Wrapping Up

Can you believe there are only 5 days of school left? This was a big year. Archer's first year in high school. Shelly's first year in middle school. Eli's first year in Second Grade. I mean, Eli's first year without an older sister looking after him on the bus and at school. Three schools, three different bus schedules, schedules for days on/off, all that fun stuff. We managed to work it all out, as always, but it wasn't always easy.

Archer attended a few football games, chose a Pathway (like chosing a major in college, but this is for his focus in high school), had a bunch of adventures with the Scouts. HS is hard. Hard work, teachers with different expectations from each other and from what you've grown used to in past years, more kids, tougher kids, all of that. Archer did a great job of keeping out of the way of trouble, keeping his head down and working hard and having fun along the way.

Shelly joined the Swing Choir and Cross Country in the fall. And piano, don't forget that! So many concerts, so much beautiful music! MS is a whole lot different than when I was in school. I sometimes wonder what kind of bubble I grew up in - all of the things I hear about that are just common every events for my kids, it blows my mind. But again, Shelly steers clear of the drama, works hard and keeps a sense of humor about most of it.

Eli made a few new friends, continued his adventures with Scouting and getting to know our neighbors as he rode the bus to school with Jaxon every day. On the days when David couldn't take Eli to the bus stop, E went over to Jaxon's house before they made the trek to the bus stop. They're a great family and we're thankful to have them so close by.

David's at a new job that has him travelling around the world and back again. Halifax, London, Paris, Amsterdam, what's next?!? I was lucky enough to spend a week in London with him, we got a lot of work done and had a great time touring the city as well. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but also... I'm secretly hoping he'll be home for the summer before they send him off to the next Big City for training New Offices. :)


And this concludes the School Year in Review. Way too short to share all of the hundreds of adventures and laughs we've had in the last 9 months, but there it is.

Just Another Saturday Morning

They pronounced Eli has a cute tushie, pretended to be asleep and then went back to cuddles and laughs.  Good morning kids!

The Kitchen

You know how they say the kitchen is the heart of the home? Yeah it's cliche, but I really felt it this week. Shelly's been into baking cookies lately.  We go to the library, a booksale, she's looking for recipe books. She's baking. She found a chicken recipe and we gave it a shot, everyone liked it. Eli has taken up an interest in cookies and Archer found something online that he wanted to try. It all came together on Thursday night when I was cooking supper and the boys wanted to try their recipes and Shelly was putting together her lunch for the next day. There we were. Four of us happily crammed in together, working on our own things and lending a hand to each other as we went.

The result - Archer's gooey warm fried raviolis, Eli's rich chocolate cookies, Shelly's healthy delicious looking lunch. AND my beef stew which no one could eat because we were all too full from Archer's and Eli's treats to even consider eating the stew. Don't worry though, we warmed it up for dinner on Friday and everyone enjoyed it. So, that's a win-win-win-win! David got home from work in the middle of all of our cooking and I think he was a bit surprised to find all of us in the same room, usually everyone's off in their own corners of the house. But there we were, in the heart of our home, cozy and happy in our time together.

Adventure Awaits - Caving!

Once again, I said "Yes" to an unknown adventure and lived to tell the tale. I had no idea what to expect, we were TOLD but sometimes you just can't KNOW until you actually get there.

Concerns to note:
- Bats hibernate in this cave.
- Bring a tarp because it will rain on you at night.
- Wear old clothes because you'll get super muddy.

What ACTUALLY happened...

- Long drive. Very long drive. Keep driving. A couple of pit stops with instructions for NO MORE ENERGY DRINKS!!! So many windy roads in the dark with drop offs on one side and steep cliffs on the other. It almost reminded me of our trip to DC, on the bus, through the mountains. Except we're in WI not somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains.

- Finally! We get to the long gravel road, turn down another shorter gravel road, go around a corner, get halfway up the hill and stuck. Back up a little, but not really too much because there's a pond at the bottom of the hill behind me and when I put my foot on the brake the van keeps sliding backwards. Kinda little bit scary. I put the van in park, put the emergency brake on and sent the boys up the hill to find some help. As I sat there in the dark, watching the trees and the snowflakes drifting down. Beautiful. Quiet. Nature.

- A car came whizzing up the hill and I hoped perhaps they'd stop to offer help but they whizzed right on past and I definitely couldn't blame them. Stopping on this hill would be treacherous. A few minutes later a giant four wheel drive monster truck with a couple of friendly gentlemen who pulled up beside me. Windows rolled down, a little bit of chatting and one of the guys took my place in the van, and managed to zig zag back and forth up that mountain. Success!

- Friday night was 100% cave exploration. We gathered up all our tarps and sleeping bags, staked out our spots in the cave and set the Explorers loose. Our spot was on a rock shelf with a small rock wall to protect us from rolling off the edge. Someone found one bat hanging from a ledge and we all inspected but kept our distance. I was wiped out and despite the echoing shouts, managed to fall asleep, snuggled in my sleeping bag and a tarp pulled up over my head to keep the dripping water out.

- Saturday morning I woke up to find an Explorer sitting on a rock above me, silently watching out like an owl that sees everything moving in the forest around him. It turns out a couple of our Explorers spent less than a couple of hours sleeping. One Explorer didn't sleep at all. Hard core spelunking! Breakfast, exploring, lunch, the challenge was presented. There are some hidden treasures in the cave. Approximately 75 people rushed back to the empty cave to find, in the very front room, a pair of bats flapping around and completely terrified of the mob rushing into their sanctuary. Again, everyone was respectful and left the bats alone to find their way back to safety. Treasure hunting, more exploring, and even taking Mom down into the one crevice she might tolerate. Archer was very kind to be my tour guide and he was encouraging as I slipped down between rocks into a dark wet cove where the only way back out was to pull yourself up onto the drop that you just snuck through. "Now if you just lay back, you'll be able to squeeze under the next rock." But if I lean back, what if I fall off the rock I'm on now? He talked me through another tight spot or two, up and down again until I'd reached my limit. He directed me step by step back out. A small moment of panic crossed my mind as I wondered if I'd be able to pull myself back out of the hole I'd crawled into, but I made it.

- Sunday was pack up, move out of the cave, quick breakfast and then we were off.  Ask me sometime about the freezing rain that turned the parkimg lot into a treacherous ice rink. Another great adventure with the Scouts, the foundation of legends and tall tales for many years to come!