It's half-way through May already, what do you know? I've only 4 more days of work left at the school, then Winston and I are on Summer Vacation! I'm looking forward to sleeping in! Preston and Keaton have been ripping it up on the track and field lately. Actually, Preston's season is at an end as of last Saturday. He's done impressively well for a Sophmore in the Triple Jump. At Districts last weekend he jumped a 38' 3". He was only 7" shy of going to Regionals this weekend. He's only 3' away from jumping what the school champ is doing - and only 4' away from the school record. By his senior year he might make that. His coaches are very optimistic. He also did the Long Jump and the 100 M. Keaton has been running the mile - almost always comes in 4th. It just seems to be his spot. He also did the 700 M and has been practicing to do the pole vault. He probably won't actually get to vault until next Spring when he is in High School. We're very proud of the boys and their accomplishments.
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Winston graduates from Preschool on Wednesday. It will be a little bit sad because he's enjoyed his last two years in that class and loves his teachers. At bed time he makes sure to include them in his prayers, saying he is thankful for Bobby, Tammy and Shirley - and the french fries. They have been wonderful to him and he will miss being in their class. We are excited about Kindergarden for next year. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to do the classroom routine, but over the past couple of months he's made such leaps in maturity and learning that we can now see the possibilities. He's finally got his ABC's down, writing his name in Capital and small letters, and he's counting to 30 and saying the days of the week and months of the year from memory. He has come such a long way. His social skills have improved a lot, too. Instead of picking one child to play with at school he is now joining groups of up to five kids to hang out with and following the game (play) plan and pattern with them.
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We've been busy in the yard this spring. A dear friend of mine has let me inherit several plants from her yard so now I have a cute little 'English' garden next to the patio. I have Hostas, Lavender, Grape Hyacinths and lots of other plants that I can't remember the names of. I also put in a little stone path. It all looks so nice! Keaton was such a great sport in helping me find rocks for it. We also hauled a BIG rock over to put in a spot where the dogs always dig. We thought that rock was going to kill us before we got it to where we wanted it. It almost got Winston, coming centemeters from his foot when in tipped over and rolled out of the wheelbarrow. I'm so glad he didn't get hurt. I also transplanted a bunch of daylillies and purple Iris. We have so much Iris - I've threatened to get rid of a bunch of it. Marcia couldn't stand the idea, so she dug some up to take to other relatives. We also got our garden in and everything but the pumpkins have come up - actually I think there's one pumpkin just barely peeking out of the ground now. It feels good to have a lot of the spring yard work done. Now I can concentrate on my spring cleaning in the house!
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Tom redirected our walking path. Instead of walking up the hill to the orchard, we now can walk down the hollow along the stream. He has it set up so that he can mow it with the riding lawn mower to keep it maintained. That will be really nice for him. It is so pretty right now with all the wild flowers and Cow Parsnip growing and blooming. I could live without the Nettles, though. But there are too many to be completely rid of them. The hillside has wild sunflowers, Syringa, Lupine and several other small flowers blooming right now. And the wild roses are starting to bud and smell wonderful. The walking path is about 1/2 mile down the draw, so it's a mile walk round-trip. We've been trying to walk it at least once a day, and twice a day on weekends. It's much more fun to exercise when you have beautiful scenery to do it by.
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Well, now that I've written an entire book for this month, here, you should be well informed. Other events not mentioned - Preston turned 16 last month - and is driving! We're looking forward to Summer Vacation and seeing family at the coast and elsewhere.
