Tuesdays in June

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Kick Off

Our little green ninja started day camp on Monday. He will be attending every weekday in June except next week which will be spent enjoying VBS instead. I made him wear real clothes. Once again, he technically obeyed. He wore his mask upside down though so he "looks different".

A big thank you to Ms. Cox and Anne who sent me photos of Kate on stage because I was not able to attend the ceremony. My new summer commitments started the same day.

Kate Bug wrapped up her third grade year with the top award for her class. She had no idea what it meant and was rather somber about the whole affair. The Bearcat award is given to one student from each class who is a good example to others, kind, respectful and made great progress throughout the year. At this point in her life, this is an excellent description of Kate. She also received the physical education award because she is the third grade student who stood out in the mind of the gym teacher as a student who always had a positive attitude, set a good example to others and enjoyed gym class. Once again, the honor was lost on Kate. She was just being herself.

Anna told me I was cute. I believe I was likely her age the last time someone said that to me. Lauren heard her and decided Anna was just talking and didn't know what she was saying. Some animals eat their young. Just saying.

Our library's summer reading program is super hero themed. Our little spiderman is pretty pumped.

I took the kids to the park to burn energy. I no longer had any energy to burn so I sat in the van with a cup of tea, a book and secret M&M's. Kate was suspicious because it was the only time I have sat in the van and not joined the fun. I dropped one M&M and searched in vain to locate the evidence. The same children who are unable to find their own missing shoes when they are actively seeking them have radar senses for hidden treats. My mind was racing as I watched the kids approach and decided when that darn M&M is located, I am blaming Lauren.

I promise this was their idea and they spent a ridiculous amount of time piled in here.

We have a neighbor who has had a boxer penned up for a year. Layla spent the brutal winter in the pen and the heat of the summer locked in that same dirty pen. When I look out the front of my house, I see Layla's pen and it's broken my heart since they built it. By Thanksgiving, the family wasn't even letting her out to use the restroom and barely noted her existence when they fed and watered her. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were times I had tears in my eyes as I watched her stare at her house from that cage. I started to plan a way to kidnap her. I wish I was kidding. If I thought I could get away with it, Layla would have been rescued a long time ago. I tried to convince my sister to take her over Thanksgiving break but couldn't get anyone on board with my deceitful plan. Never in my life have I wanted to take something that didn't belong to me but I couldn't keep looking at this sad puppy in the cage across the street.  On Tuesday night, Lauren spoke to the teen who lives at Layla's house and was told they were looking for a new home for her. If they didn't have her placed by the weekend, Layla would be going to a shelter. Lauren confessed I had been plotting a kidnapping and knew I would help find Layla a new home, even if it meant we would be inheriting another dog. After questioning the adults in the house about Layla's temperament and spending some time working with her, I talked to Greg about adding her to our family. He has also been upset about her living conditions and quickly agreed.

She has made herself quite at home the few hours she's been with us. Kisses are smothered on all of us at all times. We think she's going to like it here.

 Of course, not everyone has fully adjusted.

With enough time and attention, everyone should love her like Kate already does.

Kindergarten Promotion

We told him he had to wear real clothes to church tonight. He was technically obedient.

Because this spring clearly hadn't contained enough milestones for our family, Ty was promoted to kindergarten status at church tonight with a cookout, new bible and tour of his new classroom. When instructed to sit on the carpet with all the other kids, our son found his own carpet away from the crowd. The very optimistic parent next to me thought he was already on an independent track and this was a good thing. The fact we had to escort him to accept his bible and bag when all the other kids willingly jumped up to get theirs further clarified what I suspected to be true. He needs kindergarten exposure. Tomorrow he will start attending camp every weekday morning for the month of June to prepare for all day kindergarten in the fall. Our experiment of attempting homeschooling kindergarten this semester failed. Miserably. He was explaining how three groups of four objects makes twelve to Devyn at one point but when I ask what four plus one equals, he halfheartedly answers "six" with a shrug. He absolutely refuses to let me know what he knows and I believe he will show off for a teacher. After many tears, lots of prayer and a ridiculous amount of questioning fellow elementary school moms, we've enrolled Ty in our local public school. He will start two weeks after his sixth birthday in July.

These two don't often connect but when they do, it's pretty sweet.

Kate loudly proclaimed after an argument with Ty she hates boys and we don't ever have to worry about her dating. I asked her to write that out for me, sign and date it. Greg laughed at me. I have the written statement anyway.

I love this man. I cracked up when I rounded the corner today and saw a lot of my spices lined up on the counter while Greg had his nose in his phone searching ingredient lists for a new rub he wants to try the next time he smokes pork loin. He may be a little OCD but he's awesome with a grill. I think I will keep him.

The remnants of Lauren's graduation party are gorgeous. I think they were a great investment. And if you are the mother of sons, you have to read this book. I literally laugh out loud every time I sit down to read a few pages.

While working on this little blog post, Greg pulled out our old stand-by family entertainment. He harassed Brutus with his duck call. We are easily amused.

Lauren's Graduation

"Kid, you'll move mountains. Today is your day.Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!" Dr. Seuss

Last day of high school.

Never a morning person, Lauren woke on Friday at 6:30 and wandered into the kitchen where she stood staring through sleepy eyes at the sunrise. Things were clearly not computing fully so I bravely spoke. "That's sunrise. It's been awhile since you last saw one". She smiled. "After today, I will never have to go back to high school." A few minutes later, over breakfast she let out a cowgirl sounding "Yippee!" and smiled. I think she's ready to move on. 

Lauren designed her own graduation cap. Prior to graduation, a slide show of photos set to music played and Lauren's theme was also "breaking free" from High School Musical

This woman has the patience of Job. She has endured a lot of hard life with Lauren the last three years.

In true Montessori style, the teens created their own graduation ceremony. It was the most unique ceremony I have ever seen but they stayed true to themselves. Here, Lauren's wonderful adviser, Danielle is reading the narrative Lauren wrote to be read as she received her diploma. We are pretty proud of the young woman she has grown to be.

Lauren did not want family photos with her cap and gown before graduation and afterward we were too busy. She wasn't interested anyway.  But we did get this shot of the girls as we headed out.

"Graduation is boring" followed by, "can we just go home?" lead to Makenna's phone being pulled out to occupy Ty

I was not tearful during the ceremony. I held it together as we prepared for this day but this afternoon Paige showed up with a hand painted map she created noting all the locations their friend group would be in a few months and I had to leave the room to compose myself. The reality of how quickly time is passing hit me hard. My babies are growing up.

Memorial Day

I took Kate and Ty for the day to see Greg's parents and enjoy some down time on their farm. Time flew by much too quickly. Kate learned to ride the dirt bike. Ty learned to raise and lower the bucket on Grandpa's newest tractor. Fishing was accomplished and that made our little man very happy. He has wanted to go fishing for ages but we simply don't have a location locally that's suited for a noisy five year old. Not only did he not have his hands on the rod when the one and only fish was caught but he never touched the fish. He celebrated the catch of "MY FIRST FISH!" as one might celebrate scoring the winning touchdown of the super bowl.

Time to go fishing!

Happy "I caught my first fish" dance

Round 2

We sent Lauren and Taylor off to prom tonight after six girls spent the afternoon primping in our bathroom. We are directly responsible for the giant hole in the ozone layer above Georgetown. It was loud, messy and worth every minute of chaos. We will miss the noise and confusion soon enough.

Paige, Sydney and Lauren gathered for makeup sessions and photos before heading off in different directions tonight. They are certain to find one another on the dance floor eventually. Floyd Central's prom is huge....as in around 900 kids. May God bless the chaperones. Amen.

This dress should look vaguely familiar. It is the same dress Erin wore her senior year. We found this one at our favorite consignment store after selling Erin's in raspberry in the same store.

Sam spent the night last night so the girls could decorate their graduation caps together and stuck around today even though she was not participating in round two of this prom season.

I have no words.

sisters

because they are no longer the sweet baby feet I used to kiss but now carry a beautiful young lady I am so proud to call my daughter