I have a graduate, a 9 year old, and a leak

 Olivia at Pre-school graduation, but since a November birthday delays Kindergarten one more year and the price of pre-school (can you say $260 a month) I have decided to "home pre-school" next year.  We are going to cook, have horse riding lessons, go ice skating, and learn to read at home.  Olivia and I talked about it and she is thrilled!

4 days left of school!!  And then our marathon summer jumps into full swing! We have every weekend but 2 planned with something.  I know it sounds crazy and those of you that know us well know that is in fact how every summer we have ever had always is.

So what is on the agenda,
1 week in Valdez, AK;
2 weeks in Wyoming;
10 days with a visit from Dad, Carol, Matthew and my GRANDMA!;
a three day backpacking trip with me and some girlfriends;
4 days in Ninilchik,
cub scout camp;
boy scout camp (that is part of the whole Valdez experiment);
piano at 8:30 on Thursday mornings;
Soccer on Tuesday evenings;
a birthday,
an anniversary,
salmon fishing,
and a caribou hunt.

We are also trying to get our house bought.  We decided to buy our house that we are renting.  Our rent went up in March and long story short it is cheaper to just buy the darn thing.  The housing market in AK has not been hurt, nor has the economy as a whole, like it has in the lower 48 and whether we stay or go this house will work for us either way.

That being said there is a minor (but potentially major pain) that needs to be fixed. We told our landlords back in March that we noticed some water damage in the ceiling above the kitchen nook.  It was probably a roof issue on the bay window bump-out that we have there and would wait until everything melted to repair the roof.  Well when the home inspector came a couple weeks ago he found water in our crawl space under thehouse too.  That means it is not a roof issue but  a pipe issue.  Specifically the outgoing water from the master bath (ie. drains and flushables). After some experimenting on JaDee's part (he is a mechanical engineer after all and spends his entire life passing off plumbing and heating systems for the United States Air Force) we are pretty sure it is the drain from my tub that is leaking down the walls and into the crawl space.

We negotiated this to be fixed months before we put earnest money down on the house and the landlords homeowners insurance will pay for it.  Thankfully, because the contractor that came out found all sorts of things that we need to fix because of this.  Like the ceiling, the outside wall of the house, the floor of the kitchen and who knows what else once we get it all torn apart.

So we have stopped using my bathroom and are seriously hoping this is all fixed by the time Dad, Carol, Matthew and Grandma get here on June 12.

Ethan had a birthday and turned 9.  Pretty low key, but he got a waffle iron (the kind that flip over to cook like in the hotels) a new Nintendo DS since his old one broke, a trip to Build a Bear, (he still isn't too old and is forever my little boy) and is off to a knife store to spend some birthday cash from grandmas.

I told Ethan that he is the reward I got for being Carter's mom and the encouragement I needed to go through it again with Olivia.  Ethan is my only saving grace as a parent.  Those other two are so demanding I can hardly remember why I signed up for this whole parenting thing sometimes.  He is so fun to be with and funny too.  We drive to and from school together every day and that gives me the chance I need to chat with this often quiet boy in the midst of his overly extroverted siblings.  We love to share music on our iPods and he knows all the words to "Living on a Prayer" with me!  Ethan, you rock!

PS here is the newly painted not-yellow dining room.  The color is Hazel Woods by Ralph Lauren.

We are currently reading this together at night.  I love these books! Carter finished the series in like 2 days on the way home from our New York trip but I have also read the entire series out loud to the boys at night. At least when they are good, not fighting, and it is not after 9PM.  We actually read more than you think we would with those stipulations in place.