Singing with the Angels

You never really have any idea how much news, whether good or bad, will hit you when it presents itself. Honestly, the news I'm having to digest right now just seems completely unreal to me. Like it's a complete impossibility in my life and everyone is lying. It's unfathomable.

This afternoon I learned that my high school choir teacher has passed away.

Now, some of you are probably reading that thinking "Who the heck cares? She was a high school teacher!" But that's not what's running through my head right now.

Most people float through high school, never attaching to any particular teacher. Why? Because most high school teachers don't take the time to get to know their students. They see them every day for at least 180 days a year but they hardly know who they are. And some don't even bother to learn all of their students names. It's horrifying.

I'll admit that most of my high school career went that same route. Except for choir with Mrs. K.
 

My freshman year I joined the concert choir. It wasn't anything big or fancy. It wasn't exceptionally challenging. But it satisfied my need to sing. And my fine arts requirement.

I walked in having heard stories here and there about how wonderful the choir teacher was, how much every student she'd ever had loved her and how amazingly talented she was. Basically I walked in just like every other student in that class.

But she turned out to be so much more, and it didn't take long to figure out why. Mrs. K was full of life and energy and unconditional love for each and every teenager who crossed the threshold into her classroom. And trust me, not all of them seemed even tolerable. From the moment I walked in the door I knew I was going to have a great time in her classroom. Her confidence and how easy going she was made me feel at ease and even a little more confident in myself. I didn't know it was possible to feel better about myself just by simply being in the same room as someone.

We had an amazing year in choir that year. I enjoyed literally every single minute of her class. The music she introduced us to, the solos she gave out, the opportunities she provided for us were so much more than I ever imagined were possible for a high school choir. It was truly a blessing to be a member of such an amazing group, conducted by such a knowledgeable and amazing person!

So on I went to sophomore year. That year I decided that I wanted more of a challenge. I decided to audition for a higher level choir and was accepted into her Women's choir. The music was definitely more challenging, with crazy harmonies and more a capella work added into the mix. Talk about pushing us to our limits. But she believed in us! And she always knew we could learn and perform the pieces she selected. And, because of her faith in us, we always were able to come through for her. I know I wanted to because I felt like she deserved it. Mrs. K put all of her effort into her work, so I wanted to give back to her what she gave to me. And our concerts and performances were always our best.

Junior year I was, again, a member of the Women's choir. That was the year I was pregnant with Kaley. We started off the year well! We were learning new pieces, we were all getting along and everything was perfect!

I remember, though, around November she asked me to stay for a few minutes at the end of class. It was my last class of the day so it really wasn't a big deal. So I stayed, trying to figure out what in the heck I had done that she needed me to stay late for.

Someone had told her about my pregnancy. She wanted to be sure her information was correct. And then she did something I never thought a teacher at a huge high school would do.

Mrs. K supported me. She told me she was there for me. She asked if there was anything she could do for me. She said I was always welcome in her choir, no matter what my circumstances.

Talk about completely unexpected and absolutely shocking! I had never had a teacher who cared about me that much. Not once in my life could I pick out a teacher that was willing to support me since I had started middle school. I really didn't know what to do with it except thank her and be on my way.

A few weeks later, she missed a couple of days of school. And then we were all informed that they were running tests to determine what was going on with her. The end diagnosis was cancer.

 

Bring on the chemo, the radiation and anything else the doctors could think of. She was ready for it. She was determined to beat it.

By the end of that school year, she was still fighting. That was 2006.

I moved away that summer. Every time I went home and school was in session I went to visit her, though. I brought the baby in so she could see her and I sent email updates occasionally. Even after I stopped sending those, I kept up with her progress through the blog she began when she was first diagnosed. It wasn't as much as I could have done, but it was something.

Earlier today I received a mass message on Facebook from someone I used to know in high school. The message was notification of Mrs. K passing away and of a group they are trying to form to perform a concert in her honor. I was in complete shock.

And then it hit me.

The tears started rolling. And I honestly couldn't figure out where they were coming from. But then I thought about it. I thought about how she had truly been my entire high school experience. She was the good in everything, she was the light and the life in my experience. She was there for me. Mrs. K actually cared about her students.

 

I came across a video (click the link to view) online from a few years ago. It was made when she was given the Teacher of the Year Award in 2011. And it completely summarizes everything she did to make me feel loved and cared for in her classroom. She was my "home" at school, for lack of a better term.

Mrs. K will be greatly missed, by myself and by others. The energy she put into her work amazes me. Her tenacity and her perseverance are completely inspirational. I hope someday I can feel as though I have even half the life and love within me that she had within her.

I love you, Mrs. K, and I am eternally blessed for having been your student.

And I know you're up there singing your heart out with that choir of angels.

 

Skype Call Gone Wrong (and a Call with the Sherriff's Department)

I have a huge exam to take tomorrow. I'm stressed over the exam, but there's something else weighing on my mind. It's been there for a while now, and I've sort of addressed it over on the Facebook page, but not to the point where I feel like I've gotten it out of my system.

Several weeks ago, Kaley was having a Skype call with her father. These calls aren't new. We've been holding them roughly every other week since January. It took him a while, but he finally came around to the concept of keeping them consistent, so that's what we've started.

Let's set the stage.

Kaley and I are sitting on the couch, the laptop is up and running and we're waiting for the telltale Skype call ringtone to sound. He's usually pretty good about being on time and this week was no exception. Cue the start of the call.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Kaley has ADHD. She's very easily distracted and often it's a task to get her to stay focused long enough to talk about one topic for more than thirty seconds. Most of these calls consist of flitting from one topic to another, briefly touching on the highlights of each.

After covering the basics (school, the weather, anything fun) we finally hit on a topic she will talk about. She'd recently attended a friends sleepover birthday party.

This friend has been in Kaley's class since they were in preschool. We've known the family for years, and their oldest son is one of my students. I'm familiar with them, Kaley is familiar with them and we trust them completely. I've never seen anything negative from either parent or heard anything that would cause me to worry.

The plan for the party was more than it is for most kids their age, but they are also growing up and times are changing. The girls (there were only 3 in attendance aside from Kaley and the birthday girl for a total of 5 girls) began their party at a local park. They played, the had dinner and the enjoyed cake and ice cream. From there the plan was to go to a hotel where they would open gifts, go swimming and settle in with a movie before it was lights out. The plan for the following morning was breakfast, followed by a trip to the nail salon and then meeting parents back at the local park. Was it more than Kaley is used to? Absolutely. But did I think she could handle it? Of course. And did I think the parents could handle it? There wasn't a doubt in my mind.

When Kaley came home from the party, we talked about it for a long time. She had so much fun and she started in on planning similar events for her own birthday next year! Talk about a kid who just couldn't contain her excitement over the entire event!

Back on the Skype call, the topic was suggested in her conversation with her father. She just went on and on. What about? Not the cake, not the movie, not the park or getting her nails done. She started describing a situation which she hadn't told me about and which was of some interest to her father and I.

What was she describing? A situation in which she and the other girls were at the hotel pool. There was an older man and his 12 year old son also there and she stated that they were being mean to the girls. Kaley told us that they had some toys and the man and his son kept taking their ball away and keeping it from them.

For the first time in years, her father finally truly paid attention to her and seemed interested. I proceeded to ask her a few questions. Was the birthday girls mom around? Were the girls being mean to the man and his son? Were they all playing together? Did birthday girls mom do anything or say anything?

Her answers all seemed alright with me, but I made a mental note to talk with the parent who was in attendance at the time. Apparently, though, I should have done something about it immediately.

Her father, with Kaley still right there on the Skype call, proceeded to lay into me about how I was neglecting our child and that I should have been on the phone with the police and he just went on and on and on. Literally raising his voice at me.

I did my best to tell him calmly that I would look into the situation and let him know what information I was able to gather from the parent. Calm and rational wasn't working, though, because he just kept at it. After about two minutes of this Kaley stomped her way across the house to Gramma's room, announcing that she was never going to talk to her Daddy again. At that point I told him it was either the end of the discussion or the end of the call.

He chose end of call.

So I ended the call because he started to raise his voice again.

Not two minutes later he was trying to call back. I denied the call. He messaged me telling me again that I wasn't taking the situation seriously and I was neglecting our child and that I was wrong to allow her to go to this birthday party.

I messaged him back, told him I was going to look into the situation and I would let him know. Then I signed off.

Now, of course, my first action was to send a message to the parent. I described the situation Kaley had told us about, questioned what had actually occurred and asked if she would provide a logical explanation. In the mean time I decided to put Kaley to bed and tell her we would discuss whether she had to talk to her father again later.

Kaley is a fantastic story teller. She also doesn't always see things the way an adult would. Knowing her the way that I do, and understanding that her perception of a situation could be vastly different than what actually happened, I waited.

What adults see vs. what children see

It wasn't long before I had a message back from the parent who was at the party explaining the situation.

Yes, there was a man and his 12-year-old son. It's a pool. At a hotel. It wasn't likely they'd have it to themselves. The girls had some toys, but they didn't have a ball to play with. The man and his son did. They were kind enough to invite the girls to play. Now, lets look at a young boy and a group of 7 & 8 year old girls. What's their favorite game? Keep away. So the girls would get the ball and not give it back. Then the boy would get the ball and not give it back. No one was being mean in the true sense of the word, but a 7 year old could see it that way.

Not two minutes after I received a response from the parent did the telephone ring. No, not the parent. Nope, not Kaley's father.

The Sherriff's Department.

Seriously?? You couldn't give me enough time to get in touch with the parent like I told you I would? Apparently that's too much to ask for and I'm supposed to be some sort of miracle worker or telepath who can communicate with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Sorry, buddy, I don't work that way.

I calmly explained the situation to the Deputy, who laughed and understood completely how a child's imagination can get in the way of truly knowing what happened in a situation as he has a 4-year-old himself, and hung up. Oh, I also mentioned that this isn't the first time Kaley's father has called, and it isn't the first false report he's made. The Deputy made note of it and said he'd put it in the file.

I decided to log back in to Skype to clear out the messages I was certain he had sent me. And, of course, there's more. Now I'm childish for ending the call even though he was raising his voice at me. I'm a narcissist because I can't see how a situation like that would affect my child (seriously!? You didn't give me time to investigate the situation!). I'm wrong to trust the parent because obviously they're going to say anything to get out of a situation which could get them in trouble. I'm a terrible parent, blah, blah, blah. It's the usual things I hear from him all the time. I get it.

The aftermath?

Well, I spent the next two weeks trying to convince Kaley that she at least needed to get on Skype. Even if all she did was tell him she didn't want to talk, she had to appear and say it herself. I couldn't do it for her.

In that two weeks Kaley also asked, multiple times, if Pat could adopt her and be her "forever dad".

She also announced to Gramma that she was going to start calling Pat "Dad". And she has been more often than not.

Oh, and she announced that she didn't want to call her biological father "Daddy" anymore.

She wants to call him by his first name.

We've had a call since then, which is another story entirely. I'll update you on that soon. But I wonder if he noticed that during the most recent call she didn't once call him "Daddy"? Or address him by any name at all?

Quarter One Status: (Almost) Complete

We are now almost a quarter of the way through our school year. In one week we will have completed the first quarter and the following week will begin the second half of our first semester. These first eight weeks have been ridiculously informative and educational, though. Well, for me anyways.

Grade four is awesome. I have a couple that I worry about in terms of their home life and how that hinders their ability to complete their work, but they have all been doing pretty well. No one is failing. No one has a crazy amount of missing work. They are all well behaved, enthusiastic and ready to learn. Maybe sometimes they get a bit wild, but they're only 9 years old! I can't blame them for just being kids!

Fifth grade. I'm worried about several of these kids and how they will manage middle school next year. The differences between some of the kids in that class astound me. There's a group that makes up about half the class that is absolutely dedicated to completing all of their work on time and submitting it. And then there's the other half of the class who waits until the last minute and then tries to blame everyone but themselves. Well, my homework is always given at the beginning of the week and due at the end of the week. If you didn't sit down and complete it on one of the four available afternoons, that's really on no one but yourself. They'll learn that it's not going to get any easier, I just don't want to see them fail before they figure it out. Unfortunately, though, there's only so many chances I can give them.

Middle school is a beast. I don't think I have ever met a middle school student who actually likes middle school. First off, they're asked to be more responsible. Secondly, they are just entering puberty and hormones are all over the place. And the third thing that creates such stress? Parents. These kids are looking for independence, and I get it. But some of them are frustrated because their parents haven't let go at all, and some of them are crazy with rage because their parents have let go too much. It's not an easy time for any child or parent, I'm aware, and it's a crazy balancing act trying to find what works and what doesn't. But someone needs to figure it out, write it down and sell millions of books on the topic.

Anyways. Sixth grade. These are my middle school babies. And half of them come from a history of bad work habits. But the other half? They're bored and ready to just move on already! Being that their circumstances are so different from last year, there's a lot of hand-holding going on with this group. They're learning and growing and struggling with changing teachers, millions of books, crazy hormones and everything else that comes with being in middle school. It's a tough transition, so I am doing my best to help them get through it as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, though, in order to help them, they have to want to be helped. And some of them have figured that out and are blossoming into amazingly capable human beings and learning more than they probably imagined they could! But a few of them... Let's just say there's going to be another few weeks of extensive hand-holding.

Seventh grade. They were last years middle school babies. By now they've got it figured out and they've been cut loose and told to swim on their own. I can honestly say that every student in that class is capable of managing their work load and maintaining A's and B's. I can also honestly say that 75% of them don't care about maintaining any grade about a C. As long as they're passing, even if they're hardly holding on, they'll let it go. What's more important? Well, just about everything to them. This class was mine last year, though, and I have higher hopes for them than they do for themselves. I know they can be a good class if they all stop clowning around, sit down, close their mouths and listen! Again, though, they have to want to do that. My solution? If you're not going to sit down, stop talking and pay attention then you go out in the hall, sit by yourself and copy the article we were going to read in class that day or write a prayer over and over until I ask them to rejoin the class. I have already had a few of them who had to do that. It didn't go over too well and they're catching on, slowly, but surely.

And then there's eighth grade. They are literally just off their rocker. They're excited to be at the top and feel special and like they are almost to the end. It's in sight if they can just hold on a little bit longer! But the disrespect they show to themselves, to other students and to their teachers is absolutely appalling. I understand that they're a social group and most of them have been in the same school since Kindergarten so they know how to push each others buttons. But there is a time and there is a place. And in the middle of my class is not it. It wouldn't take much for them to be in my good graces. Come in to class quietly, be prepared, stay quiet unless asked to speak and pay attention and you're golden! I really don't think that's so much to ask. But they're seriously struggling with the concept of appropriate classroom behavior.

At the beginning of the school year, I decided to have a Friday Fun Day every week with all of my classes. Yes, even with my middle school classes because they are still kids. As much as they want to be treated like adults, they still love the same things as little kids. Sports, bubbles, swings, silly jokes. It's all good to them still and I feel like they need to just be allowed to be kids sometimes. So we have Friday Fun Day. Up to this point it has been pretty easy to earn your Friday Fun Day. As long as we get through the weeks lesson, you're golden. Unfortunately, as we move into the second quarter, the more we have to accomplish during the week. This means that the more they goof off, the less likely they are to get Friday Fun Day.

I'm hopeful that they will learn quickly that they don't like losing Friday Fun Day. Honestly, I am expecting that 7th and 8th grade will go two or three weeks without Friday Fun Day before they catch on, but it will be a good lesson to them.

A lot of these kids don't understand just how good they have it at our school. They attend a school where their teachers actually care about them. We want them to succeed, and our middle school team of teachers meets every week to discuss what we can do to help this student or that through a rough patch. We are in constant communication trying to help them in any way that we can. When we need to, we call in parents to discuss grades and/or behaviors we've seen. It's important to us that they succeed.

When 8th grade goes to high school next year, they aren't going to have teachers that dedicate an entire week to completing missing work like I did just last week. They aren't going to have teachers who spend more class time asking one student to be quiet than they do lecturing. They aren't going to have teachers who spend an entire class period talking to them about what is and is not appropriate behavior in a classroom setting. It just doesn't happen. Even in most middle schools, the teachers don't often care enough to try and help them make it through the class period.

We have students who struggle on a daily basis for one reason or another. And if they do their best, we do our best to help them keep going. Because that's what being a teacher is to us. Or at least that's what it is to me. I don't want to just lecture them all the time. I don't want to just let them not turn in work and fail my class. That doesn't teach them anything about life and responsibility. It just teaches laziness.

We need to teach these children how to be adults. It doesn't happen in a day. It doesn't even happen in a year. But we need to teach them as much as we can in the time that we have because society depends on it. Throwing these kids out into the real world after they have had their hand held since they were born isn't going to work. They won't have any idea what they are walking into, and once the realize what they've walked into they'll have no understanding of how to manage it.

My goal for the year is for these students to learn what they need to about the Catholic Church and traditions. But I also want to teach them some valuable life skills so they can be just a little bit more prepared for the life they have ahead of them. I feel that's part of my responsibility as a teacher, and even as a parent to Kaley.

It's important.

Tired. All. The. Time.

Life is still ridiculously crazy. I honestly feel like I haven't stopped for weeks or months or years. It's starting to catch up to me in a big way.

I'm exhausted by the end of the day. But it's not exhaustion that causes me to sleep. I'm exhausted some nights to the point that I can't get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Like the other night when I couldn't get to sleep until after the Patriot's game ended, which was after midnight. Seriously!? I'm not even a Patriots fan! But I could not for the life of me fall asleep.

But then there are nights where I lay down at 8 and I'm asleep within ten minutes. It's ridiculous! I can't afford to be asleep that early in the evening! I have chapters to read for school and papers to grade for work and I am currently winging it this week, making up lesson plans as I go because I haven't sat down to write them down. I know what I want to do, I just haven't found two minutes to sit down and put it in my planner to turn in to the principal. Crazy!

This week they are doing IOWA testing at school which means that my class schedule is all out of whack this week. Honestly, this is actually a blessing for me because I don't have classes until the afternoons. I still have to be at work at 9:30, though, so I've got a lot of down time. Except it's not down time. No, no, no, no, no..... This is my catch up time! I literally spent over 3 hours catching up on grading papers and figuring out which students have missing assignments and tracking down why student X is failing and adding in Extra Credit points that 7th and 8th grade earned. It was exhausting in it's own way!

Pat and I are trying to figure out where we stand financially. Tallying up money and then looking at the bills we both have to pay? Not my idea of a fun evening. And it gets really frustrating after a while because you just want the numbers to all magically work. Seriously, I know they work. I just haven't figured out how to make them work because our pay schedules are totally different and we are both trying to save for the wedding and it's just insanity. And, again, exhausting in it's own way.

Oh, and we can't forget my schoolwork. It seems to be never-ending, but in reality, the end is actually in sight! I only have 4 classes left until graduation! The catch? Two of those classes are major, MAJOR exams. One of them is only offered during three windows each year. So that basically means that if I don't pass it when I take it mid-November, I can't take it again until March. Of course that adds to the stress level. And adding to my stress level just makes me what? Yup, you guessed it- tired. All. The. Time.

I will say that Pat and I have started going to the gym. We went three days last week which was seriously awesome. And we worked it out over the weekend so we can start going five days a week, Monday through Friday. And the weird part of it is that I'm NOT as tired after a long hard workout. How backwards is that!? I've just poured sweat and worked out for an hour and now I'm NOT tired?? I know that's how it's supposed to work and that it's a good thing but it's kind of annoying. I want to have that kind of energy at night when I'm looking at the 12 chapters of reading I need to do. Or when I'm staring at the 65 assignments I have to grade. Or when I'm looking at all of the wedding papers spread out across my desk trying to figure out what to check off of the to-do list next. Or when I'm sitting at my computer thinking that I really want to write a blog.

But when it comes down to it?

I'm just too tired.

 

I've spent a lot of time lately contemplating how tired I am and evaluating how much further I can run myself into the ground. I honestly don't remember being this tired ever before in my life. Not when I was a teenager. Not when I was pregnant. Not when I was waking up every three hours with Kaley for the first 8 months of her life. Not when I became a single parent.

 

And I'm sitting here trying to figure out where I can step back from the things I have going on. The reality, though, is that I can't step back from anything. I'm committed to teaching and I'm loving every exhausting second of it. I'm committed to finishing my degree and I am so close to having it in hand that I can't stop now. And there's no way I'm putting wedding planning on hold because I just can't wait to marry the man of my dreams.

 

So I guess I've come to realize that I'm just going to be tired.

 

And hopefully I can keep myself together enough to not get cranky with everyone around me.

 

But maybe I should hope that they love me enough to put up with me when I do get cranky...?

What I've Learned the First Two Weeks of School

We are now half way through the second full week of school. And it's been incredibly educational for me. I've learned a lot about myself, the people I work with and my students. It has truly been amazing and I feel so incredibly blessed.

1. I learned that I'm actually good at this job. I realized the first day of school that I was going to be just fine, but I was still really nervous about whether or not I was going to be a good teacher. I don't want to be that okay teacher that the kids tolerate from day to day but at the end of the year haven't learned anything from. I want to be the teacher they remember and whose class they enjoy coming to every day.

 

I have some pretty far fetched dreams, right?

 

That's absolutely what I thought. But it turns out those dreams aren't so crazy. I have heard from several parents and students that they love my class and they love having me as a teacher. It is so encouraging to hear that middle school students are going home and telling their parents about my class and how much they like it. That's not something most students typically do.

 

2. I have some amazing co-workers. We have several new teachers at the school this year, but we also have a number of teachers who were there last year. But I had trouble last year with the whole "friends" thing. There were a few reasons for this. One, there weren't many teachers my age. And two, I only worked one day a week. It was tricky. So I spent most of the year on my own, or with Gramma. I did and I didn't mind. But this year, I'm working more. And one of the teachers who is close in age to me is KBug's teacher.

 

Is it weird that I want to be friends with KBug's teacher?

Well, maybe.

 

But it's a small school, we work together, and she's an awesome person! We had a work event that we attended last Friday evening and Mr. Boston and I spent some time talking with her and her husband. It was the most social interaction we have had with another couple in months. Literally. We have zero social life. But we are hoping to change that, and I think we might actually have a good chance at it this year!

 

3. Coordinating the school Mass on Wednesday's is frustrating. It has nothing to do with the students, though. It's the person I have to coordinate with. Unfortunately this person and I have a history. And that history isn't a pleasant one. I have been dismissed from various musical events on several occasions by this person and am continuously being treated like a child. And if I am not being treated like a child, I'm being thrown under the bus for something I didn't do.

 

It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

But, hey, I guess no one did.

 

I'm doing my best to be cordial and make everything work. But it is incredibly difficult when I'm continually be met with resistance. I will try my best, though, to make it through the year without any unnecessary drama.

 

4. This one is not entirely school related, but it is in a way. Mr. Boston has been absolutely amazing. I have spent the past two weeks running around all over the place, having to leave in the middle of conversations and having almost zero time to really spend with him. I feel terrible that all of this has taken such a toll on our relationship, but he's really been great about it. He hasn't complained about the craziness that is our schedule, he's willing to help in any way we can and is volunteering at the school several days a week. (*Sidenote: KBug is LOVING having him as a volunteer. She asks every morning if he will be there at recess and to have lunch with her and she gets so upset when he isn't able to make it. It's adorable to see how much she loves spending time with him!)

 

KBug and I are so incredibly blessed to have him in our lives!

 

He and I had talked before school began about having an insane schedule, but I honestly didn't imagine how chaotic it was going to be for the first few weeks. I have had impromptu meetings on days that I usually don't. I have had more responsibilities put on me than I was expecting. And trying to keep up with everything is taking much more time than I thought it would. But he's still here. And he's still talking about the wedding. He's still telling me he loves me and that he can't wait for me to be his wife. He's still kissing KBug good night and telling her how special she is. And that means so much to me. I can't imagine what I have done in life to deserve such a wonderful man, but I am so thankful.

 

There is much more that I have learned in the past few weeks, but I would be here all day. And, unfortunately, I have a long list of things to do today. There's laundry to be folded, dinner to be made, schoolwork to be completed and student grades to be updated. Trust me, there's much more on the to-do list, but that's a good start. Time to get on with it.

Currently.

I've been such a slacker lately. I haven't written in almost a week. And that was to tell you all about how my amazing Mr. Boston proposed to me! Pretty awesome if you ask me!

Anyways... I figured I would write about some of the things that are going on in our lives right now.

Wedding Planning

 

Honestly at this point what I consider wedding planning is pinning things on Pinterest. I've had a wedding board on Pinterest for over a year now and it certainly had it's fair share of awesome ideas, but I've started pinning more selectively. I've also created different boards to pin for different parts of the wedding (reception, photos, invitations, etc.).

 

Aside from that, I haven't accomplished much. Well, except for choosing the wedding colors, picking out my bridesmaids dresses, finding KBug's flower girl dress and purchasing my wedding gown!

 

I went in to David's Bridal (of course) last weekend to just look around. I wasn't planning on making any purchases, but just getting a general sense of what colors I really liked and what sort of dress I might like. One thing led to another and my consultant had me trying on dresses. I tried on four dresses and the minute I put the fourth one on, it was a perfect fit, and I just knew that was it! And my consultant just kept adding little things to make it even more perfect. So Gramma and I decided to purchase it because it all seemed too perfect to just walk away! Seriously, how often does anyone walk into David's Bridal and walk out with a wedding gown? No alterations needed, the had all of the pieces I wanted in stock and it was the best experience I have ever had! And they took a video and had me ring the bell and I cried.

 

And that's as far as I've gotten on wedding plans. I have plenty of ideas floating around in my head, but it will be a while before they all come to be reality. I'll check in as I do more, though, I promise! And I'll definitely check in after we have our engagement photos taken in a few weeks!

 

Schoolwork

 

Well, I submitted two assignments yesterday. Go me! One of them came back with a passing grade, the other had a few revisions necessary. No big deal. I completed the revisions this morning, had my assignment looked over by a course mentor who gave me the go ahead and then I submitted it again. Hopefully I get a passing grade back in the next day or two. Once that is graded, I will have completed 12 units in two months and only have 25 units to complete before I'm officially graduated! I'm so incredibly excited, you have no idea! And school is my top priority. Wedding planning would be much more fun, but I have to finish my degree. Besides, the wedding isn't for another ten months. I've got plenty of time!

 

Work

 

I go back to work next Monday. I finally found out that I'm teaching Religion this year for grades 4-8. Fourth and Fifth grade is a combined class at our school this year, so I'm teaching four classes a day. I'm also coordinating the weekly school mass, coming up with service projects, managing the altar servers, organizing our Adopt-A-Highway clean up and teaching Faith Formation every Sunday night. And don't forget I'm also a cheer team coach again this year! I've got a seriously full plate, but I'm really excited.

 

And, go me, I've figured out how I plan to run my classroom to make it easier on me in terms of workload and grading. There will be a Prayer of the Month test every month. This is something that middle school had last year and it was a big learning experience for all of them. Basically they'll get a new prayer each month, have about four weeks to memorize it and then be given a test. Not so hard.

 

They'll also have a weekly quiz every Friday. This will cover what we've talked about through the week and requires them to have paid enough attention to retain the big topics we've discussed. I think having to remember our conversations for longer than a day will make a big difference. Maybe a few of the big things will really sink in and they'll really learn something.

 

Homework will be given out in a packet at the beginning of every week. It's due at the beginning of the period on Friday. If you didn't complete your packet, guess what? You're doing it right then and there. Consequence? You lose Friday Fun Day. I know these kids are getting older, but they haven't lost their childhood. They still love to play games and do arts and crafts and just do silly activities. What we do will still have something to do with the discussions and topics from the week, but it'll be fun and enjoyable.

 

Quarter projects. The middle school classes had to do these last year. Largely they hated them, but I'm hoping to find ways to make it more fun. For example, the first quarter we are focusing on Saints. The middle school students will be assigned a Saint and they will have to do enough research to create a Fakebook for their Saint. They'll have certain criteria to meet and deadlines for their research. But they all know Facebook and I think it'll be a new twist on the assignment that they might actually enjoy. Fourth and Fifth grade? They're going to learn how to make brochures for their Saints!

 

Housework

 

Basically my house is a mess right now. Why? Well, PJP moved out and life got crazy. When PJP left, I moved back into the upstairs room. This created an open room which we used to give KBug a playroom because I was tired of her toys taking over her bedroom and it being such a mess. I really don't like stepping on Legos when I go to put her to bed. So the playroom was painted, and so was her room. Mostly everything is set up in the playroom, but not all of my stuff has made it upstairs yet. My living room is a total disaster. But I'm planning to get that cleaned up tomorrow before the neighbors children come over tomorrow evening. I can do it.

 

And that's pretty much what we have going on. Starting back to work will be interesting next week. I'm really excited! I'm going to put together my bulletin boards Friday morning which will be awesome and meetings begin on Monday. KBug says she isn't ready to go back but, trust me, she's ready. She's so bored with summer at this point and there's not much I can do with her at this stage of the game because we have so much going on. So next Thursday when school starts will be a blessing for all of us.

 

Let the craziness of the next ten months begin!

Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell & Dinner with Friends [Philadelphia]

Time for the last vacation post! After our visit to the Franklin Park Zoo, we hopped in the car and got on the road to Philadelphia. I visited Philadelphia when I was 14 and I loved it. It's a city full of massive amounts of history and I wanted to take KBug to see just some bits and pieces of it. She has a love for historical places, so I thought it would be a lot of fun for her!

We got to Philadelphia at a little after 1 in the morning, checked into our hotel and crashed for the night. All of us were ridiculously tired!

The next morning we all woke up, showered, dressed and enjoyed a quick breakfast at the hotel. Mr. Boston loved our hotel room and decided he wanted picture proof that we had stayed there. So I have random pictures of our hotel room. He's a little weird, but I love him!

 

Anyways. Once we were all ready to go, we headed out! We had reserved our tickets for a tour of Independence Hall in advance, so all we had to do was drive into the city, find a parking garage and make our way to the Independence Visitor Center. It took some doing, but we eventually made it, found the ticket pick-up and set out to our tour. I got distracted by the gift shop on the way, though, and took some time to purchase a few new books for KBug!

We made it through security quickly and had about 15 minutes to wait. We took a few pictures, did some people watching and enjoyed the sunshine!

 

After a short wait, we stepped in line to begin our tour. KBug was really ready to get it going and couldn't hardly stand still. It was great to see her so excited about our nations history! We made our way into the room where they introduce the tour and tell you a little bit about the history of Independence Hall. After our short introduction, we were led into the hall to continue our history lesson.

 

 

By the end of the tour, KBug was ready for me to stop taking pictures of her. But I told her she was out of luck because I love taking pictures of her! So she relented and continued to let me snap away!

 

After the Independence Hall, we walked back across the street to tour the Liberty Bell Center. The Liberty Bell was my favorite part of visiting Philadelphia and I couldn't wait to go back and spend some time reading about it's history and the repairs that were made when the damage occurred. Unfortunately KBug wasn't as interested in reading her way, though, so I had to speed read, but I managed.

 

 

Once we reached the end of the Liberty Bell Center, KBug dragged Mr. Boston and I outside. She had seen an opportunity for a ride on a horse and carriage and she didn't want to leave Philadelphia without taking a ride. It was our last day of vacation and Mr. Boston and I were a bit weary of walking after everything we'd done over the last week that we easily agreed. So up in the carriage we went to enjoy a ride through Independence National Historical Park.

 

 

At the end of the carriage ride, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We had dinner plans with a few of my friends that evening and we all needed some rest and relaxation. So back we went. A few hours later we headed out to the Cheesecake Factory down the road to enjoy a nice evening with some fabulous people!

 

I've known my friend M since the day I moved to NC. He was literally the first person I met upon arriving. And he's been my friend ever since. When he started dating his wife, L, I was so excited for him. He was so happy and life was going wonderfully for them! Since then they've gotten married and had a beautiful baby, M Jr. It was great when they lived here because L has a daughter, too, and KC is only a couple of years older than KBug. So we were always able to get together and have some peaceful conversation while the girls were off playing. Win! Anyways. They moved away earlier this year and I've really missed them, so it was really awesome to see them again!

 

 

And that was our day in Philadelphia! We went back to the hotel that night, watched Tarzan (I told you all I wanted to watch it...), ran three loads of laundry and collapsed. After all of our vacation adventures we were pretty dead on our feet. But we had a long trip ahead of us the following morning and we couldn't wait to get back home!

New England Aquarium [Boston]

I guess it's that time. Time to write about our trip to the New England Aquarium. But this wasn't an easy trip like the past few days had been. Why?

Because KBug's father met us there.

 

I didn't receive confirmation from the Ex Husband that he and his family would be joining us until the afternoon before. Naturally I hadn't told her that he would be joining us yet because I didn't want to get her hopes up and then have him disappoint her as he has countless times before. I didn't think that would be fair to her. She has had so much emotional upset in her life because of her father that I didn't want to cause an additional upset if there was no reason.

 

So Mr. Boston, KBug and I got up that morning, drove into Boston and found the parking garage. ($35 for parking. Ouch!) Once we parked the car, we put what we needed in our little backpack (wallets, phones, band-aids, etc.) and I held KBug for a minute while I told her about the day.

 

I told her that her father and his family were coming to join us and was met with a sort of blank stare. She found her voice and repeated it, after which she said "OK, can we go in now?"

 

So far so good.

 

Off we went to wait in line for tickets. If I had been smart I would have thought to reserve them online ahead of time, but I wasn't that smart. Oh well. It only took us about ten minutes to get through the line, pay for our tickets and have our picture taken before entering the aquarium.

 

Rather than standing around with a KBug who couldn't wait to go into the aquarium, Mr. Boston and I decided to take her into the small section right off the entrance where you can pet the stingrays. She's always loved the open tanks where she can feel the stingrays as the swim by, so I thought it would be a good distraction. Especially since I had yet to hear from the Ex Husband.

 

After spending a few minutes in there, I finally got a text that said they were in line for tickets. OK, I told him where we were and we decided we would meet just inside the aquarium entrance. Not a problem. I took KBug to the restroom and we waited. And we waited. And we waited. KBug isn't good at waiting and she wasn't all that interested in waiting for Daddy, to be honest. She was more interested in me holding her and talking about what was in the aquarium that we might see.

 

Once they made it into the aquarium and over to us, the Ex Husband said hi to KBug and she just sort of stared at him. Like I said before, she wasn't very interested. After bathroom trips for their family, KBug got slightly more comfortable and started up a conversation with their 3.5-year-old son and tried to talk with their 1.5-year-old daughter.

 

Then we headed into the aquarium. We sort of stuck together as a group, going to see the Seal show outside and venturing around the first floor. But once we started moving up around the giant tank in the center of the aquarium, we weren't really a group anymore.

 

KBug has always loved aquariums. But she wants to see everything. So she doesn't stay in one spot for very long. Basically she was constantly on the move, to the point where getting pictures of her was a little bit difficult because she didn't want to stand still. I managed, though.

 

We stayed together in something resembling a group through the second floor. But KBug had missed the jellyfish and I wanted to be sure she saw them. So I pulled her away, mentioned I was taking her to see the jellyfish and we went down to the tank.

 

By the time I turned around, they were gone. Mr. Boston, KBug and I thought we would move up to the next level to see if we could find them. Well, we couldn't. KBug was anxious to keep looking and was calling continuously to Mr. Boston and I to come see the tanks, so we moved on figuring we would run into them soon.

 

A few minutes later I received a text asking where we were. I told them we were on the third floor. They asked if we weren't a group anymore and I explained that I had taken her to see the jellyfish and they were gone when I turned around. They responded that they were at the top floor. I said we would be there soon.

 

We finished up half of the third floor and made our way up to the top. It took us a minute to locate them once we were up there, and by the time we did they were heading back downstairs. Awesome. I let KBug look around and then we headed down to meet them.

 

Their children were hot and hungry and getting a little cranky so they wanted to take them downstairs and move towards leaving. KBug wanted to see the other half of the third floor. So they went down, and we kept looking.

 

Eventually we found them downstairs. The Ex Husband had taken their son to see the stingrays and such, and KBug wanted to see them again so in we went. Apparently we had missed a lower level while we were in there earlier, so down to the lower level we went. It worked out awesome for me because they had more jellyfish down there and that's my favorite exhibit at aquariums, and KBug was able to experience a few more touch tanks.

 

After that we hit up the gift shop, made our purchases and left the aquarium. At that point they suggested lunch, so we headed out on a short walk to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Mr. Boston had been dying to take me to Faneuil Hall all week and figured it would be the easiest way for everyone to get what they wanted to eat and then find a place outside to sit.

 

They decided that wasn't going to work for them and wanted a restaurant to sit down at. They chose Cheers. We found it, we sat, and it was pretty awkward. The Ex Husband made some attempt to talk to KBug but wasn't all that successful. When the only topics you have to talk about are school, fishing, pigs and chickens you aren't going to hold the interest of a 7-year-old for very long. And talking about fishing wasn't the best idea because it only reminded her that she would get to go fishing that evening when we went back to the campgrounds.

 

After everyone had eaten and we paid our separate checks, KBug hopped up and told her father she was ready to leave now so she could go fishing at the campground. Mr. Boston and I hadn't made any mention of leaving to her, so I was surprised when she said she was ready to go. Children know when they've reached their limits, and I guess that was her way of saying she had reached hers and didn't want to spend anymore time with him.

 

So we left the restaurant, she gave him something resembling a hug and we were on our way.

 

She made no mention of seeing him again for the duration of our trip. I had her write about something we did every day in a notebook, with a space for writing and a space for pictures, so she can have it to remember our summer, and he didn't even make it into that. I think that speaks volumes.

 

Anyways. That was our day at the New England Aquarium. And, like every other day, of course I took an abundance of pictures.

 

Excited for the aquarium!

Stingray tank

I love her so much!

She pulled  Mr. Boston's hand and dragged him to almost every exhibit

 

Jellyfish!

More jellyfish!

Since being home, KBug has only mentioned seeing her father once, as she was looking at the aquarium pictures with Gramma. Gramma had asked her if anything else happened at the aquarium and she shrugged and said her Daddy was there. She then told Gramma he was boring. I think that about covers it.

 

If you haven't read about our previous Boston adventures, you can read all about the Museum of Science, the Children's Museum, 4th of July, and Canoe River Campground by following the links.

 

Next stop: Franklin Park Zoo