summer!

Unbelievable.  Somehow, I blinked, May happened, and now it's June!  May was a busy month with lots of activities, and now today is the first day of summer break.  So far so good - I'm looking forward to a great summer! 

Some of the things we did in May: I had one of my oldest friends over for coffee and we had a great time catching up, we celebrated Levi's SIXTH birthday, went to the last Mom's & Muffins of the school year, I had an outpatient surgery performed, Caleb had a visit to the orthodondist, I babysat Jackson's friend, Kassie, a couple different times, the older boys had their Spring Showcase, we had Mike's family over to our house for Mother's Day, we got together with my family at my parent's house for Mother's Day, we had our last Bible Study for the year, I was able to accompany Caleb and Logan's class on a field trip to Post Family Farm and Hager Park, I participated in a garage sale with some friends from church (and got to witness their crazy neighbor lady), Mike and I went on a date, Levi had his well-care visit to the doctor, we went to the cottage the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, as usual we went to the Jenison Memorial Day parade, I went on a field trip with Levi's class, and in our spare time we've done quite a bit of yard work and Mike has been working on a new fence for the garden!  Phew!  Just reviewing all that makes me tired.

I am REALLY looking forward to not having Jackson on the school schedule for the summer.  Waking him up in the morning for drop-off and in the afternoon from his nap for pickup is BRUTAL.  He gets so cranked off.  So for that reason alone I am grateful for summer break.  I'm not sure if I'm ready for all four of my crazies all day every day, but we'll manage!  :)  I'm hoping I can provide them with enough structure that they don't completely turn into wild hooligans, but still plenty of free time for them to just enjoy summer and give them a chance to be creative and use their imaginations.  Today they've been pretty busy with a baby bunny they came across in the strawberry patch, and catching frogs in the creek.  :)

This morning I bought a TON of pepper plants, and several tomato plants.  Hoping to get them planted tomorrow!  We need to finish our new fence tonight, and I have some weeding to do.  For some reason I just really enjoy growing pepper plants - the people I purchase my plants from have a huge variety of plants, and each one has a unique name.  (They are heirloom tomatoes and peppers.)  Not sure how much help I'll get from the kids - I tried to have them do a little weeding last weekend, and you would have thought I was torturing them the way they acted.

Caleb and Logan just finished 2nd grade, and it seems like they had a really good year.  I really liked their teacher, Miss Griess, and they seemed to like her, too.  I love how much memory work she had them do.

Levi finished Kindergarten, and he also had great teachers.  His class started out the year with Mrs. Knapp, but then she moved to the east side of the state, so Mrs. Baribeau took over (she had been the aide) and that seemed to go really well.  At least Levi didn't seem to have any trouble with the transition.  He got great marks and comments on his report card, and we're ready for him to do 5-day 1st grade next year.  :)  For some reason, doing homework with him on his at-home days is AWFUL.  It was a battle the whole year for us, and I am very relieved to be done with it.  I know he doesn't act like that at school, and he's scoring well in all subjects, so he'll be just fine at school next year.

Jackson.  Jackson, Jackson, Jackson.  What can I say?  We're definitely struggling to know how to best channel his independent spirit, yet help him learn that he does, in fact, have to submit to Mom and Dad sometimes!  Basically, if you suggest anything he will not cooperate just based on the fact that he feels the need to rebel against everything.  Throw in the fact that he wants to do everything on his own (climb in the van and in his seat, etc., etc., etc.), and my patience is seriously being tested.  Love him dearly, and I know his strong will is going to serve him well down the road, but it sure is exhausting in the mean time! (As it was when we went through this with Caleb around the same age as well.)  This truly is such a fun age as well, it's just hard to remember that sometimes in the midst of the many challenging moments.  He has gotten very good at expressing himself, asking questions, and making observations.  He likes to keep tabs on people (Where Daddy go?  Where Papa go? Where Jose go?), and he likes to tell his brothers about fun things he did earlier in the day while they were at school (I got a flower cookie, Logan!).  He gets excited when he sees the moon, and he loves to play outside.  The kid will eat some of the craziest things for a two-year-old: broccoli dipped in mustard, chips and cheese with sour cream, chips and guacamole, mashed potatoes and ketchup...basically, as long as there's some sort of "dip" involved, he's game.

It is 3:30 pm and my two-year-old is still sleeping because I didn't have to wake him up to pick the others guys up from school.  LOVE. IT.