End of School

We made it to the end of another beautiful school year and we're the most excited for summer! 

Rowan: 

This guy had an amazing freshman year of high school. He finally (his words) grew!!! He is no longer the shortest boy in his grade and he couldn't be happier. His voice has been changing, his hair grew and he and Roger can now share shoes! Other than the physical changes, its been so fun to see Rowan in action academically too. Rowan did not love geometry but still managed a very high A. He enjoyed biology and as expected did not love honors English. He will be veering off the honors track for that next year. No reason to take on extra work in a subject that you have zero interest in! :)  Rowan took the PSAT for the second year in a row and scored in the 90th percentile for his age. It's fun to see him seriously considering his future as well. He's thinking perhaps a career in business or engineering right now. I am SO excited to have him to myself all summer and I pray that it goes slow. 

Cruz:

This guy is still about an inch away from 5 feet and is learning to be content with the fact that God did not make him tall. Some highlights in his seventh grade year were playing three sports, dancing with a girl at their school social and learning to enjoy ELA thanks to an amazing teacher. Cruz was the child whose backpack had to go straight into the trash as it was a disgusting mess of crumpled papers, sticky candy and gum. Cruz loved P.E. this semester and enjoyed the chance to get to team up with some of the less athletic kiddos and encourage them. Cruz asked a lot of great Bible questions, grew in his friendships and proved that while he loves social situations, he's not going to waste his time with disloyal friends. He still holds my hand and gives hugs and I hope that never changes. I can't believe he's on his last year of middle school! 

Coco Bean: 

Fourth grade came with high expectations as both brothers had Mrs. Baker for 4th grade at GCA and she was phenomenal. God had a different gem of a teacher in store for Coco at SCS and she was every bit as wonderful as Mrs. Baker. I am so thankful for Mrs. Kinsch. She restored Cora's confidence in her math ability and encouraged Cora the whole year. She was the perfect mix of funny and no nonsense and she was just the best fit for our girl. Cora was pushed SO much this year in writing by the other fourth grade teacher Miss Dennen. There was a lot of frustration and tears but by the end of the year, Cora's growth in writing was very noticeable. She ended the year by receiving the Fabulous Friend award and I couldn't be more proud. Cora has been working pretty much her entire life at being a good friend and I'm just so proud of her. 

 

First Half of May

 Varsity Baseball Wrap Up:

Varsity Baseball finished with an 11-11 record. Rowan finished with a .965 fielding percentage and .265 batting average. Rowan's hitting improved majorly throughout the season and his fielding stayed consistent ending the season with only two total errors.  He's also gained a lot of height and weight since last season and is not longer the smallest or shortest on his team. His team is young, 5/9 starting players are in 8th or 9th grades so there's nowhere to go but up for this team of boys!

Coach Bocock 

The Athletic season finished up with their awards night. Row is in desperate need of a hair trim.

Proud of our Scholar Athlete (athlete achieves a GPA above a 3.75). 

These pics are random but made me laugh. The cats love a fruit by the foot wrapper! :) 

Art Show:

Both Cora and Cruz had items displayed in this year's art show. 

Cruz 

Cruz 

Cora

Cora

Roger is 40!: 

Roger requested a quiet birthday so that's just what we did! Cora made brownies, he had lots of fun gifts and Facetimes and we ended the celebration with a triple birthday party for Grandpa, Cruz and Roger at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse! Roger has been looking forward to being forty since I've known him! We are all so thankful for him and love him so much! 

The kids and I got a huge kick out of the "daddy banner" 

Happy Mother's Day to Me: 

Time is absolutely flying. I am trying so hard to slow down and cherish every second with these three.

Some of my favorite things about mothering each child at their current stage are...

Rowan: he makes me laugh, he's so fun to talk to, he's independent but still needs his mama

Cruz: he still gives big snuggles, he's truly hilarious, he's an empathetic friend and brother

Cora: she's my biggest helper, she's thrives in chaos which is so opposite from me and I love that about her, she's the most loyal child and friend. 

The fab five.... 

Aloha Elementary Concert: 

Cora and Haven

Basketball MVP: 

Basketball had their awards ceremony a couple months late but Cruz was absolutely thrilled to be chosen MVP of his team. Cruz will never be the tallest or the biggest but his work ethic is to be admired. He never gives up, he goes to every single practice, both optional and required. He practices at home, he watches and studies games and he's not afraid to take risk. All of that was recognized and seen by his coaches this year. That, as well as his awesome stats, and the fact that he had the most playing time of anyone on his team helped him earn this award which was probably the highlight of his whole year. 

 

Misc. Cora: 

End of the Year field trip to Jump N' Fun 

Sweet Spring photo! 

Meet in the Middle

We look forward to the "Meet in the Middle" gathering with my family every year! This year wasn't exactly in the middle but still... :) We left Tampa on Thursday night, arrived into Midway late and stayed at a hotel near the airport. On Friday morning we picked up our rental car and began our drive to Michigan. We checked a new state off of our family state list as the kids had never been to Michigan! 

We stopped at Red's Rootbeer on our drive. 

We met up with the rest of the family at an alligator rescue. We had a great time learning about gators, feeding gators and even getting to hold one at the end. 

The gator food was interesting! 

There were some other reptiles rescued from abusive homes as well. 

During the winter, these shipping containers are filled with water and the gators are caught and kept in them.

Grampy and Grammy rented a house in Albion, MI on a lake. It was perfect for us! The girls had their own room, the boys had theirs and every couple had one too. 

There was a big game room, TV's, games, board games, puzzles, paddle boats, kayaks and pretty much any lake fun we could imagine. 

There was tons of land and grassy area for Grampy and the boys to play baseball and football. 

The best part of the evenings was the campfires that Uncle Nate built and making s'mores. 

In the mornings, the girls made pancakes! 

We visited a cute coffee shop in Jackson, MI as well as Marketplace Manna which is a ministry that sells goods from people from around the world who live poverty. They send the proceeds from the sales back to them. They also offer crafting opportunities to the elderly, poor, etc. in the community to come and make products to sell.  Grampy gave each of us some money to find some treasures and support this organization. 

For lunch, we went to the home of the original Coney Dog... or so they say. ;) 

When your uncle is a police officer, you get to shoot stuff. Uncle Nate was SUCH a great teacher and truly taught the boys (and Rog) all about gun safety and the proper way to shoot. The boys had the BEST time. A highlight for sure. 

 

Sweet Sister Cousins 

We recreated a picture we had taken of the cousins in February of 2020. I can't believe how crazy big they are now! See below for the original

2020

 

We got to celebrate Mother's Day as a group which was wonderful! Thank you so much Grammy and Grampy for the BEST weekend! 

We had so much fun and are so grateful that in the midst of this busy time of year, we were all able to get together! We made our drive back to Chicago, caught a flight home and rolled up the driveway around midnight. It was a whirlwind weekend but absolutely worth it!