It's the end of the school year

Every school year end, I wrestle with 2 feelings - complete relief that we're done! and stress that now it's another year later. (I don't enjoy the stress and craziness of the schoolyear - get up early, run like crazy all week, yell all the time about get up, do homework, take a shower, go to bed....HATE IT.) But this year, I'm looking at the fact that this is the last summer that Andrew will be a high school student. Next year, he'll be a senoir, and our summer may look completely different. I'll be bawling constantly, for one. Who told these children they could grow up? And move away from me?

I took pictures of the last day of school that I will post after I find my camera. I even have pics of Jack on his last day and wait 'til you see what Jack's class did the day before his last day! Where is that camera????

Since my Last Post...

The kids had the annual All-District Orchestra Concert. This is when every strings student in the district plays at one big concert. Of course they start with the beginning students, and work their way up to a special piece played by the Seniors. Then the last performance is a song played by everyone. So cool. Here's my 3. Only one more year of all 3 in the same concert.

Isn't Mother's Day wonderful? A whole day in which we moms get to hang out and do whatever we want. We're supposed to be pampered, shown love, showered with gifts. Me, I decided no cooking this year so I stayed out of the kitchen. Perhaps not the best idea ever. (PS - Do you see my gift in there? Me either.)

Jack learned to multi-task. (Where do kids get these ideas???)

Madelyn was escorted to her 8th grade dance by a nice young man we call Charlie. (Aren't they cute? And waaaay too grown up looking?)

And Miss Madelyn was confirmed into the Methodist church. It was a nice day, and a really nice ceremony. Of course, I forgot to take pics at church, so here we all are crammed into the front hallway. Lookie there - Charlie is in this one too, and so am I, though I usually try to avoid being in front of the camera.

And finally, Sweet Ella Grace is doing well. Go see how cute she is in the tub, and keep scrolling to see her 2 yr old pics. I can't wait to meet this little gal!

Update on Ella Grace and a Button

Go see Ella's blog for an update and see some pics of our sweet girl. I have also added Ella's button to my sidebar, down on the right. It will be there until Miss Ella is cancer-free, so even though it is super cute, let's pray for it to GO AWAY soon!

Please pray for our wonderful friend Ella

When we first decided to committ to adopt Dashlyn, I was reading blogs one day and came across one where the blogger was happy the little girl she was in love with from Reece's Rainbow was getting a family, but sad that it wasn't hers. She mentioned she hoped the adopting family would keep a blog so she could follow along and see the little girl when she got home. The little girl was, of course, Dashlyn. I contacted Denise (the blogger) and told her we were going to be Dashlyn's famiy. She could not have been nicer, or more supportive. I count on Denise as one of my biggest cheerleaders, and know she is pulling for us when this adoption process becomes annoyingly tedious.

Denise has a daughter named Ella, who just turned 2. Now Ella has encountered a monster. A monster called "leukemia". It looks as though Sweet Ella Grace is going to be fighting this monster. Please go visit their blog, and give them some good thoughts and prayers. I'll be keeping track of Miss Ella, and posting updates here. Get better Ella!

Camping re-cap

We had a great time, as usual. The weather was beautiful - kinda chilly at night, but that was perfect for our campfire! We all found something fun to do:

We went on a nice hike and Jack even walked quite a bit of it himself.

He did end up getting a ride once in a while :)

The hike ended at the ampitheatre, where we were lucky enough to get treated to a show! There was dancing and lots of laughing.

The campground we go to has this huge old tree. I usually take a pic of somebody near it. This year was M's turn.

Some of us took a nap....

Then when we took another walk, we found a great spot to throw rocks into the river.

I even found a beautiful place to take a pic of the kids. If we get things going on this adoption, it's possible we'll have Dashlyn home in time for one more camping trip!

(I wish I was a better photographer - but this one didn't turn out too badly.)