Tag Archives: St. Mary Catholic School Spokane

2025 Homemade Mother’s Day Gifts

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As I have echoed my own mom’s words in past blog posts, homemade Mother’s Day gifts are simply the best. Once again this year, St. Mary Catholic School offered the initiative/thought while our kids supplied the creativity to produce some special gifts for Sidney.

Let’s open up these gift bags and see what is inside!

First, let’s start with Beau. You know if the gift bag has a cute pun on it that the contents should be halfway decent…

Based on the pun, any idea what is inside?

Beau gave Sid a cilantro starter kit. Everything she needs to grow the herb is in the pot that Beau painted himself. Thanks to the handsome photo of himself, there will be no confusion on who gifted his mommy the cilantro wants it begins to grow.

Beau gave Sidney this cilantro kit.

Sloan channeled her inner-Picasso for the second straight year. However, instead of the stunning portrait she made of Sid last year (which I loved), Sloan painted this moody landscape to be hung at the most highly-visible spot in our house.

Sloan painted this for Sid.

As a bonus, Sloan also filled in this sheet for Sidney. However, I think as kids grow in age, these things just get more mundane because this is probably the most boring/least funny/straight forward “All About Mom” exercise I have ever seen.

These have sadly become pretty straight forward as Sloan has gotten older.

In addition to the above beautiful gifts, the kids also helped serve breakfast in bed to Sidney. I hope your Mother’s Day was just as sweet as the cinnamon sugar pancakes we made for her. Don’t Blink.

BOGO Thursday Rundown

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Good evening and thanks once again for choosing to read Don’t Blink. Even if you do choose to only come for the Thursdays, you are always welcome. Let’s begin this rundown…

Latest Chuck E. Cheese Outing – I have written a lot over the past several years about my family’s acceptance of Chuck E. Cheese. We have taken our kids there frequently over the years and even held a birthday there. Our “home” Chuck E. Cheese in the Spokane Valley recently went through an update and it looks great inside! I took the kids for a visit on President’s Day to play the new games and have some fun. I am glad to report that Sloan and Beau did indeed have fun, but it did come at a price. The unlimited hourly rate for a child is now $32. If I didn’t have a special BOGO offer, it would have been $64. Those prices make any of the area trampoline parks seem like cheap entertainment.

Sloan and Beau with the mouse himself at the Spokane Valley Chuck E. Cheese on Monday, Feb. 17.

100th Day of School – It was the 100th Day of School at St. Mary last week and the Pre-K4 class decided to dress up as centenarians. Sid dressed Beau in suspenders and dusted his hair with powder. Our son also brought in 100 Lego pieces for the occasion. If you remember, Sloan brought in raffle tickets when tasked with bringing in 100 items.

Beau dressed up as an old man on the 100th day of school.

Stephen King – When you think of Stephen King, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably horror. But believe it or not, he also writes thrillers and crime novels too. After completing Billy Summers not too long ago, I decided to read another non-scary book of King’s—Mr. Mercedes. When you don’t have to worry about giving yourself nightmares, you will be surprised at how great King’s writing is. With superb character development, plenty of humor mixed in, and masterful storytelling, his books really are page-turners. I completed Mr. Mercedes earlier this week and might consider reading the other two books in the trilogy.

Me clutching my library copy of “Mr. Mercedes.”

Post Office Birthday – On this date in 1792, President George Washington established the U.S. Post Office. What a glorious day! Although USPS has fallen on tough times lately, I never cease to sing its praises. The fact that you can slap a stamp on a letter and have it delivered anywhere in the nation has always fascinated me. In fact, it has done more than just “fascinate” me, it has pushed me to action. I love to send cards and letters and do so on a very constant basis. Almost 12 years ago, I even offered a promotion within this blog that resulted in many of my readers receiving personal mail from me! Also, back in 2021, my recommended gift of the holiday season was a book of stamps. There is nothing else to say but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USPS!

I love USPS.

Mr. Walker Steps Out – My kids and I read so many books together that it has to be a special story to really stand out. Well, Beau and I read a pretty creative one earlier this week. Called Mr. Walker Steps Out by Lisa Graff, the story chronicles the “life” of a “person” who serves as the walk icon within a traffic light at a random intersection. One day, he becomes bored with his job and walks out of the light box. He strolls around town and enjoys his newfound freedom. However, after a while, he wanders back to his former intersection just in time to witness the makings of disaster. He jumps to action and saves a little girl crossing the street. The icon climbs back into his box with a greater appreciation for what he does.

Beau stands next to “Mr. Walker Steps Out.”

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That covers it for tonight. Thanks for taking the time to read my randomness! If you aren’t too busy, write a quick letter to a loved one, place it in an envelope, throw on a stamp, and drop it in the mailbox. Don’t Blink.

Valentine’s Eve Thursday Rundown

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Brrrrrrr. It has been a cold week here in the Inland Northwest. Temperatures have plummeted below zero a few times, making me feel very blessed to have a warm house but also sad for those I drive by each day that don’t. Let’s begin tonight’s rundown…

Spider-Man Cake – This was Beau’s birthday cake. Actually, it is Beau’s birthday cake because we still have quite a bit stored in our freezer. But it should come as no surprise that our little guy requested a Spider-Man cake. This white cake with strawberry filling was baked at Walmart and the coolest part was by far the eyes on the Spider-Man decorative emblem that lit up.

This was Beau’s Spider-Man birthday cake from Walmart.

Valentine Prep – I thought this picture perfectly captures what second graders across the country can be found doing the night before their Valentine’s Day party. Sloan used our kitchen table to sprawl out her supplies and then got to work preparing Valentine’s for each of her classmates. Since St. Mary doesn’t have school on Friday, Valentine celebrations were held today.

If you have young children, you might have a similar scene at your kitchen table tonight.

A Disappointed Quartet – Let me introduce you to four very disappointed Kansas City Chiefs fans. Both my kids and their cousins, Mik and John, had high hopes that the Chiefs would beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much to cheer about. And when you are that age, you don’t always understand the complexities and realities of sports, thus making it hard for the kids to understand why Kansas City played so poorly. Sloan took the loss the hardest as she was 100% sure that Travis Kelce was going to propose to Taylor Swift if his team won.

This quarter was not pleased with the outcome of the Super Bowl.

NICU Reminder – This photo was taken five years ago on this date. Every February, I take time to reflect on Beau’s journey in the NICU and to thank God for his grace and for the superb medical care that Beau received. I mention a lot about how Sid and I present at retreats for engaged couples, and we always describe how this experience increased our faith and drew us closer together. My blog post about the saga was ranked as my #1 entry of all time during the 10th anniversary of Don’t Blink.

Sidney holds Beau in the McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, South Carolina.

Valentine’s Eve – For the first time in many years, Sid and I have Valentine’s Day plans tomorrow evening! Although we haven’t done much on the holiday in recent memory, we don’t hold the “trendy” contempt against Valentine’s Day like many others do. Whether you celebrate it or not, I think we can all be enlightened by learning about the holiday’s namesake. Sloan will tell you that St. Valentine is the patron saint of love and that he married couples at a time when a war general prohibited it because he thought marriage made soldiers weak. St. Valentine was jailed and challenged to heal the jailer’s blind daughter—which he did! Despite his incredible feats, like so many other saints, Valentine was martyred.

Sloan learned a lot about St. Valentine at school. She colored a picture of him in kindergarten. St. Valentine, pray for us!

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Try to stay warm, friends. Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, I hope you can find something redeeming about the holiday and enjoy it. Don’t Blink.

Golden Rings At St. Mary Catholic School

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Watch a “First Day of School” video of Sloan and Beau

It seems hard to believe, but our family started our FIFTH year at St. Mary Catholic School today. Sloan kicked things off in the Pre-K3 program in the fall of 2020 and now she is a big, bad second grader. More on that in just a moment.

Today was the first day of school for Sloan and Beau at St. Mary in Spokane Valley.

This “golden ring” year (get it?) for our family brings with it the most confidence and optimism for a school year yet. Principal and friend Stephen Hart introduced so many positive changes during his debut year in 2023-24 that the school couldn’t be in a better spot as the doors swung open this morning. Among the many improvements last year, the best part was just the overall embracing of a strong, devout Catholic culture. Thank you, Mr. Hart!

Stephen Hart, principal of St. Mary Catholic School, welcomes Sloan on the first day of the 2024-25 school year.

Okay, back to Sloan. She will spend her second grade year in Mrs. Abbie DeRuyter’s class. Sloan’s close-knit group of classmates will be joined by three new peers this year—all girls! I know our daughter looks forward to getting to know them while Sid and I are excited to welcome their parents and families.

Sloan sitting at her desk ready to start her first day of second grade.

Actually, we already know one of the “new” parents really well. The mom of one of the second grade newcomers is Mrs. Kristen Mead, the leader of the St. Mary Pre-K4 classroom and Beau’s teacher this year! With Beau’s Pre-K3 class in close proximity to Mrs. Mead’s class last year, we got to know her a little bit. We can’t wait for Beau to learn from her.

Beau sitting at his desk ready to start his first day of Pre-K4.

A big change for Beau from last year to this year is that his school day is now all-day. What better way to get him ready for kindergarten, right? Much to the satisfaction of mom and dad, Beau is still a napper so he will have to adjust his schedule a bit now that he is attending school all-day like a big boy.

My kids on our porch prior to their first day of the 2024-25 school year at St. Mary Catholic School.

One item that needed no adjustment on the schedules of my children was wake up time this morning. Sloan and Beau attended summer school at St. Paschal Educare the past couple months and were used to rising early. Because of that, there was no shock getting up at 6:30 a.m. for today’s first day.

It is going to be another great school year at St. Mary Catholic School!

Here we go! Another year at St. Mary Catholic School is underway and I know it will be a blessed one. Please pray for the teachers and students not just at my children’s school but everywhere. Don’t Blink.