the Boss, on two wheels!

LittleK is not little anymore. Today she fearlessly got on her bicycle, with its training wheels just removed, and took off down the street. We're really proud of her! Since "Little" doesn't apply anymore, her blog name is changing to BossLady, a nickname given to her by an Antiguan friend who visited us in Laramie a few years ago. In his Caribbean accent it's actually Boss LEH-deh.

After a couple of late-April snowfalls, our corner of the world seems to finally have crossed into Spring. Probably the best place to hang out at home is on the front 'porch' because the sun warms it all day - but it's usually overcrowded with tee-ball gear, running shoes and a mix of winter boots and rubber boots. At least the pungent hockey gear has been put away for the season.

I attempted some neighborhood beautification today, picking up one lawn-bag's fill of litter. It was mostly from the front of the condos next door, and the wooded spot between our house and the condos. It's disappointing to have to live next door to them, not just because of the litter and rumble-trucks, but because of the nuisance barking problems... although, having experienced life at the bongo-drummin', chain-smokin' OK Corral Apartments, we're pretty happy here. My next Superfund site is the school bus stop at the top of the hill, next to the forever-in-construction log house. There look to be about 4 or 5, once-full garbage bags which have scattered, including one full of those blue hospital (chux) pads... ew. After that, I'll tackle the mailbox wasteland across from the bus stop. Palmer and Anchorage are in the midst of their Citywide Clean-up weeks, but so far it seems that Wasilla takes a (typically) different approach. If they have a cleanup day, they're keeping it a secret.

It's graduation season! Congratulations to Jennifer, Pat, and all of my little kindergarten friends! I'm now qualified to teach a class on making mortar boards out of construction paper.

Coming up, we've got the kindergarten Zoo trip, the 3rd-graders' trip to Anchorage for the Taiko drummers show at the PAC, my last Bookorder Mom order, my quarterly pulmonologist/rheumatologist appointments, the Girl Scout Bridging ceremony, and the last day of school on May 20th. After that, I'm just going to spend the summer refereeing catfights between T and BossLady.