June 7-28

It turns out that when I am extremely busy no one writes my blog for me. I did offer to publish guest posts written by the girls, but thus far no one has taken me up on it. I think Gretchen did write a newsletter or something. I will see if I can put that up soon.

Way back on the 8th, Bryan and Matthias had their Christmas present video game day. The other kids and I went to the Fort Wayne Zoo to be out of the way. This happened last year as well, so I purchased a membership then, and we went twice (once for video game day and once for Bryan and Olivia's staycation). One of those trips was the hottest day of the entire summer, but we were committed and only whined a little as we wandered around the zoo with water soaked towels draped around our necks. I needed to get this year's trips in before the zoo membership expired. Happily, the weather was much more cooperative this year and our zoo trip was quite pleasant. We touched the stingrays and brushed the goats and saw the alligator in several different spots in his enclosure (although we didn't get to see him move). All the animals were out and active and the orangutangs even knocked on their glass for us. We were slated to return on Friday of the same week (staycation day), but then Murry decided to take the boys for the weekend and Theodore was really the only one who was excited about the zoo. Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and I made ourselves scarce locally instead.

The boys spent a happy weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house and came back in time for Matthias's final baseball game of the summer. Hooray. 

Kickball has been moving along, although a few games have been cancelled for rain and/or exceptionally muddy fields. There are five teams this year instead of the usual four, so they added some Wednesday games to get enough playing time in. Three mornings of kickball a week seems a little excessive, but it is what it is. I didn't have to deal with most of it due to my trip. Bryan and Murry took care of ferrying the children.

On the 13th the girls and I ran a 5k in Findlay. It went well enough, although I don't think there were any really exciting times. It was Kaitlyn's second 5k ever and I ran with her in an attempt to avoid straining my hamstring further. She thinks maybe hills are her favorite part.

Two weeks ago I abandoned the family for a Kodaly intensive in Bloomington, IN. Kodaly is a method for teaching music to children (particularly in schools) and there are three levels, each completed in a two week block. Last year I went to North Carolina and completed level 1. This year was level 2. Bryan and the kids made it through again, and I think this year his mom was more available to help than she was last year.

While she was here, Murry painted and redecorated the girls' bathroom and the boys' bathroom. She folded a lot of laundry, put up a shelf in the laundry room, and rearranged the living room. She also managed to get the boys to clean their room. Not a bad deal to come home to. My favorite thing, though, was the message I got from Gretchen four days into my trip: "grandma is here. she has made changes to the laundry room and girls bathroom. next she is going to do the boys bathroom. she has plans."

After the final concert on Friday, I drove to Hocking Hills to meet up with my family. They were attending the wedding weekend of a friend (except for Kaitlyn, who had been dropped off at Rudy's birthday on the way through Columbus). We spent Friday night and all day Saturday hanging out and playing board games before making our way back to Lima. I'll fetch Kaitlyn on Tuesday when I'm in Columbus picking up the NorCal Fentons for our family campout that happens this week.

Pictures:

May 24 - June 7

I forgot to mention that we have a new priest! One of the priests that subbed in a couple of times during Lent liked our parish's sense of community and asked the Bishop to assign him to us. He officially started May 1 and he and his wife have been commuting down from the Cleveland area each weekend while they tie up loose ends and finalize local jobs and housing. They are hoping to be fully transitioned by the end of the first week of June.

Theodore discovered drawing books at the library. He loves drawing books. He's very good at following the instructions and drawing his own pictures. He can also follow a youtube video, although he has to pause them frequently and he's more likely to bail on videos when he thinks they are too hard. His biggest problem with following drawings is that he gets frustrated if he thinks they are not perfect. A few weeks ago, he branched out and started creating his own step-by-step drawing books and making Bryan follow them.

Bryan has started playing group games with the kids just before bedtime. I don't know yet if this habit will stick, but it's been fun to see them all able to do something together. I came home from a meeting one night and they had learned teledraw (even Theodore) and had a great time.

May 24 was the yearly recital for our piano players. Olivia and Kaitlyn were both nervous, but did well. Olivia played "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from Hercules and Kaitlyn played "Queen's Minuet."

Answers to last week's questions: Four (of 31) third graders want to be youtubers (lower than expected, honestly). Two students, one boy and one girl, want to be herpetologists. I had to look that one up and thought maybe they had someone come talk to the class on career day, but it turns out these two students just really like snakes.

School has ended! We spent a couple of days sleeping in and doing nothing, but then we got busy again.

Well documented information: Olivia's brain ceases to function once summer vacation arrives. Last year she forgot how to spell "movie" (her defense: "I didn't forget how to spell movie, my brain just started talking.") and repeatedly read "wildlife" as "wildfire." And she told me I looked like someone she knew. So far this year she has tried to use a fork to eat cereal. And she told me she didn't know how to wash her dishes. I rest my case. And also might need to add a washing dishes seminar to this summer's events. She is reading this over my shoulder and preparing her defense for the comments.

Of course, with the end of school there is a need for summer schedules. I was quite happy with last year's schedules, so I kept the format the same and then tweaked it a bit. We are working towards independence that also accomplishes the things I need them to accomplish. Last year Theodore got pictures with his checkboxes, but this year he's just going to have to read words.

The first week of June was (Catholic) VBS which meant we were back to waking up early. The three girls were helpers and the boys were campers. This meant that drop-off and pick-up times were inconveniently offset, but luckily our friends the Miroglios had a split as well, so we were able to share the staggered drives. There's also a playground right next to the church building and we utilized that while we waited for the helpers to finish tidying up each day.

Now that summer is here we've added colors to hair. Kaitlyn got her hair trimmed and thinned and then asked for a no-bleach blue strand. It is unfortunately already fading out. Gretchen got a haircut and then I added no-bleach purple all over her head using a 17 ponytail method. The purple is dark but visible and she's happy with it. Olivia opted for the usual bleaching of the bottom inches of her hair and we turned those red. At the end of the summer we'll cut all the bleached ends off. I got my ends trimmed off and asked the hair salon for peek-a-boo purple. It was incredibly hard to see, though (possibly because they don't color very many strands of hair), and I ended up supplementing with the same purple Gretchen used. It's much more visible now, but only when I lift the top layer of my hair.

Kaitlyn got a second piercing in her ears this week. She's been wanting one for a while and I finally took her to get it. She is annoyed that school only allows one earring per ear at once, so in the fall she will have to choose which piercing to use each day, but in the summer she can wear all her earrings at once.

Gretchen and I went garage sale-ing for our (most recent) Christmas mom and Gretchen day. There's a large subdivision nearby that has a community garage sale every year, so we marked our calendars for June 4. Unfortunately, June 4 was rainy. As it poured, I checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to clear up by 11. But then at 9 it stopped and the new clear up time was noon, so Gretchen and I decided to risk it. We grabbed books for the car and umbrellas for the walk and set off. Our first garage was offering free stuffed animals, and who can pass that up?! Not Gretchen. We helped them move things inside as the rain started and after Gretchen bargained for a pair of shoes we made our slow way back to the van. She carried a box full of stuffed animals (and shoes) and I held both umbrellas over us. We made it to the back of the van, cowered under the roof for a moment while she put the box in, and then climbed in the trunk, closed the door, and shimmied up to the front, much to the delight of the watching garage sale family. We read our books until the rain let up a little and then continued on our merry way. There was more driving than I envisioned, but otherwise it was a grand adventure. Once Gretchen had amassed enough treasures, we drove home (just as the sun came out, of course), dried off, and played a game of newly acquired Monopoly.

Discord conversations with the girls:

Me: 

1. What dinner are you going to learn to cook this summer?

2. What fasting dinner are you going to learn to cook this summer?

3. You are going to learn to make bread this summer.

Olivia:

1. Macaroni and Cheese (which I might already know how to make now that I think about it).

2. Sweet Potato Tacos

3. Okay.

Gretchen:

1. Mexican Chicken

2. Vegan Taco Salad (we've had it before)

3. 😆

Kaitlyn:

1. I don't know

2. I don't know

3. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!

Real life conversation with Bryan:

Bryan: What are we taking to the Miroglios'?

Me: I don't know. I am open to suggestions.

Bryan (zero pondering required): Baked Alaska.

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