Memorial Day Weekend

 Our Memorial Day weekend started out with a graduation party on Thursday night for all our kids but really we were celebrating Savanah's 8th grade promotion and what a promotion it was.  Savanah was honored with the Ray Kroc award.  I am so proud of her and it was a joy to see her mother, my friend, Laura, glowing over her daughter's much deserved award!  Parenting is hard work and it's so nice to experience moments like those.  It validates that through all the challenges you are doing something right. 

 Our ducks continue to amuse us.  They are growing like crazy and their feathers are starting to turn white.  They have grown so much that they are no longer living in our garage (Hallejah).  Their new homestead in their duck sanctuary in our back yard. 

 Yes, it's a bit like animal kingdom at our house with two unruly boys, two energetic dogs and three ducks. 

 This might go down as one of my all time favorite pictures of Nick.  Those big, blue eyes of his get me every time!

 This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I forgot to include it in my last blog.  It's Nick's 5th grade class.  Nick is in the last row towards the left. 

On Saturday night Kim's family and mom came out for a movie under the stars.  We love having movie nights, especially when the weather is perfect and it was on Saturday night.  We recently bought tiki torches for our yard and we lit them for the first time this weekend. It was a perfect atmosphere.....beautiful weather, surrounded by family, watching a movie under the stars in a big wooded yard under the glow of the stars and tiki torches.  It doesn't get much better than that.  On this Memorial Day I remember the ultimate sacrifice so many Americans have made in order to secure the freedoms we enjoy today.  We would not be able to have nights like we had on Saturday night without them.  I salute all those men and women, and I am proud to be an American!

The last week of school

 This is our last week of 5th and 9th grade.  As I started this blog I realized I have no pictures of Jay, but anyone who has a freshman boy would understand why I don't......they are impossible to get a good picture of!  So since I have no pictures of Jay, I'll blog about him first.  He had a great freshman year.  It's hard to imagine we only have three more years left of high school with him and next year he'll be driving.  Be still my heart!  I have to be honest though I hardly saw Jay do any homework.  He claimed he got all his work done at school and I had no reason to doubt him since he didn't have any late assignments show up and he kept his grades up.  As he ends this semester he has 3 B's and 2 C's.  All grades he should (and is) proud of.  Jay hasn't changed much this year, other than in his appearance.  He loves four wheeling and fishing, and his new obsession is searching the internet for trucks.  He's a whiz at finding the best deal (on cars) and has a pretty good idea of what cars should and shouldn't cost.  My grandpa would be proud!  He had the opportunity many times this year to work with Mike and although he may not have always liked the work, he liked the money.  Jay has surprised me lately by demonstrating to me he has more going on in his head than what I sometimes give him credit for.  Recently I heard someone say that when your childern become adults, it's like teaching a child to ride a bike.  They try and try and fall many times, but then finally after many attempts and several painful skinned knees, they take off and go.  That is what mental picture I have in my head for both my boys.  I see the potential and the ability to soar in both of them. 

 This week also wrapped up Nicks' Iditarod series.  He had to write a paper about the Alaska Iditarod.  Our school has been doing this for 20 years!!!  I hope they never stop doing it.  The kids love it.  They are all required to write a paper about the race (which Nick passed with flying colors) and then they participate in their own race.  Nick's team got first place!

 Through the years I can think of many people who have touched Nick's heart, and his bus driver, Tim, is one of them.  Everyday Nick would jump off the bus with a smile on his face.......sure his smile might turn into a litany of complaints once he reached my car, but for that split second when he got off the bus, he was smiling, and I have Tim to thank for that.  I wrote Tim a thank you card this week and told him he really was the salt and the light! 

 Nick's last day of 5th grade.  Watch out middle school because here he comes. 

 These boys!  Nick and Calvin have known each other since they were babies.  Nick and Jake have been super good friends since 3rd grade and honestly Jake was an answer to my prayers that 3rd grade year (Jake and Mrs. Westerfield), and Nick and Easton were on Student Council this year.

I had to include this picture to prove Mike attended an awards assembly (his first and last).  It's bittersweet knowing we are done with elementary school! 

Rugged Nick

I signed Nick up for a week long church camp this summer.  It's a church camp that has a great reputation, and I picked the camp not only for it's reputation but also because it's a very primitive camp.  However, none of Nick's friends are going with him to this camp.  Nick is pretty outgoing, but still, I was a little nervous about telling him I was sending him to a camp where he would know no one.  I pitched the camp to Nick by telling him it was a very primitive camp, that he would spend his week in a tent and cook all his meals over an open fire (no dining hall for this camp).  Nick's eyes got really big, and I fully expected some resistance.  Instead he asked if he and his camp mates got to hunt for their food (that they would then cook over an open fire).  Clearly, I had nothing to worry about!  I adore both of my boys and their adventurous souls! 
Nick is also signed up for a gun camp this summer.  Again, it's another highly reputable camp.  Nick has wanted to go for several years.  A buddy of his from school asked him if he wanted to go this summer and Nick excitedly accepted.  Today I ran into this boys dad.  He commented that his son was excited about the camp.  He said that originally his son was going to go to the camp with another friend, but that friend cancelled.  His son was disappointed as he really wanted to go to the camp with a friend, but he couldn't think of any of his friends from school who would want to go to a gun camp.  His dad said he was like....."Hello, Nick Siebert."  The dad said he couldn't think of any other kid in the 5th grade who would like to go more than Nick Siebert.  Mission accomplished!  I do love that other people know that about my boys.  They are rugged, all country and yes a bit red neck(ish) but they are mine and I wouldn't change either one of them. 

Quack

 The ducks are our source of entertainment these days.  It's a pitiful statement but true.  I have no idea what we'll do with these ducks come winter (go to previous blog about the consequences of my decision) and Jay was gun-ho with making the duck house, until it became work.  Anyway, I digress, the ducks are doing great.  We are learning a lot, like how they hate to be separated from each other.  They quack hysterically when we take one of them out of the tub.  Oh, and they poop....A LOT! But they make up for it with cuteness. 

Ducks, birthdays, parties, oh my!

 About two weeks ago Jay asked if he could get baby ducks.  He wanted to raise them in our back yard.  Without fully thinking through the consequences of my decision I agreed to it.  We ordered our ducklings through the US mail (kid you not) and at 6am on my 43rd birthday I got a call from the post office that our furry friends had arrived.  Jay and I went to the post office and happily listened to our ducks quack from within their shipping box, until we got home and realized one of our four ducks was D.O.A.  Poor ducky!  As of today our three ducks, Lucy, Ritz and Ayden Parlett (or as she is affectionately called A.P.) live in a big tub in our garage, as if our garage had any more room for anything, least of all baby ducks. 

 Jay and Mike planning out the duck sanctuary.  Jay did 95% of the work himself.  I was really proud of him. 

 I'm including this picture because I know my boys and Jay will claim he did the duck sanctuary entirely by himself and although there is some truth in that, it's not entirely true.  Nick helped financially and he donated some "sweat equity" and helped Jay paint the sanctuary. 

 IntroDUCKtions to the dogs.  Keep in our mind our dogs are bird hunters (go back to my first paragraph wherein I said I didn't fully think through the consequences of saying yes to Ducks).  Mostly our dogs are just interested in the ducks and what they are doing.  The ducks have no interest in the dogs and just quack at them. 

 Faith turned 17 yesterday.  I still remember the day she was born.  Time goes so fast.  We got together with Mike and Jenny last night because when we looked at our calendars we realized it would probably be another six weeks before our families could get together.  Life in general has just changed with our families.  Three of our four children are in high school and with that comes busier schedules, drivers ed, college visits, sports activities and the list goes on and on. I'm just so thankful our friendship evolves with the times and we all adjust.  It's been a joy to raise our kids together and see them grow and mature through the years.   

 I always say I have the best girlfriends.  Jenny and I were saying the other day that we don't know what women do who don't have girlfriends!  I started my birthday evening over cocktails with my sister and mom - a pure delight.  Then I had margaritas and fattening Mexican food with Jenny and Sarah.  Two days later the party continued as my neighborhood girlfriends (picture above) threw me a party at Betsy's house.  I'm so thankful for my neighborhood tribe. 

I'm ending my very busy few days on Mother's Day.  I have the best mom!  She encourages me, listens to me and most importantly she loves me, fiercely!  And of course being a mom myself, although I'm really in the trenches with parenting my boys these days and some days it feels like there are more hard days than feel good, easy days, but I wouldn't trade my boys.  Each of them are God's creation and I look forward to doing life with them as they grow into adulthood.  They make me laugh, some days more than others and they absolutely have made me more patient, and have taught me to not sweat the small stuff because trust me, with my boys, if I were sweating the small stuff with them, I'd miss a whole lot!

Grandma's wishes

In college Grandma wrote me a letter, a very heart felt letter that was later read for her funeral.  Who knows why I saved the letter.  I'm really not the sentimental type, but thank goodness I saved it.  In that letter she reminded me that I come from a family that fear and love God. She asked me (or rather instructed me, as only Grandma could) to read the book of Proverbs, but she was more specific than that.  She asked that I read one chapter per day during the month of May because Proverbs have 31 chapters.  Well here I am nearly 22 years later finally doing what Grandma asked me to do during my precious college years.  It probably would have benefited me more had I read it during my young and formative college years, but hey, better late than never, right?  And while I read the book of Proverbs I know Grandma is smiling down on me from above, and that gives me comfort. 

Happy Birthday, Nick

 Another year has gone by for our sweet and funny Nick.  He was a good sport this weekend because trust me, his birthday was uneventful at best, and a bit of a disappointment.  His birthday fell on a Sunday and it started raining on Friday night.......all weekend long.  There were flash flood warnings the entire weekend.  Then Mike and Jay had to work the entire weekend.  Nick and I hunkered down at home and played Uno and Nick put together a puzzle.  He listened to his audio book and we watched the rain, in between our marathon Uno tournament (ha). 

 Saturday night things got a little better as Mike and Jay were home and our family came out.  Nick requested lobster tails (his favorite) and lava cakes for his birthday meal. 

Lauren spent the night on Saturday night and I got to do her hair on Sunday morning.  This was a rare treat for me.  I put her hair in a simple bun but that bun made this aunt so happy!  She reminds me so much of my sister at that age, sweet and soft spoken, and such a willingness to please.   

In life there are times when you do something for someone else and you have no idea the impact it has on them.  These pictures are an example of what I'm talking about.  Originally we had planned to have a movie night on Saturday night for Nick's birthday.  I had to cancel due to the weather.  Nick was disappointed.  Our family came out for dinner on Saturday but there was no movie.  I asked our friends, Brandy, Jami and Laura to come over on Sunday night for Nick's actual birthday.  I called it Cupcakes and cocktails (ha).  It was no movie night but it was the best I could do with all the rain.  Sunday had been a long and rather boring day so when our friends came over on Sunday evening for cupcakes and cocktails, it was a very welcome treat.  Our friends made Nick laugh and it was obvious they came out in the rain simply to celebrate Nick.  It was just what Nick needed to make his rather gloomy birthday, brighter!  There is nothing quite like good friends! 

Happy 11th Birthday, Nick.  As I always say, you completed our family.  You add so much spark to our family.  The sky is the limit, Nick.  You are imaginative, bright, funny, social and you love Jesus.  Love you!!!