Summertime is near!

   
     The end of the school year is near...just fifteen and a half days left! I end the year at noon on the 25th. Yes, I count the final days, just like the students. You must be kidding yourself if you don't think teachers are as excited for summer break as the students. Actually, I'm might even be more excited than some because I don't work during the summer. If you ask me what my summer plans are, I'll tell you, "Playing with my kids." Lydia will be going to her pre-k summer program for 3 half days, along with a week of vacation bible camp through our church, and a 4-day camping trip with mom at Camp Casawaso! Jonny will have the excitement of hanging with mom all summer. My father is coming in for a visit in July and he'll be able to join us for the annual Fine camping trip our family takes with my brother's family. I'm really excited about that since dad is the reason we started taking that annual trip!
     My running is going well. I started training for a 15k with my friend Laurel, even though I have no intention of running the Boilermaker Race with her. Actually, the race is the weekend I'll be out of town on our Fine camping trip. We should also quietly ignore the fact that I hate racing. I have terrible racing anxiety so it makes completing a race absolutely no fun at all. I should really try another race, just to see if I still have the anxiety. I did enlist my friend Emily (the PE teacher I run with a couple times a week) to run 15k with me. I still want to run the distance but I want someone with me so I don't crap out and walk some of it. It's so easy to do when running alone and no one is looking. I love my runs with Laurel and Emily. I'm glad I started the Learn to Run clinic with my mommy group because I would have never met my new running friends. Thanks Laurel, Cheryl, Mary, Kien, and Kiersten!
     I have mastered the yogurt making but honestly haven't made the bread in a few weeks. I need to get another batch going. It made some fabulous naan bread for the chicken gyros I made a few weeks back. With our recent diet change, Pete has lost 18 pounds and he looks fantastic. Cutting out processed foods makes a huge difference.
     Jonny update: He's working on his 8th tooth. I wish it would hurry up because it has made for some cranky nights and tired parents. The boy army crawls forward and backward, and scoots on his butt. He still won't crawl. His personality is coming out. I originally thought he was going to have a much calmer and quieter disposition than Lydia, but the more he expresses himself, the more like his sister he actually is! The other night he woke and just started babbling. I swear he was complaining about his tooth. I think he said, "Ma, I just wish this darn tooth would come in and stop bothering me. I want to sleep!"
     Lydia update: She LOVES her gymnastics class and has the body strength to actually do really well at it. The girl is so stinkin' strong. You should see her on a playground. She can pull herself right up to the top of a fireman's pole. She can hang with the best of them on the monkey bars or parallel bars. She is amazing. I am so excited to spend the summer with her. We're going to have a blast.
     Pete update: He is attending his St. Bonaventure College reunion this weekend. He is really excited to see his friends again, especially his friend Nevin who is traveling from England for the reunion. He fishes when he can but I think the season is quieting down a bit for the summer. He loves to take Lydia fishing and they have been out as a twosome a few times this spring.

I'll end with a few recent photos~ Summertime is near!!