April 2013 – Casa Camisas

I Like to Look for Rainbows

April 23, 2013 brookeshelf1 Comment

My Eleanor got baptized!

Lucky girl — both sets of grandparents were able to come to Seattle for the event. There were also so many friends there; it was wonderful to see how much love there is for this little girl. This was a really spiritual experience for me, and I do not say that lightly. (Or often.)

Unlike in Utah, where the Stake Primary organized everything, we put together everything ourselves (with some help from the ward mission leader). Everyone in the family participated: William lead the music (Katie assisted by doing interpretive dance during the songs), and Jeffrey and I played a duet of “Keep the Commandments” on the piano.

Grandma Shirts gave a talk about baptism, and Grandma Newey gave one about the Holy Ghost.

When Katie saw Eleanor in the water, she got upset and really wanted to get in, too. Grandma Shirts explained that it wasn’t her turn. This placated Katie for a moment, but then lead to her demanding “My turn!” during Eleanor’s confirmation. Just wait about six more years, baby girl . . .

Naturally, this was all followed up by the traditional game of dodgeball in the church gym.

What great kids — what a wonderful evening!

Down and Derby

April 15, 2013April 14, 2013 brookeshelf1 Comment

Jeffrey and Brian sanded this wedge-shaped car for about two weeks, whenever they have a spare moment or just feel like fidgeting. Nothin’ like a pinewood derby car to bring out your inner fussbudget.

Jeff didn’t want to paint it, mainly because he has found the car that I “made” as part of a YW activity as a teenager. I was a junior in high school, super busy, and didn’t remember to work on it until just a few hours before, so I drew with markers all over the plain wooden block and then nailed wheels to it. Dubbed “The Brick,” it did okay in the races.

Anyway, as a result, Jeff wanted an unpainted car that he could draw on with markers as well. I readily admit that his car is 100x cooler than mine, though. The “J+B” on the side stands for Jeff + Brooke, although I think it should stand for Jeff + Brian as well.

I’m a little sad that I had to miss the race itself, since it conflicted with a Girl Scout activity. Just a few more years until Wimmy’s making them, though (unless I can manage to finagle a heat for the Activity Day girls).

PawPaw Days: Snoqualmie Falls

April 14, 2013 brookeshelfLeave a comment

My parents are here for a whole week! Fun times for everyone, but especially for those of us who get to watch Katie try to figure out their names.

Right now, she refers to both of them as PawPaw. And occasionally she will specify my mother as PawPaw Suzie. Meanwhile, Katie refers to her paternal grandparents as PawPaw and Randy.

Today after church the weather was sunny, so we took a drive out to Snoqualmie Falls (one of the “Top 20 Places in Seattle to Take Your Mother,” according to one of the random websites we found).

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but probably not this:

Majestic, no? Lots of people compare it to Niagara Falls, which is nice, but I’m guessing that those people have never been to Niagara Falls. Snoqualmie is much, much less terrifying.

Although, Niagara is probably a teensy bit easier to get a group photo with.

Yay! Here we are standing in front of a railing! With some mist!

Jeffrey is wincing because he fell asleep in the car on the drive. So did Eleanor and William. Katie, having taken her nap before the drive, stayed awake and chirped the whole time about PawPaw and allllll the fun things she wanted to do with PawPaw.

Seriously, she’s been insisting that PawPaw Suzie read her stories at bedtime instead of me. That. NEVER. Happens.

OCHO!

April 14, 2013 brookeshelfLeave a comment

A riddle: What has an adorable gap-toothed smile and enough energy to power Wisconsin?

ELEANOR ON HER BIRTHDAY. Seriously, I could barely get the girl to calm down. But who can blame her? I’d be putting Keds-marks on the walls if I got to wear a spiffy loopy-rainbow headband . . .

. . . and had a good dozen of my friends show up for my birthday . . .

(this is only half of the kids who came)

. . . and got to have a giant cookie cake.

(“Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!”)

The sort-of theme for the birthday party was “Milk & Bookies,” inspired by this particular non-profit. Instead of presents, the guests were asked to bring a book to donate to the Treehouse, a foundation that gives support to children in foster care. We played book-ish themed games, I read stories (Epossumondas and The Princess and the Pig) and then everyone ate milk and cookies.

There were far, far more children at the party than we expected. In the past, usually about 30% of the invites can’t come, but that wasn’t the case this year. Whooo, boy. Our final group activity was “Everyone Go Play Outside,” which they did. With gusto.