Friday Night Fun

Tonight Shelly is at Grandma Sue's for a Girls' Night. As the boys and I were leaving, one of them decided to roll down the hill. And of course the other followed. I love to see them rolling around together, laughing the whole way down!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane

The kids are finally old enough to follow a story from day to day. And so, we've graduated from picture books to chapter books. We recently finished this book by Kate DiCamillo. It started out with a character that was not very likable, Edward Tulane is a beautifully crafted china rabbit, a child's toy too fragile for rough play. Instead, his devoted owner, a little girl named Abilene, carefully dressed him each day and wound his pocket watch each night. Edward was certain that he was a beautiful creature and spent his days and nights happily doted upon by dear Abilene.

Through a tragic accident, Edward's life was changed in an instant, and this is when the miraculous journey begins. I won't say more, I don't want to ruin the story. But I will say this, after a few weeks of reading, we were all deeply invested in Edward's story and in the end, we were heartbroken and then overjoyed, Shelly and I were both in tears as I read the final pages of the book.

Archer picked a great story and we all enjoyed it as the story carried us along night after night. Every night, the kids begged for another chapter and every night I wanted to read ahead to find out what happened next. Twenty seven chapters later, we finished together. What a treasure to share our evenings together this way! 

33

Today another year counts off on the calendar, my number grows a little bigger, and I'm caught again wondering what that means. Have I accomplished much in this last year? Well, we all survived it, so that's a start...

Today David surprised me by taking the day off work and we just hung out together. The very best birthday gift.

And tonight, when I talked to my mom, I told her that kids' birthdays should celebrate the moms, not the kids. The moms who put up with us for so long and even kept a smile on their faces.

Thanks Mom, even now, all grown up, I need you, I count on you and miss you when we haven't talked in awhile. I come to you for advice and encouragement and you're always ready to hear the latest thing that's going on in my life. Thanks for being my mom for the last 33 years, as you said, its been good. I love you!

From ?

This was next to my plate the other night, how sweet :)

Two Week Warning & Alphabet Countdown

Two weeks left, two weeks of Girls Scouts, Cub Scouts and swimming lessons. That's the sign that the school year is winding down.

 

The Alphabet Countdown started last week, A for Animal Day (bring a stuffed animal), today is F for Family Photo Day, and finally, in a few weeks, we'll reach Z... Zoom Out of School Day! When the ABC Countdown list came home I knew we were getting close, just 26 more school days left, stretched out over five and a half weeks. And if we've made it this far into the school year, we can tough it out for another measly 26 days.

Summer Vacation, here we come!!! (Just four weeks and two days to go...)

All the Moms

All the moms in my life, my wonderful Mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, my husband's amazing mom, my sister and sisters-in-law, cousins and friends - these women change the world with their love. Each and every day, the mundane matching socks and wading through homework battles. The big moments where it all culminates in sitting in an audience while your grown up child graduates. The late night crying on your shoulder, the middle of the day cheering us on, the daily making food for the ones you love before sending them out the door to school or work, tucking into bed at night, countless hugs and kisses through the years. The hundreds of thousands of millions of miles and hours spent in the car driving. On vacations, on adventures, to school, to sports and scouts and to the store for a birthday gift for a friend. The tears shed in happiness and fear and sadness, your hearts broken by children you love, your hearts sent soaring to the heavens when that child achieves some new thing, when that child turns to you and says "Thank you."

These amazing moms, you all are changing the world one moment at a time. We're just people, us moms, but we do have the chance, each moment, to decide what might happen next, and step in one direction or the other. We make mistakes, us moms, but all of you, I know you're all doing it in love, trying to take the next right step and together, in all of that abounding love, you're all raising this amazing generation of children.

Thank you moms, thank you to my own Mom who continues to sort socks and support me and let me cry on her shoulder. Who continues to dole out hugs and kisses and Twizzlers every chance she gets. Thank you Mom.

Get Away

Sometimes you just need to get out. Tonight David took us for a little drive around town and it was just what we needed. Thanks Honey.

(Also thanks for letting us jump out of the car to check the beach, I'm soooo ready for beach weather to come.)

Birthday Card

Designed by Shelly for "The best brother I ever had!"

To Archer
From Shelly Dad Mom last but not least is Elijah

Happy Birthday to you yes you Archer
You're the best brother I ever had!

Birthday Goodies

Ok, so Archer had a birthday, there was a big build up until finally we celebrated on Sunday night. He so badly wanted a bow and arrows. We said no. And in the end, I think he was happy with what we gave him instead, which included eight weeks of archery lessons this summer. He's said thank you to David and I a dozen times since he received his gifts, completely unprompted, and that's a good sign that he's happy. :)

Today I took him out for lunch, our little tradition. I picked him up and took him to McDonald's. This is the one day of the year when he's allowed to order a Happy Meal. And we went to the park.

When I got him from school, and we walked out, Elijah kept saying "Yeh-ee, Yeh-ee" (his version of Shelly). But I was pretty much ignoring him, trying to listen to Archer. As we walked away from the school towards the car, E stood in front of me and grabbed my leg. "Top! Top! Yeh-ee!" To translate, that's, "Stop! You forgot Shelly!" That kid amazes me. I was so touched by his concern that we were leaving Shelly behind! I stopped, knelt down and tried to explain. We're coming back, we didn't forget her, she'll come later. He seemed satisfied and we moved on. McDonald's, then park.

So beautiful out today! Archer challenged me to a game of tag and revelled in outrunning me as he weaved in and out around the playground. For the record, I think I could catch him on a straight path, but not with all the slides and obstacles. Just sayin'. Anyway, it was a great lunch, Archer was returned to school, and E and I went about the rest of our day.

Nine

Dear Precious Boy, this is your last year of a single digit age. After this year, for the rest of your life, you'll be a double digit. I almost can't believe you're still ONLY nine, you're ready to be older. But for now, you linger... Today you're Nine. And I tell you the story again, the story of seeing your face for the first time and announcing to the whole world, "he's perfect!" I went around like that for weeks. Friends would say "he's so cute!" and I would say, "isn't he perfect?" It was nice of them to humor me. Or maybe they knew. Your precious little face, the most perfect face that God had ever created.

Dear Archer, my precious first born, you're nine and I don't know where nine years went. In my memory its a flash. And yet, it feels like maybe we're finally settled into this family thing. I've been your mom long enough that it doesn't surprise me anymore that I have a son. Did I ever tell you about the first doctor appointment I had to make for you? I called them up, they answered, and then I suddenly got stuck. I had to say some words that I had never said before in my life and they got caught in my throat, the wonder of this miracle of a newborn in my arms. "I need to make an appointment for my son." My son. My beautiful, perfectly formed son. It was a new, marvelous thing to say, This Is My Son.

You know, sometimes this road we're on together, the road of family travelling life with each other, its bumpy. Sometimes we bump into each other with words and feelings and it feels a little rough around the edges. But always we come back together. Today when I picked you up from school for your special birthday lunch, you wouldn't believe how it warmed my heart when you saw me and ran to me, took my hand and walked by my side.

I want you to know that even though things get rocky, whether between us family or with anyone else out there in the world, God created you so perfectly and you are special. One of a kind, and we're all watching to see what he does with you, in your life, where you go. We can tell already that you're headed somewhere great. You might not feel it, but we know it. Dad and I, and all the rest of your family, we know it. And we just can't wait to see where you go!

I love you dear Nine!

Girl With Watering Can

Shelly was honored by having one of her pieces of art be selected for a very exclusive exhibit at one of the museums here. Only nine students from her school had this honor, and their art was combined with pieces from students throughout the entire school district and now all of this amazing creativity is on display. It really is incredible, from the 4K classes through the highschoolers, the talent, the original ideas, all on display for us to see today.

The Open House for the exhibit opening was this afternoon and we got dressed up and went over to browse around. Of course Shelly was anxious to find her painting, but David and I wandered through slowly, marvelling at the talent we saw in each piece. There were paintings, drawings, weavings, clay sculptures, jewelry and metal sculptures, etchings, on and on. Along the way we saw teachers we know (the kids' art teacher, David's 5th grade teacher), classmates and old friends. And finally, we reached the second floor, Shelly turned a corner and saw it. Girl With Watering Can.

There, on the wall of an art gallery, and suddenly she was bashful and covering her face and laughing in near disbelief. There it was. As luck would have it, the girl in the picture is one of Shelly's classmates. And that sweet kindergartner was there! She was looking at the picture with us and we marveled at how well Shelly had captured her friend in the painting.

We followed up the art tour with cookies and lemonade, while listening to a string quartet. And then, the running around outside in the gardens. And more pictures (you can bet the kids were sick of pictures by the time we left!).

 

 

What a beautiful family I have, and what better way to spend it than together on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?