The ultimate sweater.

Today is the last day of school.  The weather is still stuck on spring, 50* and gray.  The kids are wearing sweaters and sweatshirts, long pants and warm socks!  We just shake our heads...the variety is nice, but at times we wish things would line up a little better!
I have wanted to write a lot of things for a long time, but for 3 weeks now I have been kind of off kilter.  I keep mumbling about being busy, which I sort of am, but not really.  We haven't had any foster kids, haven't gone on any major trips, haven't dealt w/any 'crisis' type of situations.  What has been going on?  Not much really report-worthy!  But a few things here and there...so if you want to read another rambling list of moderately interesting happenings...follow me!  (And w/such a stellar set-up as that, how can you resist, right?  ;)!  Here goes...)
- The chicks are now 3 weeks old.  They have developed a mix of fluff and feathers!  They stand quite tall and are able to fly/jump/throw themselves into the air quite well.  They like shiny things and until we put a feeding container in there, they would make all this noise until I fed them every morning.  Soon (I think) we will be able to put them outside for a bit each day.  I will be asking my niece (our chicken expert - she has MANY chickens!!) about this soon.  In a week or so, Dave will be working on some sort of tractor/coop type structure...still researching that one...
- Colleen can almost say the letter S!!  She has made so much progress!!  She can identify the letters in her name, the letter M, and a few others.  She knows her colors (mostly), some shapes and a bunch of fun songs.  She recently had a doctors' appointment at Children's about her hips/knees/legs/ankles/feet to see if she needed to start wearing braces again (or bracelets, which is what she calls them), but they said no.  They recommended high top shoes, however, but despite Dave's pleading, they will not be Air Jordans!  Goofball.  Colleen recently got her hair cut to about chin length, making her look quite a bit older.  There may be a picture post on that coming soon...In general, we have loved listening to this girl sing!  It seems to be a new thing that she wants to do all the time now =)
- Moses reads.  Not just tries to, he reads!  If I'm busy doing something, he'll pick up a book and quietly whisper-read most of a book to himself!  I said it before, I know, but it's a pretty amazing thing to watch/hear.  Now he also writes to us a lot - "I love the ranaan suott you hav.  Lov, Moses"  (I love the running suit you have.  Love, Moses)  I'm constantly finding adorable notes like this in his backpack, on the floor of his room, on my pillow, etc...He loves to send mail in hopes he will get some!  We are slowly working our way through the family and friends - when he is in the mood, we make pictures and notes to send to someone new.  If you haven't gotten one, summer is coming and we'll soon have more time to write!  Mo has been enjoying piano and swimming lessons and soon will start T-ball.  I will say this though - I have been pitching to him in the yard and when my pitches are decent enough, he can hit it and I nearly pass out from heart failure trying to get out of the way of the ball!  I got hit w/one once and I'm not sure which is worse - getting beaned or dropping to the ground to avoid getting beaned!  I'm too old for this!!  He laughs so hard and I get up off the ground, brushing dandelion fuzz off my clothes, marveling at how far the ball went...his hand-eye coordination is MUCH improved from last year!!  My pitching is not, so really out of 50 pitches, I only need to worry about 5 of them going anywhere near the bat.  But it is a ton of fun and if I had as much energy as he does, we'd do that every afternoon.  Sometimes I feel like I am failing him by not spending more time teaching him to ride a bike, but then I remember my own experiences learning that.  It took me forever!  And then my brother just watched me, hopped on a bike and did it w/o barely any teaching at all.  Maybe he'll be a late learner in that.  Until then, we are having fun w/the plastic bat and whiffle ball!
- This is the part where I update you on me.  But I feel weird talking about me!  I will say this - I've been slacking a little in the running department.  Only running about 2-3 times/week, but wishing it were more.  I got water baptized this past Sunday!  That was pretty awesome!  I'm so grateful I could celebrate w/my family, friends and church family and friends!  I am sort of twisted up about summer vacation.  On one hand, the kids bicker and drive me nuts at times, but on the other hand I am hoping we can do some fun activities together.  I always wish for a routine - maybe do activities from a different subject each day...Monday - math, Tuesday - art, Wednesday - science, Thursday - history/govt, Friday - Spanish.  But I know me - I know that won't happen!  So maybe we'll just work whatever into each day.  I like having things that keep them from being bored, just little things that keep them learning.  I know Dave will be taking us to the beach and the lakes in the afternoons - no complaints here!  We will also be doing some camping too, of course!  I think the biggest thing that I am looking forward to this summer is my regular date nights w/Dave.  We have been going out each week and it's a good break for me.  Now that summer is here, we hope to go play mini-golf, walk on the beach, ride bikes, etc...That stuff is fun to do w/the kids, but it's also nice to remember how things were before kids, before marriage, when we did all that kind of stuff on dates!
- Dave is currently packing up school stuff to move into a new room next year.  Actually, he will be in a new room at both schools!  That's a little bit stressful right now, but thankfully it seems we will be done right on time.  He got the boat ready for the season and the few nice days we had tempted him to skip out on the packing and hit the open water!  But he has been very responsible which means there will be more time for boating later.  He has been teaching piano a bunch, going to men's prayer breakfast and men's group, playing a little softball and church music...I know that he is looking forward to summer break more than any of the rest of us!!
- The high school friends who were matched to adopt an infant got to bring their baby home the other day!  She (the baby) was born a little early but w/no complications!  Such sweet pics...other friends from church are going to be adopting their grandbaby and maybe his brother.  Keep them in prayer - it's an exciting time but also a transition for them.  Also heard word that other acquaintances are looking into adoption and other friends are serious about foster care.  It's such a blessing to see and hear about God raising up families, regardless of whether or not they are related.  When I feel frustrated that we don't have more kids in our house, I remember all the others that have such great news and I pray that the lack of need for us as a foster home means that things are going well for kids in our area.  I am constantly in awe of the adoption news I hear and I am so proud and inspired by the people around us!