Last Day

Oh my, the emotions and the to-do list are both overwhelming, but before we fly out tomorrow afternoon I wanted to share the briefest of thoughts on this, our last full day in Oregon. 

But first, must mention that on Sunday my sweetest tender-heart William turned SIX years old! 

He graciously celebrated his birthday amidst boxes, as our packers came the day before and the truck came the day after his special day. He's a pretty awesome boy. 

The school year goes for three more weeks out here, but awhile ago we had to accept that the kids wouldn't finish with their classes due to arrangements with Don's job, travel, and our house closing. They were all smiles about the plan, but when it came to the end it hit William pretty hard. Amy, the ever-cheerful, optimistic, intellectual one took her goodbyes in stride. We went out for dinner, and while these pictures aren't the greatest (I was trying to be all candid and discreet in my picture taking) they sort of capture the day pretty well in my mind. 

And in hasty closing, because it sounds like the little guy is waking up for a late-night snack, here's one last pretty view to remember: 

We will miss it here! 

May, so far

I appear to be in danger of letting the month slip by without a word here, and that can't stand. Sometimes I feel that when I can't say everything I might as well say nothing, but really that doesn't get us anywhere. These last three weeks have been incredibly busy as D has been away away for the longest stretch of the last two years. I used to be accustomed to month-long patrols, but this is our first with four kiddos, and our first of that duration since being out here. So, yeah, not trying to throw myself a pity party or anything but oh my! It's been a lot of work. But on the whole, the kids and I have been having a really fun time and the school routine propels the days along pretty quickly. I've been wanting to write "big thoughts" about our impending move, and about the tremendous growth on display in each kiddo, but I just never have it in me by the time I get to my blog at 11pm. So instead I think I'll just share some recent pictures, with minimal explanation. Enjoy! 

I almost retired the rock-n-play when Matthew went through a spell of trying to crawl out of it at every chance. He has now realized that that would not be a wise idea. 

We've had some great after-dinner art time...and some colassal messes. 

Toes!

Caroline loves this show on her kindle called Creative Galaxy, where they feature different art projects, and the one that all the kids wanted to do was tie-dye t-shirts. This was a new one for me but now I can see the appeal, it was such fun, and each of our shirts turned out really well. C did hers all herself and was the proudest of all. 

There have been a lot of McDonald's lunches. Just saying. 

Amy is devouring the Baby Sitters Club series and has continued to be my go-to girl to help with Matthew when I need an extra set of hands. Her rapidly increasing maturity astounds me. 

He's been sitting on his own for a full week now and has graduated to eating woodchips at the playground. Guess it's time to start real food. 

This weekend was fun. Spaghetti dinner at church (school) on Friday which was memorable, but unpictured. Saturday we went to the local museum and C cared for this baby cow (not real) which was part of the agriculture display. Sunday we went to a different park, one with lots of awesome, older equipment. 

And beautiful trees. Ah, this place. We'll be leaving so soon, but we'll be taking so much with us.