The Keene Family

This past weekend, there were two birthdays in our family. First, we celebrated my grandma's 90th birthday with a family reunion. It was so fun to see cousins who I haven't seen in ages, and meet their children and spouses, and be all together again. We missed only two cousins (my brother, and one other) so it was pretty successful considering we have family living in eight states. She didn't want "a big fuss." All the grandchildren (minus two!) All the great-grandchildren (minus five!) Working on crafts at the kids' table The whole group On Sunday, we celebrated my mom's birthday. We went out to Chinese food, a favorite for my mom, the kids, and me. Then we opened gifts and had cake and ice cream at my parents' house. One of my mom's gifts was a new game, Wits & Wagers Family Edition. We played before dessert and it was a lot of fun! Preston and Haley were a team, and they won! Guess who's hap...

We kicked off Valentine's Weekend with me being the parent helper at Haley's school for her party and bringing her class Haley's half-birthday cupcakes. Haley's placemat for her party Delivering Valentines Parent Helper After lunch, Grandma Keene, Travis, and Russell came over for the afternoon and dinner. We played a lot and wore out the cousins! Haley also had a personal best on the monkey bars: six in a row. Russell got glasses... soooo cute! On Saturday, we went to workout and did some "school pages," as the kids call it. I got two new books for the kids that have some great practice activities for afternoon post-lunch quiet time. Then after lunch, we gave the kids our Valentine's gift: a bag with a letter and some envelopes for a weekend full of surprises. Envelope 1 wasn't really a surprise: Haley and Jim's Dad & Daughter date to Husky gymnastics, and JT and I had our friends Lisa and Trent over for...

This weekend, we took the kids and met the Schmalz family at the Seattle RV Show. The kids were so excited to walk around and look at different RVs. I remember thinking that was super fun too. Actually, it was fun as an adult. :) We would love to get a camper someday, to complement our camping-truck-boating package. Jim has been looking at campers for a couple of years just to get a feel for options, market, brands, layouts, etc so when the time is right - a few years from now at least - we'll be ready. I hadn't spent any time in any of this, so it was great to see some options in real life and talk about possibilities. The campers at this year's boat show would be in good used condition when we're finally ready to buy. Testing out our options Some campers have couches. That seat four. Some have recliners. That seat two. And some have bunk beds, even though all four children fit on one bed!

The Keene Kids participated in Blue Friday for the first time ever. We don't usually watch Seahawks but we couldn't miss out on thte big #repete, and Grandma Keene made sure they had jerseys. Haley got a skirt from Stella & Lily too! Saturday, JT had a big cheering section for his basketball game. Uncle Jeff was in town, Preston came, and Grandpa Cole made it even though he had full knee replacement less than two weeks prior. Grandma Cole helped keep his leg elevated during the game. :) It's a good thing they were there, because JT made his first two points in regulation play. It is pretty exciting. The best part was seeing his humble smile as he jogged back down the court. The moment! He wasn't feeling his best after fighting a cold all week, so he got some special attention from the assistant coach when he rotated out. (We found out Monday he had a double ear infection - no wonder!) Saturday afternoon, Haley had her Cubbies Special Day. All of t...