Spring-Summer

Tomorrow is the last day of school! The calendar says it's spring, but it's the beginning of our summer. It seems like I just watched Braylen walk to middle school for the first time, and now here we are. He received some awards at the 6th grade recognition assembly last week, and I want to do a little bragging on him. :) For the first time ever, one of our kids received a perfect attendance award--Braylen! He also scored high on his achievement tests, WordMasters tests, and was one of seven students to receive the "big" award of the year from his team teachers. It's for "demonstrating safety, respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness throughout the school year and doing so in such a manner that makes him a standout from other students." Go Braylen! My God be glorified through your life! We are SO thankful for an incredible year of 6th grade!!!

Kaleb's been very busy at school these past two weeks, and I will post more about his activities another time. When I asked him what he will miss the most about 4th grade he replied, "My teacher." I'm so thankful for excellent teachers! Aaron's been moaning and groaning about school for a while now, so I'm pretty sure he won't miss much. Ha! I'm ready for a slower pace. I'm ready to have my kids at home with me. I think. :) Moving on...

We have a robin's nest in our backyard maple tree this spring, and she has 5 eggs in there! We call her "Mother Robin," and enjoy spying on her in the nest. :) Since it's so close to our back patio, I don't even need any "robinoculars!" (That's for you Mom!)

Look behind the big branch.
Her tail feathers are on the left, and her head is on the right.

Such pretty eggs!

Aaron's late birthday party was a success! The boys played with their Nerf guns and watched Aaron open gifts in the camper. (It's so easy to please them at this age!) After eating the Angry Birds birthday cookie, Derek and I loaded up Aaron + 4 friends to go mini-golfing. We had the course to ourselves, and everyone had a great time. I felt better knowing I had given Aaron the party he waited patiently for.

He wore this white shirt so it would glow in the black lights!

That's all for now...I'll use the second half of May to play catch-up on my blog. Derek had a birthday last week and we really did celebrate him! We're also planning a fun end-of-the-school-year-celebration this weekend...Happy Spring-Summer! :)

Pretty Columbines in my backyard

Special Days

There's still lots going on in our family, which means it's been pretty quiet on my blog. That's just how it is in May. Yesterday, Mother's Day, was not a relaxing day for me. With Derek working at church until 12:30, and then working at graduation at 1:30, and attending an open house at supper...it sure didn't feel like Mother's Day. But that's okay, because I have all day today to myself. :) I've watched an episode of The Middle, set sprinklers in the yard for Derek, and took all the time I wanted in getting ready this morning. Happy Mother's Day to me. :) The best part of my day yesterday was spent chatting with my mom on FaceTime. I sat at my kitchen table and it felt like she sat here with me. Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Remember how I said I'd share more about Kaleb's field trip? He and I spent an entire day living like a pioneer. Well, we experienced the FUN parts of pioneer life. I helped out in the Freighter's Hotel, making corn husk angels with the 4th graders. Kaleb also did some tin hole punching, bead work, sewing, and played several pioneer games. He learned how they prepared food without the modern appliances we have today, and sampled some homemade bread and butter. Lunch was so good...stew and johnny cake, apple crisp and lemonade, served up on tin plates and cups. I was the last one to make it to the lunch line, and Kaleb left his place at the front of the line to join me in the back. My boy. :) We shared a nice lunch together where he told me, all on his own, that it made him feel special to have me there helping out. That made all of my volunteering worth it for sure. When I left Pioneer Days and drove home in my minivan, I pondered all that I did that day with Kaleb and cherished each moment.

The girls wore long skirts and aprons, while the boys wore vests.

Pioneer Days

A tepee and steam locomotive were just a few of the fun things the kids experienced.

One of the games pioneer kids played. Kaleb was quite good at this one!

I have so much more to write about, but it will just have to wait until later. I'm off to visit Kaleb's rock museum! :)

Outside and Loving It

This time of the year is lots of fun, but it's filled with so many things I find it hard to write about it all! School is out in one week. Awana and youth group are finished for the year. We've already had our first camping trip of the season. We're riding our bikes and running and jumping on the hay bales. (Well, I'm not running and jumping on hay bales, but I'm pretty sure that's stating the obvious!) Braylen and Kaleb competed in a track meet on Saturday. Kaleb and Aaron have had fun field trips, and I was blessed to go along for both of them.

I took our boys fishing and Braylen brought a friend. They put their own worms on!

Aaron's first books he checked out with his very own library card, all about turtles!

Our Awana boys and Awana nieces

Ginger had her surgery on 5/1 and is healing nicely. This afternoon I took her to the vet for a quick check--I was concerned her stitches weren't holding--but all is well. Poor girl has to wear the "cone of shame" for at least another week. At least she's coping better than she did the first two days.

She wears the cone of shame with dignity. :)

We had great camping weather the one day/night we camped. I learned how much work it is to camp for one day...next time we'll stay at least two nights to spread out the work a bit!

The boys brought their Star Wars guys and set up quite a display!

Some of these figures belong to my brother. We'll give them back someday so my
nephew can play with them too!

Of course Aaron found a toad, and worked very hard to keep Ginger away from it.

Derek's tradition is to play trac ball with the boys when we camp. In this picture
I see all 4 of them!

A campfire is a must!

On May Day I made some cute little "baskets" for the boys to deliver to the neighbor kids. Kaleb and Aaron used walkie talkies and stationed themselves around our house to catch anyone who tried to leave a May basket on our doorstep. I love May Day because the kids stay outside all afternoon and run around with the neighbor kids. Can't they do that every day? When Aaron prayed that night he said, "Thank you for this day that was so-so-so-so-so-so-so-plus-infinity much fun!" Braylen had fun delivering a basket to his buddy Hunter, but flat out refused to take any baskets to the neighbor kids.

Aaron made his May Day hat in school. Isn't it great?!

At the track meet, Braylen placed 2nd in standing long jump, and 2nd in the 800 meter run. Kaleb ran in the 100 and 200, and placed 4th in the 200. We packed a picnic lunch and I realized how much I enjoy watching track meets instead of participating in track meets! Derek works with the boys to stretch their muscles and get warmed up before their races. I love that.

Braylen is the one in the red shorts, flying into the sand. :)

Next time I will write about my field trip with Kaleb. It's late, I'm tired, and tomorrow I'm having Aaron's birthday party with his friends. Yes, his birthday was almost a month ago, and Derek's birthday is this Friday. But my motto is and will always be, "Better late than never!" :)

One Day

While on the phone with my SIL (Pam) two nights ago, she asked me how my day was. Oh my. As if the entire month of April wasn't crazy enough, the last day of April gave new meaning to the term "stay-at-home-mom." I don't think there is such a thing as a stay-at-home-mom anymore. I also rejoiced yesterday when I turned the calendar to the month of May. :) May Day was delightful, but more on that another time.

Once Pam heard all about my busy day, she told me I needed to put it in my blog. For me to remember what just one day in my life looked like. So, here I go. (WARNING...this gets long.)

I knew today would be busy, so I set my alarm clock to wake me up earlier than usual. I don't like waking up early. To be honest, I make a terrible morning person. But today I don't have a choice. When it's time to wake up the boys, I discover one of them wet the bed. Strip the sheets, clean up the mess, get the boys going...all the while I'm thinking to myself, "At least I have 2 hours this morning to make my grocery list and go shopping. The rest of the day is full, but I can get a lot done in the next 2 hours." Braylen's walking out the door for school and he says, "Oh, Mom--I found some strange emails on my iPod this morning. I think someone hacked into my email. Bye!" I take Kaleb and Aaron to school, come home, and spend the next 2 hours cleaning up Braylen's hijacked email account. No groceries or meal plans today. Instead I learn all about email "spoofing" and other current-day lingo pertaining to computer hackers. I send an apology email to everyone on his contact list, change passwords on several accounts, delete emails, contacts, and trash folder, etc...

With 10 minutes before I need to leave for my meeting, I have enough sense to put the washed bedding in the dryer and put a chicken in the crock pot. Thank goodness I bought a chicken last week and never did anything with it. Troubled by the fact that Ginger's not acting like her normal spunky self, and still hasn't eaten her breakfast, I call the vet and set up an appointment for her. Subway has a $2 sub today, so I pack a bag of chips and a drink from home, run in and get my sub for $2.14, and arrive at my meeting only 1 minute late.

This is a women's ministry meeting at church. It passes by in a blur, but I do remember our leader (and very good friend of mine) asking me to share how I sense God leading me in the future of women's ministry. I have no idea what I said. I leave that meeting 30 minutes early, since I'm subbing at school today. I arrive at school and immerse myself in several projects. While visiting with another school employee, I discover she's been friends with my dog's vet since the 7th grade. She also tells me that this is our vet's last week at work, since she's moving out of state. Hmm, that's odd, since I suspect my dog needs surgery and I'm counting on this vet to do the procedure...I file that away for now.

The bell rings and I pass off my crosswalk duty to someone else, since Kaleb and Aaron have piano lessons in 15 minutes. We rush home and the teacher arrives 5 minutes early. Thank goodness for a piano teacher who comes to our house. I scribble out her check, make the boys promise me they'll be good, and take Ginger to her vet appointment. This place is a zoo, crowded with people and pets and just as jumbled as I'm feeling on the inside. They put me in a room with Ginger and we wait. And wait. And I find an issue of People magazine that keeps me blissfully occupied for the long 45 minute wait to see the doctor.

Once she comes in the room and looks at Ginger's fistula, she recommends it be removed through laser surgery. Just what I suspected she'd say. Can I bring her back tomorrow? Dollar signs flash before my eyes but I just want to get this taken care of, so I sign the paperwork and we talk about her upcoming move. Her troubles with her kids. She has some real serious stuff going on with her kids. I "wake up" in that moment and realize this is a Divine appointment. I tell her that my heart goes out to people who struggle, in any way, with their kids. Thanks to our battles with Aaron's epilepsy, I really do have genuine empathy and concern for other parents who just want to do what's best for their kids. She tells me her brother's son has the same kind of epilepsy Aaron has. We talk about anti-seizure meds. I'm thankful God "woke me up" to connect with this dear lady.

I drive home and tell Aaron to get his shoes on, it's time to go to his chiropractor appointment. We don't have a minute to spare, since my visit to the vet took so long. With much whining, he puts on his crocs. Just then my wonderful husband pulls into the driveway, and I realize he's taking Aaron to the doctor. Hallelujah! I have just enough time to put fries in the oven and heat up some frozen green beans. We sit down to eat and have 20 minutes before needing to leave for Cub Scouts.

Tonight we're flying kites at Scouts. I must say, while I'm standing outside in the open field watching dozens of kites fly in the blue sky, I feel a sense of peace wash over me. I did it. I made it through my crazy day. It's over now, and I can enjoy the moment. When the Scout meeting ends, we come home and fly kites in the not-yet-planted cornfield near our house. Even Braylen joins in. Ginger runs through the field fast as lightning, and I wonder how she'll be feeling after her surgery tomorrow.

Aaron flying a kite with Derek. The horse in the background is a nice touch. :)

When the boys are tucked in bed, I sort through backpacks and lunchboxes. I set my DVR for my favorite TV show, "Castle." I call Pam and tell her all about my day...and now I've come full circle with this blog post.

Someday I will miss these days I'm living in. But you know what? I don't think I'll miss this particular day. :)