The Keene Family

This year, Haley had a speaking/singing part in our church children's production, Three Little Trees . She practiced the songs for weeks at home and even had a weeknight rehearsal. She was awesome as Tree 1! She sang so clearly and nailed her lines! We came home and took a quick obligatory Easter photo before heading to Grandma and Grandpa Cole's house for Easter dinner. We were joined by Grandpa and Grandma Keene - yay! Guess what else? The deer didn't eat ALL of my tulips this year. This makes me happy. Missing from Easter weekend was Jim, who went with our friend Heath to visit our friend Sean in Hawaii. Rough life. :) They hiked and surfed and ran and sat on the beach and ate yummy steaks and enjoyed sunshine and relaxation away from the stress of daily life for a short two days. 😍

This spring, JT decided to continue playing basketball. So did Sawyer. So did Ryder. So we signed them up for spring league midweek basketball. Then, the next day, we found out about a weekend tournament club team with a coach who we had heard was amazing. Hmmmm… We generally ask JT and Haley to choose only one activity per season. But in this case, the commitment to join two basketball teams was a) about the same commitment as playing club baseball last spring, and b) the same gear, and c) with the same friends, so lots of carpool options. I asked JT if he wanted to, and he said, "Let's do it!" So did Sawyer. So did Ryder. We had our first weekend tournament last weekend. The boys got their new uniforms and looked super sharp! They lost all three games. They played so hard and just couldn't find their spot. Plus, some of the boys are newer to basketball and the team's only been together for a few weeks. We took them out for dinner after, and they...

On Satuday, April 13, our (great) grandma passed away peacefully. Julia Christensen was 94 years old and had lived a full life. She was ready to meet Jesus in eternity! We are so grateful that we had many, many years and memories with her. I pulled a variety of photos from the past few years as a wonderful reminder of how we got to share life with her.

We went to see the opening night of The Diary of Anne Frank at Seattle Children's Theater. I prepped the kids with the basics of the storyline: World War II, Holocaust, Nazis, Jews. They were concerned. It felt like a very heavy topic (and it is!). We had dinner on the ferry, as usual, and the kids were not especially looking forward to a "learning play," as they call it. We got settled into great seats and waited to learn. :) It turns out, the production is wonderful. Both kids laughed several times, and came away with lots of great thoughts. They had so many great thoughts that we talked for a good 20 minutes on the way home until both declared they needed a break from the hard thinking, and could we please listen to Harry Potter 5? Afterward, JT commented that he might be interested to read the diary itself. I noted that it can be a tough read (I remember dragging myself through) but definitely worth his time. Then I found this fabulous graphic novel repres...

Over spring break I decided to take JT and Haley on a hike. We invited their friends Sawyer and Jozie and made a whole afternoon out of it. We had so much fun! It was five miles of great attitudes and having fun getting dirty. This is the view to the west... And this is the view to the east - Seattle is over there if you look closely. I was so glad Sawyer had hiked this before and remembered to hike a little farther up the hill so we could see the other side and the Seattle skyline.

Birthday weekend started on Friday, when I got to take my time getting ready for the day while my family scurried about getting ready for school and making my breakfast. Jim made his famous overnight French toast! We also had bacon and a berry bowl, and he made me my over-medium eggs and hot water with lemon too.  I got to open gifts at breakfast, and I loved how thoughtful everyone was in selecting presents for me! When we got ready to leave for Crystal for the weekend, I found something special on my seat in the truck... And then we skied! Three days of spring skiing together. It was glorious. I also got a new hat. I can't wait to wear it on the beach this summer! We have so much fun together in the camper - playing cards and games, watching movies, hanging out, and playing in the snow. On Sunday, we tried out the chapel service on the mountain. It is ski in/out and it was really good! We will definitely go again when we...