Now we're taking a deep breath. A has graduated, the other kids are in their final week of school, end-of-year celebrations are mostly over, and the library's reading program is about to begin. For awhile, we can just focus on reading and baseball games for the boys, until the "oh-no-it's-fair-time-and-we're-not-ready" panic hits us. Who am I kidding? Life will always be hectic. Swim lessons, library trips, chores, church camps, baseball games, 4-H projects, and fair will keep our summer busy. And at the end of summer, we'll drive our oldest daughter to college while we're also trying to start a new school year at home.
I have several blog posts rolling around in my head after this month. We'll definitely post about the graduation ceremony and reception, with pictures.
In the meantime, enjoy these tiny tidbits:
- In the middle of the graduation ceremony, my 2 year old was tired and trying to stay awake. So she loudly talked to herself and me, ran around, and was generally somewhat embarrassing in the front row. After the slideshow of pictures, everyone clapped. 2 yo V decided to clap, too. So she stood up front, near Steve, and announced, "Me clapping my hands. Me clapping my hands, too." Of course, everyone laughed. Every celebration needs a little comic relief, right?
- While we were at the graduation, we locked our dog in her kennel in the living room. All was well. We returned home (with guests!!) and the living room smelled like cat spray. What?!?! It was finally determined that our adult stud Persian had walked up to the kennel door while we were gone and sprayed the poor dog while she was trapped in her kennel. I have no idea why. Every time the dog walked by, we all said, "Eew!" and she was sent outside repeatedly. Her shirt has been washed twice and still stinks -- which brings me to another non-graduation point.
- Our dog was attacked by something or someone 3 weeks ago. We took her to the vet for one cut we could see, but that turned out to be a puncture wound with an exit 3-4 inches lower, and two other wounds by the bottom wound. (Uncertain if she was shot by a human or bit by a coyote/other animal.) The swelling was so bad that the stitches the vet put in ripped out and she was left with a 2 inch diameter open wound we have been bandaging 2x daily. She's wearing kids shirts over her head/front legs, tied in front of her back legs like an 80's girl to protect her bandages. She was on her 3rd shirt (basically one per week) when the cat sprayed her. Now she's on her fourth shirt. Her remaining wound is 1/2 inch diameter, but not completely healed. It's very difficult to tape a bandage on a dog, even though the vet shaved her side.
- Back to graduation -- whoever said "There can never be too much cake" was wrong. Very wrong. We had too much cake, and we're all going to be fat (or sick) from eating leftovers. Thankfully we have a large family with lots of young kids to help.
- I have a long way to go before I could call myself a cake decorator. Decorated cakes are very difficult to transport, which only makes them look worse. But in the end, they still taste great, and that's probably all that matters.
April E.
