Summer

I'm not exactly sure why our school disctrict now gets out BEFORE Memorial Day - but the kids had their last day on Friday. It doesn't make sense to me to have them out now - when it is still too cool out to feel like summer most days. I'd much rather have those "dog days" of August to hang out at the pool - not May. Our kids go back earlier and earlier every year. This year it will be sometime in the first half of August! Whatever happened to starting back after Labor Day?

Emily B

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to Emily B!!!

Can't believe she's 19 today! Everyone at the Hull House send you lots of love!

Katie's last day!

Today is Katie's last day of high school! I got her up this morning by cranking Alice Cooper's "School's Out". Very appropriate with the line "school's out FOREVER!". I clearly remember blasting that song on MY last day in high school! Hope it is a memorable day for her, too!

Not Motivated

You know how it is when you have a list a mile long and just don't want to get started? I'm at that place today. I've got a million things on my list and know that they'll be easier to get done before the kids are out of school (for the day and soon for the year). But I just can't seem to motivate myself to do them. I want to play hooky and enjoy this beautiful day. There is a light breeze blowing through the open window and the birds are gently singing. (Not that ungodly noise they make at 5 am!) Maybe it's good that Laura and Kelly have moved out of state - they would have talked me into it and then figured out a way to come and play hooky with me! Mind you - I have called and made several appointments, checked in with some family and friends on line and on the phone, refilled prescriptions, etc. but still feel like I haven't done anything for the day. For me that's one thing about being a grown up I still fight with myself about - - - I always feel like I should accomplish more with the time I have.

Rite of Passage

It is a tradition at East High School that after you present your senior project to the judges that you get to ring the bell. It was funny to hear the kids giggling about it being a goofy thing to do - - - but as I stood there yesterday waiting for Katie's turn I noticed the sense of accomplishment on their faces as they each took their own turn ringing the bell. The dreaded senior project. From the time they are freshman they dread the thought of doing it. It is a huge part of their senior year with much time and effort put in along the way to "make the grade". For two days the entire school has half days so that anyone can watch a senior present to the judges. The third floor hallways were lined with students waiting outside of various classrooms for their assigned appointment with the judges. The conversations ran a wide gamut from those starting to breathe again after presenting to those that were getting pep talks from friends that it would be ok once they got in there and started. Megan and I and several of Katie's friends were able to watch her presentation. It went really well and she flew through the Q & A session from the judges. She had a huge smile on her face as she left the room. Onto the ringing of the bell! As she picked up the gavel about to take her swing she looked for me with a sheepish grin. I flashed back to the first day of kindergarten as she took her first step onto the bus. She turned and looked for me with a sheepish grin then, too. That small little smile that says, "I'm scared but excited" all at the same time. How proud I felt to have been to there watch her embarrassed little shrug as the bell tolled for her accomplishments! Rites of passage - time honored traditions to help us close one door and open another.

So it begins

It seems like the schools always try and cram so much into the last few weeks of the school year. Fund raisers, fieldtrips and class parties all seem to pile up this month. Add on top of that dr appts, lessons and practices - and it seems like May is always a blur for me. I was able to go with Sarah's class to Connor Prairie last week. It was pouring rain for most of the trip. We just decided that it made it all the more realistic of pioneer times. Several

other mothers and I road up in a car - No Bus for us yahoo! We even stopped for coffee before hitting the road. I have to say that made it a nice trip.

Mother's Day was nice. Emily got up and had just gotten out all the ingredients she needed to make pancake batter when the

electricity went out. Poor thing! She was trying to be so sweet. The electricity was out so long that we ended up eating the pancakes for dinner last night. Luckily I had gotten a cup of coffee before the outage!

I'll try not to wait so long between posts - but sometimes life has other ideas!

Voting

Katie got to vote for the first time today. It was cool watching her. But it was strange standing there waiting for my turn. While she was casting her votes I had memories of some of Katie's other "firsts" running through my head. It amazes me how quickly it has all gone! We just have to remember to drink it all in - because you know time isn't going to slow down any for us to catch these memories.

Prom 2008

Prom 2008 is officially in the books - and it all went well! No last minute runs to the store, no emergency need for safety pins during pictures by anyone! As always, they looked wonderful all dressed up (with somewhere to go!). Sometimes it is hard to think about the fact that they have grown up so much - but on nights like this when it is right out there for the world to see - it's not too hard. They looked (and mostly acted) like adults. So hard to hold on and let go at the same time.

Katie & Zane along with Jaime & TD are the two long standing couples in the group - it shows in the way they are so at ease with each other. Helps to make the night more relaxed and fun that way.

What a good looking group!

Jaime, you might recall, is Katie's room mate next year at IU.

Hamming it up! The sun kept going in and out behind the clouds - and it was really, really windy! Good thing most of the girls went for the "messy" up-do look as they ended up that way anyway!

Katie & (Emily) Bonnell holding onto each other for warmth! It really got chilly with the wind, but they all sucked it up and smiled for the pictures. They thought their party bus would never get there to take them to dinner!

And after dinner the official walk into the dance. The usual venue for prom was demolished earlier this year - so this is an alternative site. It worked out pretty well except for the parking issue. The kids had to park several blocks away & take buses to the venue. That worked "ok" for getting there - but didn't for getting back to the cars at the end of the dance. Katie said her group finally gave up, braved the wind and cold and ran for their cars. Katie's group went back to TD's house after prom. His parents had set up a luau for them. They had a great time. I'm relieved it all went well and everyone was safe! Now - on to graduation.......

Kevin & Lisa

My brother, Kevin, and sister-in-law, Lisa, came to Indy this weekend to run the mini marathon Saturday. We had a wonderful high carb dinner Friday night.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning to find a prime spot to attempt to catch a glimpse of them going by us. Kevin actually found us in the crowd. He even ran over for a quick hug before continuing. Lisa must have been running too fast - as we didn't see her. It was amazing how many people were participating. It was a GREAT place to people watch. There were all kinds of people running - we saw young & old, big & small, people in costumes - even a firefigher in full gear! It was inspiring to see!

The girls made signs to cheer on Aunt Lisa. They also made ones that said we are proud of you. So many of the runners told the girls "thank you" as they ran by. It was really a cool thing to watch. If you notice Kate missing - she was getting her hair done for prom Saturday night. Pictures and details of that to follow in another post.

We even had a chance to talk to Govenor Daniels for about five minutes. He's shaking Megan's hand in this picture. He was there to watch one of his daughters run in the race. I'm really glad we went up to watch. It was really fun! Sarah wants to run next year. Maybe we'll think about doing the 5K together next year. You never know.....it could happen....

We met up with Kevin & Lisa for lunch after they had a chance to clean up. Wish we could have had more time -but we wanted to get back home to take prom pictures. Kevin & Lisa were going to do a little exploring of downtown Indy - and then I think something was said about taking a WELL deserved nap later. Great run, WAY TO GO GUYS!!!! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!!!

They all do it

Recognize this kid?

Ever notice how kids act when someone has a camera around them? They all want to be in the picture - - they just go about it in different ways. You've got the "Get a picture of me!" group. Of course this group has to be broken down into sub-catagories of goofy faces and poses to make you look at them. Then you have the group of "No! I don't want my picture taken". These pictures usually consist of things in front of the face poses or the runaways. But then you get the sneak peak around the object to see if the picture has been taken yet or a fabulous shot of a blurry object. We've all got these pictures. Thank goodness for digital photography! We can see exactly what we shot and decide if we've gotten a good one or to try again. Remember how frustrating it used to be to take in the film for processing, wait days and days to get it back only to find out that the "perfect" shot you thought you had wasn't any good? How about those shots that somebody else took with your camera? Some are hilarious, others you can't even identify and some are just meant to be deleted quickly! Anybody else have tons of their kids striking a pose (with or without siblings or friends) that just show up on your cameras? Gosh, I could have sworn I deleted the last pictures after I uploaded....why does it show I'm about to upload 87 new pictures???? Again I say...thank goodness for digital!

For those of you wondering....the lovely picture at the beginning of this post is non other than Tyler Wang. Here's a shot I got before he realized someone in the room had a camera. Behind him waving is Raegan Bradley who obviously falls into the look at me catagory on this day. :)

Oops! She did it again!

My mom can't catch a break - - - or maybe she's caught one too many! Thanks to her cat, Henry, she broke her right arm in three places Sunday night :( Henry (like my Sherlock) seems to think he has to be no more than one foot away at most times - especially when she's walking or going up and down the stairs. I'm always afraid I'm going to trip over Sherlock and break one of his legs....but Henry tripped mom and broke her! You'll remember she broke her leg last fall. Poor baby! She goes back to the surgeon today to see about fixing it. I can't imagine going around for this many days with all those breaks - how painful! My parents don't like to take pain pills - so I'm sure she has been going very light on them. Now you can see where I learned some of my strength to endure what life throws at you! Love ya, Mom! (and Dad!)