April

 Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen!

Bridgette participated in a strings ensemble for our Easter service at church.  The ensemble helped accompany the children's choir singing "A Gospel Song."  I was grateful to help put the music together for our service and always enjoy practicing with the kiddos at our church!

Chesed and I co-hosted Easter lunch.  We had a full house for lunch, including Steve and Vallerie!  Then the Broggis hosted dessert and an egg hunt for the kids.  Fun was had by all. =)

Me, Chesed (co-hosting neighbor), and Shannon (previous owner of our home!)

Bridgette is motivated to keep practicing her basketball skills in the off season

Bridgette and her duet partner participated in an adjudicated music festival.  They received the highest score of "1" for their pair of violin duet pieces.

Shenanigans.  Always shenanigans.

Hello Eclipse!

It's become somewhat of a spring tradition that when the weather finally warms up enough, we get on our bikes and head to Playa Bowls for lunch.

Happy Birthday to Kaye K!  Since we couldn't share her birthday dessert, we went out for mexican popsicles (paletas) in her honor and sent her this photo =)  She introduced us to the popsicle shop and they are super yummy!

Gretchen joined friends to get ready for a formal dance being put on by the homeschool co-op we are a part of.  Getting ready together is as much fun as the dance itself, right?  Everyone had a great time!

Rooke's next season of basketball is under way.  Bridgette and I had the privilege of accompanying Rooke to a tournament in New York City!  The game schedule perfectly allowed us plenty of time to be tourists in the city while still catch Rooke in all his games.

We rode the (free!) Staten Island ferry to lower Manhattan.  We got off the ferry at 9:00am and walked all. morning. long. until we stopped for delicious pizza.  Bridgette is a fantastic travel buddy!  She was up for the adventure, walked everywhere without complaint, and asked great questions as we took in the sights and sounds of NYC.

The purpose for the trip was to get Rooke to his games and watch him play basketball.  The major bonuses of the trip were getting to spend a day in Manhattan with Bridgette, visiting North Shore Baptist Church, and eating extra yummy food along the way!

Meanwhile, Ryan was sharing photos of his extra yummy treat during the church men's retreat!

And since our family clearly enjoys eating and sharing yummy food, I also received this photo from Gretchen while she was out on a Daddy date after her night away on a youth retreat.

March

 

The month started with Rooke's school hosting a basketball tournament.  The school body isn't typically hyped about coming to the games (the school heavily emphasizes academics), but the tournament was a fun event that a lot of students showed up for.

Some of the guys figured out I was taking a photo - ha!

Dear friends out for the night with Aunt Vallerie

Bridgette played in her age group all-star game!  

Rooke and Phil with a little 1v1 after Bridgette's game

Her last night as an eleven-year-old

Happy 12th Birthday, Bridgette!  Ryan took her EARLY to get cronoughts (their tradition)

Then she drove the boys' carpool with me and got a drink on the way home

At age 12 Bridgette is an extrovert extreme!  She loves basketball, Adventures in Odyssey, time with friends, crochet, reading her Bible, watching Dude Perfect, Starbucks refreshers, and although she can't help but grow up she is still ok with enjoying some "kid" things 

Gretchen and I took her out for lunch, her choice: Vietnamese pho

Happy Birthday from her friends!  We are so thankful for her great group of friends

The girls and I were grateful for a visit from Leia and her girls!

I tried a new thing: making sourdough pasta.  I have since improvised and found a better system for drying the noodles, but this was my first try - ha!

History Day at the girls' homeschool co-op.  Both girls dressed up as a "character" from a specific time period they studied and shared two recitations with their class.

We had friends from church over for lunch and after we shared our meal, Ryan took care of their little one so our friend could take care of our big guy =)

Hosting youth group night started with a game of Knockout in the driveway

For Spring break, we headed north and spent a few nights in the Poconos of Pennsylvania.  Rooke drove most of the four hours and I relegated myself and my nervous comments to the back seat where I could read and not pay attention to his driving - ah!  We enjoyed time hiking, playing games, visiting the local town, eating out, and spending a few days together away from the normal routines at home.