As soon as the snow cleared this spring Zeke started practicing the wiggling maneuver used to propel himself on his RIPSTIK.  He soon found out that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.  He fell…a lot.  But he kept at it.  And fell a lot more.  His elbows took the brunt of most of his collisions with the sidewalk.  Ouch.  Me?  I would have given up.

But finally – like overnight – Zeke figured it out!  Now he’s cruising all over campus.  I love this picture of him doing a U-turn and the concentration evident in the tongue curl.

Of course, it simply would not do for Zeke to have a skill that Elijah didn’t have, so now Elijah is determined to figure out the RIPSTIK too…

Boys…everything’s a competition.

Now could all three of you look at the camera?  Just once.  And smile…or at least not look weird.  Please?

Not gonna happen.

Yippity Skippity!  Tomorrow is our last day of school!  We’re planning on doing a bit of summer school in July and August - just a half hour to an hour each day of math and language arts review – but for the month of June we will be free spirits.    So happy and proud of us all.   We did it!

And while I’m on the topic of weathering and erosion… I feel weathered. Beaten down.  Tired.  This year has had it’s ups and downs, but it’s been a pretty good experience for the most part, I think.  These days, though, I’ve been feeling, for the first time, like I just want to quit.  Probably a good thing that this is happening with only three weeks left until our summer holidays begin.  Oh boy, I am so ready for summer holidays!  Wahoo!

It occurs to me as I look at this photo, and realize how grown-up Elijah is getting (and by the way, those are my shoes that he has on!) that we are standing at the precipice of a great, yawning chasm.  At one end is boyhood and at the other is manhood.   It’s a little unnerving, I must say…  Okay, to be honest, it’s terrifying.  I have no idea how to cross it.

On a side note, Elijah is off doing MCA testing today, a Minnesota standardized test.  Go Eli-Guy, go!

Have you ever heard how pets can be thereputic for children?  The eager, accepting wag of a dog’s tail or the soft, content purr of a cat…  Being able to just love on something that really expects nothing at all from them…

Ellie is Elijah’s pet.  So adorable.  He can’t even put her down when he’s doing his school work. 

“But I just love her so much!  I can’t help it.  I have to hold her.  Look, I can do my work while holding her.  See?”