Spring

We came home from California, and decided we needed to get rid of the ice in our backyard! It's always fun to remember how cold our Spring still is!!

Well, we filled our Spring with a lot of basketball this year. Bentley and Deacon both did Spring ball with FYB. Bentley had Allison coaching, and Deacon had his Uncle Scott. Bentley had lots of friends from school on her team and Deacon had Bryce. They just had practices once a week and they both got to participate in the 2 Alley-Oop tournaments that Scott put together this year - one in April and one in June. They took place at the Olympic Oval, with courts spread throughout, and food and merch on the sides. They were quite the events! The kids had the time of their lives running around with their friends in between games, but it was a fair bit of work for Jeff and I who had to help with set-up and take down, and score keep 6 games in total, all while wrangling Boston and Leo. The kids played great and they gave out some really cool rings for prizes. They both ended up with a bronze and a gold. 

I've also been trying some new meals lately and really been enjoying salmon bowls, shrimp tacos, and trying out new recipes from the cookbook "Seriously, So Good." Even if our kids don't always love them, it's still okay to try new things once in a while!

 One night I took Deacon on a date to a place called "Mirror, mirror," which was a pop up at Chinook mall. It was really neat to walk through and see all the different exhibits inside with different lights, fog, lasers, photos, etc. We went to Snowy Village afterwards, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with Deacon. He always has such a good attitude and is so fun to be around. 

I threw a little surprise party for Jeff's birthday this year. Well, I told him before people showed up, but he believed for a while that I hadn't done anything! Then I told him people were coming over. I made a bunch of Appy's and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends. The following day I had a surgery, so I was glad I could squeeze that in. 

Bentley decorated a Mother's Day cake at Activity Days and it was so cute and delicious! Mother's Day was low key since I was recovering from surgery, but the kids got me some flowers and the cards from school are always the best part.

I finally got around to potty training Boston! I had tried earlier in the year, with no luck, so had decided to wait. I needed to get him trained before September so he can go to preschool. So I gave it another go in May, and it started off very slow. He didn't seem to be getting it at all! I even brought in Dakota for reinforcements. He spent a lot of time sitting on the potty, but didn't really seem to be making much progress. Then one night, I was about to put a pull-up on him and decided to give it one last try. I put the little potty in his room and told him to use it in the night and keep his bed dry. I told him this thinking there was no way it would actually work, but then in the morning I went in and was shocked to see that he was dry and there was pee in the potty! I literally couldn't believe it. The whole next day he stayed dry and went to the potty on his own when he needed to. It was like a switch and I think he just had to decide for himself that he wanted to do it without us bugging him! Every since then, he's been practically perfect with both number 1 and 2, day and night! It was stressful and annoying at the beginning, but in the end he turned out to be one of the easiest. I found the cutest balloon for him at Save-on Foods the says #Done! and I had to get it for him to congratulate him. He didn't care much for treats, but the balloon was a hit. It was also funny because he didn't want to wear underwear, so I just let him go commando for months. I didn't mind, as long as he stayed dry. (In August, Bentley bribed him and he finally decided to wear underwear from then on). 

The last photos on here are of puzzles and games, just the usual things we do when the weather isn't great. We tried out some new games by Grandpa Beck, like the birds and the bees, and they are fun! When the weather got warm in June, we did lots of parks, of course. Leo is great at riding his bike, and Boston loves riding in the stroller. Bentley tie-dyed a shirt at Activity Days, and did a cookie stand with Madi that actually made lots of money! Jeff and I went to Joey for a date night after shopping at the mall. We love our dates, and they are getting easier now that Bentley can babysit! She is still young, so we will often get a babysitter for long periods of time, but Bentley is a very capable girl.