Mike’s sister and her family moved to Georgia at the beginning of this month, so much of April was spent trying to soak up some time with them. We had a few dinners together and they were able to come watch one of Ethan’s soccer games. We also had Caleb sleep over so that Ashley could get a bunch of cleaning done more easily around their place. We loved all the time with them!
It was a pleasure to have a few years living in the same city and we were really bummed to see them go. But we’re hopeful and prayerful that they will really enjoy Atlanta and the adventures that await them there.
Ethan’s been loving playing soccer this season. He’s found his favorite position – stopper! He absolutely loves playing defense and has even managed to score a few goals from back there because he’s got quite the kick! And Micah is a fun fan. =)
Micah started playing flag football through the rec centers here. He’s loved it and definitely improved over the few weeks that the season ran. I was out of town for his first game, but Mike took lots of pictures and videos. They watched some game footage to help teach him about the game before his second night of games. And then his final games were cancelled due to weather, so we’ll see if he gets to make those up later. He prefers to play center, but he did get a couple running plays called for him and snagged at least one flag! Woot!
Ethan worked SO hard on his Memory Master challenge this year and was able to get the official title. This meant he had to memorize every fact for all 24 weeks of 7 subjects. He had to recall this information 3 different times. We opted to do one with Auntie Mel (SO thankful to live by these guys again!!). Then he was quizzed by a tutor at CC and then by the director. It was a pretty arduous process, but he loved it and was super excited by the challenge!
Micah began going to Speech therapy and is making great strides there already. He seems to enjoy it okay and is pretty determined to do his homework!
And Ethan played the prelude in church again – In Christ Alone. Another fun bonus to going to the same church as family, Aunt Mel took a video! =)
He also had his final piano recital of the year – he played two pieces (In the Hall of the Mountain King and something about pirates).
And Micah is wrapping up drum lessons for the year. Here’s one of the latest pictures I took when one of his friends from church wanted to sit in and listen.
Other happenings from the past months include our very first opportunity to provide respite care. I can’t give details here or show any pictures of our sweetie pie’s face, but suffice it to say, we had a wonderful time. I’m including some pictures from what we did that weekend (we had him with us for four days), as a reminder to myself. As soon as he left our home, Micah commented on how much he missed him and how our home didn’t feel normal anymore. Having three boys was lovely and we were thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to more to come in the future!
Here are some other pictures from various adventures over the months of April and May. My friend and I were discussing diagramming sentences after church and Mike thought it was hilarious. The boys are VERY into all things related to coins these days. We’ve been intentional to make sure the boys have quality time with Daddio during his time at home, so we had an adventure at Top Golf and also have been going for walks and playing at the park.
I have apparently lagged WAY behind in my posting. I’ll have to do a broad sweep of a few post updates so that we can get caught up again!
Kiwi Crates (I’m getting to the point of being over these, but every time they arrive the boys are thrilled! I just want to enjoy them for a month and then not have boxes lying around the house…sigh):
We had our dear missionary friends over for dinner while they were in town. You’ll recognize them as friends we stayed with when we were in Germany. It was SO good to catch up with them again and to hear how the Lord is on the move in their lives. It was also lots of fun to recall funny memories from our early days of dating and marriage as they were mentors of ours from the beginning of our dating lives. =)
Here are some shots from every day life around here. They include quite a few pictures of boys reading out loud (still doing their Read Aloud Challenge every month this year) to various people.
And a few from homeschooling, including pictures of Ethan working on his big Faces and Places presentation about Alexander the Great. He had to read his 5 paragraph essay in front of the community and he did a great job! You’ll also see some pictures of the boys either reading or listening to books because we’ve started a new habit of reading for 20 minutes any day that Daddio is out of town. It gives me a little break and shows them that reading is an important and fun part of all of our days. =)
More to come in this whirlwind update of the past two months.
Day 4: We spent most of this day driving the beautiful coastline and making various stops to gawk and take pictures.
Day 5: We needed a day at the park and at the beach after our day of driving. Ethan tried hollandaise sauce for the first time and I committed to trying to make some this year!
Day 6: We spent this day doing a little more driving and then visiting my cousin, Caleb, at college. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures. Oops. We were engaged in good conversation and sight seeing at Biola. So much fun to see him there!
Thankful for the gift of vacations with this crew, even when attitudes don’t match the beautiful scenery all the time. 😉
Over our Spring Break we opted for a 5 day trip to drive the Pacific Coast Highway – starting in Santa Cruz and ending in LA. I had no idea what to expect as Mike is our trip advisor, planner, and researcher and I do very little prep for these excursions other than to pack everyone. =). Anyway, he did a wonderful job organizing another fun trip for us. We will want to do more of this drive someday – the sights were unreal!
Day One: early morning flight, a stop at Apple (where Micah lost another tooth) and Google and then a late night swim with Daddio
Day Two: we took a walk to the beach in Santa Cruz and explored that pier and saw seals before heading onward to Monterey where we played at the beach and then had the very best clam chowder ever for dinner. We also saw otters at dinner!
Day Three: Monterey Aquarium, 17 Mile Drive and Pebble Beach
I’ll do the final two days in a separate post. There are a lot of beautiful pictures of this coastline. =)
Ethan participated in Federation for the first time. This is a piano competition of sorts with judges giving feedback on your performance. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but his teacher encouraged us to give it a try. I think Ethan ended up liking it a lot – it was fun to have something specific for which to practice. His teacher sent a video from his practice right before Federation.
We snapped a few pictures before he played his two songs (Circle Dance and Cool Cats) in front of three judges and about six other kids and their families. He did a great job! We were especially proud of him for stopping when he was playing the one song and asking to start over because he had made a mistake and you could tell it was affecting the rest of the song. He is not always one to speak up and advocate for himself and he did so very well in this setting.
He ended up getting a Superior rating, so that made him especially proud of his accomplishment. We focused on doing the perseverance and courage he showed in doing something that made him so nervous. We went out for ice cream and walked through a fun bookstore downtown. Afterwards we met Reggie for dinner downtown – always a treat!
Meanwhile, Micah is still taking weekly drum lessons. He’s enjoying himself and has already surpassed his mama’s ability to keep a beat. =)