Weekend Wedding in 'Bama

Andy's sister, Abby, got married this weekend down in southern Alabama. It was a nice event (getting down and back--not so much...) and the bride was lovely! Of course, so was our little flower girl! The ceremony was outdoors in a nice wooded park by the riverfront. It was short and sweet (upper 90's) and everyone wore a smile except sourpuss Joel. He only agreed to walk down as the ring bearer if cousin Trevor was with him. Trevor had a "want Daddy" meltdown at the onset, so Joel wasn't too happy. He was pretty much asked to be in "responsible, caregiver, watch-the-youngers" mode all weekend, so I suppose I can't blame him. Hanna and Rylee had their hair all dolled up and looked so sweet together!

A-Ha! He cracked a smile!

Fuzzy, dance-floor lighting, but a sweet pic of Andy dancing with his baby sister.

The stars of the reception (meaning they hogged the dance floor all night)!

Awwwwwwwww.....

Things That Have Flown By...

Easter at Uncle Mark's house...a chilly, rainy, but fun affair!

Mother's Day Tea at preschool. This is Olivia, Hanna's buddy. Olivia ended up getting the "Most Fashionable Award Ribbon" at graduation.

Hanna's preschool graduation! The church sanctuary is a horrible place for pictures...they all came out dark, even on the right settings. So this is the fellowship following the ceremony. Hanna received the (wait, I'll give you one guess...............)

"Storyteller Award" ribbon. I know, we were TOTALLY shocked too! (yuk, yuk...) BTW, she lost her second tooth (finally!) the night before so was sporting her stick-my-tongue-in-gap grin the whole time.

Joel made it into the school-wide T-Race competition. He was the speediest from his class on addition, so he competed against the other speedies in the all-school assembly this morning. He did awesome and I'm so proud of him...only 8 kids come from each grade for this. He won one round, but his buddy Ben won the overall addition competition with 3 wins.

This afternoon was also the ISO Instrument Petting Zoo for Joel's class. I've been doing it all week with the 2nd graders as part of their study of orchestral instruments. They (and I) love this! It's joyful noise, that's for sure... One week left folks!

Knee-Deep in Packing Tape

Sorry I'm off the map! I am splitting my time between baseball games, Preschool end-of-year events, planning a wedding trip to Alabama, and packing 12 years worth of general music teaching. Purging, packing, passing on...all those boxes with someone else's name and location on them. *sigh* I will say, I am starting to look at next year as a new adventure of sorts. New people, new room (actually, it's more of an outdated old cave than my current room!), new students (okay, some of those are old too!), and new teaching strategies. There are times I find it hard to shake the feeling that I'll never be back to elementary music, but I am trying. I really shouldn't complain...I will still have a job and it's in music. That's the meat and potatoes that should matter in terms of my career. My good friend (and other half of "The Dream Team") is struggling this week as she prepares to say goodbye altogether. I cannot blame her. The whole building consists of rooms burgeoning with boxes of entire careers in them. I am really praying that she gets the job she interviewed for last week. So...we keep going. May in all it's chaotic glory plus some. I am really looking forward to this summer! Give me 2 1/2 more weeks and I'll be golden!

Go Cubs, Go!

Andy just returned with the team uniforms...the Cubs this year! Of course, Joel had to try it on right away. So, we're being sponsored by a local mortuary - Erlewein Mortuary. Moments ago, Andy proudly declares, "...cause we're gonna knock 'em dead!" Hardy har har.....

My New Job

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Crazy being defined here as frustrating, depressing, challenging, and any other words you can assign to the fact that administrators pluck you out of your strengths and passions just because it "works" on paper. Here's the skinny on school...

Monday, I received an email from the Supt. stating that I was being involuntarily transferred to the upper grades and (because of my seniority) had until Wednesday to decide if I wanted Middle School Choir or High School Choir next year. This supposed seniority I have is strong enough to appeal the transfer so that I may stay in Elementary General Music. One catch: if I play hardball and stay in the area of my dreams and greatest strengths, I put my colleague and friend out of a job because she is strictly licensed to do General Music. How's that for guilt? No thanks, I'd like to eventually be able to sleep at night. I told my principal that it would be a MUCH easier pill to swallow if I knew I was the first person back in the door when/if things got better. She could not guarantee that. Some of my colleagues think things will get even worse and elementary specials will, in fact, be eradicated from the curriculum. They encourage me to look at this transfer as a possible saving of my job. So...next year, I will be teaching 6th and 7th grade choir, as well as jumping over to the high school for 8th grade choir. Choir...all day, every day. Did I mention that my piano skills "drink through a straw" and, though they be totally adequate for K-4, the middle schoolers will see right through my meager chord-reading-boom-chucking? I know there are up-side to all this, but as my good friend said, I'm just not ready to embrace them all yet. Hey, at least I know how to pack for the evacuation of our building now.

I Am/Was (who am I kidding?)-Will Still Be... a Worry-Wart

I found my new quote du jour.... "Worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's troubles, it only takes away today's peace." Think I can remember that one? The latest developments with school include them possibly forcing me to move to secondary choir or band because I'm one of the few that has all 3 endorsements on my license. Well, I was put on this earth to teach general music to primary youngsters; this possible change could be tough...BUT I will stick it out. This week was rough for many of my colleagues; a very large number of them received phone calls concerning RIFs. We also found out the tentative amount of class sections. Less and less sections, which means larger and larger classes. My children are at risk of becoming a cubby number. See that? All those "future" words like possibly and tentative and at risk... I need to knock that off. I'm trying to embody my new quote.

NOT Pursuing It

Once upon a time, there was an over-dramatic 5 yr-old with her first "looth tooth" ever. Thinking the tooth was sufficiently hanging by a thread, and anxious to call upon the Tooth Fairy, the young princess enlisted her daddy to "finish it off". Alas, after much Orajel and tugging/twisting, the tooth would not budge. The darling child was not pleased. (see picture)

The youngster resigned herself to enjoy the sunny day with brother and neighborhood friends, forgetting about the tooth for a few hours. Late in the afternoon, though, the child burst into her home (pulling a face much like second picture) shouting, "I hafta sheck shungshing...aahhh!!!" And where once was a non-compliant baby tooth, there was only a reddish hole. Her parents were smiley excited until the young lady, looking rather panicked, disclosed that she had swallowed the tooth. "How can you leave it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy if you swallowed it?" exclaimed her parents. (the wrong thing to say...) A renewed 5-yr old fit ensued...with one quote of the day: "I want monnneeeey!" After calming the sweet child and assuring her that a note to the Tooth Fairy would suffice, she bounced off to play some more. Thus was uttered the second quote of the day: "We are NOT pursuing that tooth..."

Her first gap-toothed smile (grimace?).