More May Days & 40 Years!!!

Finishing up May on the 2nd day of June means I get to wish my mom and dad a Happy 40th Anniversary today!!! We have a special celebration planned, and our part begins today. More on that another time. :)

Our boy flying a kite

One May evening we had the perfect kite flying weather. We are blessed with plenty of open space to fly kites. As we stood at the edge of the corn field I noticed the corn was as tall as the length of my hand. Before we know it the corn will be way taller than me. Flying kites with our boys that night was like holding on to one more day of their childhood. And of course I kept singing to myself, "Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height..."

Kaleb, Daddy, and Aaron

One of my favorite pictures :)

Kaleb didn't need any help!

Aaron was awarded the medal around his neck at school that day and he wore it until bed time. His teacher presented 2nd grade awards, complete with a red carpet, and his was "Best Behaved." I remind him of that at home, tee hee! The medal was for the 100 book club.

Since Mother's Day was filled with lots of other things going on, I didn't get a chance to plant my flowers. So this year, Kaleb and I worked together the following weekend and got it all done in one afternoon. It was a warm sunny day, so we worked in the shade of the front porch. Braylen and Aaron spent the afternoon playing with water balloons, squirt guns, the hose, and buckets of water. It was fun to see those two play together for a change!

My helper!

Aaron played the piano in the school talent show and did an AWESOME job! Really, I was surprised. He had been playing that song at home and most times it didn't sound all that great. As he waited in a loooong line for his turn to perform, I prayed for him! I also remembered at last year's talent show I was worried he would have a blank-out seizure during his performance. This year that worry never entered my mind, PTL. Wouldn't you know, he stood up there and introduced himself and his song like a little pro. And he played his song perfectly. Thank you, Lord! :)

Telling the school he was going to play "Boom Boom" on the piano.

Derek and the boys are working on building a new garden for me. So far it looks like this. :) My little bitty garden behind our swing set is getting smaller every year--since our blue spruce trees keep getting bigger.

Speaking of our swing set...
We agreed, as a family, that it was time to give it to someone who would use it. (Our next door neighbors!) I tried not to dwell on the whole "end of an era" feeling, but there were a few of those feelings that snuck through anyway. The morning of the big move next door, Aaron helped Daddy mow the lawn. I captured one last picture of our swing set in our yard. We can still look out our windows and see it--in the yard next door. Our plan is to put a bigger swimming pool where the swing set used to be, and that helps bring us into a new era. :)

So now it's time for JUNE! Let the celebration with my family begin! :)

This picture is from Derek's birthday, but Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! :)

May Days

I keep wondering when my life will slow down. Since it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon, this is my best attempt to remember all of the fun we are having in our busy days. For now--our busy MAY days.

My parents came for a visit this month. We had very cold and windy weather for a track meet, a fun weekend with the kids and Derek, and then a few days during the week with just Mom, Dad, and me! It was a treat for me, it really was. We went out for breakfast and lunch, saw Iron Man 3, and Mom and I had pedicures. Come to think of it, that week was probably the most relaxing one of my month.

Grammy & Grampy took the boys to Walmart and let them pick out snacks! The oodles of ice cream bars and posicles didn't make it into this picture. Yummy!

Kaleb's last lock-in party for school and Aaron's first lock-in...both boys had a lot of fun and read a lot of books to be able to go! I enjoy helping every year, and will miss it someday all too soon. Kaleb's dodge ball team won the tournament, earning him a championship t-shirt. One of the high school grad parties we recently went to displayed the graduate's event t-shirts as part of the decor. We surely have enough for a display--and he's only in 5th grade!

Derek wanted to go camping for his birthday, so we went camping! Actually, I asked him if he would like to go, and it didn't take any convincing for him to say yes. :) He and Braylen set up camp and stayed the first night without the rest of us, since we were at the lock-in. But we joined them on Saturday and had a fun time together. We drowned some worms, rode our bikes, played yard games, and of course had a camp fire. Derek opened a few gifts and had a big birthday cookie for all of us to share.

Gifts for Derek

Aaron wrapped up his own gifts for Daddy: a model police car, a small game, crayons, and a pencil.

Camping Birthday Cookie

Playing Trac ball with Aaron

Braylen built a great camp fire.

Resting by the fire after their game

While playing soccer with Braylen, Kaleb ran right into this tree. It was pretty hilarious!

Sunday was Mother's Day, so Derek decided to make breakfast in the camper. How nice! We had pancakes and bacon, and he even did the dishes. :) We packed up camp and came home, where the boys gave me their gifts. (AFTER I took Aaron to the clinic for yet another sinus infection.) Aaron wrote a sweet biography about me. Kaleb made his own coupon book for me, and they are re-usable! Kaleb and Aaron designed and built a bird feeder for me all by themselves--I am so impressed! Derek supervised, but they did it all! Braylen gave me a nice card. I picked KFC for supper and the employee in the drive-thru window handed me a red carnation. That was funny! :)

My 3 favorite kids and my new bird feeder

Remember in my last post I mentioned Kaleb's cornea was scratched? It happened in music class, of all places! Here he is on his mandated day home from school, wearing his cool disposable sunglasses from the eye doctor. :) Grandma and Aunt Pam/Sadie brought treats for Kaleb...and for me. We felt very taken care of and blessed. Thankfully the eye healed perfectly and all is well.

I guess I will have to write a "May Days Part 2" post, because it's after midnight. Even though we are on summer break, I should not plan on sleeping my day away. Oh, and since it's officially May 30th now, Happy 1/2 Birthday to Kaleb! :)

A Year to Remember

Today is the last day of school! Not only for the boys, but for Derek, too. It's a mixed-up feeling for all of us. Aaron, who moans and groans every day when I wake him up for school, decided to moan and groan about it being the last day. Go figure!

I've watched these 2 brothers walk into school together all year. Aaron will miss Kaleb next year and the years to come.

Aaron with his much-loved teacher, Miss Nightingale

Miss Nightingale is one of those teachers who has "it." Whatever "it" is for a great teacher, she has it. She is getting married next month and moving far, far away from us. But I know Aaron will always, always remember her. He loves her, and I think he's beginning to realize how a great teacher can impact your life forever.

Kaleb is his happy-go-lucky self today, ready to leave elementary school behind and move on to middle school. Last night we attended his 5th Grade Continuation Ceremony, which turned out to be a very sweet time together. His class will graduate high school in 2020, so the theme for the party was "We've Got the Vision." There were sunglasses all over the gym--hanging from string and taped to the walls. We watched a video highlighting their years at school, complete with a baby picture of each student alongside a current picture. The song they chose for the video was "Home." You can listen to the song here.

Kaleb 9 months old

Kaleb ready for Kindergarten

Kaleb 5th grade

Our principal said a few things to the kids, shared some memories of this class, and challenged them to make wise decisions when faced with the difficulties ahead. He reassured them that they will always have roots at Meadowlark, and while parents and family are #1 in their lives, their Meadowlark family is right up there in the #2 spot. And he really means it. I just love our school, can you tell?! :)

Kaleb and his teacher, Mr. Seeba

Mrs. Nelson, Kaleb's other teacher this year. She's been a family friend since Derek was little.

I have to insert this about Mrs. Nelson. She shared last night about the tornado in Oklahoma this week. Stories are coming out of teachers throwing themselves over their students to protect them from harm during the tornado. When talking about that with the 5th graders that morning, one student said, "Mrs. Nelson, I bet you wouldn't do that for us." She said, "I would do that. I would give my life for all of my students."

Kool Kaleb with his friends. The boy on the left survived getting hit by a car in 2nd grade. Makes me tear up when I think about it.

Kaleb's 2 friends that come to our youth group. All of them will be together in middle school too.

Our boy :)

 And let's not forget about Braylen! I don't have pictures from middle school, of course. It is not cool for a 7th grade boy to have his mom come take pictures with his favorite teachers. But this particular team of teachers have meant the world to Braylen this year. Recently they had an awards assembly and I just remembered--I took pictures at the assembly!

Braylen's team teachers. His favorite is the one in the yellow tie. Mr. Greenwald is a teacher Braylen will never forget. He has definitely impacted Braylen's life forever.

Braylen (blue shirt) with his big award, voted on by teachers and students.

And that wraps up this school year. I think it's hard for us to wrap our minds around the passing of time because God created us with eternity placed in our hearts. We feel the same on the inside--but grow older on the outside. We remember our kids as little ones in our hearts--but we see them grow older on the outside. And then we have a hard time reconciling it. At least I do. I rejoice with them in their accomplishments, and tuck memories of this year away in my heart--where eternity lives on.

Finishing up April

We are 17 days into May, and as usual, there are LOTS of things going on. School is ending next week, which means end-of-the-year-activities are in full swing. My emotions are running wild this week--my Kaleb is just about finished with elementary school, we received news on Aaron's EEG, Kaleb's right eye was poked at school--giving him a 3mm scratch on his cornea, and Derek's role as SRO was the front page headline in the paper on Wednesday! Throw in a visit from my parents, Derek's birthday, school lock-in, camping, Mother's Day, and a trip to the clinic with a sick boy and I literally feel like I am hanging on for dear life!

More on all of those exciting things later. First I need to wrap up April. It was a cold, snowy month--so strange--which makes us appreciate our spring so much more now.

Our little Sparky earned his Sparky Plaque. How can I not have any more Sparkies???

Aaron and I made this grasshopper and had lunch at Red Lobster while the others went turkey hunting.

I have no idea where Aaron thought up the grasshopper idea. He googled how to make one with popsicle sticks and came up empty. So we figured it out on our own! Who needs pinterest or craft blogs? :) For months he's been asking me to take him to Red Lobster. He wanted to order a lobster, but settled for shrimp and clam. My little adventurous eater! We had a really sweet time together.

Braylen's final 7th grade band concert was on my dad's birthday. :)

It was still freezing outside, but the snow was gone. So when Aaron asked me to draw with chalk, how could I say no?

Skylanders--the latest craze around here. A video game and a toy all in one.

Today is the last day of Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, so I have plans to make a whole bunch of monster cookies with my niece this afternoon. And since time is ticking, I better get going! It sure did feel good to be still for a few minutes. :)