Summertime Fun

It's been a LONG time since my last post! So much fun, but so little time to type. There were so many things I wanted to share the past 2 months but never took the time to put it in words.

Since my last post...

* the kids finished up school and everybody will be moving onto the next grade; Cassie will be in 10th, Jordan in 7th, Noah in 5th, and Muluken in 1st.

* Brad and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. I can't believe we've been married that long. We've been together for a total of 20 years. Now that's a LONG time!

* Cassie celebrated her 15th birthday by getting a pedicure, going to a movie, and having a friend sleep over. The actual party was on Memorial Day.

* Jordan celebrated her 12th birthday by starting on a Thursday (day before birthday) and continued on through Sunday. She got a total of 3 cakes, a pedicure, swimming at Grandma's, eating out at TGIFridays, and having a party at Grandma Lenz' house.

* Noah played on 2 different baseball teams. He played on a traveling team which practiced every Monday and Wednesday morning and then had games every Tuesday and Thursday at noon. On Wednesday nights, he played middle league in Weyauwega with the in-city league.

* Muluken played Little League on Monday nights in Weyauwega. Brad and I coached his team and had a lot of fun teaching Muluken about the game of baseball. Muluken really liked playing and figured out "winning" pretty quick.

* Jordan played on a traveling softball team. She played on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings all over the area, from Shawano, Shiocton, Iola, Clintonville, to Weyauwega. She also played 3 weekend tournaments in Omro, Winneconne, and Allouez.

* Cassie was busy with FFA and went to the state convention one week and officer camp another weekend. She also did dog project and worked with Tiger all summer. Graduation is coming up in August, so we'll see all her hard work pay off.

* Muluken also took swimming lessons at the Weyauwega Pool for 6 weeks. He passed Level I after the first 3 weeks and then started in Level II. He worked on kicking, floating, going under, and just doing some swim strokes. He LOVED jumping off the high dive (in 12ft of water) the most. Of course, he was wearing a life jacket. :)

* Cassie also took her driver's education course this summer. She'll take her temps test in December and won't be able to take her actual driver's licensing road test until next June. Looks like a LONG wait!!

* We spent a LOT of time at Grandma Lenz' house and swimming this summer. Everybody LOVES to swim in our family and there's no better place to go than Grandma's! We also went swimming at the Fremont beach and Weyauwega pool. Still not as nice as Grandma's!

* I've spent a lot of time in my classroom too. I had to pack up 2 classrooms and move them into a makeshift classroom (the school boardroom). I asked for shelves up high on the walls, but they don't want to put them up because they want the boardroom back as a meeting room. If a classroom opens up this school year or for sure next school year, I will be moving again. UGH! We have SO MUCH stuff for an EC classroom, so it's a big pain to move. But to have NO storage this school year, is even a bigger problem. I have a lot of it in the hallway right now, which all has to move because it is a fire hazard. I wish all I had to do was set up my new room rather than work on making room for all our storage boxes and supplies.

* Brad and I also went to Vegas for 5 days for a mini-vacation and also to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel and it was awesome. We gambled a lot, went swimming in the lazy river (awesome!), went down to Fremont Street for the first time, went up in the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel, and did a LOT of walking. We had a great time together and the trip really helped us relax for a few days. Too bad Brad got sick our last night and ended up in the bathroom until we left for the airport. He laid down on the floor of the airport for over an hour before our flight took off. It was probably the longest flight of his life. He looked terrible and felt even worse. When we got home, he slept in "his chair" until bedtime!

* Muluken was baptized at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Waupaca. We caused quite a commotion with the older people in the church who thought the baptism was going to be during the actual mass, which in fact it was going to be after everybody left the church. The people thought they would be late for their dinner reservations! Not much concern for a little boy about to be baptized!! Muluken did great with the actual baptism and giggled out loud after the water was poured on his head. What a cutie!

* Noah also went to vision therapy every Monday. It's amazing how well he's doing since he started last March. I really hope it helps Noah this coming school year with his school work and headaches. No more tears would be wonderful!!

* We also sold 3 of Tiger and Tia's puppies. We kept one for our family and named him Toby. He's such a sweetie! We also bought a Sun Conure (bird) and her name is Joy. She is so cool. She hangs out on our shoulders all the time and likes to eat my diamond earrings. She eats food out of your hand, sways back and forth while you hum or sing to her, and really likes to give you kisses on your lips.

* Nobody had to go to summer school this year, but I did do a lot of work with Muluken. He worked on sight words, reading, math problems, patterning, and writing. He really likes to do the work, so it wasn't very hard to get him to do a little bit every day. I just want to make sure he has a good start in first grade!

* So, the new animal count: 3 horses, 3 alpacas, 2 rabbits, 5 dogs, 2 cats (inside), 3 birds, 1 turtle, 1 fish, and LOTS of barn cats and kittens.

* We took Muluken to Animal Haven Zoo in Weyauwega one day. He really liked seeing all of the animals up close but really does NOT LIKE snakes. I think he might have had a bad experience in Africa! He did like feeding all of the animals and wanted to know what everything was, which really showed how little his life experiences have been. Common animals to all of us are totally new and foreign to him.

* I would be a very rich woman if I was given a dollar for everytime somebody tells Muluken how CUTE he is! Just last night, 2 different women came up to him at a restaurant and told him he was such a cutie! He just smiles and laughs!

I will add LOTS of pictures on the next post!