May!

May is always a fun month around here; for me, anyway! My birthday AND mother's day. In short: I am Queen for a Month. 

Ah, yes... I'll be sad to June arrive. ;) 

The month started off with a wonderful visit from Grammy and a fantastic production of Annie Meets Oliver! which both wee Grossmans starred in, but mama had lost her camera at a restaurant on that day, so no evidence exists for posting here... :( Take my word for it: they. were. great. :) 

 On Mother's Day proper, the girls set up Mama Spa-- and what a great afternoon it was. 

 I mean, these two lead such stressful lives, it's nice to see them able to kick back and relax a little. :)

Then, onto my birthday! Mike raided a local bakery for everything that had lots of chocolate and no gluten, and mama was one happy birthday girl. 

 ... and the girls provided live and incredibly fun entertainment! 

 This was not part of the birthday night's entertainment. 

This is just a regular Tuesday night. 

Saturday Market is in full swing, 

making our hearts and souls and bellies very happy. 

And welcome the newest card-carrying member to the Eugene Public Library! 

This three-day weekend was mostly spent around the house and yard, but today we headed out for a coastal adventure and found the Oregon Coast in rare very warm and sunny form. 

 We took a tour of the lighthouse: the highlight was the staircase. 

Sailors can see the light from 21 miles away...and no further only due to the curvature of the earth, not because the light isn't bright enough! Fascinating. 

We flew a kite! 

...and everyone except the driver slept on the way home. :) Back to it tomorrow, and the school year wind-down begins in earnest. Whew! 

Singing and Biking!

"Let it go, let it go! I can't hold it back anymore!..." If you have not seen Frozen, fear not: we saw it for you. A lot of times. I lost count somewhere after five, but the girls are still counting...and still singing. Who gets to sing what song from that movie's score is the most highly controversial topic in our house these days, as if there are a finite amount of times that "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" can be sung and IT HAS TO MY TURN NOW! I assure you, the number of times these songs can be sung is, in fact, infinite. We have proven it in our living room, at school, on the bikes and in the car...

The sun came out so we left the movie theater just long enough to see a few innings and hug the Duck. About 14 times. The Duck was the only redeeming part of the baseball game as far as Jez was concerned. 

And the Cracker Jacks weren't so bad. 

Tumeric, Blueberries, Beets... Easter Egg dying! We sort of pushed right on past Easter this year without much fanfare. I love the celebration of Springtime, and coloring eggs is always a good time, but that pretty much covered it for us this year. Since there was chocolate involved, everyone seemed okay with that. 

 The bunny was kind enough to bring chocolate, 

even if he did disguise it as a carrot...  

Then we found the eggs... 

and then it was 8 am... 

and not much left to do besides eat a lot of egg salad.

 ...and go for a bike ride, because I CAN DO THAT NOW!! Winona is rocking the bike, at long last. And she is loving her new-found freedom. 

And what's the first taste of spring weather without a trip 

to the ice cream store? 

Yum. 

Spring Break and a Birthday!

Our spring thus far...

First, last weekend, a walk through a city park to enjoy the science factory and the great, blooming outdoors:

Then, despite mom's last minute hesitations based on her resistance to leave the weather illustrated above for a snow weekend, we headed into the mountains for what turned out to be a super fun weekend of play--in the snow AND the sun! 

 Bodhi LOVES the snow and turns into a three year old puppy as romps and rolls in it. So cute!

 When the stormy weather blew in, we did a lot of this...

And, sometimes, even when the weather was not stormy, we did this... Jezebel is not a huge fan of bundling up and heading out into the elements just for nature's sake. We had to have something enticing at the end of the line to get her into her layers and snow boots. :)

 When it cleared up, we ventured out to explore the beautiful Cascade Range...

Winnie on skis! Look at that form! She was a real trooper and loved it (despite the fact that gravity seems to be, ahem, a bit more persistent when on skis). 

 

Our cottage was right on this lake--Odell. Beautiful and so very dramatic this time of year. In the morning, clear as glass and light blue... then stormy and dark... and back again. 

 

Our morning hot cocoa. Lakeside.

 

A gorgeous day for a xcountry ski! 

 A stormy night brought us to the main lodge for some live fiddle and guitar music...and marionberry cobbler. There may have been a hot taddy or two involved for the parents. 

So, you know that thing they say in baking recipes about elevation having a potential impact on the outcome of the recipe? I have always wondered about that. Now, I know what it does to pancakes: takes the "pan" out of them and makes them just straight up "cakes."

 What happened? How did this get so BIG? 

Winona wants to move to 5,000' elevation. 

 

The best part about the weekend was that it was a celebration of Mike's birthday! What better present (for all of us :) than four days together...uninterrupted. Pure bliss. Home today... and back to school tomorrow. A GREAT spring break! 

Season of Rainbows

Greetings from the Land of Refracted Light... where, as they say, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes! Sun, then rain, then sun, then rain- makes for frequent rainbow sightings...and inspired fashion.

Cousin Will came to visit and we LOVED it! Here we are enjoying a VERY rainy (no rainbow) day on the coast...

And then a fabulous hike (we short folk were not invited)-- about 4 miles and 6 waterfalls no less spectacular than the one seen here. And the best part? We got to walk BEHIND the waterfall. Amazing. 

Dr. Seuss' birthday is in March which my school, righfully, recognizes as a holiday and builds a whole WEEK of crazy fun around the day itself. 

We have arrived at that inevitable moment in every young girl's early childhood development that is both greatly anticipated and mildly feared:

The Era of Harry Potter! 

Camille (aka Hermione Granger) on the right hosted a HP-themed 9th Bday party-- and Winona (aka Professor McGonagal) was happy to oblige.

The Leprechauns left footprints all over the house today... leading to rainbows, a pot of gold, bubbles (picture below captures J trying to catch--but it looks like kiss--a bubble), a jump rope and, can you believe it? Green pee in the toilet! That. was. hilarious.

Winona is taking an art class on cartooning right now (and LOVING it) and this frame shows what happens when the block of wood decides he won't take any more kicks from the karate student). I love it!