Cornerstone Retreat

The all-church retreat went so well this year. Our church has had such a difficult season, with April's death and so many others passing away this last year. We needed to have a little fun and just be together. Ryan was our guest speaker. It was great to have him and his family there with us all weekend, too. The kids had a blast, as always, and we all came home tired but with our "buckets" full--encouraged, refreshed, and ready to fight the spiritual battles going on around us. In all the struggles and through all the tragedy, God is faithful, and He is good. This weekend away with our church family was just so good.

Metal Mouth #2

One day before the church retreat, Joel got his braces on. He was a trooper and has done pretty well adjusting to them. He especially liked that he got to go out to lunch and get Jamba Juice before heading to school.

School things

Kari and Ellie at their spring 7th grade band concert.

I chaperoned Aubrey's OMSI field trip. The Lego exhibit was pretty impressive!

I chaperoned Grant's kindergarten zoo field trip, too. Here's my Facebook post from that day:

Last kindergarten field trip, ever! Too busy counting and looking for all 5 kids in my group, over and over again, to take many pictures, but I did snap this one to remember this moment. Grant pointed up in the gorilla exhibit, saying excitedly, "Look! There she is!" I came over and looked where he was pointing, expecting to see a gorilla. "See, Mom? A zoologist!" I guess when you've been going to the zoo all your life, the "zoologists" you've been learning about at school are more exciting than the animals. 😂 We had a great day.

Signs of summer

We had such a dreary, miserable spring weather-wise, but summer is coming! The lilacs brightened my days when they were in bloom earlier this spring--so beautiful and fragrant. The bush we planted two years ago finally started to blossom. We had a few hot days this spring, just a preview, a tease, of summer, and then it was back to rain again.

The strawberries were a little late this year due to the cooler weather. I picked 57 pounds of strawberries on the one day I didn't sub this last week. Nothing like the taste of fresh Hood strawberries. Mmmm! My legs and back are still complaining, though, from the three hours of bending and squatting to pick. I was determined to get as much done as I could. :) Aren't they beautiful?

The kids have been outside with their neighborhood friends a lot, too. Kids playing board games on the sidewalk out front is just a little glimpse of lazy summer days ahead. Soon! Those days will be here soon!

Piano Festival and Recital

Kari participated in her fourth piano Junior Festival and earned another "Superior" rating and evaluation. We celebrated with lunch at Chipotle before I took her back to school.

The recital a couple weeks later was a delight, as well. She played a duet with Katie, her teacher, and it was amazing. Here's the video Dad made.


Kari Moffat Piano Recital from Cornerstone on Vimeo.

Spring activities

Our calendar was a little daunting with all the kids' activities this spring. I rely heavily on my phone calendar to keep it all straight these days.

Kari did both track and soccer this spring. She had track practice every day after school and then just soccer games on Saturdays. The weather did not cooperate for most of the season (cold and wet!), but it didn't seem to affect her performance. One week in track she took 1st in the 400m, 2nd in the 800m, 1st in high jump, and 3rd in long jump and had multiple personal bests. Then on that Saturday she scored the goal that tied the game, just a minute before the end. It was a beautiful left-footed kick high in the net--so exciting!

She made it to districts in the 1500 meter race. It wasn't her favorite (it was her 2nd least favorite event, with the 800 being her least favorite--the races make her super anxious), but her coach asked her to run it, so she did. She got a personal record at the district meet with a 5:51! She struggled with knee pain the entire season but persevered.

Joel played spring basketball with his winter team, and while we learned that spring ball isn't ideal, with games on Sundays (we were told there would be mostly afternoon games, but that turned out not to be the case), he enjoyed playing and keeping up his skills. You'll find him outside shooting baskets almost every day after school, even in the rain. He just loves basketball.

Aubrey played volleyball for the first time. She has several friends on the team and enjoyed it. She managed to serve the ball over the net in her first game and hit it over the net successfully another time. We're decided we needed to work on her stance, though. Kari kept taking pictures and laughing at how Aubrey stayed in her pose. She learned a little about volleyball and had fun with her friends, so it was a good first experience.

Grant has been taking swim lessons again this spring and really enjoying that. He started out in level 4 and made his way to level 5. On this day, he was the only student in his class, which was pretty great--one on one attention. 

Great Wolf Lodge

Our trip to Great Wolf Lodge in April was a belated Christmas present. We saved money we had been given at Christmas from grandparents to do something fun as a family, and it was worth the wait. It gave us something to look forward to this dismal spring season, and we had such a great time together. It was a wonderful little family get-away. Grant was just barely tall enough to go on all the slides. In fact, he was just shy of the 48 inches required, but he stretched tall, and the kind employee tilted the ruler just slightly to give him the green wristband he needed to ride legally. :) 

Made us even more excited for Disneyland!