A Whole Month!

Um, ya, so shame on me for letting an entire month slip by bloglessly. There have been many wonderful moments that deserved to be blogged since May 16, but the past handful of weeks has been both ridiculously busy, and fairly sad, so I just wasn't in the mood to tell the tale. I think I was a bit wary of being in vent mode, and I really don't want this blog to be a forum for my gripes. So, I just muttered to myself instead. Now I'm over it. Back on the horse.

The grumpy/sad thing was work related – I was forced out of my school because of budget cuts, leading to class-size increases, leading to less positions at my school. I tried to be all Pollyanna about the whole thing – I didn't get laid-off, after all, just displaced. And change can be a good thing, and I am good at rolling with it, and all that stuff. Thing is, I like it better when the changes are my decision. That must be true of most people, right?

So, blah blah blah, I've got a job teaching Kindergarten at a different school next year, and it will all be well and fine, but I've had my normal end-of-the-school-year-lump-in-the-throat since mid-May (apparently I'm in the mood for hyphens and dashes today – can you tell?) in addition to this yucky, bitter feeling of having to pack up and leave, just because I have less seniority than everyone else at my school. I was really digging 5th Grade, too. The goodbyes were awful, and I felt a bit cheated out of the almost-vacation joy that I was supposed to be feeling. Bummer bummer bummer.
(And even though this mini-rant seems contrary to the anti-venting policy that I just finished declaring, I figured I should at least dedicate a paragraph or two to a month's worth of angst. Whew! Glad that's done.)

Now, on to the good stuff!
What follows is a rag-tag collection of our recent goings-on:

My blogless month has been a buildy one for the kids. I love the fact that they build. Trevi now wants to be an engineer/inventor. Not sure if I've already reported on that. Clara still wants to be a professional soccer player/pop star.

Here's the entrance to Trevor's miniature (cat-sized) replica of the "Misty Maze" at Bonfante Gardens:
And here's Ken, with a maze map that Clara kindly provided:

A bit of Lincoln Log construction filled a lazy afternoon:

And check out the recycling facility that Trevi crafted from his marble run and trains:

This set of stairs was built for aspiring pianists who happen to be earwigs:
PS: I got a chuckle out of this, and tried to tell Trevi I was laughing about the thought of an Earwig van Beethoven. He said, "I don't know about that. I'm just talking about those pincher bugs." Well, I thought it was funny.

Speaking of pianos, Trevi discovered one day that if he held up the key cover just so, he could watch the hammers hit the strings. Hours of fun:

This unblogged month saw Clara's last day of 2nd Grade:

And, Trevi said goodbye to Preschool. Sensing the finality of everything, he refused to pose with his teachers, but he did offer to have his picture taken with the cat house that he and his classmates built:

We are in full soccer mode now, with practices coming out the wazoo, and a calendar jammed with the words, "Clara Soccer".

A recent birthday party offered cute pony photo ops:

And a super windy day prompted both kids to don their party hats (for "protection" from falling palm fronds), and get blown around in the yard. I include this photo because it's precisely these kinds of silly things that make parenting crack me up (in a good way).
Summer has begun! This one promises to be pretty low-key. Breathe in, breathe out.
The one possible glitch is that Trevor, having read Weslandia far too many times, would like to grow a crop and found a civilization this summer. So, we might be a bit busier than planned.