well THAT was interesting

I'd set myself up, for sure, but after years and years of the same user name and password for everything but banking, my email was finally hijacked. Everything was changed, so I couldn't get in for about a week. And because it's my login for blogger, too, I couldn't come here, either. But we're back in business after only several headaches to get things back in order.

While I was out:
Lizzie's first tooth peeked through the gum on the evening of my birthday, which helped to make up for the fact that she screamed all day on my b-day (also my first day at home for the summer).

The most excited flower girl in the world loved being in the wedding, and in the end, relinquished her position as the groom's top girl to the bride, transferring her affections for the groom to the little ring bearer. All was right in the end. Except that I forgot the camera, and we took only one quick family photo the entire day, even though fully one half of our family was in the wedding. But I did remember the extra pair of tights, so I'm not all that bad. And surely there was a photo of her taken by someone, somewhere.

Lizzie finally embraced eating food after looking lustfully at ours for months now. After over a month of consistently trying to get her to take bites of cereal, she's now excited about being a big girl and impatient if I take too many of my own bites in between hers.

Pink learned how to insult her daddy:
"Daddy, did you just toot?"
"Yes."
"I don't like the smell of your toots."
"Well, don't smell it then."
"Well, it comes towards me!"

School ended, graduation went off without a hitch, mama has done fully 8 loads of laundry and cleaned 2 bathrooms, and we are well into our obsessive summer fruit eating and freezing. So really, the usual.

Thanks for stickin around.

wordless wednesday

Road Trip

well, nevermind

Those seniors who gave me a lump in my thoat, who worked their way up to passing? Yeah. They (read: a large percentage of the 550 total seniors on campus) had organized a mass water balloon fight at lunch. Two Assisstant Principals were hit numerous times, and needless to say, heads are rollin' even as I write this. Lunch was cut short, seniors were sent to the gym, and even I was a bit scared as our looks-scary-on-a-good-day principal stripped them of all remaining senior activities and threatened to take away their graduation ceremony.

So I guess maybe they're not quite as ready as they seemed the other day when they were all dressed up for their professional, mock interviews. Uhn-hunh. Not quite as grown up. But I still can't help but feel excited for them and their ignorance, and laugh at their immaturity, much as a wise freshman teacher once told me that to laugh at farts in class is to embrace the personhood of each student. This stinks, but it's a part of who they are.

it's been a big week around here

Monday: A student whose dad's cancer was taking a turn for the worse informed me that his dad is now getting better. My own dad died shortly after my sister's graduation, so this was an emotional high.

Tuesday: There were too many stories to tell about my seniors who completed their mock interviews that day with community members. Many were "hired" on the spot. There was a lot of high-fiving that day. One student, who was failing until the end, came to me and thanked me for calling her mom about the 'F' in my class. She said that her mom yelling at her, and knowing that I had cared enough to call, was exactly what she needed to get her you-know-what in gear and do the work necessary to pass my class. She will now graduate, and she actually thanked me for getting her iin trouble!

Wednesday: Pink had her very first haircut of any kind (I've never even so much as trimmed one stray hair). She went to my normal salon and my normal guy did her hair. She's been a big girl for a while now, but it felt official yesterday.
ALSO, Lizzie "crawled"! She can now move to both sides, backward, AND forward! She does this thing where she lifts up her knees, plants her heels on the floor, and dives toward the ground to move forward. And the girl is practically unstoppable now.

Thursday (today): I have said my piece to all 100 of my seniors, signed stacks of yearbooks, handed back final exam results, and given out final grades. I have hugged, high-fived, and patted on the back. After a year of pushing, prodding, and pulling, and after having a 40% failure rate in one class just two months ago, I was able to tell every single one of my students, "Congrats! See you next week at graduation!" My heart is swelled with emotion.

Friday: We leave for a long drive to Phoenix, where Beloved will be the most handsome groomsman that ever lived, and Pink will be the most excited little flower girl that ever lived. Plus, we get to see my brother & sister-in-law's new house (first time buyers - exciting!), and meet our new niece, Katelyn.

And somehow, after an emotional week of successes & triumphs & life changes, I will do my best to not be in a puddle of tears on Sunday night when I watch 2 of my favorite people walk down a church aisle. No promises, though.

the irony of it all

Why do we say that the school year is "winding down" when I've had the "William Tell Overture" going through my head all day?

there's always a bright side

I've been fighting some kind of sickness for a few days now, and yesterday the beastly germs started attacking my voice. Well, sometime overnight, those germs won. The weak, crackly voice from yesterday is merely a faint whisper this morning.

Optimistic Pink pointed out that it's good my voice is so quiet and sick, because that way Lizzie can stay asleep. And my laugh is quiet, too, so she can take her nap.

The things we do so our children will sleep!

awesome

Our 18 year old nanny (whom I simply adore) asked me today about getting a blog started because I'm in the "blogging generation."

Awesome. It made my day. And it gave me the strangest urge to pinch her young, rosy cheeks.