7QT: School's Out, Summer's Here, and Surgery's Over

Linking up with Kelly a day late, but who cares because it's summer time!!!

1)

School is finally over.  JP finished up his freshman year with his last finals last Friday.  I think we would all agree that his grades could have been better this year, but he was in all honors classes, played three sports (soccer, winter track, spring track), took an engineering course on Monday nights, and made a lot of new friends while remaining a good kid that we still like to hang around.  So far the teenage years are fun!  He had a good year overall and is about to start his new job as a bagger at Market Basket, and I can't wait to see him in action.  I'm already telling him that he needs to keep frozen food together, produce together, etc. to make the shoppers happy.  Phil is telling him to smile, be friendly, and look people in the eyes. My dad keeps reminding him that if he wants to get ahead in this world, he needs to show up on time and work hard always.  So JP basically has a lot riding on his 15 year old shoulders :)

2)

Andrew ended his school year on a high...running for and winning President of the Student Council for next year when he'll be in 8th grade.  

He also placed 2nd in his age group in a pretty big 5k in our town (1400 runners) so that was cool too.  Eamon ran with him but it was a hot morning and he wasn't pleased with his time.  He's gotten way faster than me, and he is just such an agreeable boy, always up for anything.  His report card was literal perfection all year.  He's playing summer basketball this year again (as are Andrew and Maggie) so we are hanging at the outdoor courts 4 nights a week which is probably a little more sports than I wanted in my summer schedule, but it makes them so happy.

3)

On the elementary school kids' last day of school, we picked them up and drove them straight to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate another successful school year.  Maggie was proud to announce that she never received a "check" on the board this whole year (supposedly everybody else did?) and Xander surprised us all with his straight A report card.  He did not surprise us all with his less than stellar behavior grades...I think his teacher put it nicely when she wrote that Xander always had a lot to share with the class :)  While the big kids had free reign all over Great Wolf Lodge (and also had friends and cousins to hang with) the littles were so much fun to watch delight in the waterpark.  

(I was there too - but in a bathing suit and therefore very happy to stay behind the camera!)

4)

Father's Day this year was really nice.  We started the day with a run and then headed to my niece and nephew's joint graduation party.  My niece is heading to Franciscan University in the fall (woohoo!) and my nephew got a full scholarship to UMass Lowell for engineering.  Wow!  It was nice to celebrate those sweet kids and then we headed over to the beach for a late afternoon swim on a beautiful day.  On the way home we stopped for some ice cream to celebrate the head of this family properly.

 

5)

Phil and I also got to escape for an overnight to Connecticut as a late anniversary getaway.  I'm not going to gush, but I just love him so much and spending time alone together is sooooooo good for our marriage.  One night is perfect for us, because by the second day I am missing the kids!  We are counting down until the next one, which might be in a long time since our beloved goddaughter/babysitter extraordinaire is heading to the convent in August.  God always takes the good ones!

6)

Yesterday I had my dreaded gum graft surgery, and it actually went way better than I expected.  When I got into the office, I asked if they had any laughing gas, and they said no but assured me I wouldn't need it.  I seriously got tears in my eyes and wanted to cancel, but by God's grace managed to sit down and start the procedure.  It wasn't too long, but my heart was beating so fast when she started, and again when she removed the tissue from my palate.  The rest was fine, and I was able to rest all day yesterday afterwards.  Today I feel fine, a bit sore and swollen, but I'm eating more.  I have to wear a stint (like a retainer with no wire) for a week while my palate heals and the graft site is covered with a dressing that looks like pink bubblegum.  I'm taking a little funny but should be all healed up by Friday when they will remove stitches.  And I bet that was way more than you wanted to know about my oral surgery.

7)

Monday starts summer hours for me at work (8-1) and then the first week of July our school will be closed for some construction work, so I get another week off!  Unexpected but I'll take it.  Phil begins his final summer as the camp director at the kid's school and is also working at the high school doing some maintenance work, so he'll be busy this summer.  It'll be a challenge to make sure all the kids are being supervised and having fun this summer - I'm foreseeing a lot of "I'm boreds" and "I'm hungrys" in our future, but we will try our best to do one fun thing a day and get outside for hours each day.  I'm so thankful we can go to the beach all summer, that's always something to do!

I hope your summer is off to a fantastic start.  Keep cool and stay outta school!