It's Summer!

Well, not technically, but almost. The weather has been crazy here. One day last week it was over 95 and terribly humid, the next day it was 55! I prefer cool weather, but maybe not quite that cool! The good thing is that we've had plenty of rain and (not to brag) my yard looks great! I have plants in about 30 or 40 pots all over the front and the back 2 patios. I did a bunch of different color schemes and I really like how they turned out. I bought almost everything from the nursery down the road - - they are so nice and knowledgeable there, and although you might pay a little more, the selection is wonderful. I have so much fun deciding what flowers look nice together. Meredith has helped a lot, she loves following me around and saying "helper?" when she wants to take part. Ethan is my plant waterer, he loves when it's raining because it lets him off the hook!

Ethan will be leaving for EFY tomorrow. I'm driving him to Minnesota. It's about 7 hours away, so it will be a 2 day trip for me and Meredith, who is coming along for the ride. Because Ethan's summer is so full of scout stuff it was hard to find an EFY that worked, but I'm so glad we did. I think it will be a wonderful experience for him. He finished up 8th grade and graduated with high honors, having been on the high honor roll every semester of middle school. I'm so proud of his hard work! He's been taking it easy this week, but next week he'll start his summer schedule and stay pretty busy all the way through. He's getting prepared for seminary as well. Oh how I took released time for granted - - he's going to be getting up pretty early to make it to his 6 a.m. class!

Ethan also has been running - - over Memorial Day weekend we went downtown and he and Scott ran the Soldier Field 10-miler. Ethan kept up a great pace, especially considering the farthest he'd run previously was only about 3 miles. He told me he likes to watch movies about people going through war and stuff like that, and then he thinks about it when he's running and it makes it seem less painful. Whatever works, right?

While we were downtown I took Noah to "Peter Pan." It was the original J.M. Barrie production, extremely well done, in a theater-in-the-round format. Noah loved it. This has been a big month for him because he's finished up with elementary school. Fortunately the teachers worked hard to help him with the transition, and he's very excited to be attending Bernotas. He starts summer camp on Monday, which will be great. He's looking forward to seeing his friends and doing the activities.

Meredith got her first big "owie" last week, she fell and hit her head on the corner of a coffee table. It didn't bleed all that much, and wasn't a big cut, but was a little deep, so I took her to a doctor and she glued it shut! It's the best way to avoid leaving a scar for wounds like that. She was very brave and the doctor and nurse just loved her. She is growing up so fast! A little bit of the 2 year old attitude - - Noah (unfortunately) taught her to blow raspberries, which she does, extremely impudently, when she is upset. She's also added the phrase, "Go out of my room!" which she also got from Noah. Sigh . . .

Scott is still travelling a lot for work, but he has signed some very big deals and is enjoying his job a lot. I've been trying to go to the gym with him more often, although we don't play tennis together - - he tried once to teach me and it was not so great for our relationship.

I'm done with my classes and enjoying the break, I'll start up again in the fall. I'm enjoying time with the kids at home, and looking forward to a fun summer. A visit from family or friends would make it even more fun :)