Anatomy of a Black Eye

In the final minutes of Aaron's last soccer game this spring, he inadvertently blocked a kicked ball with his eye, pretty much at point blank range. He went down, and I wanted to jump up and run to him. I held myself back, not wanting to be "that mom" who runs out there and embarrasses her son. We waited until he walked to the sidelines, and then Kaleb and Derek went over to care for Aaron. Derek put ice on his eye and the game ended...thankfully with a win for his team.

The next day I took Aaron to the eye doctor, just to make sure there wasn't any internal damage to his eye. Thankfully everything checked out fine. He had a good sized red blob in the white of his eye, but the doctor assured us it was just a bruise. The ball hit him on the outside corner of his eye, which placed the greatest impact on the orbital bone. That saved his eye--no retinal detachment or anything like that, PTL!

That being said, his eye looked pretty bad. It took about 24 hours for the swelling to subside. Once the swelling went away, the color looked worse. But kids heal incredibly fast, and one week later you could hardly tell he had been hurt at all.

Here's the photo journal of Aaron's "badge of honor."

May 8th, the night of the injury

May 9th, before school

May 10th

May 11th--Mother's Day

May 12th

May 14th--I forgot to take a picture on May 13th.

May 15th, he's getting the hang of posing for these pictures by now.

May 16th, after his school lock-in. One week and one day after his injury.

Our Aaron sure is a tough boy. What a trooper! :)

Sons in Sports

I feel like much of our life has been wrapped up in sports these past few months, so sports deserve their very own blog post. :)

First, this is what it feels like to parent 3 sons this time of year...

Our days are fast-paced, a bit blurry, and yet--joyful!

Kaleb LOVES to play soccer. His knee injury last fall robbed him of his soccer season, so we said yes to spring soccer. He didn't miss a single game, and his team did very well. They won all but one of their games, and even ended up winning the tournament at the end of the season. I know it's not all about winning, but winning IS fun. :)

Some of Kaleb's games were at the same time as Aaron's games and Braylen's track meets. Grandma helped us out with that, and even Aunt Sarena and cousin Danny made it to one of Kaleb's games. Cousin Analise came with Grandma to one of his games, too. Kaleb likes to play mid-fielder and defender, but NOT goalie. That is great, because he is really good at what he likes. :)

Besides soccer, Kaleb ran and jumped in the Hershey track meet. He was in the 13-14 age group, even though he is 12. That was tough competition for Kaleb, but he persevered and we were very proud of his efforts. He likes soccer so much more than track, even before running in this latest track meet!

Kaleb in the standing long jump

Speaking of track...
Braylen rebounded from his back injury and finished his 8th grade track season strong. The coaches could only take the top 4 athletes for each event to the remaining meets, and Braylen earned a spot every time. He is not the fastest runner, but he is fast enough to qualify for his events! He consistently ran in the 100, 200, and 4X100 relay. At the last meet of the season he had a personal best in the 200 and his relay took first place at conference. Great job, buddy! :) I have a feeling that high school track will be lots of fun!

In the center, wearing blue, Braylen gets ready for his 200.

Aaron.
When Aaron plays soccer, he plays ALL out. He does nothing halfway, including sports. He is fiercely competitive--our most competitive son by FAR. Every game was the World Cup in his mind, I'm pretty sure. :)

His favorite position is still to play goalie. So different from Kaleb!

Taking his turn on the field and out of the goal

Aaron's really come a long way this year. He is a different player than what we saw on the field in 2nd grade. He is much more aggressive, and did I mention he is competitive? ;) There were 2 games that Derek and I missed--and yes, Grandma helped with one and Aunt Pam helped with the other. Wouldn't you know it, one of those games was the one time all season he scored a goal? And Grandma had just left the field to go to Kaleb's game, so none of us were there to see it. I will never hear the end of that. One of the other soccer parents told me about it, so at least I knew what to expect when Grandma brought Aaron back to the track. Thankfully, Aaron's true love is keeping goals OUT of the goal box when he plays goalie. I saw PLENTY of those. He is small but mighty, that Aaron. :)

Standing long jump for Aaron

Aaron also participated in the Hershey track meet. He ran the 50 and the 100. Like Kaleb, he decided he likes soccer much better than track. At least we had a nice day for it. Last year we all froze in 40 degree temps and 40 mph winds--at least! ;)

Sports are lots of fun, but when you have more than one child, sports wreck a lot of havoc in a schedule! With church activities, school, and music thrown in the mix--not to mention everything else life brings our way--you can see why these past few months have felt rushed and blurry to me. But through it all, I've had fun watching our boys run and kick and run some more. :) And that's why they play sports, after all. To have FUN!!!

These Days

Looking back at my blog entries, I noticed I never posted a picture of Aaron with his birthday cake...and I never explained why Aaron and I spent his birthday together with Grandma, but without Daddy and his brothers. Well, here's the cake! He asked for a purple minion. Kaleb helped me figure out how to pull it off, and I think we did a pretty good job. :) Aaron does a great imitation of "Kevin," his favorite purple minion.

Derek took Braylen and Kaleb to a men's rally on Aaron's birthday. They attended the Spring Scrimmage football game and the rally after that. It was a great time for Derek to build into them that day, doing guy things and teaching them what it means to be a Godly Christian man. We celebrated the birthday with our extended family a week early, and Aaron requested smoked chicken for his supper. Here he is with the chickens before and after they were smoked. They were mmm, mmm good!

Moving on...

These days are filled with lots of endings. Kaleb's soccer season ended last night. Aaron's soccer season ends this coming week. Braylen has his last 8th grade track meet this Tuesday. We attended our last band concert with one 8th grader and one 6th grader. With the exception of a few achievement tests and essays, school is ending while the celebrating is beginning. My weekly Bible study ended this week, along with youth group and our Life Group gatherings. Many days I don't know whether I am coming or going--it's just plain busy around here. 

But the kids still bring us lots of laughter. Of course I can't remember any funnies right now, but I know we've had some. Derek's shoulder is healing. I'm planning our summer vacation and signing the kids up for a few summer activities.

Aaron presented his "Be The Best You Can Be" project in school this week. I remember Braylen's and Kaleb's projects like they were yesterday, so it was fun for me to attend Aaron's presentation. Like his brothers, he picked out 12 pictures to help him describe how he can be his best. Since Derek is not working at the high school like he was during Braylen and Kaleb's 3rd grade years, he was able to come to Aaron's presentation. That made it extra special for Aaron.

We participated in a family walk/run again this year. I find it funny that Braylen and Kaleb ran with Aunt Pam, I ran with my niece and her friend, Derek walked with his brother and our other 2 nieces, while Aaron ran with our friend Karena. We were quite the diverse group this year, with several different paces going on! Running 2.5 miles is not my idea of a good time, but I did it anyway and ended up having fun. :)

Kids with yellow medals ran 2.5 miles, kids with blue medals walked 1 mile.
Where's the medal for the adults?!! :)

The band concert Monday night sure was one of those nights I want to remember. Kaleb and his trumpet, Braylen and his drums...I just love watching them play together like that. When Braylen started middle school I never thought about it ending, and yet, here we are! My favorite songs of the night were the ones from "Lion King," played by the 8th grade band, and "Batman," played by the 6th grade band. The principal is moving into a new position next year, so this was also a farewell night for him. Braylen got to present him with a plaque and an engraved cowbell--inside joke, I guess. :) Braylen is moving on to play in the high school band, and Kaleb still loves his trumpet. I love my musicians!

Kinda blurry, but I like it!

Presenting the award to his principal

He played the snare, trap set, bells, and several shakers.

Little brother and big brother :)

These days sure are a lot of things--busy, full, tiring, fun, happy, draining, helter-skelter, and most of all--purposeful. We are finishing well, serving others, and growing closer as a family through it all. I am feeling blessed and grateful. :)

Happy May Day! We delivered some "baskets" yesterday.

  

More of April

April continues to move right along. We are now less than 4 weeks away from the end of the school year, and there are 3 boys in this house who are very happy about that. :) I am holding on to these last few weeks before summer break, simply because I am not ready to have a high school son just yet.

On Aaron's birthday weekend, my cousin Brendan came to town for a quick visit. His job actually brought him here, which I think is pretty neat. Our town isn't necessarily a destination place for "business trips." We only had a few hours to spend together, but I enjoyed each one. :) I was 13 when he was born, and so it's been fun for me to get to know him "all grown up." I admire him greatly--not only for what he does, but for who he is!

Brendan with me and my boys--cousins!

A few more birthday things...
Aaron had a party with his friends on his actual birthday. They played laser tag at our local fun center and also in our backyard. Grandma helped me pull it off, and she made the milkshakes Aaron requested. Who needs cake when you have milkshakes and cookies, right? :)

Party!!!

For supper, I let Aaron choose a restaurant. He picked Red Lobster, and we invited Grandma to join us. It was a sweet time, although by the end of the meal Aaron was lying down in the booth in exhaustion. Turning 10 is a lot of work!

Mining for crystals with his new set from Uncle Eric & Aunt Amber

His new hockey nets are a hit!

Moving on to new things...
Braylen's back is much better now. After 2 weeks of rest and PT, he's running in a track meet today. During the meet, Kaleb and Aaron each have soccer games. Tonight will be quite busy for us. :)

Derek hurt his shoulder at work last week. :( He has second degree tears in his AC joint, requiring him to wear a sling and work light duty for 4-6 weeks. We are very thankful he does not need surgery. Derek's become quite adept at using his left hand for many things. I know this injury is painful and it frustrates him, but he doesn't complain about it. Our boys have really stepped up and helped out more around here. I am proud of everyone's attitude and am also grateful for the extra help from my brothers-in-law.

Easter was a fun family day we would not have had if Derek worked his regular shift. I guess that is one good thing about this injury--Derek was able to spend the holiday with us. :) At the last minute, I remembered to dig the Easter baskets out of our storage room and set them up for the kids to find Sunday morning. I did not, however, remember to take pictures. Braylen was happy with his Nike flip flops, Kaleb likes his whistling frisbee, and Aaron can't wait to fly his new Minion kite. As windy as it is around here, we should have plenty of kite-flying weather this spring. Grandma always puts together fabulous Easter baskets for the kids and hides them outside. I DID remember to take pictures of those. :)

All dressed up for church

Running with their cousins to find their baskets

Derek can play frisbee left handed better than I can with my right hand, I'm sure. :)

Treats and fishing lures and Arby's gift cards!

Aaron and I continued the tradition of coloring eggs for Easter this year all by ourselves. It gave us something to do while the others went turkey hunting. He wanted one of each color so that is what we did--12 eggs in all. Good thing Derek and I like egg salad sandwiches. :)

Of course the real meaning of Easter is Jesus' death and resurrection, conquering sin and death once and for all. We gathered together with 12 churches on Good Friday for a time of worship and communion. It is probably my favorite service of the year. With the body of Christ coming together from different religions and backgrounds, it feels like a taste of Heaven here on earth.

It finally feels like spring around here. The snow is gone, and we've even had some--gasp!--rain!!! Last night before the rain came I snapped this picture from our deck. I think it's so pretty. The boys started mowing lawns this week, and summer is knocking on our door. But first, let's enjoy spring. :)