Catch!

I've been so neglectful of this blog lately. I was on a roll at the beginning of the month, then life caught up with me again. My thoughts & activities are scattered far & wide, so I think I'll utilize the bullet point...

• The new IKEA store opened here on May 6. I was going to try to stay away for a month or so, til the crowds died down a little bit, but I needed a bookshelf. So Megan & I spent two hours in HEAVEN last week! I have never been to an IKEA before & I have to say that I'm in love. I don't normally like the modern European style, but I really did love so much of it. Michael has always loved that style & I'm thinking that if I can get one of their wardrobes in our bedroom, I may even redo the whole room to match. Not that I would really have to "redo" anything, as our bedroom is full of mismatched hand-me-downs & clutter that doesn't fit anywhere else in our house, but still...

• School is winding down here. The kids get out on June 4. June 3 is the big 5th grade banquet. It is IMPOSSIBLE that Ben, my baby, will be in middle school next year!

• Speaking of the banquet... I've designed the invitations & memory book cover to match the (surprise) theme of the event. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I sent them to the teacher who is organizing the event (thankfully she's not Ben's teacher) on March 24 & have been going back & forth with her since. Actually, I've been emailing her often & receiving input back rarely. She requested some (bogus) changes & I'm waiting for her final approval before I print them. I'm getting antsy. I want it done! I'm irked that the changes she wanted make them not nearly as cute as they were. I'll show you what I'm talking about when it's over...

• Ben has been taking speech therapy at the elementary school since he was 3. That's 8 years of speech! As of Wednesday, he is dismissed from the program. WOOHOO!!! When he first started, the school went through 3 speech therapists over the course of about 2 months. Ben's speech impediment at the time was pretty severe & we were really discouraged at the turn over. Then, in November 2001, along came Ms. Kelli. Oh Ms. Kelli! Pretty, young, perky Ms. Kelli. I think Ben purposely didn't graduated from speech so he could visit with Ms. Kelli 2-3 times a week. I have a feeling the speech therapist at the middle school wouldn't be quite so appealing, Ben probably had that feeling too. Michael was disappointed that he was was out of town Wednesday & couldn't go to the dismissal meeting. Ms. Kelli may be the thing both of my guys miss most about elementary school. I can't believe I don't have a picture of her... I'll make sure to remedy that at the banquet.

• Last weekend, we had Michael's brother & the grandparents over for a cookout to celebrate what we're now calling "Grandmother's Day" (the Sunday after Mother's Day). I had hoped to get some pictures of the kids with all of their grandparents, but unfortunately I forgot all about that after the first pitcher of margaritas. Bummer! I guess I'll shoot to get that done on "Grandfather's Day". Lack of picture taking aside, we had a great time & ate some yummy food (oh yeah! and enjoyed the margaritas...)

• We've been in a draught here in west-central Florida (actually, I think most, if not all of Florida) for about 3 years now. The past few months have been especially bad. The water restictions have been tight, the lawns have been parched and the ponds in our neighborhood have been drying up. It's been sad. Monday morning, the sky opened up & it's been raining pretty much for a week straight. The weather forcast is for more of the same all weekend. The lawns are happy. The ducks are happy.

• Jordan is sad. Her soccer practice has been canceled twice this week.

• The tournament her team is supposed to be playing in this weekend has also been canceled. Tragic.
  

Actually, it does put us in a kind of funny position. What does a family do on 3 day weekends when there isn't a soccer tournament? Hmmm....

Whatever you do, I hope you have a fun & safe Memorial Day Weekend!