A Full Weekend

Saturdays are usually the one day of the week with a chance of sleeping in late...but this week Melia and I left to pick up Benny and Danny. Their mom and dad had a busy day at the church, and it appeared they'd need to miss soccer. I suggested we take the boys to soccer and keep them until Arielle could break loose. 

Melia, Benny, me and Danny

This is Danny's first year to play soccer. I stayed with Danny and Melia stayed at the court where Benny was playing. I was impressed with Danny's coach. She had the boys running drills and practicing skills before the game. She was quick to check on each player's "ouchies."  One little goalie laid down on the floor and cried when he let a goal roll past him. She handled him so graciously, moved Danny into goal and let him run off his emotions on the court. Danny is the little ginger - or as he says the one with "golden" hair. 

He was so excited! Notice the finger in the air? One goal! A good way to start the game! 

 During his time at goalie not one ball got past him. 

Alas, there were no snacks for Danny's team. When Danny's game was done, we made our way over to court 1 to watch the last 15 minutes of Benny's game. This was a much faster game. Both boys' teams won their games. I guess we aren't supposed to notice that fact, but all the boys knew just what the scores were.  

We made our way home for lunch, games, gamers and outside play. It was a busy afternoon. 

The deck was clear last night...lots of snow Saturday and Sunday. 

I fell Monday night getting OUT of the hot tub. No foot ware involved - just hit the icy stairs and slid. Today, I fell face first onto the deck. I WAS wearing boots. Trex is plastic and it's slick when wet! 

Arielle picked up the boys, and I continued on with meal prep. We were excited to have Eric and Ingrid over for dinner. They were the family Melia, and her sisters went too when they left their neighborhood in October. We enjoyed a dinner of chowder, bread, salad and fruit and introduced them to "The Bible is Funny."  Stacia had made enough progress with her weekend "to do" list that she joined us for the evening too. 

Stacia, Melia, Ingrid, Eric, Michael 

Who likes springing forward? Ugh. 

Michael preached this morning for CoRielle's church community.  We were happy to grab lunch with Stacia after church. She was productive all day. The rest of us grabbed naps. Melia did do 40 minutes of homework she hadn't finished on Friday. 

It was a full weekend. 

TGIF

It's Friday and school seemed to take FOREVER. 

I caught snoring a couple times. Melia has a dead pan, grumpy, stoic resting face to beat all. She's scary when you wake her up...and I had to keep waking her up, so she was DOING school and not just resting while the teacher lectured on and on. 

She spent HOURS on pre-algebra today. She took a test twice. 

I got my first big smile of the day when I told her we'd go get a, "TGIF - end of the school week treat" when she was done. 

Honestly, she worked hard...and finally I just said, "ENOUGH," at 3:40 p.m. She can save her 45 minutes or so for Saturday. 

Trudy, Melia, Annie, Jojo, Gideon, Bre, Bella

We went to Bre's favorite coffee drive through and treated ourselves to drinks and took brownies from last night's life group over to Bre's. Trudy's welcome made the day! 

Melia and I left Bre's and ran to Freddies to get a few things we need for tomorrow night. We're having Eric and Ingrid over for dinner. Stacia made chocolate covered fruit "things' on Valentine's Day and Melia is making them sugar free for a treat after dinner. 

It feels like it's been a very long week. I'm not sure why - but we are looking forward to a change of pace for the next couple of days. 

Michael is preaching this weekend and has spent the day in the study. Stacia is out at a college thing. Melia and I will probably watch something from Netflix....hard to play a rousing table game with two and I'm staying away from the hot tub for a while. LOL 

Melia's First Pedi

 I was up early cleaning the house...and starting a spaghetti sauce to simmer all day. I also made brownies, a salad, and cut up a big bowl of melon.  All before lunch. 

After lunch and school, we had an appointment for Melia's first pedicure. She opted for a nice bright red to match her prom dress. I opted for a dark green for St. Pat's month. 

It turns out Melia is a bit ticklish...but she enjoyed the warm water and massage. We'll do this again. 

We had just enough time to set things out and welcome life group members... and after life group, Melia asked a great question, "What's all this Easter stuff about anyway?" 

Dad's Left Eye

 At Dad's annual eye appointment, they discovered he had increased pressure in his left eye. They offered eye drops or laser surgery to fix the problem. I was shocked when dad chose surgery.  The clinic we were at didn't do that procedure and referred us to Wolf Eye Center.  On our first appointment at Wolf's we saw a nice doctor who discovered she couldn't REACH the spot she needed to zap due to an odd cataract surgery dad had in the past. 

Dad can't remember WHEN he had the cataract surgery or WHERE...but I guessed in Eugene after he came home from the Philippines. In any event, they can't reach the spot where they could zap to relieve pressure in his eye.  They gave him an eye drop to use to see if the pressure could come down enough for them to be able to zap the spot. His follow-up appointment was today. He even saw Dr. Wolf.

Dr. Wolf said nothing had changed. They gave him two more drops to use daily. If this doesn't work, he'll see a glaucoma specialist and if he can't help him a retina specialist. There isn't a lot of hope the drops will help, Dr. Wolf said this is rare.  At 85, an oft asked question is, "What happens if I don't fix it?" 

He opted to get it fixed. After the appointment we went to The Windbreak Cafe and enjoyed lunch. 

We also stopped to watch all the ducks on our way back to his home. 

Monday Eclipse

Monday is the one night of the week when Stacia may be home to eat with us - and sometimes the weekend. We try to have a dinner she will enjoy, and we do a variety of things focusing on connecting with each other.   I made a favorite Country Chicken Pot Pie. We ate and talked and cleaned up while the hot tub warmed up. It was well into the negative temps, but the girls and I thought a nice soak would be a great idea. 

I finally fell out of the hot tub. I had swung my legs over and thought I stepped onto the top step leading from the hot tub. Evidently, I did...but the steps were icy and I bounced down three steps, hit the icy deck and slid. I was happy to have stopped before I went over the unfinished edge of the deck. Stacia was sure I'd broken something. Not to worry. I have bruises and road rash wherever my skin touched the ice...my face, my lip, my legs, my thighs... I came in and immediately took 800 mg of ibuprofen.  Michael is considering finishing the deck. I have decided during the winter I will no longer sit in the tub when home alone. I will make sure someone is out of the tub to help me in case I slip again. I don't know how you'd add a railing to the stairs but that may be nice in the winter. 

All that to say I didn't much feel like driving up into the mountains at midnight to watch a lunar eclipse. Stacia and Melia, however, were not to be denied the adventure. Off they went to Independence Mine in Hatcher's Pass to meet up with college friends of Stacia's. 

They took snacks, a thermos of hot chocolate, winter wear, toe warmers and settled in to watch for the eclipse.  They were rewarded with an eclipse, surrounded by dancing Northern Lights. Melia shares it was her first time to drive way up into the mountains. 

📷by April 

Yeah, I do kind of wish I'd dragged by aching body out. LOL  Oh, yes, they also had a close encounter of the moose kind. Stacia was driving well below the speed limit or they would have hit the moose. As was she slammed her brakes on and they stopped with Melia having an up-close look at the moose's bum. 

Archangel Adventure

 It was COLD today, but Stacia and Melia have been planning a cross-country ski outing all week. Melia now has all the snow gear, and they agreed to be wise.  They drove to Archangel and started their adventure. 

Drama queen! LOL 

Melia said she was warm to hot....score for the winter gear! Melia fell much less today, tackled some hills and is getting more confident! 

February Family Gathering

We did not have family gatherings November - January choosing to let the Holidays be the "gathering." This had pros and cons. It made for an easier schedule for some of us and created conflicts for others. We were looking forward to getting back to normal in February. Michael and I messed that up. We agreed to facilitate a parenting workshop on the Saturday.  This pushed gathering back a week...and wreaked havoc with others' schedules. We have learned. We will NOT schedule anything on the 3rd Saturday from here on out. Between traveling, moves, illnesses, rid- alongs with the police department...we ended up with our smallest family gathering yet - only 12 of us. It was STILL good to gather. 

February was a hard month for many of us. We miss Josiah and it was his birthday as well as the anniversary of the trial. It was good to meet and celebrate Josi, Nolan, Liv, Alex, and Jamin's birthdays - as well as BreZaak and our anniversaries.

Benny, Papa, Arielle, GG, Cory, Ellie, Danny, Nolan, Charles
Stacia, Melia

CoRielle brought a fun game to introduce to us...Let's Hit Each Other with Fake Swords. I didn't play but what I observed was a round of cards to determine who would duel and then duels. 

Arielle & Stacia

Benny & Uncle Nolan

Nolan, Melia, Benny, Arielle & Cory

Arielle & Danny

Nolan was the only celebrant who was present. 

Gluten Free cupcakes 

Melia's family immigrated from Japan to Hawaii. Her grandmother used to make a Hawaiian Guava cake that was most asked for at Potlucks. Melia wanted to make a guava cake for us. We hunted up the guava nectar and she baked away. I know the photo isn't great, but the cake was DELICIOUS. I could only have a sliver as its quite full of sugar...but I plan to make an 8x8 sugar free cake the next time they serve this. We sent a plate home to Bre and her sick family and they loved it too. 

Guava cake - kid approved

Ye' old Arm-Wrestling competition

Ellie liked the cake so much she LICKED the tray

It was a fun day. We dearly missed those who weren't able to be with us this month, but we are also very thankful for those who are here.  GG asked Michael to do some repairs on his walker brakes.