Spring Break

Time off from school!  Almost summery weather!  A trip to the dentist!  Wait, what?  Most of spring break was fun, but there was still a couple of "have to" things that needed to happen.  

Spring break inspired the great clothing switcheroo.  I had Jack pull down the bucket of warm weather clothes and I purged all the outgrown (and holey) stuff.  My girls are super hard on pants and shorts, and sometime even their dresses end up with holes from their prosthetics. 

We stocked up at the library so they'd have plenty to read during quiet afternoon rest.

Jack helped me prep for the egg hunt by sorting eggs by color.  Grumman is not to sure about these plastic eggs and buckets.

My last day of work for this school year was during the kids' spring break, but since we were having a party at the park, I was able to bring Hannah and Katie with me.

The theme was "things that fly."  You can barely see bubbles floating down behind Hannah here.  We did gliders and kites and there were dot to dots and coloring pages of hot air balloons and planes.  We made Frisbees.  It was so nice to be at a park for the first time in ages. 

Selfie cat. 

We're going to call this a STEM engineering challenge.  No, wait, I'm not homeschooling any more.  I can just call it playtime now. 

Grumman is getting used to the harness.  He likes to go outside, and now that we've got windows open more often, he likes to perch on the sills and sniff the breeze. 

This was actually kind of sad to me.  We're down to 4 hunters this year.  Eli and Josiah decided they're too old now. 

While they were dressed up, I decided to get a picture or two.  This is probably what they're wearing for spring school picture next week. 

Hmm, I wonder if I have enough motivation to make Hannah a gumball necklace by then?  Probably not. 

My Dad & Step Mom came for Easter lunch.  Katie is selecting her piece to perform on the piano for them. 

Hannah played a song...

...and then Katie played a song. 

My Dad just retired.  They look pretty happy about that! 

I think Brayden is taller than Katie now (even though he's a year younger).  I'm guessing he'll pass Hannah up, too, one of these days. 

So, we're missing Heather, Annaliese, Sam, and Brianna.  I realized the last family picture with less than 4 people missing was taken in 2015, while Annaliese was Down Under.  The last picture with "everybody" (or at least everybody at the time) was 2013, before Heather and Brayden joined the family.  With all the grown kids scattered about, who knows how long it will be until we get everybody in the same place at the same time again. 

Egg hunt!

I always find it amusing to see eggs the kids have walked right past in these pictures. 

After lunch, a board game was played involving pooping farm animals.  Much hilarity ensued. 

We're Still Here!

I know.  I've sort of disappeared.  I'm not at my desk as much as I was when we homeschooled, and with the kids growing up, I share less of the everyday details of their lives.   

Eli's cat Grumman is quite a character.  He'll be 1 year old in May. 

I don't think I mentioned here that I got a job.  Although, it's almost over.  I work for a charter school one day a week at their "enrichment academy," which is a program for homeschoolers. 

They're not sure yet whether or not I'll be needed next school year.  I'm okay, either way.  I like having regular deposits show up in my vacation account, but I won't be crushed if I'm not there in the fall. 

The girls are doing well.  We started piano lessons at Shriners.  Katie reads while Hannah plays, and then Hannah reads while Katie plays. 

It's a new program at Shriners, and they did a PR piece on the girls. 

Tuzi the bunny is happy that we've had some nice days to go outside lately.  I don't know if I'm projecting or not, but it seems that life in a cage would be really boring, so I'm always glad when he can be out in his playpen or outside on the leash. 

Sam is currently deployed on a ship.  I've been sending holiday theme care packages.  I like themes, so that's fun for me.  I print "lunchbox jokes" for the flaps, and he gets a chuckle out of those.  He's always been very punny. 

Jack is in his second season of trap shooting.  It has been a great experience for him. 

We continue to enjoy our library.  I've already read 26 books this year. 

I try to take the kids to get books more often now that the girls each have 45 minutes where all they can really do is read while waiting for each other at piano. 

I taught another art lesson to Katie's class at school.

We did one of the projects from our homeschool days, root vegetables done in oil pastel and watercolor to learn resist techniques. 

I joined Blue Star Moms and went to an event. 

I got to scratch another state off my travel map, with the hope of scratching off one or two more later this year.

Brianna turned 19!

She was home for a visit...

...and now she's off on new adventures. 

Playing air hockey at Shriners while we wait for adjustments to be finished on Hannah's prosthetic leg. 

Prom happened.  Eli's senior prom.  Which, honestly, probably means my last prom as mom, since the tiny school my younger kids go to doesn't have dances.  (Although, I think Shriners has a formal event similar to prom.  We'll see if that's still around when Hannah gets older.)

Jack turned 15.  Paul made his cake and decorated it with a shotgun. 

He got his first cell phone. 

Thankfully, he has built in, older sibling, in house tech support.

Katie and friend, waiting at the regional spelling bee. 

Hannah (purple dress) competing with other 6th graders at the spelling bee. 

It warmed my heart to realize we'd had adult children visit 4 out of 5 of the past months.  Sam and Annaliese were home in November, Brianna was home in December and February, and Annaliese visited again in March. 

While Ese was here, we took a field trip to Nimbus Fish Hatchery.  The kids hadn't been in about a decade, and Hannah and Katie not at all. 

Watching the kids grow up is bittersweet.  I love how capable and interesting they are.  But I miss being super important in their worlds.  All too soon, Eli will be graduating and stretching his wings.