough. He did a lot of the work himself and I had fun helping him.
