Good news / bad news

So the good news is my dear genius husband got my computer working again.

I wouldn't say it works as good as new, but as good as can be expected given that it's quite a few years old.  Like 5 or so.  I think.  Which in computer years makes it a senior citizen.  So given that, it works pretty darn well.  At least it's not crashing every 2 minutes or so. 

The bad news is I am so far behind in blogging that I don't even want to think about it anymore.  It's true life isn't action packed around here, but in the last month or so enough has happened to make me want to forget I've ever heard the word "blog".

And the thing is, when I am writing about the here and now, it's a lot easier to make things sound interesting.  But when it feels like I am documenting some event that happened days or weeks ago, well, it just becomes boring to me, and if it's boring to me, I can't believe it's interesting for anyone else to read. 

So yeah, that's the second half of the bad news, is that I am going to attempt to "document" the last month or so. 

Might as well get started. 

School got out.  The kids (mostly) passed everything. 

Christopher loved school, but was counting down the days 'til "no more school." 

I think he misses riding the buses though.  He's been watching (and memorizing) bus safety videos on youtube over and over and over again.

Zach finished 5 grade with a bang.  He brought up all his grades.  I don't know what his deal was for most of the year, but he finally got his act together this last semester.  His grades have historically been stellar, but for whatever reason this year he decided school wasn't important.  End of year activities for him included a piano recital, a band concert,

and a school project where he dressed up as Neil Armstrong.

Additionally in March he earned his Webelos badge, (which I just now noticed I neglected to mention back then)

and in May he earned his Arrow of Light.

Maddie worked really hard and decided that she likes junior high.  She was really apprehensive going into it, but she really enjoyed this last year.  Interestingly enough her favorite class was science.  she had a really cute, fun, young teacher who made science fun for her.   May kept her busy musically with a piano recital, a viola recital, two different orchestra concerts (EVYS and school)

and she participated in both ASP and ASTA-CAPS, which are adjudication programs for piano and viola (respectively)  She did fine in both, and moved on to the next level. In piano she would have earned the highest award if she hadn't bombed the theory test. (I'm proud of her anyway- she worked really hard memorizing four different pieces, and played them practically perfectly)

Nick had a busy (and at times rough) end of year.  He spent so much time working on his extra curriculars that he didn't leave much time for school. And homework.  Let's just say he ONLY failed one class.  There were a couple of other close calls.  He got a girlfriend (which is causing me some serious grief for many reasons) and took her to the Spring Formal.  

John ended up driving because his ride backed out, and he doesn't drive because his grades leave a lot of room for improvement.  (of course I don't understand this at all.  I would have DIED before I had my parents chauffeur me on a date.  DIED.)

Nick was inducted into the National Thespian Society, played in an orchestra concert,  and participated in ASTA-CAPS as well.   He did finish his online math course a few weeks early, which gives him a bit of a breather before he starts up his online chemistry class in July.  (The class he failed.  Which for the life of me I don't understand.  Didn't it suck enough the first time?  I'm sure if he had tried hard enough he could have at least passed it, so he doesn't have to take it again.  Why is this kid bound and determined to go through high school doing everything the hard way?!?!?!)  We actually decided to pull him out of his high school for the core classes, and he'll be taking online for all that now, and only attending his current high school for all his extra curriculars.  Hopefully we'll see an increase in the 'ol GPA.  (wish us luck)

I think that's good enough for now...