Celebrations

A very dear friend of mine got married last weekend to a fantabulous fella who's perfect for her. He's smart, funny, and I know he'll take care of her. Oh, and he's extremely tall. My friend and I have been friends for nearly fourteen years now and of course she's brought other guys around. But there was something about this guy that made me think, "He's the one." The first time we met him, my husband actually turned to me and said, "Tell her he's a keeper." I was blessed enough to be a part of her bridal party and this picture was taken during her rehearsal dinner. Tell me the truth, isn't she the most gorgeous bride ever (she's the one making the face)? I had other pictures of the wedding but I felt that this picture really captured who she is. :)

The husband and I are at that age where attending weddings are a large part of our lives. We had three in June and one more in July. We'll have at least two more in the fall. Anyway, since we've been going to so many weddings in the past two years, I've noticed something interesting. The way the wedding turns out is really reflective of the couple's personalities. A lot of times it's just really reflective of the bride, but sometimes it's both. Anyway, so my friend who just got married last week is a fun loving kind of girl who likes to laugh and her laugh is quite distinctive and well known. Anyway, her wedding ceremony turned out to be filled with laughter and was just well, the wedding ceremony was just her. Another wedding we went to was nice but it was disorganized and well, apparently this was also reflective of the bride. Another friend of mine had a wedding that was simple and elegant, and that's probably how I would describe her as well.

Geez, after weddings come first baby parties. Getting old.

I Can Quit!

The day that I've been waiting for for three years has finally come. I can quit. My employer paid for my Master's Degree with the stipulation that I work for them for three years. I have fulfilled my obligation. This year was the roughest for me so far. Crazy parents, crazy colleagues, crazy caseload, and I seriously contemplated finding employment elsewhere at the end of the school year. However, I also realized this year that I also have wonderful parents, wonderful colleagues, and, hmm, well, still crazy caseload. Like the rest of life, with the lows also came the highs and the good far outweighed the bad. Alright, the pay raises that we've been getting also helped with the decision. Anyway, I'm not leaving anytime soon, but it's nice knowing that I now have options.

Megan's wedding was this weekend and so I got to spend some time with some of my friends from grad school. Grad school was the toughest two years of my life and I often refer to that time as my dark period. And it was, it most definitely was. However, a lot of good came out of it (okay, well, other than the whole Master's Degree, career thing). I met and became friends with a bunch of fantastic people that I probably would never have met otherwise. During those years, these people were my family. We all had our own families and friends outside of school, but we all spent a good deal of time with each other. At the time, we were the only ones who understood each other. Everyone else around us tried, but we were really the only ones who understood that 3 year olds could be terrifying and that comps was not just another test. Now that grad school is over, we have all returned to our outside friends and family and we don't get to see each other very often. We're all so different but still, after all this time has past, I still have so much fun when I see them. Whether it's sharing hilarious stories from work or playing pass the baby, I'm always entertained when I see them. Huh, never thought I'd find something positive about my dark period.

Happy Birthday, M*Bark!

M*Bark turned 1 on Saturday! Well, we think she's 1. There was a wee bit of discrepancy regarding her actual birthdate. When we got her, we were told that her birthday was in May. But when we looked at her paperwork from the vet, it said it was in June. We figured that they must of gotten that date from the paperwork from the previous vet, so it looks like her birthday's in June.Here's M*Bark checking out her presents. The carrot is from the MIL and it makes a fun noise when shaken. We got her the football cookie, but broke in half b/c it was a little big for her. She chomped it right down and we'll give her the other half tonight.

Graduating

It's the end of the year and my kids are leaving. Some of them are just leaving for the summer, while other ones are leaving for the next chapter of their lives.

Yesterday was preschool graduation. All of the kids who graduated made such huge gains since they entered our program. I laugh when I read their old initial evaluation reports and think back to where they were when they entered our program. Some of them were horribly unintelligible. Others of them had extremely poor receptive language. And others of them weren't talking at all. And looking at them now, you wouldn't even think they were the same kids. Many of our kids graduating have caught up to their chronological age peers and can start elementary school just like any other child. They don't need us anymore. They are intelligible, they can understand what you're saying, and boy, can some of them talk. I love it when a parent grumbles to me that their child talks too much because that means that I've done my job.

My fifth graders also graduated today. Their graduation was harder for me than yesterday's graduation. At least I'll be able to see my preschoolers walking around on campus next year and I'll be working with some of them. But my fifth graders are leaving elementary school and although I'm sad that they're leaving me, I understand that they're heading to bigger and better things. These are the kids that I started with, the kids that I have spent my days with for the past three years. There were days when I wanted to strangle them and there were days when I wanted to hug them. These were my kids and it was hard to say goodbye.

I tell people that it is my job to work myself out of a job. All of my kids either graduate from our school and move on or they improve so much that they no longer need me. And while my job is rewarding and I love it when my kids don't need me any longer, it's still hard to say goodbye.

M*Bark, The Yarn, and Doggy School

Last weekend as I was working on the yarn room, I heard a clacking sound coming from the living room. Realizing that this sound probably meant that M*Bark was up to something, I went to investigate and found this:
She had discovered my knitting on the coffee table and had decided that it was interesting. The clacking sound that I heard was the sound of my knitting needles being moved around. Thankfully she left my project on the table. So I walked into the living room and found my project lying on the table, my ball of yarn clear across the room, and yarn connecting the two throughout the room. It was an inexpensive ball of cotton so I was more amused than annoyed. I think she has a thing for yarn/hand knits b/c I've also found my ipod (in its knitted case) on the stairs and she keeps plucking my knitted hat from my school bag.

Respecting the yarn isn't one of the lessons that they directly teach, but M*Bark's been going to Doggy School on the weekends. She's doing well and likes going. She's already made some friends. It's weird, though, b/c I think my 10th grade student council advisor is in the class. One of these days I'm going to go talk to her and find out for sure. Here's Lance working on the "stay" command:
Here's M*Bark at "recess" checking out the contents of my bag. That's probably how she looks when shes plucking hand knits out of my school bag.
Doggy School is tiring and M*Bark's pretty wiped out at the end of class. Mmm...comfy pillow...