Today I shopped for school supplies for the boys, as tomorrow is their first day of school. When I got home I asked the boys to label their things and put them in their backpacks. These are last year's pencils that were still in Michael's backpack. Holy cow, how did he write with these little stubs?
Tonight we went to visit Priscilla and her family. Alicia has so much fun playing with her Uncle Dave's hair. Here is the new do she gave him. How do you like it?
Today I went to visit my mom for a bit, and while I was there we got talking about slides. My dad said he thought that they might have another small box of them. Just before I left, my mom looked and there was! I came right home and started to scan some of them to see what was there. Unfortunately the computer froze up and I have not been able to get the scanner to work, but not before I found and scanned this photo of me with my grandma. I think it's the only photo I've ever seen of myself with her! (I know that sounds strange, but it's true) My grandma (my dad's mom) developed Alzheimer's and was in the State Hospital by the time I was 9 or so. She was bedridden for several years before she died, shortly after Dave and I were married. (I was 23) What a special photo to find!
I found this on my camera card today.
This is Martha, Priscilla and I on vacation when we were kids. I'm not sure where this was taken (New Hampshire?), but I like the picture.
My husband is an awesome gardener. He planted this garden when we had our house built 4 yrs. ago. To the far left (almost out of the picture) is a Rose of Sharon tree that is totally covered with buds. Hopefully soon there will be purplish flowers all over it (if the beetles don't get to them first). I think the flowers look so beautiful this time of year!
To those of you who are unfamiliar with the ugly destruction of the Japanese beetle, this is our poor little cherry tree that had some of it's leaves chewed off by the deer in the spring. I was keeping it sprayed with deer off and then walked outside one day to see about 100 Japanese beetles on it. I sprayed the tree with Sevin, which I was told would kill all of them and all who came to eat afterwards. The next day there were several dead beetles under the tree, and new ones on the leaves...munching away. I sprayed again and we got beetle bags (2 have already filled up!). This morning I looked at that poor tree and there were these 2 mating beetles on it, and look at the poor tree. I am convinced that between these beetles and the deer, this tree will not live long enough to produce fruit.
Today I took Jake back to the vet because his coughing hasn't stopped (see his blog). I dropped him off this morning for a day of x-rays and tests. He is in the early stages of congestive heart failure and will need to be treated with medication for the rest of his life. There is no guarantee that it will work, but we are sure hoping it does. I thought I had everything under control when I picked him up at the vet this evening, but I broke down and cried while the vet was talking to me and showing me his x-rays. He has an enlarged heart, a murmur, his lungs were filling with fluid, and he is slowly losing weight. If the meds work it's possible we could have him for a few more years, yeah!
Well, the kids celebrated their last day of school Friday by burning many of their papers (I save their writing stuff). They have actually been saving their papers for the whole year so that they could burn them. They had a good time and are very relieved to have summer break to enjoy now. We look forward to visits from out of state friends and family, camping in a couple of weeks and also at the end of July. Hooray, summer!!
Congratulations to Steven for getting an award in Spanish for academic diligence! It was such a struggle for him to learn a foreign language. He almost dropped it (on recommendation of another teacher), but he stuck it out and kept his grade in the 90's the whole year. Hooray Steven, we knew you could do it!!
Today Michael won 2nd place in a spelling bee so he won a coupon to bruster's for ice cream. After dinner tonight we went for our ice cream. They have some very yummy flavors. I got blueberry cheesecake, and Dave and Steven got fudge brownie. Michael (my plain boy) got vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. It was a beautiful evening, and fun to go out together after a busy day.
Oh those lazy, crazy days of summer! We're enjoying many warm days in the pool. The kids have 1 more week of school before summer break.
I have never seen more modest beach attire than this. It looks like we scared everyone else away! This is us on vacation in Maine one summer.
This is me and Priscilla when we were about 3 and 4 years old. (If it looks a little blurry it's because I took a picture of a picture instead of scanning it.) A few times, a photographer came to our home and took our pictures. Martha must've been in school when this was taken.
This evening after dinner the kids and I decided to take our 1st long bike ride of the season. It was such a beautiful day, with temperatures in the 80's. Aside from the fact that Michael's chain kept coming off we had a great time riding, and I feel well exercised for the day since after the ride I took a long walk with my hubby and our dog. Tomorrow will be much cooler with temps in the upper 50's or low 60's.
