Ruth and I got our puppy fix a couple weeks ago. I told her before we walked in that she could pick out two dogs to play with. The first was a Malamute.

He was cute, but a little too hyper for our taste. After playing with him for a while, we requested the next puppy: an Augie, which is an Australian Shepherd, Corgi mix.

And exactly what I was afraid of happened. His eyes bore into my soul and begged me to take him home. How could you say no to this?

Ruth and I played with him for quite a long time. Then we reluctantly said good-bye. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone adopted him soon after that.

The past four years have literally flown by. So much growth–physically and spiritually–in four years. So many events. And now it’s over.

The ceremony took place at Edman Chapel. Ruth met up with her buds, and they sat together.

Derek was one of three students picked to give a speech. He knocked it out of the park.

They called the 160 or so names, and we watched each graduate walk across the stage. Derek hugged the principal.

and received his diploma from the head-of-school.

Then it was time to meet up with him outside. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful!

I have a hunch that Peter is going to miss his brother in the fall.

We were so grateful to have Dave and Judi join us,

as well as Mom and Dad.

Joyful fam.

And the whole crew together!

From the moment Derek stepped outside, he was talking. Talking to friends, parents, teachers… Eventually we noticed that people were leaving little by little; but Derek remained talking.

He talked until he was literally the last graduate. I called him Last Grad Standing.

It was a great day, and one we won’t soon forget. Here is a livestream of the ceremony; Derek’s speech begins at 35:40.

We’re almost there! The blog is nearly caught up. I am looking forward to highlighting individual events, rather than broad-stroke brushing an entire month at a time.

Big news in the family occurred at the end of March (while we were in Canada): my dad retired! We finally celebrated this new season of his life at the beginning of May by going to a White Sox game. Mom rented a suite for all of us, which included delicious ballpark food.

It was so fun to see cousins!

Plus, by being among the first few thousand to the park, we got free Cinco de Mayo Sox soccer jerseys.

The crabapple tree in the front of the house blossomed in May. It was absolutely beautiful and vibrant. I only wish those flowers would last longer.

Jeremy continued to explore the giant maple tree behind the house–higher and higher every day. He even mapped out the branches in his mind and named them.

Jim did some paper-pencil coaching of Ruth after a softball game. We realized she didn’t know what a force out was.

We had an exciting surprise one morning after Peter left for school. He had percussion class first thing in the morning, and Mr. Willemssen thought it would be fun to march the drum line to Peter’s house. I had no idea they’d march all the way up our driveway, but I was happy I thought to video the excitement when I heard them nearing our street!

The class posed for a picture,

then it was time for them to head back to class. Molly said good-bye.

We had lots of baseball and softball this month, as we not only had the regularly scheduled May games, but also all of the April makeup games.

Ruth was fun to watch both at the plate

and in the field. She enjoys catching.

Jeremy is having a superb season. While his favorite position is shortstop, he has developed quite a bit as a pitcher.

He has poise at the mound, and shows consistency.

Not only that, but he’s perfecting that Johanik lip squeeze as well!

He has a good on-base average to boot.

We took advantage of a day when nothing was planned on the calendar, and the weather was cooperative to work on pitching and catching on the WA softball field across the street.

When it was time for batting practice, Molly retrieved balls that were hit into the outfield.

Jake and Tiffany attended the USAFA Ring Dance.

She looked beautiful! And look at that backdrop…

Jake donned his very first piece of jewelry he’s ever owned.

Posing with the guys…

And remember the altered party shirt? Business in the front, party in the back. It was gratifying for me to see it on him!

A bunch of their friends rented a house in the mountains the weekend of the dance.

These two are showing off their respective rings.

After that, USAFA held its graduation ceremony, where the president gave the commencement address. Jake and buddy Michael posed for a pic.

Meanwhile, back at home, Jim’s pulled pork has crossed state borders and is making a hit at Albert K’s Cafe in Michigan.

Jim always enjoys when he needs to travel to Colorado for Cru, because he can usually squeeze in some time with Jake. This time, both Jake and Tiffany were free to meet for breakfast! Jim loved seeing them both in uniform.

Back at home, Jeremy and Ruth kept the Cornermouse candle burning by fulfilling two different cake pop orders. The first order was for a birthday party with a Peppa Pig theme. They made pig pops!

The second order was for our friends’ daughter who is a student at Moody Bible Institute. We delivered the cake pops to her on her birthday.

For Jake’s birthday, I made a party shirt for him to wear to his upcoming Ring Dance. Most cadets wear these altered tuxedo shirts: they are business (unaltered) in the front, and once they remove their jackets, party in the back.

I also put together a matching fabric corsage for Tiffany.

We learned about circuits in science.

We took advantage of the mild weather by putting together a gazebo, and screening it in ourselves. Well, actually, Peter can now add “screen installer” to his growing list of home improvement skills. Yes, he did just about the entire gazebo himself!

Meanwhile, Derek assembled the table

which is now used daily.

We spent Easter in Chicago and enjoyed a beautiful day. After lunch, we walked down to Maggie Daley Park and played a game of whiffle ball.

What a gorgeous backdrop!

Ruth’s current goal is perfecting her softball pitches. She works on them all the time, with or without a ball.

The tree in the front of the house bloomed:

Despite more rainy and cold days than not, baseball was in full swing. Jeremy and Ruth started their seasons, but unfortunately had many rainouts in the month of April.

Peter enjoyed his first season playing high school baseball. He played catcher, and was consistent at the plate.

Speaking of Peter, he had quite a busy month. Not only did he have daily baseball practice and games, he also had two orders for cake pops to fulfill: one from a teacher, and the other from a coach.

And if that wasn’t enough, he performed in a percussion concert. Here’s the livestream of the entire concert.

After the concert, kids were invited to come on stage and play some of the instruments. Ruth joined Beth and Anna.

The month was also a very busy one for Derek. He was nominated to compete for Mr. WA. I never knew my second-born could dance like he did. I was totally impressed. Again, the livestream of the entire performance is below.

There was the awards ceremony, where we enjoyed seeing many of the seniors’ talents and character acknowledged.

And then there was prom.

Derek went with a group of friends,

and they had a blast.

The weather on the day of prom was sunny and mild. The weather the day after prom took a turn for the worse…to put it lightly. The temperature plummeted, and the skies opened up. The group had planned to go into Chicago for the day; rather than walking around all day, they hung out at Mom and Dad’s. It was nice to have a backup plan.

The weather continued its wintery trajectory and dumped a bunch of snow at the end of April. Here, Ruth is standing in it before church on April 28!

We capped off the month with Grandparents’ Day at WA. Mom and Dad had to divide and conquer, since we had two students at the high school this year.

Ruth continued her Wednesday nights with Beth in March.

Jake sent this cool picture he took of a verse he had highlighted in his bible under a blacklight.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Dave and Judi bought Derek a suit for his many senior year events.

We hosted a Cru event in March. Jim heard Colonel Gadson speak at USAFA a couple years back and was impressed by his testimony, so he invited him to speak here. This man lost both legs while deployed in Iraq, while returning from a funeral for two soldiers from his brigade. Despite this huge setback, he did not give up and continued to lead a battalion as an amputee. Jim and the colonel became fast friends.

We celebrated Peter’s 15th birthday…starting with birthday pancakes.

I love how this young man is growing and maturing.

We capped off the wrestling season with a celebratory banquet. The team was bigger than ever this year!

Winter decided to overextend her welcome and continued throughout all of March. The prairie path remained quite icy, and so I decided to log this by videoing one morning.

Finally in March, we prepared for our family trip to Whistler. Jim and I had been planning this one (and saving up) for over two years; we gave it as a family Christmas gift, so the anticipation was high for three months. Even though we would travel by plane and then car into another country, we couldn’t NOT make cliff bars. It’s become quite a tradition!

The trip is summed up in the video below.

The month of February was dominated by post-season wrestling. However, there were a few other things going on as well.

In science, Jeremy and Ruth learned about fossil fuels. We did an oil-drilling project. First, we placed empty egg shells randomly throughout the sand field.

Then we filled the shells with baking soda mixed with black powder dye, mapped out the oil field, and covered the shells completely.

They took turns drilling wells to find the oil underground by poking a hole and using a funnel to pour vinegar inside. Even with the map, it was not easy to find the exact locations. But we did find success.

Molly and I continued running on the prairie path, which was more of a wavy sea of ice throughout the entire month.

Molly had her claws, and I had my yak-trax to keep us from falling headlong on the slick, uneven terrain.

The ice made for pretty nature scenes.

Wheaton Academy had a signing day for seniors who are planning to continue their athletic careers in college. Derek’s football coach sat with him as he committed. Coach Thornton has been a tremendous influence in Derek’s life over the past four years.

Ruth enjoyed Wednesday nights with BFF Beth. On one such night, the girls went to a horse stable and learned how to groom a horse!

After completing the remodeling of our bathroom, Jim headed to Michigan to help his friend Neal redo his bathroom. It was good bonding time for those guys. Rub-a-dub-dub two men in a tub.

Derek’s wrestling coach agreed to teach some of the boys from Jeremy’s football team the basics of wrestling.

At the end of the season, they showcased what they had learned.

Wrestling. It was a big month for Derek. February is the road to State, which is an extremely difficult road. He had been on it for three years; the past two years coming within seconds of qualifying, but never quite making it.

Despite having to fight through shoulder pain most of the season, he was determined. With his eyes fixed on the goal ahead, he started on the road by wrestling Regionals and winning.

The following week was the Sectionals tournament. It’s quite a Sectional: in Derek’s weight class alone, there were several previous State placers, including last year’s state champion. He would have his work cut out for him, and his success would not come easy. Long story short, he wrestled his way to qualify for State!

Now he would have to wrestle to see how he would be seeded.

It was a long couple of days for all of us. Mom and Dad came out to Byron on Saturday to cheer on Derek, as well as offer moral support to Derek’s siblings.

While sitting at the tournament, Mrs. Cortez knitted a headband AND a scarf for Ruth!

Despite his hunger for a higher place among the four, Derek came in fourth overall.

As difficult as it was to end on a loss, we would find out later that Derek going in to the State tournament seeded fourth in his sectional would be a great advantage.

When we finally got home that night, we ate a Steak for State celebratory dinner!

The next weekend–Valentine’s Day–we traveled down to Champaign. What a sight it was to see the wrestling arena in person, filled with wrestlers warming up.

Derek warmed up with an opponent from the season. It was neat to see the former competitors helping one another get better.

The faithful fans:

Speaking of faithful, Peter opted to miss two days of school (which meant two days of missed work to make up) so that he could accompany his brother downstate. It was pretty neat: two brother coaches and two brother wrestlers (one supporting the other).

Ruth, the people-watcher,

and book-reader.

Poor Jim was more nervous than Derek was all weekend. He asked friends to pray for him as well as for his son.

Mom and Dad drove down for Friday and Saturday–talk about faithful.

Derek’s first match was against a number-one seed from another sectional. The coaches loosened him up beforehand.

Derek came out confident

and aggressive,

and before long pinned his guy.

First win of the weekend!

It sure felt good; and all the credit does indeed go to God.

His next match Thursday night would potentially clinch a spot on the podium at the end of the tournament. Even if he lost, he’d still have a chance to place, but it would be a long and nearly impossible road to get there. His opponent was big and strong.

The scene was so intense.

And after much back and forth, Derek prevailed!

This was definitely the highlight of the entire weekend. He knew at this point that he was a State-placer. He owes so much to these coaches.

Unfortunately, Derek would not see another win the rest of the weekend. But he nonetheless stood proudly on the podium Saturday night.

We welcomed him and Peter home with a sign,

and unbeknownst to us at the time, so did the neighbors.

Then we celebrated the first Wheaton Academy State placer since the 1970’s!

I am slowly making my way through the months lost on the blog. Molly continued bonding with the piggies (not necessarily voluntarily).

We were able to cheer cousin Hannah on in volleyball tournaments when she played in Aurora. The games were fun to watch!

Derek and Peter traveled to Colorado with the WA wrestling team in January. They wrestled Colorado schools, visited colleges (including the Air Force Academy),

hiked and saw the beautiful CO sights,

and toured the Olympic wrestling training facility. Derek met Kyle Snyder, a world-champion wrestler who is also a Christian.

One of the boys made this from a pic.

As long as we’re on the topic of wrestling, I’ll share some more scenes from the season in January. We had some home meets, where I got my baby fix holding the coach’s son.

The night of the Midnight Rumble in Rockford was a significant night in Derek’s life. He got a call from the ROTC officer that he was awarded the four-year scholarship to attend Wheaton College. At the same time, he connected with two future teammates who had already committed to play football at Wheaton and were wrestling at the same tournament.

It didn’t take long for Derek to sign the letter of commitment to Wheaton football. He was confident that God was leading him there.

Meanwhile, he continued wrestling,

always with an eye on the State tournament.

At home, the bathroom project was completed.

And I’m having fun training my mini-me in things like flossing teeth. Jim is quite entertained by this.

We had tons of snow fall in January,

but this did not stop Molly and I from running on the prairie path nearly every day. One day I found a fallen wasp nest and snapped a picture of it.

Not only did we get a lot of snow, but the temperature plummeted.

We hunkered down: people

and dog alike.

Finally, we celebrated Molly’s birthday. She entered the double digits (in human years).