Nolan the Man

I briefly consulted Scott about what I should write in this post. He said, "Just make sure you say how quickly 18 years went by, and how proud we are of the man Nolan has become, and how much we look forward to seeing all that he will go and do, and how much we love him."

Yep, I guess that kinda covers it. I mean, if I tried to break down those points into fine details, I'd be writing a novel. Just look at him - he's so beautiful. And he's even more beautiful on the inside! Of course we are bursting with pride and love for this boy!

On his birthday, we met up with the Barneses at Lake Wilson and had the most amazing day playing and paddling around in nice warm water and 70 degree weather. We explored hills and caves and coves, built a sand castle, and had a family pop song sing-off that caught the attention of other beach-goers. Stopped afterward for Sushi too. It was glorious.

 

Last Day of Summer and First Day of School

 Well, we survived the summer of Covid. It was pretty chill- slow paced and relaxing; lots of together time (kinda great). In our family we have stayed completely healthy and in our town we have been relatively unaffected. The kids get to go back to school in person (with masks), which means Nolan doesn't have to spend his Senior year on our living room couch - we feel really lucky and blessed. Most people we know, even Chrysta's kids in Wichita, have to do distance learning until further notice. Most families I know are pretty sick of homeschooling - even the kids. I guess it's true you never appreciate what you've got until you lose it. We all are learning a lot of gratitude from this experience.

This will also be Mae's Kindergarten year at school (all 6 kids in school and still under our roof - an exciting first, and sadly also a last for us). It's like our kid-raising climax. After this year we will be on a downhill slope of losing our children one at a time. When I realized that, the day before school was going to start, I decided I better scoop up my babies and take them to Hutchinson and spend the whole day eating out and shopping and bowling and whatever else we could think of.

The first day of school went well. Mae was so excited leading up to it (which made it easy to drop her off and not be sad). I looked around at all the crying Kindergarten moms and thought, "what is so sad? We have 12 more years with them!" If I had been allowed to drop Nolan off to his Senior year, THAT I probably would have cried for! Mae was so happy when we picked her up at the end of that first day. Then she passed out in exhaustion the second I buckled her into the car. So precious.

Mae's 5th Birthday

Mae is five. That's right, our baby is not a baby anymore. I'd be sad that she grew up so fast if she wasn't the most lovable, adorable five year old who brings us the most joy ever! She wanted a real bike with pedals for her birthday, but we gave her a balance bike with a promise that she could upgrade to pedals once she learned to balance. Unfortunately, she had completely mastered the balance bike by the end of that day (riding and balancing perfectly all over the place) and has been asking us to make good on our promise incessantly. What can I say, she's just A-Mae-zing!!