student of the quarter, new driver, charlie puth concert

i've been seeing the term 'maycember' all over social media. it basically means that may has become as busy as december if you have kids in school with end-of-year activities and spring sports, etc. i do feel like life is becoming very busy for us, but some of it is our own personal schedule. i can imagine if both of my kids were in spring activities, i might feel like we were being pulled in a million directions, but for now it feels manageable. and exciting even, after a slow winter. 

 last monday ashford had a recognition ceremony after being nominated by one of his teachers as a 'student of the quarter'. neither he (nor we) really knew what to expect, but i showed up for the ceremony (thatcher had a work meeting he couldn't get out of) and watched him go up to the stage to get his certificate and a few nice words said about him. the funny thing was, they were recognizing over fifty students at this event. he does have a large school, but it was a waaayyy bigger group than i would have expected for something called 'student of the quarter.' :) 

in the evening, azalea had another staff meeting for her summer job. summer will be here before we know it! i have a couple cute winnie pictures to share. she was so patient while we put multiple pairs of sunglasses on her and she looked hilarious. 

also, thatcher took this picture of her with a chipmunk she chased up the tree. can you see it? 

we had our first overnight thunderstorm of the season, which felt exciting after experiencing only a handful of storms in seattle over the past decade.

tuesday morning azalea had an appointment to take her drivers permit test. it was her second attempt, and she put a lot of effort into studying and taking practice tests...and she passed! i was so happy for her. also - how on earth do i have a child old enough to drive?! 

i dropped her off at school late (the permit tests can only be taken from 8am-3pm - weird right?). thatcher worked all day, then spoke at a local conference, then got on a plane to LA at 9:30pm for a work trip. poor dude. but his job is giving him so many cool opportunities. ashford had baseball practice in the evening. 

wednesday was a pretty chill day. the weather was beautiful - low 70s and sunny. work, errands, two walks for winnie, zoom piano in the evening for ashford. our next-door neighbor josh brought us over some horchata boba tea, which was so nice. i love all our neighbors. 

thatcher sent this picture of him by the pacific ocean on his work trip. 

thursday was busy. i went to the gym, worked, and ran some errands. in the evening, ashford had baseball practice (in the rain!) and azalea went to watch a choir concert at school that a couple of her friends were in. lots of pickups and drop offs for me. thatcher got home from LA in the evening. 

friday was a whirlwind day. it got up to 86 degrees, which is a kind of heat i'm not ready for :) ashford had an all-day rocketry field trip with the entire 6th grade. he came home exhausted and sunburned despite putting on sunscreen. i had lunch with my mom at 'red cow' in uptown. she wanted to thank me for watering her plants for her while she was in florida. the funny/sad thing is, i unintentionally killed some of them. oops! in the evening, we had a going-away party for our neighbors mary and ken who have lived on this block since 1979! of course we have only known them for 8 months, but we were happy to be a small part of it. our neighbor paula across the street asked if they could set up in our front yard since it's open and flat and we agreed. she had food and drinks catered by 'surdyks' and everything was so delicious. lots of people who used to live on the block came, so it was fun to meet them. at one point there were probably 40 people there. 

 i actually double booked my evening. weeks ago, i had signed up to do a memorial walk for a woman named molly who i knew growing up. she passed away in 2014 at age 32 from an undetected heart condition, and her friends and family started a foundation to do scholarships for female high school seniors going into STEM and they have a gathering and a walk every may. my friend caylia goes every year with her family. i met them at the park where the group gathers and we ended up just hanging out and catching up and not doing the walk, which was fine. then i headed back to the block party and hung out for 2 more hours. whew! 

saturday morning ashford had his first baseball game of the season. it was at 9am all the way across the city, which meant an early morning for us. by game time only 5 of the 11 kids on his team had shown up. siiiigh. so they had to forfeit and do a scrimmage instead. the other team leant some players for the outfield. hopefully next game will get more kids. ashford still had a great time. he hit a double and pitched a couple of innings. they scored more runs than the other team, but of course they couldn't count it as a win. it was really fun to see my brother out there coaching too.

i walked winnie in the afternoon (it was a gorgeous 79 degree day). thatcher took his parents to a memorial for his mom's aunt out in otsego. after he got back, our family met my friend em and her fiancée mike for an early dinner at 'rosalia' in our neighborhood. then em, mike, and i headed downtown for the charlie puth concert! we bought the tickets a couple months back after seeing him perform the national anthem at the superbowl. i've always enjoyed his music, but i started following him on social media and fell in love with his voice, personality, and his music nerdery. the show was at 'the armory' which has been a concert venue for quite few years now, but it was my first time there. i was a little worried about standing all night, but it actually was a great experience. spacious, easy access to bathrooms, the bar, etc. and charlie was such a great performer. so talented and he just exudes joy. it was such a fun night. 

sunday morning winnie woke us up at 5:40, which was rough after two late nights in a row. it was thatcher's turn to get up with her, so i got to sleep in a little bit :) we made biscuits and eggs for breakfast. then thatcher and i headed to lowe's and home depot in plymouth to look at patio dining sets. i've been itching to get one since the weather warmed up. we found one we liked at home depot, but the boxes were too big to fit in our car, so we did the same-day home delivery option for $35. not bad! we got the table assembled, but the chairs will be our project for this week. i can't wait to see it all come together. the rest of the day was spent working in the yard, getting groceries, and cleaning. the weekend absolutely flew by. we had another fun thunderstorm sunday night. may 17th was always the big syttende mai parade in ballard. i saw some pictures and video clips on social media and it made me miss being there so much. i guess i'm destined to a lifetime of longing for the places i've lived. 

this week is more baseball, another (mini) band concert for ashford, and getting ready to go to seattle on sunday!!!!