happy birthday to me!

I had a delightful birthday weekend - went climbing on Friday with friends; a dinner date on Saturday night with Anne and Cuong; lavish amounts of pastries and pie and ice cream; and a sweet family day today. Steve made breakfast for everyone and it was deliciously over the top (challah french toast plus fried eggs and avocado plus fruit salad...). We played at the field together and then Jasper and I went for a 4.5 mile muddy run in Forest Park. The kids made sweet cards and (even better) were sweet to each other and me all day long.

 

The funniest and most unexpected gift was delivered in the afternoon - chocolate covered strawberries and pineapple chunks, addressed to auntie Brianna from Neptune (Jasper's brother). I laughed and laughed and laughed. I am so lucky in my friendships.

Tryon Creek

Our schedule was slightly less crazy today - I met up with Anja to climb; Liesl returned from Nora's; Sebastian had a futsal game and then a birthday party in Lake O; Steve was at the Hoangs' helping them "process" their chickens (a story for another day). Liesl's sleepover was entirely happy and successful - yay! - and she came home full of chatter about the chocolate chip pancakes and the bunk bed and the swimming pool they visited and the next sleepover... But while Sebastian was at the birthday party, Liesl, Jasper, and I walked around Tryon Creek park together. It's been forever since we were there -- before the kids were in school/activities, we used to go there frequently to hike and explore. It was as magical a place as ever, and Liesl loved scrambling into the old tree trunks and climbing the trees.

Sweet Jasper got muddy and was very happy to be outside with us.

Spot the naughty troll hiding under the bridge, ready to eat the 3 billy goats gruff.

This photo is for you, dad: first skunk cabbage of the spring!

Everyone got themselves a stick.

First trilliums of the season!! Spring must be here!!

sort-of St. Patrick's Day

It was St. Patrick's Day today: I made Irish soda bread, Steve got some lamb stew, corned beef, and mashed potatoes, and we all wore our happiest shades of kelly green! But we were not able to make the dancing and musical festivities at Kell's downtown as we have in previous years, because our daily sports schedule was over the top -

Sebastian had a 9:30 soccer game, happily located on our home field. The team played well but the other team was really well trained and skilled, and so it was a total blowout -- happily, the only such lopsided result of the year.

We came home to eat lunch and recover and then it was off to Sebastian's last basketball game of the season. He and his teammates have all developed tremendously over the course of the 8-week season and also had a lot of fun, and so I'm sad to see basketball ending. They had a post-game frozen yogurt party with some speeches and medals, and then we were off again.

Liesl also had her last basketball game of the season - she and her team, the Purple Foxes, were amazing and adorable and tried so hard. They too learned so much -- starting in some cases from absolutely zero basketball knowledge, they began to dribble, pass, and score by the end. We had a post-season pizza party and coach Mike gave out mini-basketballs and said a few kind words about each girl.

And then, finally, the most exciting event (for Liesl): her first sleepover at Nora's house! This is a photo that Nora's mom sent me of the two girls at bedtime. We miss our girl, but it's lovely to see her so joyously and confidently spreading her wings.

Calvin and Hobbes

The children have been on a Calvin and Hobbes reading frenzy for the last week or two. We have the complete collection - they are Steve's childhood books - and both kids love them and have been reading nothing but C&H at every opportunity. They occasionally break out into random guffaws and hysterical giggles, and Liesl likes to read certain pages to me. Although we are tickled, and share an appreciation for the material, we find ourselves slightly mystified by their devotion. The vocabulary is quite advanced and some of the jokes require background knowledge that they lack. There was a great word play on "antelope" which went entirely over Sebastian's head until we explained what eloping was. But they're clearly getting enough to love the humor and characters, and so I guess that's enough!

archery party

As part of Steve's service on the board of the school foundation, we volunteered to co-host an archery party for 10 children (and their adults) today. The father of our co-hosting family practices archery on a semi-regular basis and it was through him that the range agreed to donate the party space and a lesson. Our job was to make things festive, so we bought trinkets for goodie bags (archery-themed tattoos and stickers, a plastic bow and arrow set, candy) and cupcakes with targets frosted on top.

It was really fun - the children had a great time, the cupcakes were devoured, and no one got impaled. Phew! Sebastian and Liesl really liked trying out archery and became noticeably better with a little practice and coaching. We hope to return!

 A bullseye!! he was so proud.

 Sweet Jasper came along for the ride, and we took turns going to visit him.

haircut!

Our boy gets shaggy almost every winter - I feel like it's a natural reaction to the cold, dark, rainy season in Portland - sort of a hibernating instinct. His hair is super thick so it gets long and stands straight up. But it's March! And the sun has been out, so today was apparently the day for shearing.

muddy hikes and runs w Jasper

It's spring in the Pacific NW, which means lots of mud on the local trails. Good thing our puppy loves mud so much.

Alice in Wonderland

Liesl and I met up with Elena and Nora to see OBT's Alice in Wonderland today, and it was a wonderful, magical, splendid production. The choreography was full of genius moments that brought levity and wonder to the show - finding ways to represent Alice going down the rabbit hole and then growing and shrinking, swimming in a pool of tears, the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, the flamingos and hedgehogs in a croquet match. I was really impressed with the whole production - costumes, set design, choreography, live orchestra - and had a great time. Liesl liked it very much, though it was a tad long, and delighted in finding moments of the show that she remembered from reading a kids version of the Alice story. We had brunch at a fancy-ish hotel restaurant ahead of time - brioche french toast with lemon curd! - and so it was a lovely Sunday.