The Last Day at 2 Schools...for now

It's that time of the year again...the last day of school.

Kaleb-6th grade, Aaron-3rd grade, Braylen-8th grade.
For the last time.

Aaron's had a phenomenal year in 3rd grade. His teacher is the only one who has now had all 3 of our boys in her class. Mrs. Bennett is a treasure, she really is. I'm convinced every kid needs a "Mrs. Bennett" at some point in his life. She is the most positive, uplifting, cheerful, and encouraging teacher I know. We are thankful for such a wonderful 3rd grade year for Aaron.

Mrs. Bennett & Aaron

One of the things I love about the end of 3rd grade are all the funny papers that come home. One was titled, "3rd Grade Words of Wisdom." Aaron was given the first half of well-known sayings, and asked to fill in the rest. Some of my favorites are:
"Strike while the...cat isn't looking."
"You can lead a horse to water but...you can't lead the baby one."
"A penny saved is...valuable."
"Two is company, three's...a bargain!"
"Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Cry and...the whole world laughs at you."
"If you lie down with the dogs...they will be nice."

Another paper Aaron brought home listed some things we taught him. Some I expected, some surprised me. Things like, "brush my teeth, go to bed, have fun, ride a bicycle" were expected. Some of the surprises were, "color in lines, open eyes, and my favorite...be awesome!" :)

Now for my middle schoolers...

Walking to school together for the last time

If you look closely at the upper left corner of this picture, you'll see a hawk soaring above the middle school.
Quite symbolic--since their mascot is a Silverhawk, and they will soon "soar" to new seasons of life.

Okay, so that might sound a bit corny, but hey--indulge me today. Last days of school, especially the last day at that school forever, bring out my emotions. Braylen is done with middle school. Done! Today he will ride a bus to the high school where he'll receive his freshman year schedule, eat lunch, and meet with his Bearcat Time class. (A class he will have all 4 years of high school.) I will pick him up at the high school today, giving us a taste of what's to come this fall.

I can't begin to share how much Braylen has grown and matured during middle school. People always fear the middle school years, but really, Braylen made it look easy. Last night I shared that with him, and I commended him on his behavior and maturity. I know it didn't come without challenges, I am not naive enough to think that. However, his choices, attitudes, and hard work have paid off and we are so very proud of our young man. He's on to high school in the fall, and that makes me feel like a new parent all over again. Just when you've mastered one season of parenting, a new one comes along! :)

Kaleb, our 6th grader. :) He made the transition from elementary to middle school seamlessly. He's developed new friendships, been responsible for himself, and excelled at whatever he put his mind to. Again, he made this look so easy! When I think back to the fall, and how he was in the straight leg brace for 8 weeks, it makes me so proud of him. He was in a new school with lots of new kids, and he did not let that leg brace slow him down. He has had such a positive attitude, been a friend to many, and earned his own place within his school. None of his core class teachers this year ever had Braylen as a student, so they got to know him as Kaleb, not as Braylen's little brother. I think that is important. We are super proud of Kaleb and all he's accomplished this year. He told me that since he won't be with Braylen at school next year, he hopes to ride his bike to school and back. Good for you, Kaleb. :)

Fittingly, today is Derek's first day back on the job since his injury on April 16th. The kids are ending their school year, and Derek is returning to his "normal" schedule. A good day, indeed!

And that wraps up our last day of school. It's still hard for me to believe, but believe it I must. Change...aaaggghhh!!!! Not a fan!!!!!! But I am a fan of summer. :) So, here we go!

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.