Cone Dog

Oh, there are always so many things I could write about. But this time Ginger is at the top of the list. Last week she had another intestinal flare-up after I gave her the monthly heart worm medication. Go figure. Then she must have gotten into something at the lake on Monday because the next day she did plenty of vomiting and diarrhea...back to the vet we went. She has the beginnings of another fistula forming, and since we caught it early we're hoping some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds will take care of it. At least she acts plenty energetic...except when we make her wear the dreaded cone. Poor dog probably thought she was done wearing that thing!

Here we are at the end of May already! It's looking like our new nephew-to-be is deciding to arrive in June. That will spread our family birthdays out a bit. :) I keep thinking about my sister-in-law and what awaits her as a new mother. When we first met she was in 8th grade. I can hardly believe she's married and having a baby!

We went boating on Memorial Day and did some fishing. Braylen and Grandma caught 18 fish, and most of them were keepers. This weekend we're hoping to go boating again, only this time we'll play in the water. :) My favorite kind of boating.

Braylen's double-catch after only 5 minutes of fishing!

Grandma & Aaron

Kaleb found this huge "dandelion"
It looks like his hair!

On our way home from the lake, Aaron said a prayer for a safe trip home. It was so cute, because he thanked God for "all the veterinarians who fought in wars to keep our country safe." :)

Kaleb and I built this fire all by ourselves when Braylen and Derek were gone.
We're really enjoying this fire pit in our yard.

3 of the 5 robin eggs hatched, and here's a picture of one of the babies.

Mother Robin keeps watch over her nest.

One more thing--Aaron's been humming a lot lately; in the shower, at the table, while he's playing, etc. Every time he does this he hums a Christmas song. He doesn't even know he's doing it. Yesterday was "Here We Come A-Wassailing." The day before that was "Deck the Halls." Today was "Jingle Bell Rock." It makes me laugh because Derek is vehemently opposed to playing Christmas music unless Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is yet to come. I wonder what he thinks about Aaron's subconscious humming? :)

The End & The Beginning

The last day of school...ahhh...one of the highlights of childhood. Our boys woke up excited and ready to be done with school! Braylen didn't need a backpack--just a pen in his pocket. I watched him walk away with his friend Matthew much like I watched them walk away on the first day of school. Wasn't that just last week?

I think I get bigger smiles for the LAST day of school picture
than I do the first day of school picture!

Since we've had a whole week of summer vacation already, I'm feeling pretty good with our new routines. Our mornings are blissfully slow. Sometimes I bring the boys with me to run errands, sometimes I don't. We play Monopoly--I wonder if this particular game will ever end? :) Kaleb's been listening to lots of Adventures in Odyssey episodes on the computer. Braylen and Aaron prefer to listen to Hank the Cow dog stories. Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoons from the library are an obsession with all 3 boys right now. This love affair with Star Wars spills over into their play time, which is great. They spend hours playing with Star Wars toys and even some homemade creations they've made.

When someone is bored I give him something to do. Derek is good about helping me come up with ideas to keep them busy when they say they are bored! So far our garage has been swept out, clutter is picked up, and the lawn is mowed. I'm working on setting up their chore charts for the summer. That starts after Memorial Day, so this week is pretty much a freebie for them...unless they say they're bored. :)

Here is the beginning of our summer together, told through pictures of course...

The kids slept in the camper parked in our driveway to celebrate the end of school.
Kaleb gave us this calendar he made in 4th grade, and we discovered he's really
good at writing poems! I will treasure this gift. :)

We camped for 2 nights--not in our driveway. :) Aaron and Derek cooked some bacon
over the fire. Yum! We met some of our friends at the campground and spent the day fishing
and visiting. The boys caught little fish with worms, but at least they caught fish!

Back at home, Derek and I gave each other our anniversary gift a little bit early:
a fire ring in our backyard! Our family in town came over for our first fire.

Aaron is my eating machine these days. Here he is watching our supper cook in the oven!
Is this like watching paint dry?

Throwing their socks onto the spinning fan; Aaron worked up such
a sweat that he went shirtless. Then we played more Monopoly
and Derek came home to find Aaron sitting at the table without his shirt. :)

Believe it or not, I don't go through my day with my camera around my neck. It's just close by at all times. With so much going on, I've learned this lesson: if I don't have a picture of it, then it didn't happen--because I will never remember it otherwise!

One more thing before I end with a couple of funnies from Aaron. (who else?) Braylen is getting TALLER! Almost overnight it seems. Yesterday we stood back-to-back and I discovered that the top of his head comes to my eyebrows. Wow! I wonder when he'll pass me up?

Two little quotes from Aaron:
"Sometimes I wonder how I'm ever going to live without you." Be still my beating heart! :) He said this to me while we cooked supper together. I wrote it down right away and want to remember it forever. He went on to say, "I mean, I'll need things like silverware when I have to live in my own house. How will I get all of that stuff? How will I know what I need?" What makes an 8 year old boy think about things like this? :)

"Mommy, I wouldn't know what 1+1 equals if you weren't here, because I wouldn't be alive!"
Silly Aaron! :)

Celebration for Derek

Derek's birthday falls during such a busy time of the year...end-of-school-year activities, graduation parties, Mother's Day...good thing Derek is so flexible with his celebration. I did manage to cook a birthday dinner for him before I volunteered at the lock-in, and I cooked another birthday dinner the next day for his family birthday party. So don't feel too sorry for him. :) My handsome husband is 37 years old, but to me he doesn't look a day over 20. :)

The men in our family, minus one brother-in-law and one soon-to-be-born nephew!

My guys :)

Happy Birthday Derek!!!

Our Busy 4th Grader

Before school let out for summer break, Kaleb had LOTS going on! On Derek's birthday, Kaleb attended his school's annual lock-in at the middle school. He met his AR (Accelerated Reader) goal every quarter to be able to attend this lock-in. Yay! From 3-11pm he had lots of crazy fun with his friends. The biggest event of the night is the dodge ball tournament, complete with posted brackets and a championship game. Teams of 6 are formed ahead of time, and many teams wear matching shirts. Kaleb's team had matching face paint. :) Although they didn't make it to the championship game, Kaleb and his teammates beat the teachers. That's almost a bigger deal than winning it all.

Kaleb and two of his teammates

It is SO loud in this room!

 I enjoy volunteering at this event because it's one big party! There's lots of treats, lots to do, and lots of music and dancing. Kaleb wouldn't dance to the Macarena...but I did! :) However, 2 hours was enough fun for me--I don't know how the teachers and kids last until 11!

There are just as many inflatables behind me as there are in front of me!

Derek took Kaleb turkey hunting the next afternoon. They saw plenty of turkeys and enjoyed their time together. Maybe next time Kaleb will get his bird.

What boy doesn't love rocks, right? The rock museum was a fun project for Braylen in 4th grade, so I was glad Kaleb got to do it too. He used Braylen's display board, but found his own rocks and made a game with them. :) On Monday both 4th grade classes displayed their rocks, so of course I took some pictures.

The museum spread throughout three classrooms.

The next day the 4th graders put together a project for Social Studies. Kaleb dressed up like Father Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town. When I put a coin in the cup on his desk he "came to life" and read his script out loud. I had fun visiting other kids dressed up in character as well. The girl next to Kaleb is dressed up like Barbie. If you know Kaleb at all, you'll understand why that's funny. :)

Later on that same day, Kaleb played the piano in the talent show. He played the same song he'll be playing for his piano recital in June, so this was a great rehearsal for that. He did well!

Kaleb playing "Mockingbird."

Good thing school has ended by now...Kaleb (and his mom) are ready for some down time! This turned out to be such a fantastic school year for Kaleb. He grew in lots of areas, and I can hardly believe he'll be a 5th grader this fall. Stay close, little boy...you are so special to me.