He is officially unemployed

Two weeks ago, Robert put in his notice to resign his job.  We had talked about it with him at the beginning of the month.  He only works on weekends, and with so many things happening this month it was going to be tough for him to work at all.  And of course, since it is his last summer with us, I wanted to be able to take off and go away on the weekends if we wanted to do so.  We have managed to establish a decent savings account for him, and since he is joining the Navy he won't be spending it on college expenses, and will even have an income.  This weekend was his last scheduled weekend, but they ended up telling him not to come in.  I wasn't surprised and told him this might happen.  In food service, they most likely already have his replacement and since Robert can't do the training, they don't need to be paying both of them.  It is nice to have one last thing to put on our calendar!

The last relaxing weekend for a while

This weekend should be generally relaxing.  Robert has a track meet this evening that I am attending (third Friday in a row...ugh), and the he works tomorrow evening.  We have a church decorating commitment in the morning and Robert has a guitar lesson early afternoon.  Sunday is church and an event after the service, and there is a free concert we might attend in the afternoon.  That evening Robert will work again.  For the most part, with the exception of Robert, our family has a fairly uneventful weekend.  It will be the last one for a while.

Next weekend will start with Andrew and Robert volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity build here in town, then Robert will have his guitar lesson.  My cousin's daughter has a soccer game here in town so those of us that are available will attend that.  That evening is Prom.  He and his date are doing dinner before, and Andrew and I are also planning to attend the event to see students.  Andrew will be volunteering at the After-prom, and I'll drive Robert's girlfriend home when that is over (literally in the middle of the night).  I have done my best to clear our calendar for that Sunday.

The weekend after that is a wedding for us to attend.  The kids are spending the night at my mom's house.  That Sunday will be Mother's Day, and I suspect I will be busy cleaning the house...which I don't mind at all.  I will be grateful to have the time to work on it.

The following weekend is another crazy one.  Friday evening we will drive to my hometown to attend the graduation ceremony for a cousin.  Saturday morning Thomas should be returning from his school's D.C. trip around 6:00, and he has his first tennis lesson that morning.  We will have to get him early from there so that he can attend his Confirmation rehearsal, and the ceremony will take place the next morning.  We will be hosting a lunch at our house following that.

That is just four days before Robert graduates...and lots more craziness will happen.  I am grateful though, for these days and all our opportunities.  I've been blessed to parent these crazy kids, and although I can't believe how fast it has gone and how stressful some of the days have been, it has been wonderful.

We made it through the testing

I am so glad that we made it through the testing!  Four days this week, I spent 2-1/2 hours helping to supervise a study hall.  It wasn't hard, but it certainly wasn't much fun either.  And let's be honest, if I'm not a fan of sitting at a table in the cafeteria for 150 minutes, the students probably aren't either.  We were able to have a gym teacher open up the gym this morning to get some of the students in there, but there were many students who needed to come in at regular time but weren't testing.  Our schedule is also wacky, but today is it.  Looking forward to our weekend!

Front porch sitting

Last evening Andrew and I were finally able to enjoy a glass of wine on our front porch.  That is one of the things I love most about our house.  At our old house, the house literally sat right up at the sidewalk.  We had a lovely screened in porch, but I didn't enjoy sitting where everyone could just see us when they walked by.  It was pleasant for entertaining though, if others were over and wanted to be outside.  Although our current front porch doesn't work at all for entertaining, we now have a patio out back that works just fine for that.  And our front porch works perfectly for Andrew and I to sit next to each other and enjoy a beverage.  We sit rather far back from the road so if someone is walking by and doesn't want to acknowledge us, it isn't awkward, but not so far that we can't wave and hollar "hello" if someone does.  An evening drink on our front porch is pretty much the #1 thing I look forward to each spring.  Last evening was really ideal for it.  Often in the summer it begins to get too warm for it, but last night, with a sweatshirt, it was just perfect!  We even noticed that the buds are really starting to come out on the trees, and things are really beginning to come to life.  Although it is six weeks later than the spring equinox, it seems as though spring might really be here!

My Dad's birthday

Another year has rolled around, and today is my dad's birthday.  In some regards, it is my least favorite day of the year.  As much as I miss him, and anyone who has ever lost a parent knows how much that is, I can't even imagine the thought and feelings of my grandmother on this date.  I don't care that he was 59 years old when he passed away. no one should EVER have to outlive their child.  Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful that Grandma is still with us today, but I hate that she had to experience that lost.

Other than the memories, today is pretty much like any other day.  I am working, and will head to my church job and other errands after school.  Robert has practice after school, and tonight Thomas has youth group.  I am the parent volunteer, and this is all how it should be.  Life goes on after a loss, and Dad would love hearing all about it.

Daylight

Here we are, very near the end of April.  Last evening, Andrew commented on how much he enjoyed the fact that it was 8:30, and not yet pitch black outside.  It doesn't seem that long ago that we would be sitting in absolute darkness at 5:30!  And of course, it is also getting lighter earlier in the morning.  The other day when I went out to feed the outdoor cats, I realized it was beginning to be daybreak, and this morning when I left for work just after 6:30 A.M., it wasn't dark at all!  I very much appreciate this extra daylight in our lives!

Our family's current entertainment

Our family has never budgeted a great deal for entertainment.  Part of that is because I'm a person who just likes being at home.  Part of it is that one of my favorite things is listening to my children laugh, so I don't need to spend a lot of money...hopefully they are happy kids!  When the kids were really young, we would gather together as a family and watch The Cosby Show.  It was even funnier as parents!  Next it was all ten seasons of Friends.  I love that my kids still choose to watch that show and can actually quote some of the lines along with the episode!  We never binged with Big Bang Theory, but the kids did watch the later seasons with us.  Right now, it is Modern Family.  We never really watched that show until a few months ago.  I decided I wanted to watch it in order from the very beginning, and our family is loving it!  Even though we may have seen an episode here or there, seeing it in its entirety, or in context with the rest of the season makes it even funnier!  I love those evenings with our family!