Rowan Graduates~

Well, we are done with preschool for our big boy, Rowan. Last Wednesday night, he officially walked across the ABC rug to receive his "diploma!" And so starts a new chapter of our lives-elementary school;-)

The YMCA held a little ceremony for the five kiddos who will not return in the fall but will instead be heading off to the big K.  It was cute, and I have no doubt in my mind that Rowan is ready for this next journey.  He wasn't really excited, but he merely went through the motions of it.  We are excited for him, and we can't wait to see what Rowan in school will look like;-)

Class of 2026-here they come!

Hat and all!

Here is Isla during the ceremony.  She had a snack to keep her quiet! 

The class of 2026!

Closure~

It has been 7 weeks since we found out our baby had no heartbbeat.  I had no idea the length of the process on that day in the doctor's office.

Essentially, he gave me two options to proceed with.  One, I could have a D & C, which sounded harrowing, or I could let my body go through the process on it's own.  I opted for option two having faith that my body would not fail me.  To follow up, I had blood drawn every week to determine that my HCG (the pregnancy hormone) levels were dropping.  He told me I would continue to have my blood drawn until my levels reached 4.  When I had gone in at 6 weeks pregnant, my levels were 18,000 and some odd numbers.

I have faithfully gone every Thursday after school to be stuck in the arm and donate my vial of blood.  I hate having my arm stuck, but in the name of progress, I put on my big-girl panties, and I did it.  I made progress each week, although, it has been less than a quick process. 

4/5-747
4/12-174
4/18-70
4/26-45 (I got to go 2 weeks this time, because he decided I was one of those slooooow ones).
5/10-11
5/17-5

The doctor called on 5/17 and said, while I did not achieve the goal of 4, they felt comfortable determining I had a complete miscarriage, and I did not need to be followed any longer.  So, 7 weeks later, I am officially not pregnant.

My heart aches for the baby I won't know, but life isn't slowing down for me to feel sorry for myself.

While I've been working through this, Isla has moved into a big girl bed.  Alex tore the crib down and hauled it to the basement. It was a little bittersweet not knowing if we will ever put a baby in that crib again.

She's a big girl in a big bed!

I attended Kindergarten Round-up for Rowan, and I'll see his little preschool graduation tomorrow night.
I am blessed beyond words with the gifts I have been given, and we are moving on~     

Summer 2013 Bucket List~

Earlier today I erased the dates and appointments on my April dry erase board, and I put up the May board!  That means I also put up the last day of school on May 24, which was an awesome visual representation that summer will be here in a mere 3 short weeks.  Rowan is excited, I'm excited, Isla doesn't know to be excited yet, but we decided we needed to make a list of "must dos" for our time together.  So here we go!

1. Go to the North Pool
2. Summer Reading Program for All
3. Swimming Lessons
4. T-Ball for Rowan
5. Firepit
6. Snow Cones
7. Happy Hour at Dairy Queen
8. Cupcake Trip (I'm seeing a trend here)
9. Go Fishing
10. Chuck-E-Cheese
11. Vacation Bible School
12. Discovery Center Camp for Rowan
13. Bike Ride at Lake Shawnee
14. Feed the Geese:-o (Insert horrified look here-I hate geese)
15. SpRiNkLeR!
16. Bake Cookies
17. Discovery Center
18. Bowling
19. Paint Therapy Uncorked
20. Movie Theater 
21. Make Homeade Ice Cream
22. Picnic at Park
23. Paint own rock
24. Donut Shop
25. Go to Branson
26. Video Games with Dad

Rowan made the list with a little bit of prompting from me, but it really is his list.  I'm excited to spend my time with them and conquer our list;-)

Soccer Season!

Super Silly Face!

It is a cold, cold Friday night here in Kansas.  In fact, we had snow yesterday:-o  Alex is gone camping with some guy friends, my children are asleep, and for the first time in I don't know how long, I do NOT have an insurmountable amount of school work to do this weekend. Time to blog!

This semester has been trying with my added class at the local university.  I finished "teaching" last Monday night, so now all I have left is a bit of grading.  While I enjoyed teaching about my passion-literacy-it was exhausting to carry that work load along with my normal work load at my day job.  My family suffered, and I know that I must make choices should this opportunity come to me again.

Rowan has started his first organized sport-soccer.  I love watching him play, and I think it is fairly safe to say that Rowan won't be going to college on a soccer scholarship.  He

Silly face!

is a little boy with a whole lot of personality even on the soccer field, and he just makes us laugh.  I wish I could take credit for the fantastic photographs I'm adding to this post, but I cannot.  It is the wife of the coach who takes them, and they are fabulous!  Rowan is going to be a theater person, I can just tell.  Everything is so dramatic, and he was made to entertain the crowd!  You just never know what he will do next;-)

Sweet boy!

Injury on the field!  STOP!

Funning it!

The team!

Chase the Ball!

Saved by the coach!

Off and running!

Serenading the field.

Hanging on the coach.

Mr. Robot is way more interesting than soccer.

Posing for Cari!

Self inflicted hand stand

A moment of prayer.

Yes, this is during the game!

 

Go Rowan, go!

Ready for it!

This is Rowan's natural soccer position.

Peace!

Cool man!

Isla is the cheerleader!

Goalie