Kudos & Catastrophe

Kudos
The kids finished their last week of school - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Max has now finished kindergarten. He had his last day on Thursday and as I picked him up, his teacher gave him a hug and teared up. She looked at me and said, "Oh, I just want to keep him!" I know exactly how she feels. I'm going to be the one crying in the fall when he has to go to school all day as a first grader... sigh. Max has learned so much this year. He's been so responsible and grown so much. We're so proud of you, Max!

Gabe finished 2nd grade with straight "A"s all year. He's doing a fantastic job at multiplication and started writing in cursive at the end of the year. Gabe also won a class character award for KINDNESS. Awesome job, Gabe! We're so proud that you're kind to everybody.

Zach's two rounds of strep throat in the month May left him with a pile of make-up work, but he worked like a madman to get caught up before the end of the term. His final grades were great, and he received the "Eager to Learn" award in his class.

Lauren participated in the 6th grade talent show and sang her first solo (You Belong with Me, by Taylor Swift) She said it went great "I looked around and EVERYONE was clapping," she beamed. Way to go, Lauren! That takes a lot of courage.  She'd been struggling in a couple of her classes, but managed to pull her grades up even more than I expected. This has been such a tough year for her, but we're so grateful for all the things she's learned and the progress she's made.

Catastophe
   Spring has sprung, but in all of the family chaos of April and May, our yard has not had the attention is needs. It was looking like a jungle. This week, I was determined to get it mowed before the lawn service company came to spray fertilizer and weed killer. We bought a good mower about five years ago, but I admit that the machine has been neglected. On Thursday, I was paying the price for it.

   The mower was dying every 3 minutes, the blade getting clogged with grass and generally spitting out grass clippings all over the yard. It took a ridiculous amount of time to mow the front lawn and then I spent an equally ridiculous amount of time raking up the mess. The mower blade obviously needs sharpening or replacing, and the motor needs a tune up. I was so frustrated by the time the sun was setting on Thursday night, that I decided forgo mowing the back yard, and I went to the phone book to find a lawnmower repair shop.

   Friday morning I dropped the older kids at school for the their last day, and I headed home to dismantle the van interior and load the lawnmower. Someone should have had a camera rolling as a very pregnant me and five-year-old Max tried to lift the beast into the back of van. Somehow, we got it in, but it was NOT gracefully.

   I thought that the lawnmower would be secure on the drive to the shop... WRONG! SO WRONG!!!!
We made it through a few intersections, but while driving up the free way on-ramp, the mower flew backwards and the handle smashed right through the back window.

GLASS EVERYWHERE!

I'm just glad that the guy on the motorcycle behind me, didn't get hurt.

There was nowhere for me to pull off the road, because of the construction, so we just kept trucking to the repair shop, with the mower and glass rattling in the back of the van. Sigh.

After dropping off the mower, I found an auto glass shop where I ordered the glass and made arrangements for the repair that afternoon.

I spent the rest of the morning vacuuming glass from every nook and cranny of the van, which, by the way, was one of the most tedious and nerve-wracking tasks I've ever done. My hands felt like I'd wrestled a porcupine by the time I was finished.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my neighbor Laura and her daughter Rachel, who shuttled me to drop off and pick up the van, AND to pick up Zach from a schools-out-pool-party he attended.

The window repair is complete, and so far, so good. Matt has forgiven me. The mower should be ready next week. My yard will have to go another weekend without mowing, but we have a million other things to work on this weekend anyway. Summer is here! And we're all excited for it.

I'm taking the weekend off from blogging. Have a great Memorial Weekend!