Operation Swingset is Underway

So I was too sick to blog on Sunday and by the time I felt like it (about Thursday) I figured I'd just wait until today. The weekend/week went a little like this: Thursday, Landon gets the stomach flu, Sunday I get the stomach flu which turns into a nasty sinus/headcold thing that I'm still trying to get over. Once Landon recovered from all the puking (and other things) he started cutting his first molar and HOLY COW...That's hard on a kid (and his mom). Not a lot of sleeping going on in the Kutscher house this past week until about Thursday night.

Landon's had a big weekend though. Saturday he had his very first lunch at McDonalds. We sat near the door, and McDonald's should've paid him for greeting everyone who walked through the door in the 30 minutes we were there. I think the kid may be a politician. He seriously says hi to EVERYONE. And it's a cute little friendly hi, complete with a wave. It's very entertaining to watch peoples' reactions. He can get a smile out of the crabbiest person you've ever seen. Landon and I shared chicken selects and fries while Chad had a quarter pounder with cheese. (I did have one bite of it though...I couldn't stand being that close and not even having a taste.) We also found that surprisingly Landon is a big fan of lemonade. You can see here that he guzzled quite a bit of Mommy's drink and would not stand for me to hold it for him. "SHEEZ! What do you think I am, a baby!?!"

Today Mama and Mama (not a typo...remember, ALL grandparents are known as Mama around here) came over and we started assembling Landon's new swingset. Well, Chad and Larry worked on assembling the swingset while I waged war against the blankety blank blank leaves in our backyard that just will not GO AWAY. Chris played with Landon in the swing, dirt and rocks. The directions on this swingset say assembly requires between 6 to 12 hours. So this isn't a one afternoon project. It's a pretty major undertaking. Hopefully we'll have a ribbon cutting ceremony sometime in June that I will be able to post as well. But today the men folk got the slide assembled and Landon tried it out on the deck steps. As you can see above, it was a hit. He did "Again!" about 10 times before we took the slide down and distracted him with rocks and dirt.

There have been other notable things that happen this week, most of which I would not like to dwell on, but let's say I'm glad there are only 19 school days left for several reasons:

a.) 2 of my 18 children are sitting against opposite walls in my classroom and have been sentenced to exile for the remainder of the school year (if they're lucky they'll stay in exile and NOT in the principal's office which is where I may send them if they're not lucky)

b.) I will no longer be exposed to disgusting infections and illnesses from students who are not cared for by their parents (well at least these students to whom I have been exposed now for two years)

c.) 4 of my girls are 8 going on 14 and are driving me out of my mind with boy craziness, love notes, lip gloss and caddiness (sp?)

d.) my best gal pal that I teach with is now officially on maternity leave so I have no one to whine to/with about above mentioned a, b, and c.

I could go on, but those are the highlights.

One more thing though, boy how I wish I could add fragrance to my blog, because those of you who are not near here are MISSING OUT. We have the most beautiful lilac bushes in our yard that smell heavenly. I don't throw that word heavenly around either. I mean these suckers are hypnotic...kind of like Dorothy and friends in The Wizard of Oz with the poppies. Except it wasn't a wicked witch that ordered up this aroma. I ordered Larry to enjoy the lilacs as he cornered the backyard today. :) They are definitely to be enjoyed. So since you can't smell 'em, here's a picture. Maybe if you pretend, you can catch a waft. Sniff hard.