May 14

In one week, Caleb will be finished with kindergarten. It's crazy to think how fast the year has gone by, and it's even crazier to see how far he has come this year. There were definitely a few points where Chris and I worried that we should have kept him home another year, but looking back now I think we made the right decision for him. We were lucky that he got a great teacher who loves him almost as much as we do. Selfishly, I hated giving Caleb up for the majority of the day and getting back a tired, cranky monster of a boy. But he has learned so much and had so many experiences that I couldn't possibly have given him, especially with three little ones at home, so I call it all worth it. I am a little concerned about summer, though. I'm afraid that if I don't start the summer strong, with activities and expectations, then it will devolve into four hours a day of him whining to play games on the computer and me being constantly annoyed. So with one week left, I am in planning mode. I don't want to be that mom who overschedules her kids, but I also can't be that mom who is flying by the seat of her pants. Hopefully we can find a happy medium.

Why do I need to schedule things? Because by the time Caleb gets home from school in the afternoon, he is incapable of coming up with anything to entertain himself. But at 7 in the morning, he comes up with things like this:

This is Cowboy Caleb, complete with rhinestone cowboy hat, ribbon lasso, and stick horse from Daisy's first birthday party. (Still the best party I've ever thrown.)

I need to find a way to encourage this creativity all summer, instead of letting the kid stare at a screen for hours each day.

Just a lonesome cowboy, playing his harmonica while his horse neighs softly.

It was kind of hilarious.

Daisy, meanwhile, had a different getup:

It was crazy hair/hat day at school, and my smart girl decided to wear a wig since it counts as both hair and a hat. She was so proud of herself, and returned home with tales of friends who thought it was her real hair!!!

Lily was content with sunglasses.

Lots of them.

At bedtime tonight, Lily came in to say goodnight to Eli. 

I asked her if she wanted to hold her brother, and she eagerly agreed.

But instead of climbing into bed to hold Eli, she grabbed a wrap and said, "Bap?"

She wanted to wear Eli on her back.

Not quite yet, sister.

This sweet boy (look at those arm rolls!) didn't realize how narrowly he dodged that bullet.

Or maybe he knew how lucky he was.