Today is Mark’s half birthday! He is nine today. Happy half birthday Mark.
Category: Children
May the Fourth
Megan’s Soccer Games
Megan is playing soccer at at new place this year. She is very excited about her team and what she is learning.
I like soccer. I think it is fun. All my team mates like to make goals. They are friendly and I have very much fun playing with them.
My first game was good. The other team won, but we had lots of fun. I was being the goalie. I had one (ball) not get in and the other get in. I tried to make some goals. It is hard to make goals!
My big sisters are my coaches. They make us work hard but still have fun.
Megan’s games are with GYSO at Goshen College. The first half is warm up and practice and the 30 minute game starts on the hour. Depending on the coaches, they may start a little early. She always plays on field 1 which is by the entrance to the soccer fields. Her schedule for the remaining games is:
- 1 May at 6:30
- 8 May at 6:30
- 15 May at 5:30
- 22 May at 5:30
- 31 May at 5:30
- 5 June at 6:30
Happy Birthday Jonathan!
Easter
We enjoyed a relaxing Easter at our house this year. For the first time in a long while, all of the kids went egg hunting at the same time. After checking and double checking how many were hidden, a few eggs were never found. I often wonder if the rabbit who hides the eggs takes a few out just to drive everyone crazy trying to find the missing ones.
The best part of Easter was after the meal, everyone hung around for a few hours. The adults relaxed and talked while the kids (of all ages) played “Jackpot” a game that the kids learned years ago. It seemed like a crazy make-up-the-rules-as-you-go game, but everyone enjoyed playing together.
Spring Bouquet
Changing
Today the children helped with alpaca shearing. Each year, they learn something new or do something different. As I was watching, I realized that, depending on Mark’s school schedule, this might be Mark’s last year helping. He has already said that he plans on coming home for the day if he can though.
Then we realized how much Mark has changed in the few years he has helped. He went from just leading the alpacas to the shearers until now he leads the alpacas in and then helps get them to the ground to be sheared. His muscles are appreciated!
Mark is not the only one growing. Megan now helps clean up and can help with the alpacas instead of just holding the dust pan.
Andrea and Audrey have learned new jobs. They started out wrapping the fiber, but now they help flip the animals and take the fiber as it is being sheared.
And even though Adrian is does not have a big job, he is learning different parts of alpaca shearing. He helps calm the animals and is around if needed. What he does helps everything run smoothly.
This year, we all learned something new. We watched some Angola goats get sheared. Then, we compared the different fibers. The Angola fiber is very heavy compared to alpaca!
Kite Weather
The weather is perfect for kite flying! The neighbors let us borrow their yard and shared a few of their kites. They enjoyed watching part of the fun.
We flew kites for around a half hour before the string of one of the kites broke and the kite took off across the street and got tangled in a tree in our yard. A second kite blew over the neighbor’s house and attempted to find a tree to get snagged in. We pulled in the other kites, Audrey and Mrs. Beer rescued one kite, and the shark kite is now residing in our tree, much to high to retrieve.
Sweet Surprise
Megan wanted to share a sweet surprise today. Here it is in her own words.
I surprised Daddy by asking him if he could teach me how to ride my bike. And I surprised him by showing him how good I was doing on riding my bike.
The girls and Mark taught me how to ride my bike without training wheels. We have been practicing a few weeks sneakily with out Daddy knowing. I wanted to surprise him. I surprised him a lot!
He was like “how do you do it so well without practicing?”
It was hard to learn to ride. I was scared of falling and I wanted my sister to always hold me. Sometimes they would let go and I would fall. Then I wanted to stop! They would make me get on my bike and try again. I would pedal and steer and my legs got stronger and I got better. Yesterday I could ride just a tiny tiny bit without help. Today, I did very very good. I could even ride down the hill.
When I learned how, everybody rode their bikes with me to celebrate!
It has been very sweet watching the kids work together to teach Megan. I know that she will still “hitch” rides with them on their bikes, because they can go so much faster, but I love that they all worked together to encourage and help her learn.