Magic Moments

AWANA is over. Finally. The AWANA year is great but it lasts two months longer here than I'm used to and we're all a little burnt out by the end. But, we are SO PROUD of the boys. Aiden finished his book and the bittersweet part is this is his last year in AWANA. He got his Excellence award and next year he'll be a youth group as a 6th grader (WHAT??!!). Sage finished his book, reviewed his book, and did an extra credit book and still had a couple months left after that. ;) He's a whizz at memorizing. Cade finished his Cubbie book too. Part of it we finished at home because Cade started giving up his nap and AWANA was just too much for him to handle during the winter months, but he started back in the spring and finished strong. The boys are hiding God's word in their hearts and nothing could be better.

Last night's conversation: Cade: Mama, why does it get dark? Mama: So we can rest. Cade: Well, God rested too. Mama: Yes, he did. God rested after he made the world. Cade: Well, where did God rest? Mama: God rests in heaven. Cade: Well, God might also rest on the couch. Mama: Yea, you just never know. 😉

Cade is currently into whatever the other boys are doing. The older two got new chore charts and Cade wanted one too. Even though we're done with school for the summer Cade wakes up each day and tells me he needs to do school, specifically he needs to do Math, Grammar and Science. This boy...he keeps us on our toes. Yesterday I woke up to Cade handing me a bottle of hairspray and saying, "MAMA! I need to use some of this because me hair is sooooo messy." He was using play dough and he was making me "shuffles" which is Cade speak for truffles. He also thinks centipedes are called jalapenos. He says the funniest things and keeps us laughing. Cade also had a birthday party for Baby Natalie and the rest of his "friends" on Sunday. He told me that Baby Natalie was 4 years old and Pye (his huge dog) and his little puppy were both turning 69. He helped make cupcakes and had a great time sharing his treats at the party table. Playdough shuffles C...

Aiden turned 11 on Wednesday! I have no words! I love the age he is now and I really don't want him to be a teenager. But, I've really liked each age so I just keep saying to myself, "It's only going to get better." He's a pretty easy kid right now. He still loves to play. He's slightly obsessed with anything soccer. Recently he and Sage have discovered Soccer Cards (just like baseball cards only with Soccer players) so right this very minute they are negotiating a trade. ;) He loves to play soccer on the xbox, he loves to watch Premier League games, and of course he loves to play. He's playing academy soccer and rec soccer right now. Rec soccer wraps up in just a few weeks and it's undecided as to whether or not he'll play rec soccer again. His team has played together for several years and they are all so sweet and have so much fun. Tom and his friend coach and I think the dads have more fun than the kids. But, two leagues is really hard to k...

We had a really nice Easter Day. Usually, being here over Easter makes me sad. The day is lonely, I haven't liked the church service, and it feels less than joyous. But this year was a little different. Tom's parents were planning on joining us but gall bladder surgery ended up keeping them home. We were really sad about that and missed them greatly. We changed churches almost a year ago and it has been a good change for everyone in our family. The church service was beautiful and Tom's friend and co-worker from church was baptized so that made it extra special. We had Easter dinner at home and an egg hunt and them friends came over for the evening. Celebrating our Savior actually felt celebratory this year. For that, we are so thankful. Dying Easter Eggs The Easter bunny came! Those are the bunny tracks he makes when he hops through the house. Cade woke up and said, "Mama! There is dirty stuff all over the floor!" I told him those were the bunnie...

Our school load has decreased drastically. Sage is mostly finished with everything except he has a book to finish reading and math practice will last all summer. Aiden is still finishing typing and grammar. Right now I feel like we might be diagramming sentences until Jesus comes back. 😂His math practice will last all summer too. But it feels so good to have a lighter load. Cade has been begging for the park. I keep telling him to let us get through the bulk of school and then we can go to the park often! Yesterday his dreams came true and we spent some time at the park. Navigating the park as a 3 year old instead of as a 2 year old is great fun! The challenging climbs took some coaxing but he got braver by the minute!

It's Sunday night and we are lazy. I picked up the kid's "Book It" personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut and they are watching a movie. I'm waiting until they get in bed so I can watch a movie other than Monster's Inc. We're in a tornado watch, which is a very rare occurance in WV, so I'm kinda curious to see what these severe storms amount to. In my 3 layered brick house I rarely hear the wind and since it's been standing for 102 years I'm kinda thinking I won't be running for the basement. Pappy and Marme were here all weekend and so tonight we're not only lazy but also a bunch of sad sacks. We love their time here and everyone is so sad when they leave. The house feels lonely again and we'll spend the next couple days asking ourselves why we moved here. While Pappy and Marme were here they got to see Sage perform in his talent show. He rocked everyone's socks off playing a Greta Van Fleet song on his electric guitar. Both he a...