Finishing Up

I love this time of the year, when activities are winding down, and our calendar theoretically gets emptier.

All our co-ops are done now.  TNT finished the end of April, and we had our annual ice cream party at Rivendell this past Tuesday.  All the usual topping choices, plus several different ice cream choices made for happy, full, sticky kids, all of whom were also thrilled to be done with weekly assignments, although sad to not be seeing their friends on a weekly basis anymore!

The AP biology exam was actually Monday, so I was technically done last Tuesday.  Woo-hoo!  It was a wonderful feeling to wake up on Tuesday morning and know that all I had to do was memory work!  The boys felt confidant and prepared while taking it, so that's good.  I guess we'll see when the scores come out in July.  Such a long wait!

Although I'll continue to work with the younger kids through the summer, I am quite happy this school year is coming to a close.  It's been a more frustrating one than usual, due to Caleb and Jonathan's lack of diligence and well, caring, about school this year.  It turns out grades are not much of a motivator for them, and I really haven't figured out what IS motivating.  I'm hoping it's more of a puberty thing that will be outgrown (before it's too late?!), but I will say I now understand much better all those teen stereotypes you see around, like in the comic strip Zits or wherever, since we've been living it for this past year.

Nathan finished up his first year!  As soon as the ice cream party was over, I drove down to spend the night at the house of some friends who moved a little over a year ago.  Megan taught literature at Rivendell for a few years, and we have really missed their family!  They now have a little farm with goats, chickens, and even ducks.  (Did you know ducks eat ticks?  Having ducks keeps their yard tick-free for their kids!)  It was so great to catch up with them and hear all their tales of farm living.  Wednesday morning I drove the rest of the way through mist and pouring rain to Tech, but once I got there, the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day for hauling stuff down 2 flights of stairs.  We got it all in the minivan, and drove back home, where everyone was anxiously waiting to see Nathan.  I was so glad we made it home in time for us to say goodbye to Luke, who was leaving one hour later with his mock trial team to fly to the national championships.  Crazy!

Nathan had a fantastic year.  He has really grown and matured.  He did so well academically, making the Commandant's list both semesters.  He also did really well in his physical training, as well as in his ROTC detachment, and he made good friends.  We're very happy that this is where the Lord led him--and we're also very happy to have him home with us for a few weeks!  He'll be working on staff at WSS this summer as the assistant boys staff supervisor.  Should be a fun summer for him!  In the meantime, he's been teaching Micah how to play checkers and chess--which has led to a resurgence of interest in those games among the other members of the household!

I've finally finished my whole30!  My last day was Thursday, although I kept on it Friday as well, until I ate some of a casserole for dinner.  It had rice and sour cream in it, and crackers on top of it, so that was grains and dairy introduced back all at once!  I didn't have too much though, and it didn't bother me at all, not that I was expecting it to.  I was *very* proud of myself for keeping on my diet while going down to get Nathan.  I again brought chicken strips and raw vegetables with a guacamole packet to eat for lunch, and nuts, grapes, and 2 oranges to snack on.  Today I had some M&Ms at a graduation party this afternoon, and Bob and I are planning on going on a dinner date to Cheesecake Factory, so that won't be compliant!  I lost a total of 12 pounds, so that's good, and at least 2 inches--but it's not enough to really make a difference.  People who haven't seen me for awhile still say, "Oh!  I didn't realize you were expecting again!" when they see me.  And why wouldn't they?!  I. look. pregnant!  The tummy inches haven't just melted away, so I'm afraid that means I'm pretty stuck with my pooch.  Now I guess I'll see if I can maintain my loss, and even possibly lose a bit more, by not eating after 7:00 PM, and following the paleo diet for at least breakfast and lunch.  Everything I've read says that those first 5 pounds of water weight I lost the first week will come right back as soon as I start eating carbs again.  That will be discouraging, but hopefully expecting it will take some of the sting away, lol.  

So now the last thing I have to get through is standardized testing, which I'm in charge of.  I'll be SO glad when that week is over!