birthdays, weddings, visitors, oh my!

i wanted to catch up on some happenings around here, subject-style. so here we go! 

more birthday fun

azalea went to another birthday party for a friend from preschool this past weekend. this was actually a belated joint 5th and 3rd birthday for 2 sisters (the older one is in her class) at a community center in the neighborhood next to ours. azalea had a blast once again. i'm thankful that both parties we have gone to have been very well executed without being over the top. nothing intimidates me more than amazing pinterest-inspired parties, especially when azalea's birthday is a little over a month away and i need to start coming up with a plan. i'm also thankful that her class is only 10 kids, so we can invite them all without it being insane. 

uncle anders' visit

thatcher's brother came into town over the weekend for a few days on his way to visit his girlfriend nith in laos. this was actually his second visit here since december. i failed to blog about the first one since it was right before our trip to minnesota. anyway, we had a great time hosting him. the weather was gorgeous! 50-60 and sunny? yes please! only downside was he caught a cold from the kids, so he pretty much slept the last day he was here. but before that he went to a party with thatcher, on an airplane manufacturing tour with thatcher, to the locks with ashford and me, and watched ashford for an hour for us while we attended the elementary school tour one morning (more on this later). we are hoping nith can make it to seattle with him some time soon! 

kindergarten is coming

i know i've mentioned this a couple times lately, but oh boy are things getting real! on monday morning there was a tour of our neighborhood elementary school for new families. it was technically for all grades, but i'm sure it was 95% kindergarten families. speaking of which, next year there will be five kindergarten classes there! i think my elementary school had two. that is so crazy to me! it was so surreal being there as a parent, it honestly felt more likely that i would be the one attending school rather than azalea. haha! it seems like a really great school and we are guaranteed a spot since it's our neighborhood school. it's a block from our house, so that's a huge bonus! it's all day kindergarten (you can appeal for a half day schedule, but it sounds like the vast majority of kids go all day). the school has an arts focus, which is really cool. in addition to traditional "artwork" being woven into a lot of their learning, they have dance and movement class 1-2 times/wk (in additional to regular gym). how cool is that? while i'm still getting used to the idea of azalea being in school, i'm truly so excited for her to start this next chapter. now if they could hurry up and decide if the start time is staying at 9:40 or moving to 7:45 (i'm "team 9:40" for sure since i don't have to be to work in the morning, but i understand why a lot of parents want the earlier start). 

wedding bells!

and last but not least, i mentioned right after the new year that my life-long best friend kelli got engaged on new year's eve. well, the other day i got something special in the mail from her...

of course i said yes! she was my maid of honor almost 9 years ago now (what??!!)

i'm so happy to return the favor for her. it will be interesting logistically, though, as half of the girls in the wedding party (including her and me) live outside of minnesota. there is talk about going to napa valley for her bachelorette weekend since she lives near there and most of us have to travel anyway. i'm seriously so excited for this year, so much to look forward to between her bachelorette party/shower and then the wedding in minnesota in october, my cousin's wedding in georgia in july, friends visiting us in seattle this summer.