Millie had her first birthday on May 12, so she's definitely seeming more like a cat than a kitten, but she's still pretty amusing. And she still loves laundry...

and baskets.

The California lilacs were over-the-top beautiful this year. I've never seen them so vibrant before. Of course the picture doesn't do it justice, but this was on a hike I took with a friend.

It was musical theater season this spring, and the girls and I saw a few shows at local schools. We started with Pirates of Penzance. I thought it was a high school production, but it ended up being performed by a  middle school. It's a hard show for middle schoolers, but they did a good job.

Our middle school did Wizard of Oz, and it was outstanding!

We also watched Classical Academy High School's "The Addams Family." It was kind of a weird show, but they did a great job. 

Hannah's good friend, Hannah, was in it.

We had a chilly Easter this year. Neither set of grandparents were in town, so we had a lovely Easter at the Meister's house.

Millie still likes to cuddle, which I love.

She's pretty cute wherever she sleeps.

The solar eclipse on April 8th was a big deal in my extended family because my sister lives in the path of totality. My parents and brother were all there together and loved getting to see it. We had a much less impressive experience at our house, but we still got to see the little crescent suns using the colander.

My dear friend Nicky, who is battling Multiple Systems Atrophy, and I got to walk around the beautiful UTC shopping center because she was staying at a temporary care place nearby. We had such a fun time and enjoyed some delicious macarons!

We were going through some hand-me-downs from a family at church, and somehow the girls convinced Joey to try on these shorts. We thought it would be so fun if he rocked them at a basketball game.

I don't know what it is with cats and boxes, but our cats are obsessed with any kind of box, even pizza boxes, evidently. 

One morning Ellie babysat our pastor's daughter while his wife and I went out for coffee. 

Hannah's club volleyball team hosted a gala to raise money for their team. I went as a chaperone.

I don't even know what is happening in this picture.

In Sunday School, Andy was teaching the kids the story of Mary and Martha. The kids loved acting out Mary sitting at "Jesus's" feet and Martha cleaning.

Hannah discovered a new dessert. You crumble chocolate chip cookie dough all over half a croissant and bake it. It's ridiculously good!

Hannah took Art 1 and 2 this year, and they had an art show at the end of the year. Hannah had a few pieces in the show, including a portrait of her great grandpa, Grandpa Hammond,

and this paintbrush drawing.

The last musical we watched this spring was Calvin Christian's "Mary Poppins." Our sweet pastor's daughter is usually the stage manager of Calvin's shows, but this time she was on stage as Mrs. Banks. Our other friend Jenna was also in it. 

Ellie had a bunch of friends over one day, so I made this snacky charcuterie board with chicken nuggets, quesadillas, frozen pizzas and fruit. 

It was a big hit!

As always, the girls ended up in the pool. 

May 4th was a special day this year, and not for any Star Wars related reasons. My sweet cousin Kelsey got married. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got from the wedding because I was too busy catching up with my extended family. It was extra fun because Timmy and Jill came out for the wedding!

Ellie had her friend Gianna over to hang out one day. The cats were really interested in them doing their nails.

Milo had to sit in the basket, of course.

Ellie's school has something called "Color Wars" every year where every grade gets assigned a color, and the grade level that is wearing the most of that color wins. Ellie was thrilled that the sixth graders, Team Purple, won!

For Mother's Day this year, I told Andy and the kids that all I wanted was a new toaster oven and some nice homemade cards. 

Andy picked out a nice toaster oven, and the kids came through on the cards. I loved them so much!

Ellie is definitely the queen of play dates around here. This was another one with sweet Olivia.

Speaking of Ellie, she won the "Thinker Award" for her class this year. 

Here she is with her fifth grade teacher (on the left) and her sixth grade teacher (on the right).

Andy and Hannah had a date night to Cenote Grill, a cute little Mexican restaurant nearby.

I already posted about Joey going to prom, but it makes me laugh that he went to prom on Saturday and two days later he got his wisdom teeth out. What a difference a couple of days makes! Recovery was a little rougher than he imagined, but he handled it well. 

My friends and I went on a hike to Potato Chip rock in Poway. It was a long hike but fun to finally see it in person.

We didn't get a great picture on the actual rock, but at least we got something to prove our accomplishment!

Millie and laundry...like a moth to the flame.

Our family loves watching the show, "Psych" together. We finished the series a while ago, and just recently watched the last movie. In honor of that, we made our own version of a joke menu item from the show called "Quatro Queso Dos Fritos." We basically ordered carne asada fries from our favorite Mexican place, and then added toasted tater tots and queso. It was pretty amazing! 

It's still my favorite when these two cuddle together.

Our pastor and his family recently moved back to Florida. The elders and our two pastors had one last night out together.

Andy recently got a new office and office mate at work. He thought it would be funny to hang portraits of the two of them so he worked his Photoshop magic and put them on canvases. His office mate loved them.

 And we end with more cuddling!