Holding Robert

Yesterday, I had lunch with the grands at Bob Evans (happy that the strawberries are back on their spinach salad), then ran out to get a graduation gift for our friend Luanne's daughter, who graduated from high school. I got her a copy of Jennifer Louden's The Woman's Comfort Book because I think it's such a wonderful resource. I galloped to the plant to deliver it to J, left it on her desk, & galloped home to greet the boys.

As soon as they got home, I whisked them off to the library, where Pie found some books on alchemy (his newest interest), Boot did his reading time, & I found a Rita Mae Brown on audio for J. I also picked up the new Anne Lamott book & the Kirstie Alley book, which had arrived for me.

On the way home from the library, we dropped by Rosemary's to meet the baby. He is TINY! Absolutely bitty...and adorable. Rosemary knows me well enough that she handed Robert to me almost as soon as we walked in the door, when I was dying to hold him. The boys were fascinated by him. Pie stroked his tiny fingernails & admired his little ears. Boot kept more of a distance, but was definitely interested. Those boys like babies a lot! I got to feed him. He's not latching on properly, so Rosemary has been pumping like mad. I was introduced to him as "Aunt Daria" & Boot said, "You get to be his aunt?" We had a good visit, then the boys & I went home.

I made ribs, mashed potatoes with cheese & bacon bits, and corn for dinner. It was Boot's night to choose & he picked the whole menu. Very all-American...and good! After dinner, J fell asleep in my lap so I watched a Barefoot Contessa episode, then roused her for bed.

This morning was the final awards ceremony for the school year...and Boot's last for elementary school. I have to admit that I got pretty teary for a minute there. I cannot believe he's going to be in middle school next year. He got several awards: A/B honor roll for the quarter (with only ONE B!), good attendance for the year, good behavior for the year, Math Club, Advanced Reading. I was pretty dang proud. Pie missed A/B for the quarter by one class, Music. He got an "N" in Music because he went through a spell of forgetting his recorder. He got perfect attendance for the quarter & good attendance for the year.

Since Boot was on A/B, I checked him out of school at the end of the ceremony. We had lunch at Burger King (his choice) & then picked up some chocolates for his teacher. We dropped them off along with gifts for Pie's teacher, the principal, & the secretary. It was time for dismissal, so I picked up Pie, too.

We went to see Madagascar for our annual last day of school movie. It was okay, certainly better than Garfield (which we saw last year), but nothing I'd pay to see on purpose. I found myself wishing we'd gone to see Robots at the cheap movies instead. I think Pie felt the same way & Boot said that, while it was funny, he thought it'd be funnier. I did find David Schwimmer's hypochondriac giraffe quite funny, though. When we came out of the theater, the day had gone chilly & grey. I hope it's warm & summy tomorrow for our lake trip.

Tonight, we'll have pizza at the grands'. They announced yesterday that they wanted to host & that they would like to order pizza, if that would be okay with us. They have invited Vivi, my "second grandma", to dinner, too. I love having family ties like this.