Summer Break Is Here!!!

The 2024-2025 school year seemed to fly by!!! Everyone had an amazing year and we are all quite happy to have reached the end. Nyla had a a wonderful graduation ceremony and we are so glad to have been able to see it. She is going to enjoy a summer of traveling and working before heading back for a final year in her masters program. Caleb wrapped up a busy junior year with great grades and a 34 on his ACT! Leah did fantastic as a freshman and adjusted so well to the rigor of high school. Joel rocked his first year of junior high and cannot wait to be top dog next year as an 8th grader!

 

Spring at the Sturms

Spring was a rather busy season in the Sturm home with all three kids playing sports. We felt like every single evening was spent watching some sort of sporting event or attending an end-of-year activity. Things came to a bit of a halt in the beginning of May when Joel had somewhat of a health hiccup, but he healed up and we went right back to busy as we finished out the school year.

Leah enjoyed her first season of high school track. She threw shotput and discus and did quite well for a Freshman!

Joel loved his first junior high track experience. He dabbled in a few events, but mostly did the mile and 4x400 relay. He was devastated when his emergency appendectomy ended his track season quite abruptly, but he knows that he will be back next year!

Caleb finally got into the sport that we've been suggesting for years...water polo! He has always loved being in the water and almost always spends his summers getting yelled at for being too rough with his siblings in the pool or at the lake. Needless to say, water polo was definitely a good fit and he really enjoyed the season!

Joel followed in the footsteps of his siblings and was inducted into NJHS. We are so proud of how hard he works in school and that he demonstrates good character at an age when it can be quite tempting to put character to the side in an effort to fit in!

We had several different band concerts to wrap up the year and the kids all did great! We are thankful that they are all sticking with band for another year and cannot believe that Caleb will be heading into his final year of band after seven whole years of doing percussion!

Chief had his annual checkup, but got to experience a brand new vet. Our old vet retired and it was time to try to find a new place. We loved the new vet and he was quite fond of Chief (partially because he's such a sweet dog, but mostly because the vet is a U of I alum).

The kids had the joy of participating in the very last Kids & Company graduation ceremony. After 25 years, the preschool is finally closing its doors. They asked several alumni to come back and help present the founding director (who was also the teacher for my kids during their second year there) with flowers. It was bittersweet to be a part of the celebration. We are always so thankful for the amazing foundation that was laid for our kids at that preschool and cannot believe that those years are such a distant memory. Time sure does fly!

Surgery Surprise

If you were to ask our kids, they'd probably tell you that we don't have much sympathy as parents. When they are hurt or complaining of sickness, we usually tell them to shake it off and that they'll be fine. We have never been big on rushing to the doctor, since things usually resolve on their own with just a bit of time.

Well, thankfully, this time we didn't wait too long! It was Saturday night and Joel complained of a stomach ache. He had been fine the entire day, ate normally, and was running around about an hour before bedtime. We didn't think much of his complaint and just had him sleep with the garbage nearby...just in case. We didn't hear anything overnight and he woke up the following morning saying that he didn't sleep much because he had stomach pain all night. We tried to rule out all sorts of things, but just couldn't figure out why he was having pain. Eventually, when he was crying and crawling on the floor to get to the bathroom, we decided to take that as a sign that he was NOT okay. Tyler took him to urgent care and they quickly sent him to the ER. He spent quite awhile there having a lot of testing and waiting for results. They finally determined that it MIGHT be his appendix and wanted him admitted to the hospital for observation. Unfortunately, we were at an off-site ER, so Joel had to take an ambulance to the hospital. Upon arrival, we quickly learned that the plan for "observation" had switched to just going ahead with surgery to remove his appendix. We were shocked, Joel was a bit scared, and we all just wanted the long day to be over. After a ton of waiting, he finally went back for surgery around 7:30 and by 9:00 he was out and heading to the pediatric floor to spend the night. His first few hours were rough, but he slept and felt a little better in the morning. We were all happy to be discharged the next day and then Joel began the slow process of healing. The first couple of days were hard. He had a lot of pain and didn't want to move much. By the middle of the week, he was moving around much better. We took a field trip each day to various stores and he enjoyed walking around and pushing the cart for stability. By the end of the week, he was feeling great and life began to return to normal. He enjoyed a few visits from some of his sweet friends, but he couldn't wait to get back to school to see everyone! The whole experience was quite the curveball during an otherwise VERY busy time of the year, but we made the most of it!

 

Easter in Carmi

We were so thankful to have the chance to spend Easter in Carmi! The kids had a long weekend off and it was the perfect excuse to head south and see family. We stayed with Uncle Randy and Aunt Sharon, which is always a blast. The main highlights from the weekend (aside from endless amounts of delicious food) were time spent at the farm and meeting the sweetest new member of the family - baby Theo!

The boys REALLY got into shooting clay pigeons. They could've done it all day!

Leah loved getting to ride around the farm on the gator while the boys were shooting.

We had LOTS of snuggle time with Theo...he is ADORABLE!

Caleb isn't much for babies, but he sure loves dogs....and Cooper figured that out rather quickly!

The kids loved their glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt! Laura and Meredith always have the best ideas!

On our last day, we went to church bright and early for Easter service. We had a delicious breakfast and then said our goodbyes before heading home. It is always so much fun visiting Carmi and we hope to be back soon!

Florida 2025

We had another amazing Spring Break trip to Florida. For the first time in years, we didn't hit any traffic on our way down. We had an easy ride on Friday afternoon/evening to our hotel (in northern Alabama) and then got up early to finish the rest of the drive on Saturday. That night, we snuck off to the airport to pick up our surprise guest for the week...Aunt D! We loved having her there for the week and it made our trip even more enjoyable than usual. 

We didn't get to enjoy the beach a whole lot. There were a lot of days with red flags and it was often pretty windy/chilly at the beach. We made the most of our time there, though, and soaked up the salty air and sandy toes when we could!

We had a lot of fun enjoying the yard and pool like we did last year. We rented the same house as we did the previous year because we enjoyed the outdoor amenities so much!

The kids had a special Grandpa/Grandma bonding morning when they went to a local sea turtle rescue. It was nice for them to have one-on-one time with their grandparents and we enjoyed the peaceful morning at the house!

We played A LOT of games...mostly Farkle and Mexican Train Dominoes. Morning, noon (by the pool), and night we were playing games! Aunt D learned both quite quickly and seemed to enjoy them both just as much as we do!

Chief, of course, loved his visit to the beach. He couldn't enjoy the water since it was way too rough, but he had a great time in the sand!