Lots of updates!

Where to begin.....

Libbi is officially a kindergarten GRADUATE! Dave and I went to her school Friday morning and watched the kindergarten sing a few songs and get their diplomas. Thankfully, NO CAPS AND GOWNS lol. Each class wore their class tshirt, so it was indeed colorful!

The kids all came off the stage after they sang a few songs...My Country Tis of Thee, Twinkle Twinkle (with sign language), and another one I did not know the name of. Libbi was then called back to the stage by the principal. She was awarded with the PERFECT ATTENDANCE for the whole year award. The ONLY kindergartner out of 12 kindergarten classes! WOW, that means out of maybe 230 kids, she was the only one to get it. WOW! The principal asked Dave and I to stand too and be acknowledged. Libbi was so proud of her trophy! After that, each student in every class was called and walked across the stage to get their "diploma"...so very sweet!

School for me is going well. The students are so restless and it is difficult to keep them occupied and on task. Not complaining, but I sure am tired at night! I see kids only two more days and then have one teacher work day. Then I am officially on summer break! Looking forward to it a lot!

We are enjoying the long holiday weekend here. Yesterday saw us attending the annual Knight's pool party. It was at Margie and Terry's. The weather cooperated except for two brief showers. The girls spent near 7 hours in the pool (yes, even though it was very cloudy I did the sunscreen thing) and were happy as anything. We'd spent the morning running errands and they were ready just to relax and have fun! Abbi was flipping off the diving board and Libbi was just a swimming fiend! Abbi did manage to "save" a 2 year old who toppled into the pool and she scooped the girl out and got her to the girl's grandmother. Not really such a scary situation, but it could have been and Abbi was paying attention! Dave played horseshoes and corn hole the entire time, while I sat by the pool to watch the girls.

Before the party, we had stopped by his work so he could check on some samples. I am now understanding a bit more what he does in his job. He had several samples in two different ovens (diff temps) and has to check their progress every 24 hours. Constantly trying to upgrade the products and systems etc. There were gelcoats he was working on. The girls got a kick out of sitting at his desk in his office and then getting a snack out of the machine (we'd not had lunch).

After the party, we had to stop and get milk at the store on the way home. The girls had fallen asleep in the van right after leaving the party...completely expected after their long day! I stayed in the car at the store while Dave ran in, and once we left to finish the drive home, I happened to be looking at Libbi sleeping. All of a sudden she was jolted awake screaming about needing to get out. She tore her seatbelt off and grabbed for the door. We were moving, and it scared me, though we thought the doors would not open with the car moving (they won't lol). She was just screaming and crying huge tears! I got her calmed down a little and she said that she thought she was in the pool and could not get out of the water. It was clearly a dream and when she woke she truly tried to get out. I have never seen such panic from my child...pure and total panic with the flight response to the fear. Thankfully she calmed down and went right to bed when she got home. AND she slept until 9 this morning. But wow was that ever odd and strange!

Today, I played the services at church and my hate relationship with my flute has reached an all time high. It is in need of super expensive repairs due to the issues it is having. Apparently the pads keep swelling uneven and everything my repair guy has tried to overcome the problem is not working. He said the pads are cheap pads and clearly what I paid someone else 10-12 years ago for repadding that entire flute was NOT worth what I paid. A professional flute apparently shouldn't have these kind of pads. I was educated on how to know the good pads from the bad ones lol. Well, the flute is just not playing well at all. I have to do so much with my mouth and adjusting this and that with my air and moving the flute that with it getting worse I simply cannot do. It sounds bad to me and is driving me crazy. I cannot make some of the adjustments quick enough when having to play fast. Within one single note, making a teeny adjustment to get it to come out also changed the intonation (tuning) horribly and it is noticeable.

The time for a new flute is now. Only I do not have the money for a flute and will not anytime soon or later. The likelihood of me having to stop playing is high. This flute just will not make it much longer and I do not have a spare. Not just any flute will work either as it must be a professional one that responds the way I am accustomed to. I can't just buy a $400 flute and have success. It would not sound good at all. For a good long while I have wanted one that is about $8000, but right now I can get a lower model of the same thing for about half that I think.

Bad thing is, a new flute is not in our budget at all. We are barely making it as it is.

I am sad because I love playing. I may have to quit and drop out of the orchestra. This stinks big time. My flute should not have done this, but because the pads were crappy that I paid major bucks for several years ago, this problem has been created. The keys probably wouldn't even respond well to even decent new pads because they get used to working a certain way in conjunction with the pads and well......it is all just annoying. I have no idea what to do, other than pray.

ANYWAYS, moving on from the depressing stuff.

We have had a strange weather system....a huge low pressure, similar to a hurricane but WAY weaker, has been nearby spinning the past few days. The variety of clouds has been really neat! Bands of rain and storms spin by. The girls have enjoyed riding their bikes dodging raindrops tonight. I think we'll have a few more days dealing with it.

We are hoping to grill out at home here tomorrow. Not sure it will work with the weather. I have stayed busy catching up on laundry and housework.

I know, I have flipped from topic to topic. I wanted to catch up a tad here and I am starting to get tired. One week from now I will be home with the girls for summer, such a nice thought!