Family of Four: May 2026

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

8th grade graduation

We had a graduation party with family for Owen finishing 8th grade. We had pizza and cake with some time together outside!

Like with Willow's graduation, they didn't invite parents on campus, they just provided the livestream of the ceremony for the students. Again, like Willow's, the audio was really bad and hard to understand. Here are my horrible pictures of my computer screen at school when he got an award:

He's growing up fast and catching up in height to his dad!

He had his picture in the local newspaper to be recognized with his peers who earned all As through middle school! (He's the one NOT wearing his graduation shirt...he gets that from his dad)

That shirt is fitting pretty well! Hopefully it'll still fit for high school graduation!

Dance Recital

Willow's rec class performed their contemporary dance in the spring recital, along with her dances from her competitive teams. It was sweet to see Willow have some solos in the song!

Willow has 3 classes that she student teaches for. She was on stage for 2 of them.

Beauty and the Beast

All Shook Up

One last gift for Emerson!

Always supported!

Not a great picture because they were all crying. It was quite a sob-fest behind the curtain after the final dance!

Strawberry picking

One of my favorite May traditions is going strawberry picking. It was my Mother's Day request! We quickly picked 3 gallons and found some yummy treats in the shop!

Kids playing with kids:

Is there anything cuter than a bunny's mouth eating???

Band Performance

We enjoyed Owen's spring band concert! It was exciting to see him be selected to stand for a saxophone solo for the first time!

Jazz songs:Song 1Ain't Misbehavin'Fat Burger (solo in this song)8th grade band songs:

Awkward middle school friend pictures:

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Happy 17th birthday, Willow!

Willow had a whole Pinterest board for her 17th birthday! Hopefully all of her visions came true!

She picked a Mexican restaurant for her birthday lunch since her party was on her actual birthday and her friends would be over for dinner. We told the waiter because we heard someone else being sung to and saw they got a dessert. We weren't expecting this! (insert panic when some whipped cream dropped on her new dress that she was keeping on for her party later in the day!)

We went with a cake lady who was recommended by a coworker. She matched Willow's cake picture perfectly and the cake was insanely good (and she was super kind!)!!

A friend from church came over to make this balloon arch similar to what she'd found on Pinterest. It was all about the pictures!!

A colleague of mine made this banner for her with a combination of her ideas from Pinterest. It turned out great (also for pictures!)!

Charcuterie boards:

She invited friends from youth group. The friends who were able to come were super kind and well-mannered...my favorite to have over! The boys were even good sports with all the pictures and posing!