Winding Down

The school year is almost over and May, as usual, has been a busy month.

Our high school Sophomore takes his last finals tomorrow and then becomes a Junior!

The home schooled kiddos are mostly done. (Well the youngest two are done, the eighth grader will be at it until his math book is finished which means I'm not done either. )

We've had a Confirmation and are soon to have a First Communion.

We had a fantastic Memorial Day picnic with lots of family, from the oldest aunt to the youngest cousin, (who happen to be grandma and grandson) in attendance.

Our tenacious one has had two more successful lemonade stands and has planted pumpkin seeds that are growing very well. 

Our nursing school daughter has just been offered a job in a hospital where she can put her skills into practice.

We start June with great expectations for a wonderful summer full of changes, challenges, vacations, some hard work and hopefully more time to write about what we're up to.   

Brave Moms

Part of my time is spent doing ultrasounds at the local crisis pregnancy center.

Because of the generosity of our donors, we are able to give our clients free ultrasounds when they are between 8 and 22 weeks pregnant.

Today I want to talk about some brave moms.  These moms come to us in desperate situations.  They are scared and confused.  Many of them are way too young to be moms right now.  Sometimes they are alone.

And yet, each of them has this one thing in common:  they are all moms.  Whether they are waiting to give birth or are already able to hold their little ones they're moms.  They come to parenting classes so that they can not only learn to be great parents but also to earn material goods for their child(ren).

They get ultrasounds so they can see their little one moving and growing.

Whether they take a cab, a bus, or drive a hardly reliable car, they show up.  They talk to each other and find support and make new friends.  They give each other advice based on new experiences they have had with their pregnancy or newborn.  They bond.

So during this month that we celebrate Mother's Day, I would like to tip my hat to these brave women who, though it is a struggle, have done a marvelous deed and given their child the gift of life.

Shoes Blues

Last evening our son was Confirmed.  Last Friday it finally occurred to me that he actually would need some new clothes for this event.

I had already made plans for myself and the youngest girlies, and so I asked my dear one to step in and go shopping.

On the list:  pants, shirt, tie, shoes.  After the shopping trip: pants-check, shirt-check, tie-check, shoes-no check.  The thought process was to buy shoes that he could wear for the Confirmation and also would be appropriate for school in the Fall.  We all just ran out of time.

 So, I went to plan B.  He could wear his older brother's shoes (which have not been worn in a year) and we'd get him school shoes in August.

Come the big night and, uh oh, big brother actually needs those shoes.

Plan C: borrow shoes from a cousin.   All well and good except he didn't like them.  So he made the next plan.  He took, without asking, the only other nice pair of shoes left that actually fit and wore them.  So when his oldest brother tried to get ready to go . . . his shoes were missing.  He ending up wearing  the size 10 1/2 shoes which fit no one.  Ouch!

Come to find out the shoes that Confirmation kid took were his brother's Air Force dress shoes.  Oops!

Thankfully, there was no yelling, no smacking upside the head and only  ten squished toes.

The ceremony was lovely and we have a new soldier in the family.

Say What?

My dear one and I were driving our golfer son home from the golf course the other evening.  After practicing for two hours he was a bit thirsty so we stopped at a gas station so he could grab something to drink.

I was sitting in the truck waiting and looking around.  Right in front of me I saw a sign that made me do a double-take.   And it make me take a photo.

The sign was on the door leading into the cooler which holds the cold drinks.  Unbelievably, it said "Not An Exit".

Had someone or someones actually tried to get out of the store through that door.  Or, perhaps it's a law that inside doors have to be so marked.  I'm not sure which.  Either way, what does that say about our society?  Weird.

Friends

It's been a little crazy here lately with school ending and new schedules to get used to, golf season swinging into action, Confirmation practice, clothes shopping, and generally just keeping the younger kids going on their school work when they would really just like to be done and go outside.

Visiting time with friends and family has been at a minimum.

Today, however,  I had the extreme pleasure of spending 2 whole hours with one of my best friends.  All we did was talk and take turns holding the baby but, I feel like a new woman.  A little "me" time.

Thanks, K!  It was wonderful to be with you and my Godbaby!!

Titanic

Four of the kiddos and I went to see the Titanic Exhibit at the Henry Ford today.

It was very well done.  We each got our boarding pass; the girls got female passengers and my son got a male passenger.  Too bad for him because he was the only one who did not survive.

Because two of our older kids work at the museum, we have been informed about what to expect.  My tenacious one had her photo taken "flying" at the bow rail of the ship.  Then she and her sis sat on the Grand Staircase for a another photo op.

They had been warned by big sister that only two or three steps were actually sturdy, and that the rest were just for show.  However, just before their turn a huge group of students filled the staircase almost to the top and there were no reported injuries!  They became brave enough to go up to the six or seventh step when it was their turn.

I caved in and bought the photo taken at the rail cause it was so cute!

It took us about an hour to walk through, lots of reading and many artifacts to look at.

I would recommend going on a weekday as, according to my sources, the weekends get a little crazy.

Bon voyage.

Yard Work

My Dear One  was raised around farms and by parents who garden and can veggies, fruits and meat.  He got the green thumb.

Me, I'm allergic to all things outdoors.

So when we need to landscape, plant, mow or weed those jobs fall to him.

This past weekend, bushes being torn out was the business for the day.

To aid the process, my dear one tied a steel cable around the base of the largest bush and attempted to pull it out using his truck.  The front end of the truck was lifting off of the ground and the bush was barely budging.

Plan B:  Call in the boys; those manly teens and twenty something of ours.  As the boys worked away at the roots my hubby went in the back yard to man the grill.  When he came to check on the work in progress and found 3 of the 5 bushes out of the ground so quickly,  his first comment was, "It's nice to be in management!"

The guys did a great job removing the rest of the bushes and cleaning up the mess.

Now I get to sit back, once again, and watch as they transform to the yard with new plants and flowers.

Have at it, guys!