It's been...tolerable.
But I'm totally a Pollyanna, so let's not wallow in the pathetic--me whining about all the things that are keeping the kids and I from having the best summer of our lives. Let's just say my kids are learning some very valuable life lessons. The big things aren't what is annoying me the most, it's the little ones.
Yoohooo! Pollyanna?
Right.
Everyone is still standing and fairly healthy.
Although Brian has some sort of ear infection that has had him hopped up on pain meds and hearing only out of one ear for over a month now. Do you know how frustrating it is to properly word something, say it with the proper inflection,pronunciation and SAT word choices only to have the person look at you and say, "What? I didn't hear any of that!"?
So you break it down to the 8th grade words and take out a few sentences.
And then they say," I only got half of that, WHAT!?"
So you break it down even farther to the base elements of thought and the simplest of vocabulary and the loudest volume and it usually comes out, " bite me."
THAT they hear.
But I'm being optimistic here. Concentrating on the good. He's going to the doc on Monday. For the 4th time.
Bekah graduated Middle School. In August she will head off to the big scary High School with the super confusing drop-off lane and continue on her journey as a member of the Class of 2015.
I think her graduation ceremony last month was a good experience for all of us. She got to stand up a couple of times and be acknowledged for working hard. She stood up for applause more than some kids, not as many as others but it's not a competition. That's not the point. Education is not competitive.
Someone should tell that to some of those parents. It wasn't ugly, but some parents got to write bios for their hard working kids. Ok, one was kind of embarrassing...really, he's 14- just hit us with the highlights we don't need to know--nevermind, don't want to embarrass the kid more. Mom was proud. I could tell. I think that was one of her bullet points. Right after early walking and before "Active member of his church youth group".
One more time and then I will shut up: education and loving your kid is not a competitive sport. Sure some kids get the awards, but the real reward should be the education itself. And every parent loves their kid the same. Deeply. And, all...most...of them work just as hard as the kid standing up. Maybe harder. Maybe they have an anxiety disorder and freak out when tested. Maybe they broke their leg and studied at home and the teacher never recorded all the late work even though the kid is the best big sister ever to a whole lot of siblings. Maybe..yeah, maybe that, too. But did we get to hear those bios? No. We did not.
What did I learn? I'm bring an ipod to her high school graduation or someone is going to get hurt.
POLLYANNA... come on, Susan...cheer it up!
I've been gardening. That's fun for me. Finally got the cute seasonal flowerbed planted. Only I forgot to put the cat repellent on it and one of our neighborhood feral cats crapped on my moss rose and vinca the first night.
Speaking of gardening, I solved a horticultural mystery last week. I have two fairly large Catalpa trees in my backyard. Of of them was slow to leaf and when it did, only half the tree had leaves. Last week the other tree began to lose leaves en masse.
At first I thought it was the feral cats using the trees as a scratching post. Then I thought maybe some sort of fungus, or pest....oh yeah, pest. Let's go with that. Someone, in his infinite wisdom, decided to spray Round-up around the base so that he wouldn't have to weed whack it.
Nice.
Maybe I should stop now, go smell some roses, put on the happy glasses and fill a cup half full. It's a glorious day at Casa Vollenweider the sun is shining, the kids are healthy and there's new growth on the first catalpa that Brian poisoned.
