Spring to Summer Whirlwind

Happy Father's Day, Tim! Tim pictured with Chase and Gabe by Connor's tree

My little wolves at Great Wolf Lodge

Same picture as above with more muted lighting (couldn't decide which one I liked better)

My neighbor was kind enough to pass along this picture she snapped of a rainbow over our house

Gabriel standing in line for the Grover rollercoaster at Busch Gardens

Chase opening up gifts for his 8th birthday (at Grandma's house)

Just a tad worn out after the Monsters on the Beach show and visiting with Auntie Amber

Not the clearest picture, but I'm sure you can guess which one is Gabriel at his preschool presentation

I posted pictures of snow in my last blog posting and here we are entering the summer season! This blog posting title is more than appropriate because life has felt like a whirlwind with how quickly it seems time is passing. Like it or not, here we are at the official start of summer! Before another season comes and goes, let me share some highlights from the past 3 months. 

Chase and Gabe turned another year older. I know that sounds like such a basic, simple statement, but every year is such a blessing. Chase turned 8 on 4/22 and Gabe turned 5 on 4/21. We had more subdued birthday parties for them this year, but they were still just as special and enjoyable as in past years. Instead of having big parties, we enjoyed spending Easter weekend with Tim’s family and the boys’ real birthday weekend with my family at my grandmother’s house.  We also took the boys to Busch Gardens for the first time this year on Good Friday. The boys also got to see Monsters on the Beach again this year with their cousins (Kenden and Jaycee), so they had plenty of attention and fun attractions surrounding their birthday timeframe. Since then, we’ve been to Busch Gardens two more times and Water Country once, so the boys haven’t had any shortage of fun activities.

The boys completed another school-year at Faith Outreach Education Center (FOEC). Chase had perfect attendance and straight A's the last semester of school. So proud! Gabe is now a preschool graduate! The end of the year preschool presentation at FOEC was adorable. Gabe's class sang a couple of songs and demonstrated all they had learned. Gabe even read a short sentence out loud during the presentation; that's no small feat for a freshly-turned 5 year-old who has overcome a severe speech delay. He will still require speech next school year but we praise God for how far he's come since we first started speech therapy over two years ago.

That brings me to my next big news (well, it's big to the boys and me). After much prayer and consideration, we've decided the boys will go to public school next year at Hardy Elementary in Smithfield. There are several reasons for this decision: 

1. Gabe will still require speech therapy and he already has an education plan (IEP) established through IOW County schools. Since we live in Smithfield, speech is of no extra cost to us (just part of being a tax paying citizen). He absolutely loves his speech teacher and has been seeing her since he was 3 years old. Once he begins Kindergarten in the fall, he will resume speech with the same teacher and speech will be integrated with his other classes at Hardy Elementary as part of his normal school-week. No more having to leave work early to pick him up in Hampton and rush him to speech class in Smithfield twice a week. 
2. As much as I hate to face reality, my mom and grandmother aren't getting any younger and I feel they need a break from taking care of so many grandkids at one time. They will still be watching my younger nieces and nephews as far as I know, so it won't yet be an empty nest for them. However, I still think having two less children will ease some of the workload for them. I still have to iron out the details of where the kids will attend before/after school care, but I have my eyes on a few places/programs.
3. I also feel it's time for us to get more connected in our own community. Even though we've lived in Smithfield since 2002, we're just now starting to get more involved with the community--having kids sort of forced that through sports and other activities. One of the many things that attracted us to Smithfield was the small-town feel of it. Although this little town has grown like crazy since we moved here, it's still not so big that our kids will just be another face in the crowd. I still feel like they will get plenty of one on one attention at their new school. 
4. To go along with my third reason, I think it will be good for the boys to have more diversity and friends to surround them. Although FOEC is an incredible God-loving school with an awesome staff, it is pretty small in size and I remember Chase saying a time or two that he wished he had more friends in his class. Both boys will have plenty of new friends and more activities to dive into in the years to come.

Before I get too far ahead of myself talking about another school-year, let’s enjoy another summer season! The boys are still attending summer camp at FOEC and getting to do lots of fun things throughout the week; they’ve already had field trips to various parks, to the movies, to the bounce house, and to the aquatic center. They also get to do water days at school and many arts and crafts. FOEC also did an end of the year trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Tim, the boys, and I got to stay there overnight and enjoy the water park.  We had so much fun. The only downer was that we had to get up early the following morning to rush the boys to their soccer games. This soccer season dragged out into mid-June due to several rained out games earlier in the season. Chase’s team Orange Crush concluded their season two weeks ago since they lost their tournament game. Orange Crush won a few games, but this season wasn’t quite like last year’s season with the Dolphins taking it all the way to the finals. Same goes for Tim’s team the Pirates; they won a few games, but didn’t go undefeated like they did in the fall season.  However, each season is fun and unique as we get the opportunity to meet new young soccer players and their parents; we also enjoy seeing returning players and getting to reconnect with parents we’ve already met in past seasons.  Tim has definitely found his niche with the 4/5 year-olds and I’m sure he’ll coach again in the fall. He is patient and very good at herding those kittens.

We have lots of exciting things planned for this summer including more trips to Busch Gardens, Water Country, OBX, and Snowshoe, West Virginia. Then of course, there’s Smithfield Swim Club right around the corner from our house too. The boys are now old enough to ride their bikes there (with adult supervision, of course). Gabe still isn’t quite ready for the training wheels to be removed. My hope is that he’ll be able to ride with no training wheels soon and swim in the pool without his swim vest by the end of summer. However, I’m in no hurry for my baby boy to grow up any faster than he already has…be still, my heart. Time, slow down!

Tim and I are still working hard in between all of the fun things we like to do with the boys this time of year. Truth be known, we are big kids at heart and we enjoy all of the summer activities just as much (if not more) as the kids do.  Tim continues to squeeze in as many overtime hours as his schedule will allow. Outside of work and running the kids around, I try to walk a couple days a week with my walking buddy in the neighborhood. I’m proud to say I survived a cardio exercise last week and I’m going to try to stick with it and yoga a couple times a week to stay in shape (preferably not round) this summer. I’m also still attending bible studies on Monday nights with several ladies here in Smithfield—what a blessing it’s been to get to study God’s word and connect with ladies from all walks in life. It’s just the encouragement I need on a Monday beginning a new work-week. You can never have too many prayer warriors in your life!  

Soak up the blessings this summer. Don’t rush time and miss the rainbows (like in the picture) that are in the midst of stormy seasons in life…the sun is still shining behind the clouds to make that rainbow!