Weekend

It's been a good weekend.  

Friday was the official last day of school and emotions were a little high.  I had about ten kids not show up, which seems reasonable since they stay at school for such a short time.  I was letting them play games and within 5 minutes, two were crying.  One because he had to draw 4 in UNO and one because the other girls she was playing with wouldn't play by her made up rules.

I pulled the plug on game playing and turned on Ratatouille.  One of my students had given me a tub of peanut M&Ms and I scooped up little cups of them for each student and turned off the lights.

Keep them distracted, that was the order of the day.

6th graders kept streaming in to have me sign their memory books or t-shirts.  My former students!  We'd hug and I'd tell them the junior high was so lucky to get them.  Some of my 3rd graders were lingering around me, not super interested in the movie, and they'd demand to know who I was hugging or talking to.  I would say, "They were one of my favorites!"

And in most cases, they were.

The last ten minutes of school we had the 6th grade clap out.  Noemi, who has been at Bonneville for 16 years, was leading the parade since she is leaving.  She was crying and several 6th graders were crying, so I teared up (a little).  The 6th grade clap out gets me; some of them are my former students.

I was wiping my tears as we walked back into my room.  My students hugged me and said, "It's OK!  We cried yesterday!"  I told them we cried because we loved the school and the people here.  The bell rang and we hugged some more and some of them ran out the door and some of them stuck around for a few minutes.  Some moms stopped by to get pictures of me with their students.  

When everyone left, I checked in with my team and we started working on a project for next year.  While we were working, Matt stopped by and said, "You know school is over, right?"

My team and I were basically all built the same.  We like to work ahead and while we have different strengths and weaknesses, we pull together pretty well.

We had our lunch and celebration and it was a good time.  There was a staff slideshow and awards and farewell gifts.

I told Adam that I am not ready to retire.  I always feel so sad for the people who are leaving.

Saturday we cleaned the garage.

So that was exciting.

Adam was blowing it out at the end and I was inside to avoid all the dust.  He came in and said, "I have a job for you.  We need a new rug because the other one is falling apart."

I said, "Ooooh."

And he said, "I knew that would make you happy."

I like buying rugs, even if they are sort of uninteresting garage rugs.

I found one on Amazon, ordered it, then promptly forgot the whole thing.

Later I got this email:

  My immediate thought was, I didn't order a front door!  Did I?

Then I realized it was a sturdy front door mat.

So I'm happy to report I didn't have a front door arriving by 10 PM.

After church Marie Louise came over and we worked on Family History and mostly visited.  She has some really tough family health things going on right now and we chatted about that a little, but she also is very British and as such has a defiant keep calm and carry on personality.  

There is so much to admire about her!

We had our kids over for Sunday dinner and it was the perfect abundant summer Sunday dinner I love.  We had steak and corn on the cob and green beans and kiwi fruit and potatoes.  Then we took a walk.

May in Utah County is hard to beat.  It lulls us into a sense of loving the sunshine before July tries to kill us.

I'm enjoying May though!

About 9:00, I was wrapping up some Family History I was doing in preparation for the next time I meet with Marie Louise and Emma called.  She had tried her dad, but I guess Adam's ringer was off.

She had had a tire blowout.

Adam immediately said he would come and he and Mark headed out into the night.

Like I told Adam, as someone who could always call her dad for help, I appreciate that our kids can do the same.

What a wonderful invention dads (and brothers) were!

This is me, ready for Memorial Day.

I bought them at my mom's request, ten pots of mums.  I remember my grandma cutting peonies and irises from her yard for Memorial Day.  She would put them in gallon cans and anchor them into the grass with a bent hanger.  

How I love my grandma!  I love Memorial Day because of her.  It mattered to her so it matters to me.