Summer is here!

Wow, I am seriously overdue for some catching up. Well, get ready...this'll be a long post with plenty of pictures. First things first, we wound up the "school year" at preschool (I will post pics when I get some) with a fun pizza party in Will's class complete with a scavenger hunt that I planned. It went over well and the kids all had fun. Previous posts have pics of Will wrapping up his end of the year church activities, and we also finished up soccer. Will LOVED soccer (which somewhat surprised us) and was super proud of his trophy. And that his Daddy was a coach! Here's the team:

Next came our nephew Kyle's birthday party at Strawberry Patch Park in Madison. It was at this party that Will made all the McCleese men proud and caught his first fish!!!

Also, this semester, Wes' bible study that he does with a group of guys did this study called Raising a Modern Day Knight (about raising boys). To finish up their study, they all took their boys on a camping trip. Here are a few pics from that:

Next on the list is our awesome new sandbox that Wes built for the boys. They LOVE it. Not quite as much as going to the pool, but almost.

Now it's time for a few comments about my Big Brave Boys. We all know that Owen is game for pretty much anything. This was proven to me again this past Memorial Day weekend when we went out on a friend's boat and let some of the guys tube. Owen wanted to tube. And he meant it. I said no. He got the next best thing, which was snuggling up with Karin and getting an awesome boat ride. Cute pics of that below. Also, the pool at our YMCA opened this weekend and I thankfully have Owen a fairly "sink proof" swimming vest. I was reminded of the importance of this as my two yr old took great fun in jumping off the side of the pool and going down the water slide by himself (Wes was at the bottom to catch). The big story of the weekend, though, is Will. Most everyone knows that he is much more cautious than Owen. To put it mildly. But this weekend he has been as brave as I've ever seen him, and I couldn't be more proud. He went tubing at our friend's lake with his buddy Reed and Wes. Then when we went to the pool on Memorial Day, he (who has never even put his head under the water voluntarily) started jumping off the side of the pool to Wes AND went down the water slide. We had to drag him (and Owen) away from the slide when it was time to go home. And the slide is in the "deep end." Then today, I took the boys back to the pool where Will started jumping off the side again all by himself, letting his head go under the water, having a ball. And he went under the big "mushroom waterfall"...which he's been terrified of until now.

All of these things may sound small...but considering that just last summer Will was still asking "will I break my leg if I go down the slide (on a playground)?"...it's a big deal. And we treat bravery around here as a very big deal. This week, I've had such a great reminder of two things. First, I can't live in fear. If he sees me afraid that he'll break his leg again or that something bad will happen, with Will's nature, he will absolutely adopt that fear as his own and harbor it deeply. Of course, I protect him as best I can...but I can't live in fear of what might happen. And second, true boldness comes on it's own time. I can't force it. I remember last summer being so aggravated that Will wouldn't put his face in the water or was scared of so many things, and how many times did I try and force him to do something he was truly scared of? Of course, sometimes that is appropriate and as parents, we need to do that. But so many times, we'd have a big fight over it, he'd do what we were trying to force him to do...but he still lived in fear of it and wouldn't try new things after that. In just the last few weeks, I've seen the fruits of giving encouragement, but then standing back and picking my battles. Giving him the space to decide what he can do and when he's ready. Now (gulp!)...it seems he's ready for most anything. Esp since he asked me today when he could jump off the diving board. I told him it might be best to learn to swim first (swimming lessons in a few weeks).

Pics from the lake with friends:
Last thing, as mentioned in posts before, Will's the youngest by a couple years in his karate class...but he's been working hard and did his kata (series of movements he has to memorize before he can earn his next belt) for the instructor. He did it "perfectly." His balance is better and his self-confidence is up...we all love karate.

We are glad summer is here, and we are headed into it with boldness! I'm glad I have my kids to take notes from. ;-)