I have been trying to eat healthier and be neater. Such a trial for me but this is how my sad little kitchen table looks when I brighten it up. I got these pretty dishcloths for Christmas and I refuse to use them. Kate made the planter for me in Home Ec and a mystery herb is growing in it. The candle is a mandarin orange and smells very nice. 

This school year has had its challenges. I think back to first semester and I remember Jack's heartache with football. Ugh. Don't even like thinking about it as It makes me cry. He has had his ups and downs this year. The best thing about this year is watching him grow ...morally and ethically and seeing little things he does in school to include the forgotten people and how how he has adult conversations with his teachers. His sense of humor is so sarcastic and hilarious. When he and his buddy David get together all they do is laugh. We took quite a few trips to the orthodontist and it was so enjoyable to spend time with him. Talking about everything. I saw his humor and his common sense and morality and enjoyed every minute of it. 

He lost his toad and his turtle this year and I grieved for him. I hate seeing my kids suffer and this was really hard. One fun thing we did this school year was a monthly game, movie and dinner night. His buddies would come over and play video games, watch a movie and I would cook my Italian specialities and it was WONDERFUL. So nice to be around young men (and they are men now) who still enjoy being kids and having wholesome fun. The last get together we had a cookout and they played capture the flag and flashlight tag. They ran through the house and yard and tracked in pine needles and wet leaves and it was AWESOME!

Kate had an incredible school year. She tried a sport and was quite good at volleyball. She cooked different foods with me on weekends and even some week nights. Her grades were Fantastic and she had the highest GPA in her grade the last nine weeks. I don't know if she can ever pull that off again, but she did it once and I could not be prouder of her!!

Her friends are dears and she usually just likes having one or two over at a time, not 1/2 dozen like Jack. But I enjoy them too and she is a good, kind, Christian girl. She tries to be kind to kids that aren't included all the time too and I love her for that.

Both of them earned top good citizenship awards in their grades this year...I guess I am doing something right..

 Here they are dressed up for their Camp Cadet interviews if all goes well, I will be alone the last week of July. As proud as I am of them doing this, I will miss them terribly.