Adam Turns 14, etc.

I can hardly believe that Adam is FOURTEEN! How could that possibly be right? Admittedly, he's looking and sounding 14. I've mistaken him for Lyle several times when I hear him talking downstairs. I've told him he needs to shave more than once and he's now taller and bigger than his dear old mom. He's been a pretty nice teenager so far and his sisters think he's great.
Adam got a fancy nerf tag game from Abby and Maya and enjoyed a lasagna dinner.

I have to do some explaining with this picture! When Adam turned four years old, he got a "big boy" bed. To go along with the big boy bed, I made him a new quilt. I used patches of denim that I'd cut from old pairs of jeans, mixed with different plaids. We gave it to him on his birthday and he was SO upset! He yelled, "I don't want a blanket made from Dad's old pants! And I don't think blankets should have POCKETS!" He could not be swayed.

Lyle had the great idea of hiding candy in a few of the pockets. Once Adam found the candy, he decided he REALLY loved his blanket and asked if it could have MORE pockets! Well, ten years later his poor blanket was looking very well-used and worn. So, I created another jeans quilt for his 14th birthday and Lyle put some candy (and Home Depot gift cards) in the pockets. Here Adam is crawling around on the blanket, sniffing for candy!

Adam's been on the junior high track team and runs the 800 and mile. He's done great and we've been so proud of him. But his first meet, unfortunately, didn't go as he would have liked. He had just finished the first lap of the 800 and was going right by the bleachers when he was tripped by the runner behind him. Adam got a pretty severe case of road rash on his face and side and shoulder. He'd been in third place so it was pretty disappointing. In his handsome track photo you can still see where he's healing up on his face. At the next race he got third in the 800 (they only do one heat so there are usually about 20 people in each of his races) and got 6th in the mile. At the next race he got 5th in the 800 but improved his time to 2:38. His time in the mile also improved and he got 5:58. Go Adam!

Obviously it's been awhile since I posted anything and I'm kind of jumping around a bit! A couple of weekends ago Abby went to a birthday party at our local Skateland. Lyle was working and Adam was at a Boy Scout gun camp of some sort, so I took all three girls. I even rented skates so that I could skate with Maya. Maya thought the skates were wonderful for about 10 minutes and then she abruptly decided she was done. I was surprised because she was really good at it! I think the loud music was a bit much for her. Or maybe it was that she saw someone putting birthday cake on the table.


The other day I was making dinner and I heard talking and giggling outside. I peeked out the window and saw Adam and Madeline lying on the hammock on the back porch, just relaxing and talking about their day. I snuck around the house to get their picture. It's not a great photograph, but I love the moment.

May 16th- Maya feeding the koi at one of her favorite places, Clear Creek Nursery. Not long after this photo was taken, she wandered off and caused quite a panic. All of the workers were on their walkie talkies trying to locate "the 2 year-old in the orange shirt". Finally she was found heading up the hill to a waterfall. When I reminded her that she's not supposed to leave Mom, she sighed and said, "yeah, I just forgot."

May 17th- I spent my birthday attending parades! Madeline was in the Armed Forces Parade in Bremerton this morning and then in the Viking Fest Parade this afternoon in Poulsbo. it was 84 degrees which is an all-out scorcher for Western Washington and we all were feeling pretty wilted!
Maya and Abby were good parade attendees, but Maya was definitely maxed out with one parade (who wouldn't be?). I dropped her off with Adam (Lyle was at work) before we went for parade #2.

Beautiful Madeline on the float before the Viking Fest Parade. She was with the 6 other children from the Sound of Music Choir. She plays Louisa and she had her "My Favorite Things" solo right when they were going by us. It's kind of funny that Madeline's singing voice sounds different to me when we're away from home. I think I'm just so accustomed to hearing her singing around the house, that I hardly even notice it. Today she sounded so beautiful and I heard numerous people comment on her lovely voice. We were very proud of her.