that's a wrap!

Today was Caleb and Logan's last day of Kindergarten!!  I can hardly believe it -it feels like we're just getting into the swing of things.  :)  I'm not sure where the year went, it's all kind of in a "having a newborn" haze...

They had a fun last couple days, and are definitely overtired.  Yesterday was Field Day, so they were outside almost the entire day (and it was quite warm and humid!); and today they had a field trip in the afternoon to finish things off.  They went to Playworld and played HARD for a couple hours.

Both boys had a great first year of school; and as parents, I think Mike and I had a good first year, too.  :)  It's crazy to see how much they've learned in just one school year.  Their teacher, Mrs. Knapp, kept a few papers throughout the year and put together a book for each of the kids which they brought home today.  What a huge difference in what they can do from the first day to the last!

Basically, at the beginning of the year they could mostly write their first name, and count but not write out the numbers.  Now they can write out their whole name (nicely!), and not only write out the numbers, but count by two's, add, and subtract!  They are way better at telling time than I was at that age (I remember really struggling to tell time...).

We have loved school, and part of me is dreading summer, but it will be good to have a break, and we have a few fun things planned throughout the whole summer to keep us going.  :)  I do need to spend a little more time, though, figuring out what kind of structure our normal days at home are going to have.

ouch

This past Monday I took both Levi and Jackson in for well child check-ups at the doctor.  They both needed shots - good times!  :)  Levi weighed in at 42 lbs, which is 91st percentile; and he is 3' 7" tall, which is 93rd percentile.  Not a little guy, that's for sure!  Jackson is 17 lb 5 oz (39th percentile); and 2' 3.5" (76th percentile).  I'm always thankful for good check-ups at the doctor!

On the way to the doctor I gave Levi a heads up that he was probably getting shots, and he took it pretty well.  I was prepared for him to freak out about it, considering how the last shot went, but he stayed calm.  :)  At shot time I didn't have to wrestle him or anything - he got right up on the table, I held his arms down, and he did let out a pretty good scream, but then just cried for a bit.  I wasn't able to comfort him for long as Jackson was getting shots, too, and I had to help with him.

Levi also had to have hearing and vision tests in order to go to preschool next year.  Boy is that a trip with a four-year-old!  I had them do the picture eye test since I know he doesn't know his letters real well.  But, even that was a bit of a struggle.  It was hard to tell what he actually couldn't see, what shapes he didn't know, and what was shyness with the nurses...  Kinda the same with the hearing test - hard to get him to respond like he's supposed to.  For the most part though he did well answering the nurses and doctors when they asked him questions (we had a couple pep talks about that).

I asked the doctor about trying solids with Jackson again, and he said there's no rush to do it anytime soon since he's growing and healthy as it is.  I tried for 2-3 weeks a couple months ago and it seemed to give him reflux or something, and he just never got excited about it.  So, I quit and it's been nice not dealing with that added complication.  :)

Of course Jackson cried for his shots, too, so I had my hands full trying to comfort two sad little boys.  Levi was fine once I got to the gas station just up the road and bought him some candy.  :)  

Last Saturday we loaded up the family in Mike's truck and delivered a whole cow to Midland!  We put an old freezer in the back of the truck, stopped at Byron Center Meats to fill it up, and then hit the road.  We weren't sure how it was going to go having all six of us in the truck, but it really went well!  We were able to visit and have lunch with Mike's stepbrother and his family that live over there and it was a really nice visit.  

4 and 6

Within the last week Jackson passed the 6 month mark, and Levi had his FOURTH birthday!!  I definitely wish I could freeze time once in a while, my babies are growing so fast.

At 6 months, Jackson is mostly a lot of fun.  :)  He can't quite sit up on his own, but he wants to so bad.  When laying on the floor he often does "crunches" to try and sit up to see what's going on.  He's rolling around quite a bit, and I can't trust him to stay in one spot (I'd better get crackin' with babyproofing...).  Jackson enjoys being outside, whether it's on a blanket or in the stroller.  His smile is just darling, and even though he's been acting for months like they're coming, he doesn't have any teeth yet.  He seems awfully close to actually saying "mama".  I know it's just the noise he makes when crying, but boy it sure sounds like he's crying for mama!  Even though I was up with him 3x last night, most nights he does pretty well and sleeps from about 9pm-6:30am, give or take a bit.  He generally eats 5x/day (we're not doing solids yet), and many days has a couple cat naps with one bigger nap in the middle of the day.  Last week we were on the go quite a bit so naps didn't go as well, but he (and I!) are going to have to learn to deal with it - when you're the little guy with older siblings you can't just stay home all the time!  :)

Levi got lots of treats on his birthday!  After dropping Caleb and Logan off to school, we headed to the donut shop.  Then, while we were helping out at a garage sale, my dad came to take him out (since we already had donuts, he had a cookie); and one of the ladies at the sale wanted to get him a donut, but we passed up that one.   :)  That evening, after dinner, we had cupcakes.  (By the way, dinner was ravioli, which  he requested.)  And, on Saturday at the Mother's Day/several cousin's birthday's party with Mike's family, we had the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that he asked for.  :)  Levi got his big boy bike from Grandpa and Grandma VanBeek and he looks so big on it!  He got a kid-sized wheelbarrow from my parents that I'm excited about as he always wants to help with work outside.  :)

On Friday we were able to meet up at the park with Tera and her boys and we had such a nice time!  It was great to catch up with her, and the boys had so much fun playing together.  I think I'm going to have some sad boys when their cousins go back to Kenya.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and it was a nice day.  The boys got me a candle and gift card to a local greenhouse.  We had dinner with my family at my parent's house.  Then we just laid low the rest of the day.  I had things to get done around the house, and the other guys played outside and got dirty.  Of course. :)   There are plenty of tough times with this parenting gig, but I couldn't be more thrilled to be 'mom' to my four boys.  Even when I'm pretty sure that I'm going to LOSE. MY. MIND. I know I'm doing exactly what God has called me to do.