Kid art

 

“welcome”

We have decided to host an exchange student. Sarah has been helping us and we have recently learned that Felix from Germany will be joining us in August. We are all looking forward to meeting him, but the kids are thrilled. So, they made him a video…

First game, first basket!

Mason had his first  basketball game today! They don’t keep score, but they do play against another team. We have never seen him take anything so seriously! He ran the entire game, which lasted a full hour. There were only six kids (seven, but one refused to play), so it was a lot of running! They wore matching wrist bands with their opponent so the coaches can tell who defends whom in the man-to-man defense. Mason started out defending one of the smaller kids, but they switched him to the tallest for most of the game. I was worried the kid was just going to pound him for being so annoying, but Cindy has never been more proud!

This video was taken about 45 minutes into it, and he was still going strong. Not too long after it, though, he pulled himself out and sprawled out on the sidelines.

Truly this is the moment Cindy’s been waiting for since she heard the heart-beat (of MacKenzie)…her kid on the basketball court showing tough defense, getting a rebound and scoring a basket! Watch number 8 in the red. He is paired with blue number 3. I wanted to edit the video down to just show a bit of “d” and then the basket, but Cindy insisted that the entire video gets published.

 

Scrimmage

Here is a clip of Mason’s basketball practice. As you can see, the focus on defensive before dribbling. (He’s the one in the long black shorts and red t-shirt.) He works hard! He comes out of practice all sweaty and worn out. Mission accomplished.

say cheese

what did you say?

Some days Mason’s “listening skills” aren’t as honed as others. Today was one of those days. I think he’s exhausted and his ears just quit working.

Snow-cadia

Yesterday we decided we wanted to get away for the night. I’ve been working a lot, traveling a bit, and we just wanted to find a place where the four of us could hang and then watch the Seahawks final playoff game. We went to Suncadia, which was a soggy winter wonderland. It was a perfect choice…just far enough away that we felt like we escaped, yet close enough to not lose our sanity on the drive. Oh, and they have water slides. Here Kenzie is jumping into the pool!

After “sleeping” on the same sofa bed, waking up and arguing over covers, bed space, and farts, they were a little exhausted on the ride home.

 

beautiful eyes

Happy New Year

We had a fairly low key New Years Eve. We kept the kids up to see the ball drop with friends. Surprisingly we all held out pretty well. Welcome to 2011!

Hair upgrade

Kenzie has not let me cut her hair for months now and it was getting straggly. She wants to grow it and was traumatized by the last $12 cut she got.

I took her with me when I got my hair cut in the downtown Seattle $alon and my hairdresser offered to give her a complementary trim. Kenzie was totally pampered and felt much more in her element. What have I created?

wow

So much going on in this picture – from the flashlight headband, to the cartoon underwear, to the giant bruise on his leg. Just had to share.

Inner tubing

Sarah and I took the kids plus her exchange student, Deanna, to Snoqualmie to go inner tubing for the day. Kenzie and the older boys were independent most of the time. I saw her off the cliff once, and the rest of the time she was gone with the boys. Mason needed a little assistance getting back up the hill so he stuck close.

When we were done we swung by the falls for another photo opp. We later realized we should have gotten a taller passer-by to take our picture as you can’t actually see any of the falls behind us. You can, however, see that it was misty and our hair was a mess…clearly because of the falls.

Christmas Day

The Bolam family Christmas was in mid-December. The Averill family Christmas was the day after Christmas. So, this has been a long season. Christmas Day itself was mellow. We had our traditional Eggs Benedict breakfast with Grammy and Grampy. Kenzie, of course, puked because it’s too rich for her. Then we opened presents until we couldn’t do it anymore.