Sister's leaving

Mason drew a picture of Kenzie leaving. I thought Felix had drawn it because it's the style he draws, but it was all Mason. The V's are sea gulls.

Football, check

Can I consider his football career complete? He has the certificate.

Party time

We had an early going-away/birthday party for Felix.

It was a multi-generational party, with kids, teenagers and adults--about 60 people in total. Somehow I turned into the older generation...not sure how that happened. But we had a great turnout. Even the sun showed up last minute and let us play some soccer outside at 8, and enjoy a bonfire.

And some XBox dancing.

Not a mother's sport

Mason is in a week-long Flag Football camp. Today is the first day. Cindy sent me some pictures as I was working. I had an immediate Mama Bear reaction. Looking back on the texts, I realize that I even said things like "who's the overaged beer gut linebacker?!?" 


So, I might not make a good football mom. But, come on...look at how little he looks!!! 


Cindy reassured me that:

1. he is way faster than most of the other kids 
2. he's a very tough guy 
3. he loves it - this is perfect for him to keep him active
4. it's FLAG football. 

Doesn't matter. I officially want him to play baseball.

Happy birthday Felix

Felix turned 17 today, which meant that four of the five in this household had a birthday within 11 days. Here is what the kids wrote on his card.

New bikes!

Kenzie and Mason both got new bikes with gears and front brakes. They love them!

Second and Fifth Graders!

Schools out! And they got to have their favorite meals to celebrate!

Fathers Day with the Mariners

Grampy and Grammy rented a suite at Safeco field for Father's Day. Janel masterminded a surprise visit for her dad, so she and Ryan flew up. Bob, June and AJ joined too. In total there were 20 of us. The Earl Averill suite was empty, so they let us take a bunch of pictures in Great Grandpa's suite.

Ten year old

For her birthday party, Kenzie decided to have a group of her good friends over to the house...Kimmie, Emilie, Cas, Jasper, Hanna and Morgan. The weather cooperated and they played outside until ten at night. We lit a fire in the pit, roasted hotdogs and s'mores, played soccer and basketball. Three girls stayed the night...they watched a movie and went to bed at 1:30.

Lunch time

For Kenzie's birthday I was able to work from home, which allowed me to walk the kids to school and have lunch with each of them! Kenzie had a special pizza lunch for the safety patrollers. I sat at the table with them while they were served pizza and pop.

Next was Mason. I met his good friend Abby, whom he has lunch with every day. These two really get along. I didn't realize it until I had lunch with them...and felt inclined to take a picture.

Junior graduation

Tonight Felix got to walk at the Issaquah High School graduation. This school has been so great. Even though he is a junior, they let him (and the other two exchange students) walk and go to prom.

Weather was beautiful and the roof was open at Safeco Field. There's no paper in the booklet, but he got the experience and some pictures! Definitely a highlight for his year.

Aggressive

Baseball season is over (already!). Next year they have to try out to get on a team! It went from the casual tee-ball to competitive too quick. Unfortunately that means he likely won't have the same coaches next year. Coach Mike has had him for three years now and has been great. At the year-end awards, the coaches described Mason as the "most aggressive kid, in a good way." He charges, tackles and plays hard. When I was looking for a picture for this post, I found evidence of the aggressive behavior...watch the catcher after Mason hits the ball.

Greenery

How does your garden grow? Don't ask me, but it is, once again, in full swing! Ashley, our garden genius friend that I found online a couple of years ago when she was looking for a plot of land, has been making the green grow and we had our first harvest of snap peas today. Kenzie loves to go out and help. We have horseradish, sunchokes, tomatoes, squash, greens, chocolate mint, peas, radishes, carrots....and whatever else pops up.

Jerseys from Germany

We got a package from Germany with treats for all our June birthdays...plus Mason. :) The kids loved their jerseys, which arrived just in time to watch the Germany versus Portugal soccer game in the EUFA tournament.

Somebody loves her Grampy

Welcome AJ!

AJ graduated high school and moved in next door with June and Bob!

River sitting

Almost TEN!

Today show

Here it is...a weeks worth of work for about seven seconds of national television. But at least I didn't say anything really embarrassing. Considering the entire event is a blur of a memory, I wasn't quite sure.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Our first prom :)

With Felix here, Cindy and I have had a lot of first, including our first prom! We chaperoned Felix and his date. It was quite a production. All 26 kids went to the Newport Golf Club with all 52 parents taking pictures, then they went to dinner in Seattle, followed by prom at EMP. Luckily we had a dinner out in Seattle while we waited.

Only drawback was that our plane left at 6:15 the next morning so we had to leave the house at 4:20AM! Was worth it though...we are getting good practice. I'm now experienced at interviewing the mom of the "after-party" with key questions.

Another "W" in the books

It's the last week of baseball. Mason went 4 for 4 and they won in the bottom of the last inning.

Long weekend

We took the opportunity to have one last visit with Sarah and her girls before they returned home. Lauren took Mason for the weekend, and Kenzie stayed with Emilie. Cindy, Felix and I met Sarah, Sarita and Ruby in New York, stayed right off of Times Square at the Wellington and just hung out in the city.

We went to the 9/11 memorial, ate some great ethnic food, took the subway, and just hung out. Fun four days!!