Keeping Busy During June

Our family is on the road to Cleveland for Addie’s forthcoming nuptials! AAAAAAAAA!!! I can’t believe we’re only DAYS away. While Tony took a turn behind the wheel I thought I would write an update on everything we’ve been up to since my last post, which means basically all of June. 

When you last left me, I was in a very overwhelmed and exhausted state. Thank you to everyone who prayed for our family and a special thank you to all those who left comments of support. Following his discharge, Fulton continued to improve. By the end of the month, he was basically back to normal and we were able to cut back on all the extra breathing treatments.

Tony and I were even able to go to our 30th high school reunion as planned. It was a fun time; I wish more of our classmates turned out. I got to catch up with people I hadn’t seen since the last reunion ten years ago, or even further back. At the last reunion, I was still able to tell who most people were, but this year, a lot of the guys were hard to recognize thanks to the sea of grey beards. Tony said, he’s never going to make fun of my skin care regiment ever again because he can see how less wrinkled I am compared to other classmates. So the leap from late thirties to late forties is REAL. 

And 30 years after our high school graduation, the next weekend Fulton celebrated his high school graduation with fellow homeschoolers at our parish. It was a nice little ceremony and send off. We went home and had brunch with grandparents.

I’d managed to finally get some senior pictures earlier in the week and started sending out graduation announcements shortly after the ceremony. I’ve been doing it in spurts and still have several announcements to send out once we get back. In summary, I’m no better with graduation announcements than with Christmas cards.

Despite the hospitalization, we were able to wrap up our school year early thanks to completing all the curriculum ahead of schedule. I caught up on grading and got transcripts finalized. It’s a lot easier creating a high school transcript for your fifth high schooler than your first! Because so much of Fulton and Teddy’s school work is done through Google Classroom we didn’t have much paper or workbooks to burn for our end of year bonfire, but we managed. 

A large chunk of June was spent altering Fulton and Teddy’s wedding suits to make them more wheelchair friendly. I like to think I’m a good, basic seamstress but these suits were very humbling and I terribly butchered up Fulton’s waistband. Thankfully, No one will really be able to tell, but I heaved a huge sigh of relief once that task was done. Please be sure to comment accordingly in forthcoming wedding posts. (i.e. Wow Kelly those suits look great! or Wow Kelly! Are you a professional tailor?)

Edie drove out to Cleveland for Addie’s bachelorette party in the middle of the month. The bridesmaids spent time together crafting, thrifting and celebrating and I got plenty of photo updates along the way. 

On the 20th, we celebrated our annual Nativity of St. John the Baptist party. We held it on the earlier side due to Addie’s wedding on July 3, and our plans to head out to Cleveland on the 29th. The weather was perfect with sunny skies and a breeze. After the last couple years being unbearably hot, Tony invested in a misting fan which was still a big hit with everyone. The breeze, while keeping everyone cool, was just a enough to bend the main support pole of our largest tent. We had to rig up some extra supports to keep it up for shade.

We had our usual ultra competitive sack race, and we had a priest on hand to bless the bonfire.  It was a great night and attendance was back up. Byron and his girlfriend were also in town for the weekend. Since we usually do Father’s Day stuff around the feast of St. Joseph, we didn’t do anything special Sunday except clean up from the party. But having Byron on hand to help with clean up and set up was a present in and of itself. 

On the actual feast day our local parish had a special mass and procession. The boys wheelchair batteries are on the fritz so we didn’t do the procession but it’s nice to have a special mass to attend. Hard to believe it’s been three years since we spent the feast with part of St. Johns skull! 

And then on the 28th Fulton turned 18! Four of my kids are now adults! It’s crazy that my kids are all so old. We had a family party with my parents and Fulton decided he wanted to attend another Monster Truck show at the Buck in Lancaster so we’ve got that scheduled for the end of August. Some things never change, adulthood or not. 

Tony’s new job is going well, though it’s been an adjustment not having him at home on Tuesday and Thursdays. 

I guess that’s an overview over the highlights. Next up ADDIE’S WEDDING! AAAAAAA! I hope I can be helpful this week. I told Addie she can yell at me whenever she’s stressed and I won’t mind. I know it will be a great day but I forgot how much last minute stuff needs to be done. Thankfully Edie is taking on the maid of honor duties with gusto and Tony can provide added muscle. Fulton and Teddy are strictly moral support and comedic relief. I haven’t been active on Instagram in awhile, but I’ll try to share a bit more, because who doesn’t want to see fun wedding shots?? Please say a prayer all goes well, and also that Addie’s cat comes home. Her and her fiancee are also getting their new rental set up and her cat ran off her first night there. It has added stress Addie doesn’t need right now. Thanks!