June

Silas went to 2 different baseball camps the first few weeks of June. He has improved so much I think fall ball will be a blast. Rory went to Spring Valley VBS and had an excellent teacher.  Next was sleep away camp for Silas. Daron and I hated it. Every evening they would post pictures from the day and we would pour over them trying to get a glimpse of our baby. He never looked particularly like he was having any fun. Picking him up was a bit like Christmas. He looked exhausted and said goodbye to no one, but when asked gave the week a 10 out of 10. Then he said he was iffy about ever going back. At least we all survived. Rory had Mom Camp while brother was gone. We made a birdhouse, took nature pics, went to the splash pad, and rode a pony. This is my namesake chicken, Jessica.

 

Reunited!

Neptune Island

Happy 5th Rory!

On his actual birthday he enjoyed errands to Lowes and Home Depot. He also selected to buy a terrible Joker van from Kohls. Then we went swimming. 

 

His party on Friday was plagued by several factors...

• Covid knocked out guests.
• It was 100 degrees.
• The power went out.
• No one but Rory likes to dance.

As a result however, we have a very clean and newly painted garage and a celebrated five year-old.

The power of a microphone is pretty fun.

Rory took this picture of his guests with his new camera.

May

All of my siblings are college graduates! Go Trenton! Back to the alma mater for the ceremony and celebration! It's terrifying to watch people you remember being born turn into adults. Life is very much running in the one direction. The trip also included seeing Trevor's teaching/living world and sand volleyball skills, some disc golf, a comical hunt for our air B&B, Shelly time, a last trip to Strafford before my parents close on the house, and a visit with my Grandma. 

I always waste the cusp of exciting things feeling melancholy. Sometimes I hate change even when it means summer break. Coworkers are dropping like flies and it seems like in schools everything is a little worse than it used to be. I felt so removed from Silas's experience this year. He had a teacher swap and #2 might have been great but we would never know because there was zero communication and I didn't want to press from fear we would be on to teacher #3. I decided to take Silas and Rory to my homeschool next year. I really like the group of kids I taught that will be in Silas's cohort. Whether it is a better experience or not, I know I will at least feel more connected! In other change news, we had to say goodbye to Ms. April and Living Springs. There were tears from both of us. None from Silas. (Boys.) There is nothing worth more than someone loving your kid. Daron is not sad to be done with daycare payments.  Rory also seemed completely unphased to say bye to any of his people and I think he had the best year of anyone.

 

These school pictures are not really new, but I am putting them here for documentation.

 

Pretty Much Just the One Week in April

All but two of these pictures are from spring break. (Ice cream- turned upside down to examine a leak minutes after this picture with logical consequences. Also the shot of Silas standing on what I thought was a high ropes course but turned out to be canoe props at the open house for the camp he is going to this summer.) We kicked off the free week with some excellent baton in Anderson. Next we headed to Charlotte, hitting up Culvers, the pool for a bit of Marco Polo, Carowinds, Nakatos, a disc golf course, and Andy's. I painted one living room wall pink, so I am ready to rent out the house as a gender reveal venue. Decision pending if we will do the rest or go with something else come summer. We met Hannah's bf in Statesboro. (No pictures. You'll have to take my word for it that he is cute.) We finished off the week with Easter!