Summer!

I was at the school on the last day when the bell rang and witnessed this really fun tradition between students and staff. Apparently it happens every year, but I'm usually meeting the kids at the bus-stop. All the teachers line up and wave to the buses and the kids go mad with excitement that school is out. The buses were honking, kids were screaming and going crazy, and teachers, principal, and parents were waving. It's FINALLY summer!




Nina's beloved first grade teacher, Mrs. Struthers announced her retirement a couple weeks prior to the end of school. We have loved her and she has loved the kids and nurtured them so well. She is the perfect 1st grade teacher. Nina would always write "I love you" on her homework and Mrs. Struthers would write "I love you, too" back. She is one of a kind and we will miss her! Oh, and yes, she is dressed up like Snow White on the last day of her 40 years of teaching! I think she dressed up as Snow White every year for Halloween. At her "Snow White" themed retirement party, there were pictures of her from early in her career in this costume, so it only seemed fitting that she wear it the last day.

We celebrated the end of school and the first day of summer with a little bonfire on Tuesday afternoon.



Zig was out of town so I had to build the fire, which surprisingly, I had not done before! Well, little fires, yes, but I needed this one to burn for several hours and provide enough heat for the kids and their friends to roast hot dogs and make s'mores as well as burn all their old papers from the school year. I did a trial run with Rollin on Monday when I realized Zig was not going to make it back, but the firewood was too wet (shocking, I know, considering it has rained for 40 years straight!) so we picked up some dry wood. We made a teepee with a smaller teepee underneath and then some kindling. This got it going enough that we could just add logs on the fire as needed. Zig often uses a blow torch to get things started, but I steered clear of that tool. I was pretty proud of my efforts and the fire burned until every last paper was gone. Even though I faked an illness at Girls Camp back in the day(camping in 100 degree heat in Texas is not for me!), I can still make a fire. Yeah!








Looks like Rollin is trying to impress by doing some push-ups.





I am beyond excited to have all my kids home and days and days of nothing on the calendar. It is absolute heaven.