happy day ramblings

I'm not even sure where to start--there's just so many things making me smile this morning. Woke up this morning to find that our state senate finally put the marriage equality bill up for a vote. And it passed!!! I'm still sort of in a state of happy shock. If you don't live in New York, or if you just don't care much about the issue, you probably don't realize just how long the past couple weeks have seemed. As I said to Chris, it's been path of two steps forward, one step back. But those forward steps finally made it the finish line. I often wonder if it does a damn thing to write to one's legislators, and yet I keep writing anyway. Today I'd like to believe it really can make a difference, that the letters I wrote to our state senator helped contribute in their own very small way to his crucial changed vote. I'd like to believe that all us "little people" can put our voices together and change things. Today is one of those days where that belief seems justified.

And this was the news that started off my first unofficial day of summer! A few days early! Annie took her history final yesterday and handed in the last of her assignments, thus allowing me to put the final touches on her fourth quarterly report. I spent about 20 hours in the last three days on homeschool paperwork alone--Annie's final quarterly report, Annie's and Gray's letters of intent for next year, and the vast bulk of both Annie's and Gray's IHIPs (essentially the plans for what you intend to do for each and every required subject). Yes, New York has some of the biggest pain in the butt homeschool regulations in the country, but without question, I make things waaaaaay harder on myself than I need to. But I use the IHIP preparation as a chance to truly get myself organized. It gives me the outline of all the plans and preparations I need to conquer. And obsessive little me *must* be organized when it comes to homeschooling. Anyway, while delivery of the quarterly report and LOIs will have to wait until Monday (after which time I will get the cover form to fill out to go with their IHIPs so I can then deliver them as well), I still feel incredibly relieved to have the hard part of the paperwork done with. And ahead of time at that! :D

The boys had their last day of school on Wednesday! And for Gray that meant his last day of elementary school. And quite possibly his last day of public school period. Despite the fact that I've been trying to squeeze in odd moments here and there for the past few months working on plans and preparations for Gray, it's only now really hitting me that this is real! That Gray is going to be staying home for school next year! But for now, I am going to cherish the lazy moments of summer. Not that I have a clue how to truly be lazy. :P But I will enjoy every morning that I don't have to awake by the call of an alarm clock, every afternoon that I don't have to play prison guard making sure the boys do their homework, and every evening when I don't have to listen to arguments about bedtimes. Sounds pretty darn heavenly.

The boys' first day of summer vacation also signaled the start of our summer reading goals.

Pretty hard to see what this is, I suppose. But a new sheet like this adorns our pantry closet door each "season"...it's where we each keep track of our books read. For all the other seasons, we each have the same goal for number of books to read. But during the summer, we each set our own. Annie, of course, always aims far higher than the rest of us--this summer she's shooting for 50. And in the two days since we've started this, she's already cranked out her first two reads. Show off. Gray and I both set our goals at 20, while Max and Rich have theirs at 15. On my first day of summer, I plan to relax, relax, relax, and finish up at least one book to get my list started.



Our garden is finally giving us some nibblies. Not much so far, of course.

Annie's first itty bitty strawberry. Her strawberry plants actually put out quite a few strawberries this year. However...we will not be eating many from her little patch. No, the bunnies beat us to them. :P Yes, we even have her strawberry patch fenced, but I swear, 90 percent of the berries decided to grow right along the fence where the little rascals could just grab them anyway. Good thing they're so stinkin' cute.

Rich and I have been eating radishes from the garden (the kids don't like them). And let me tell you, they've really got a bite this year. And this one(?) Rich is holding here--we'd never seen one like this before. :)

And very soon we'll be eating fresh jalapenos, too! We've got lots and lots of babies growing now. :D

I suppose I really should just shut up now. I apologize for the excessive rambling, but so few days as of late have started off with me feeling this unburdened. Yep, I've got shitloads of stuff to get done in the next couple months, but for today, this one day, I'm going to ignore it all. Yep, today marks my latest fresh start. I don't even care that it's about the third time already this year that I've declared a fresh start. Every fresh start feels mighty good...