Surprise!!!!

It's Grams and Papa!!

On Church Street?  Are you kidding me??

They thought we were just going out for ice cream...

Which worked out nicely because there is nothing better than a scoop shop dinner after a 15 hour travel day to surprise your grand kids!

This was, hands down, the best dinner ever!  Poor grams and papa waited in a Detroit airport ALL day waiting to get here to Vermont.  The delay was excruciating, but the sweet arrival was worth the wait.  

This was only the beginning.  There were baseball playoffs and recitals to watch, dinners to enjoy and board games to play, and tons of hugs to give and receive!

Mark and Jan were such sports... 

coming from the heat of the desert to what felt like a winter's day; they smiled the whole time.  Poor Noah and his cub mates swung their bats in the drizzly rain and chilly temps. Despite the rain out in the 3rd inning I was glad that the Witt seniors got the chance to cheer for their cub and cub friends!   

Way to go Noah!

Noah's team did amazingly this year.  His coaches were the nicest group of guys and the boys were so supportive of each other through every play!  I am so proud of Noah for putting himself out there and having a great time!  Can't wait for next year.

Now this weekend was the big DANCE RECITAL and I was so glad to have Jan with us!!  I am just not the best recital mom.  Organization is who I am, but when it comes to these things I get terribly flustered.  All the dates and times, rehreasal's and costumes send me into a spin!  Jan has some pretty amazing history with these events seeing that she was a dancer herself and her daughter Melayn, my sista, is a very talented dancer as well! Phew!

Pre-show hair and robe wearing. 

Oh Gabrielle, my little dancer.  This was your fourth recital!  I am so very proud of you for getting on that stage and smiling so big.  You are a beautiful dancer and we all love to watch your performance!

Well, some of us muscle through it...

Mr. Witt confided in me that he found his place in the audience, during all those sister dance recital years, quite painful.  I look at Noah and see just that.

Grams and Papa made it fun though!!

 Upon arriving backstage to pick up my wee dancer and deliver her to her awaiting fans she looked slightly sullen... Mom, all the girls have flowers...

Little did she know!

Jr. Witt brought quite the bouquet for his sister.  What a darling he is...

That is me.  Mom dancer.  Relieved that all went smoothly for darling daughter on her big day!  And dad, terribly proud, doting dad!

On a side note, I must share... I was feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed in the moments before the curtain opened.  Mr. Witt had brought the flowers in to the theater in their water container.  I threw a fit and made him take the water away so they would not drip on dear Gabi post dance.  He did as I asked and got caught in the rain.  The lights went down and the show began.  I whispered an apology for being ridiculous.  

And his reply:

I would do anything for you.

It struck me like a bolt of lightening.  

I cried.

We did it Goosey.  

 

You danced and I watched and it was a  

great year!

PHEW!!

So thank you grams and papa for being the special people that you are.  For coming to our village town that is so very far from your desert one.  The four of us could not love you anymore.  You were loads of fun and great sports.  And thank you for all the little in between things...

Like watching the art show

And playing creationary

And getting a photo cube!

 And making us breakfast!!

I am already counting down the days until your July visit!!

An end of the year breakfast.  A gushing mother's dream.  

First on the agenda: explore the classroom beginning with the poetry unit...

An obsession that began a long long time ago, way back in the second grade.  A Noah that was shy and quiet came out of his shell to find his place in the classroom; the comedian of all things.  Noah became the mastermind behind a club, a club of orphans of all things.   They had a pact, a song, a dance, and a signature.  Every paper Noah wrote was about orphans, every signature was signed orphan...  and I never did know where the inspiration for this came from until now...







 I truly thought it was because he didn't like his father and I... but it wasn't.


I really hope his new teachers at SCS get him like the greats at Benchmark did.

Noah's writing, in his poetry unit, reminds me of one of my very favorite authors; Shel Silverstein.

They rhyme and are on the funny side.

  Being a hobo is another slightly disturbing obsession of Noahs.  I think he must have traveled with the likes of Jack Kerouac in his previous life.  

I would not be surprised if he packs a sack, jump on a moving train, and hits the open road one day.  

I hope he tells me first.  I would pack him a lunch and give him my copy of  
 Still Life with Woodpecker.

Comedian award

  So it was award time.  This is the first class that we have been in that has handed out individual awards.  It was wonderful.  Mrs. Shannon was so thoughtful in her comments about each child.  I know she made each and everyone of them feel known.  Was I surprised at the award Noah received?  NO.

I am pleased that his classmates think he is funny.  I think he is funny too.  I loved that all the kids knew who the award was for once the word funny was announced.  I cried.  Couldn't help it.

Thank you Ms. Shannon, for getting him.

Check out Noah's face.  Can you believe I made him take a picture with his teacher in front of everyone?  

 

Thank you Ms. Shannon for all that you do!  I wish we could have you for another year!!

Holy Hot...

What the hell is this?

Where is the central air?

You mean I have to put this thing in the window while not dropping it to a concrete demise??  Then I have to turn it on to only cool down one room... These contraptions are sort of comical if you ask me.

Matt thinks so too...

He makes me laugh so hard.

We had to carry that crazy thing up from the basement together, jeez.   Thank god we have each other.

Then we debated for about 45 minutes on the placement of these ridiculous cooling devices.  We wondered if the windows should be shut or left open... if they cooled the whole place I say shut, but the cracked sky lights let out the hot air that is rising... we shut them... we have no idea what we are doing.

Thank god for 69 degrees on friday!

A gardening birthday

The snow was still settled on the streets below when the Taylor's and the Witt's vowed commitment to a summer communal garden.  On the agenda; tomato plants, pepper plants, beans and lettuce!  Planting was to commence during May's end.

So then memorial day came and then went...

It is hard to fit all of life in...

But today was Mrs. Taylor's birthday and a free and easy Sunday, perfect for planting!

Gardening committee making important planting decisions.

Lots of prep work to be done first!  The Mr.'s turned the earth in preparation to receive the seeds.

 The children were so helpful in digging the dirt and pulling the weeds. 

So let's be clear.  I didn't do very much.  Well, my jobs were not directly garden involved but still important none the less...  I took care of small people whom needed attention and also documented happenings.  Brianne, however, carved out some pretty sweet planting mounds and taught my kids a whole lot about planting a garden.  Very important work indeed...

See...

I did get my hands dirty a little bit.

Check out the lovely row of beans and the rock and roll muck boots!  Love!

1,2,3...

All our seeds planted neatly in a row...

        

And before you know it we had a garden.  Only one last thing to do...

Happy Birthday Bri!  Let's hope we can share my September birthday with some 

homemade garden salsa!!