My little man

I rarely take my kids to the doctor for "well check" visits because:

a.) I get told they're fine

b.) I get told they're short

c.) I already knew both of those things

and

d.) They'll probably pick up some dread disease in the waiting room.

Nevertheless this year I knew we were probably due for some shots or something (we were -- everyone was well behind the typical schedule) and Strider needed a form filled out, so we've been riding our bikes back and forth to the doctor's office in our little town center for each of the kids' appointments. 

 The last appointment was for the last-born, and I was dreading it a bit because the last time he had to get shots he freaked out a bit.  Actually, the last time any needle came near him was when we were in Moldova and he had to get blood drawn -- and he freaked out about that, too.  

As he climbed up on the big doctor exam table -- which he didn't remember ever seeing before-- guess it's been a rather long time since we were in a doctor's office with him -- I thought about how big he suddenly seemed.  Then the doctor started asking about kindergarten forms, and I realized just how big he is!  He's almost in kindergarten -- how did that happen??

But then my little man showed me just how big and tough he's getting.  The nurse came in to give him 2 shots and I thought Miles would get upset.  Instead, he just nodded and essentially said, "bring it on."  The nurse told me to hold him so he wouldn't squirm, but Miles told me he didn't me to do that and I should go sit down.  As the nurse stuck him, he didn't even grimace.  Then she prepared to do the second one, and he didn't resist at all.  I saw him clench him muscles a little bit when the second one went in, but he didn't let any emotion show on his face at all.  What a difference since the last time!   He didn't want me to fuss over him or make a big deal about it... he just wanted to be strong and nonchalant.

I wished I'd had a camera (one of these days I'm going to get a real, actual smartphone!) to record his face in that office.  And I wished I'd had one handy when we rode home and he jumped off his bike in the front yard to proudly show his brothers his 2 band-aids.

I got my camera out later:

I don't know how this happened.... how I went from a house full of babyness to suddenly having my baby act like a little man and be ready for kindergarten.

At least, as the doctor once again reminded me, he's quite short, so he'll be little for awhile anyway.

Still.  I've spent the last several days perusing adoption web sites.  :)

Final day of co-op

....  So, our co-op year was a lot of fun, and we celebrated with a big ceremony on the last day!  The kids all recited poetry, presented science projects, shared about their favorite books from the year, and did some country presentations.  And most of them wore their indigo-dyed shirts!

This year's school co-op

All year I've been meaning to write about school co-op.... and finally, on the very last day of class, I'm getting around to doing it!

Rayna, Colsen, occasionally Miles and I have been meeting every Thursday with a great group of moms and kids.  The kids are split up by level -- elementary through high school -- and take 4 classes.  The elementary group this year learned botany, poetry, literature/book club, and countries/cultures.  The teachers were wonderful -- creative and energetic, coming up with creative activities for everyone to do each week.

I'm sure I've taken some stellar pictures all year.... but can't find many of them at this point.  Here is a quick smattering of some of the things we've done:

Learning about plants

Making sushi

Making valentine bags

More learning about something

Pretending to be all the parts of a tree trunk

More cooking

Rayna and all the boys!

  It turned out there were about 10 elementary kids -- 9 of them were boys.  Poor Rayna always finds herself surrounded by boys everywhere we go!  She never seems to mind, though.

Throughout the year the kids studied several different countries, always cooking or eating a food from that country, and usually doing a craft or activity from the region.  A few times they even learned a traditional dance!  Here is Ms. Tammy teaching them the flamenco (or something?):

We also took a little field trip to Ms. Julie's house, and since she has a new indigo-dying company, we were able to dye some shirts!

We are very thankful for all these families who welcomed us in this year!

Memorial Day festivities

Just downloaded these pictures from Memorial Day....  Clearly the zany bubbles (made by Ms. Jo!) were the big hit!

 Our Life group came over and we played between our yard and our next-door neighbors, Wayne and Jo's.  After dinner we all played some rousing rounds of Hide-and-Seek around the houses/yards.

In between the bubbles and the running around like banshees, we did the more boring stuff - -like eat:

Miles always enjoys time with his best friend, Mr. Wayne

 Earlier in the day we attended an outdoor ceremony here in our neighborhood.  There were members of all the branches of the armed forces, some patriotic songs, a really good key-note speaker, and of course, a focus on the flag.  At the end, one of the neighborhood pastors prayed and I found myself very thankful that my kids are able to grow up in a community that honors our soldiers and Jesus.

It was a good Memorial Day!

The End of an Era: TFC

Last week these 4 couples assembled for the last planned time.  :(

Over the years our families, known as "TFC," have met together to play, eat, hike, talk, and learn together -- all 27 of us!  But now the Coles are moving away, so the band (orchestra?) is breaking up.

I enjoyed looking at some of the older pictures of the group.... we've all grown a lot over the years.  And we've played a lot of fun games -- and worn a lot of funny things!

"Luau" party

"Stripes and Dots" party 

What a blessing it has been to our family to have these close friends in our lives!  Even though the Coles are moving away, we know we'll always have that strong foundation of friendship to keep us bonded.  :)

I love my kids

One of my main motivations for blogging, of course, is so that my family will be able to look back and see how much I love them.  And this post, in particular, should provide great proof.

We were invited to go on yet another field trip with yet more animals, the large proportion of them being gross reptiles.  Since I love my children that much, I agreed to go.  Then when we got there, it turned out it was going to be in someone's basement because it was POURING outside.  We pulled up at the house, had to park down the street and run around through all the puddles, then dance around the outside of the house because we were late and couldn't find our way in.  We finally made it in, soaked, and trudged down to the rather strange, animal-filled basement.  Then, because I love my children THIS much, I ended up running back out in the pouring ran all the way back to the car to get my forgotten camera, so I could have record of their great delight.

So here is the record of their great delight with the creepy (and occasionally cute) animals.

You know it was a good field trip, though, when all 4 kids get back in the car afterwards and none of them can stop talking -- all the way home!  (or in our case, to Chick-Fil-A to meet up with the friends again, and then to the strawberry patch to meet up with them yet again)

Good day -- and good mom, right??