The end of an era

Sammy graduated from 6th grade today.

It was an emotional day.

Sammy did a great job and was so excited to be moving on to the next great thing, but I couldn't help but be sad. It's hard to have Sammy grow up. She's my baby (although she hates when I say that). It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. Also, I am really going to miss her fabulous elementary teachers, Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Reinier.

They are truly the best teachers that I have ever met. They are 100% committed to helping children develop a love of learning. They support students throughout the many stages of their lives. They have helped to raise my kids during the seven years they have taught them. I can't express enough how grateful I am to have known them and benefited from their dedication. Just one more thing we will miss when we move.

A quick visit

It was great to have Mom and Stan come down from Rockford for a quick visit. We are really going to miss them when we move to England! We tried so hard to get a good picture of them with the kids before they left today, but the sun was really bright. Jonathan's eyes were closed in every picture except this one, and Sammy was not cooperating for this shot (so I cropped her out - thank you very much, Photoshop).

Campus Photo Shoot

Over the years we have conducted many a photo shoot on the IU campus.
Today was a pretty day, so I thought we would take advantage of the unique buildings around town and get a few pictures of the kids. Most turned out okay, but this was my favorite. I love the old door in the background and Jonathan's peaceful expression. It looks great in black and white too!

Happy Mother's Day

I have had a headache since last Wednesday and a stomachache since yesterday. I woke up this morning and decided that I was too sick to make it to church. Jonathan went to church with the Andersons (thank you very much) and Sammy decided to stay home and "take care of" me. (translation: watch TV and play on the computer while mom slept)

After church, Jonathan informed me that he got to help pass out candy to all the mothers.
It figures...
Every other year it's flowers that I promptly kill (without meaning to) and the one year I miss church they decided to give out chocolate!

Sometimes life isn't fair.

Feeling sick.
Feeling grumpy.
Feeling sorry for myself.
But also feeling grateful for my two wonderful children who spent the afternoon entertaining themselves so that I could rest and try to feel better in time for school tomorrow.

This is not a paid advertisement

Jonathan is pretty creative.
This quality was always appreciated and supported when he was in the Gallagher/Reinier multiage classroom for elementary school. Since being in middle school has been such a huge change (with different teachers and expectations) Jonathan has not had many chances to truly display his most creative work. He felt sort of "stuck" as he completed various read and respond assignments.

When he was given an assignment to create an advertisement for a health product, he saw it as his chance to do something more out of the ordinary (similar to the focus study presentations he had done in elementary school). Together we started brainstorming ideas, and by the end of the night he had written a script, come up with a product name, and recorded a short commercial. (see below)



Because they had been learning about how people are influenced and the types of media messages often used, Jonathan was required to include at least three advertising methods. It really turned out cute - especially considering we got it done in two days (writing, filming, and editing included).

In case you missed some of the more subtle "jokes" in the film...
(1) Take a closer look at the names of each of the experts - obviously all the same doctor.
(2) Listen to the great offer at the end - to double your bottle size AND your pill size.
(3) The medication is called "i.b.quiet" (similar to ibuprofen but pronounced "I BE QUIET").
(4) The medicine quiets the voices in your head - did you see the phone number?
(5) An excellent price, but how about that shipping and handling!?!
(6) What's that song playing in the background of the video? It was chosen for its lyrics.

The latest pictures of the kids

I haven't done a great photo shoot of the kids in a while. I guess I've just been lazy. Or busy. Or unmotivated. But Sunday they were both in cooperative moods and it was lovely outside so I tried it. Here are a couple of the best shots...

Maybe it's the braids, but I love that Sammy still looks "younger" in this picture. I'm adjusting to Jonathan getting older, but it's harder for me to let go of Sammy. Perhaps because she's the youngest?

Sad faces

This picture was Sammy's idea.

She decided that we needed to take a "sad picture" to send to Mike since we missed him so much. Cute idea. Cute picture. Cute kids.

Mowing blues

There is a reason that I never learned how to use this riding mower.
Actually several reasons.
First, it's Mike's toy...not mine.
Second, it just didn't interest me that much. I can drive a car, why learn to drive a riding mower?
Third (and most importantly) I figured that if I never learned to drive the thing, I would never have to mow the grass!

Unfortunately, there was a flaw in my logic.
Mike moved to England.
Now what?
Although Jonathan has driven the mower before, he never got it all started on his own.
The grass really needed to be mowed and we are having an open house tomorrow. I needed to get the lawn looking presentable. And Jonathan was at an all day Academic Superbowl Competition anyway.

So...
I decided that I would try to do it myself.
Not an easy task as it turns out.

I read the directions that were conveniently printed right on the mower. I followed each direction. I got the mower started and even managed to drive it in a relatively straight line without hitting anything. But when I stopped and looked behind me, I realized that it wasn't actually cutting the grass!

New plan.
I stopped the mower and tried fiddling with some buttons and rereading the instructions. Then I tried to start the mower again. It wouldn't start! Had I already broken it?

Long story short...it was out of gas.
Luckily we had a bit of gasoline in the garage (enough to get the mower to start).
But I was still confused as to why it wasn't actually cutting the grass.
I decided to give up and use the push mower - which I was unable to get started after priming it over and over again.
So I put that one back in the garage and tried the riding mower again.

Another long story short...
Eventually I discovered the little yellow button on the riding mower that apparently released the blades so they could cut the grass. It sounds so easy, but this took me about a half hour to figure out.

I had to be very careful as I was mowing the yard because I was scared to death that I would run into the mailbox or the house or the car or Sammy. Plus I still hadn't gotten used to how touchy the controls are. So I didn't mow very close to anything. This left me with a problem when I was finished - how to do the trim. Since I still couldn't get the push mower started, I opted for the next most logical thing (at least in my mind). Scissors. Yes, that's right! I trimmed the grass with utility scissors. Hey, I wanted to get the job done.

I'm just glad Mike wasn't there to make fun of me as I crouched down on the ground and cut blades of grass with my scissors. Of course, if Mike had been here, I wouldn't have been in this ridiculous situation at all!