HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Report cards are in, and Samuel presented us with a perfect report card- straight A's for the whole year! We're so proud of him! James will be taking Samuel to buy his well-earned laptop this evening. (A carrot to inspire just that little bit of extra effort towards excellence. . . and the motivation to prove to himself that he can do it!) We don't want him to feel pressured to keep it up all the way through high school, but to know that he is capable of working at that level. Perfection is NOT required, but please set his expectations high. He's already negotiated "appropriate" rewards for future years of stellar performance-a contribution to his cause of choice for the second year, and a scooter after three years (when he's sixteen and has at least a learner's permit).

Miriam likewise turned in an excellent performance. Math was her only non-A grade this marking period/or semester final grades. She's content with being the only one using the "kids' computer"-at least for now. (If I let her use my laptop a bit, so she could see how much faster it is, would she want her own?)

I do so enjoy my kids!

And we had a marvelous time at my family reunion in Florida last week. My sibs are some of my favorite people in the world- but I think I've mentioned that before. We had a bit of a down mood to get over at the beginning-missing teenagers and Beck bringing her kids out late, along with Evan having a rough day of seizures early on in the week, but being together left us all happy and exhausted.

My best friend from high school, Aimee, is here for a quick visit this week, and we're still trying to convince her to move up. Of course, convincing anyone to leave the islands can be difficult, so we're not having too much luck, but we keep trying.

I'll be heading out to Colorado for a few days next week to stay with Beck's kids while she's in Africa fixing their water problems (if anyone can do it-she can!) and Mitch is working his 24-hour shifts at the fire station. I'm glad they trust me with the kids, and think that the kids would most enjoy having me there.

Then Liza gets home on the 10th, and we head to Florida for a quick trip the following week. It won't be anything like the reunion, but at least she'll get to visit with her grandparents and great-grandmother, and hopefully see my cousins newborn twins. (We're still waiting on their arrival!)

James and I want to fit in another trip to Berea before I start school at the end of the summer, but all my travels have my homebody self craving some time at home, so I don't know how that will play out. A trip to visit James's side of the family, and a skydiving trip with Liza (count me out of that one-my pilot grandfather convinced me early on to stick with the airplane unless it's going down!) are higher priorities.

Life's good!