SIX

The plan for the day was simple, help William be happy and have fun.  It was pretty easy to do.  He is a sweet boy.  He had two requests for the day, wear his Bro-Sis Day shirt and wake up to streamers coming down from the door.

 As you can see, he got what he wanted.  That is him in his shirt and he got his streamers.  We made the rest of the plans together.  While Caleb and Peter were at school, Haley and William painted wooden bird houses.  William of course has a rainbow on there, but he also wanted fireworks on the roof with a 6.  Then we cut out pictures of animals and glued them onto the house, to help him remember that he went to the zoo on his 6th birthday.  The house turned out very cool.  William and Haley also helped me make rainbow cupcakes for our trip to the zoo.

 When the boys got home we had a bit of time to kill before getting dad and heading to the zoo.  So, we did cupcake geology with some of our extra rainbow cupcakes.  They "drilled" into their cupcake "mountain" to try and predict what the inside looked like.  Then they took a cross section of the "mountain" and found out if they were right or not.  They all agreed it was a fun and yummy activity.

 Then on to the zoo!  We were treated to an up close view of the brand new lions.  It was awesome!!

 William chose the buffalo for his carousel ride.  He is such a sweet boy.

 Caleb had some extra fun on his lion.  Every picture of him is something different and silly.

 Steve came to the zoo with us and we enjoyed his company.  The boys especially enjoyed the water-park area of the zoo.

Upon coming home William was visited by Granny and Grandpa Gray and Pa and Betty.  He was treated to many fun gifts and surprises.  One extra special gift came from Peter.  He spent the night before William's birthday with the door closed to Haley's room making a book for William.  It was entitled, "William's Worldly Adventure."  He drew all the pictures and came up with the text all on his own.  Then at the end of the book he wrote William a sweet note of brotherly kindness (not something often shown between the two of them).  I think our brother's mantra might be true, "Sometimes we fight, sometimes we play; but together as brother's forever we'll stay."

One last gift left on his bed for him to snuggle in, his own Harry Potter quilt.  It was a fun and happy day.  He really is such a great addition to our family.  And he has learned so much this last year by starting school and being older.  He is learning to read, spell and enjoys doing "math mountains" from Miss L.  Mom enjoys all the little notes he writes for me and he practices all the things he is learning in his own school books at home.  He is a great kid.

Making my list, and checking it twice

No, I am not Santa, just trying to make sure it gets all done.  I have always made a list.  Projects do be done.  Gifts to be made.  Food I want to make or list of my menus for the week.  Primary ideas.....  But now I add; new soccer schedule for the beginning of summer, scouts to finish up for Arrow of Light, and school time for the little ones.  I feel like I am under the gun.  Caleb is doing awesome with scouts!  He has worked non-stop with me to earn so much.  And the others are patiently (and not so much at times) wading through it all with us.  He will make it and then it is on to the big leagues of those older scouts.  UGH  Now his coach is doing summer soccer and we are in the line-up.  So, we will start practice again and I cannot complain because I want him there, he wants to be there, and we will cheer him on.  It will be a great summer, but as time goes on it will not get slower.  I think I can embrace this, one list at a time.  I just hope we can make it fun for all of us, enjoying the journey together, that is what we will strive for.

He made the save!!!!

Oh my word. Intense!  Heart pounding!  Teeth clenched!  Excited!  Relieved!  All those emotions passed through me in the space of not many seconds as I watched this awesome kid do his job.  Phew.  See those three girls in gray coming to Caleb's aid?  They are rock solid!  A wall of awesomeness that supports Caleb in is job as goalie.  Those girls are tough and such great defenders.  I love them.  But frankly at about 10 minutes left in the game I stopped cheering for them, just so Caleb could get some action.  Caleb had made a few saves, was doing great.  But, he was having a moment of just standing.  Then the moment came, the other team was charging right for him, and they got past our wall.  It was up to my Star Goalie.  He made the decision, he charged at the kid.  He kicked the ball away but it was still on the ground and the blues were still attacking.  Caleb did not back down, he kept after that ball and dove on it, and made the most awesome save!!!!  Cheers went up, "Yeah, Caleb!"  Clapping and a hand to my heart I was (and still am) so proud.  OH that boy is awesome!  How did the game end?  0-0  Second game in a row where it was a shut-out for Caleb.  True, our team did not score either but, HELLO.  Caleb did his job (along with the defense), and kept it at zero - that is a win to me. :)  I do not know how those moms do it who have goalies in major league teams???  They must be on the edge of their seat the whole time, or just standing because who can sit when things get intense?
Now where are the other kids you ask?  Being great little supporters.  William and Haley are the best and hang out together the whole game while my heart pounds and my cheers grow loud.
Peter also had an awesome flag football game yesterday where he was a rock at defense and yanked the flag off from the other team 5 or 6 times.  He was in the right place at the right time and very focused on his job.  Such fun kids and such fun times.  I love it.

A pretty good day

I have no photos to document yesterday.  I only have words to remember it by.  And that is okay.  I can remember that it felt like summer yesterday.  With my kids outside building a dam of water in the gutter with rocks and leaves and old gutter debris and sticks.  They had good days at school, played together and were happy.  Peter went to scouts and then to football practice.  Caleb had a soccer game and it was great!  Such an intense game with the ball going all over the field and Caleb made the saves that he needed to.  The game ended at 0-0, which for anyone else that may be a let down but come on!  My boy did not let the other team score, that is a win for us.  Then we came home and Caleb and Peter both passed off some scout stuff before going to bed.  I felt very accomplished going to bed.  However, at 11:30pm William awoke to some serious stomach pains.  It was so sad to see him in such pain.  But as I sat with him cradled in my arms, I found a chance to count our blessings.  I was singing to him and he was calming down.  We said a prayer, Rob gave him a blessing, and then I sang some more to him while he fell asleep in my arms.  I am so glad that I was able to be there for him last night.  To help him feel less scared and sad, to help him feel loved and be there when he needed me.  He is such a sweet boy!  I am glad I was able to be there for Caleb and cheer him on.  I am glad that William was able to be with Haley during the game and they are buddies.  I am glad that Peter is such a different personality than the rest and he finds his own ways to be happy and entertained.  I am glad that Rob is there by my side and is my helping hand.  It was a good day.