Home Sweet Home

May 26th was 8th grade graduation at my school. I was able to participate in the ceremony by presenting the class and saying their names as they came up for their diploma. After, I went through the line and made them all give me a hug. Ha. Some of them thought I was crazy, but they all gave me one! I told them they were my first class (since I was the 8th grade sponsor) and that I made sure that they all graduated. So with that, my first year of teaching is over. Wow. That is really strange to type.

Since I am now out of school, there was really no reason to stay in Kickadonkey, so this past weekend I moved back home for the summer. I will be the last time I get to live with my family and hang out (almost) every weekend with friends. I really want to take advantage of this time, and it also helps be from being as lonely. I don't have any jobs lined up for the summer, but these past few days have shown me that it will be fine, because I have to say, it is amazing waking up after 9, and just sitting around in your pj's. This whole teaching thing might be worth doing again just for the summer off...lol.

Ahh, yes. I'm forgetting about my wedding shower. The women at school wanted give me a wedding shower/going away party. I received a lot of nice things. Even EW got his 10-speed blender! Of course I had to cry, but I'm not putting any blubbering pictures up, sorry. The shower was great, and I'm really going to miss all of the staff at my school. I'm not sure I will find another school where I feel so liked and appreciated, and where I fit in so well with the staff.

EW's 10-speed blender!

It was a yummy cake!

This summer I have decided to put an ad in the local paper for tutoring. I'll see what kind of response I get, and if there is none, then I'll just enjoy my summer.

Brina*

In need of an Update!

Yes, I haven't been updating like I should. Shame on me! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. My one of my good friend's, Kristen (and biggest loser partner), mother passed away a couple of weeks ago. Although I have not known this family long, and have only known Kristen 9 or so months, I can't imagine my life without her. I really do believe that God sent me here to teach and meet Kristen, and that his plan was for me to help her through this year. She doesn't have many close friends in this area, and either do I, and we just get along so well. Anyway, with that and school, my life has been pretty hectic.
I will be moving out of my apartment in Kickadonkey next week, and will be moving home for the summer. I can't tell you how excited I am to get out of that place. It is so very lonely, except for the bugs, spiders, etc. and I'm really not that big of a fan of creepy, crawly things. I am excited to go garage sale-ing with my mom every weekend, and hang out with my dad on his days off. It won't be as quick of trip when I want to see EW, but I'm sure I'll manage.
Also, we have finally found an apartment. We will be moving July 10th, to Aurora, into a 2 bed, 2 bath place. I am so very excited we came across the great deal we did and will be able to have the extra room! I won't have to get rid of some of my clothes, or shoes after all!
Tomorrow is the last day of actual school work. I'll be showing a movie for the 2 days next week, and then Wed. is graduation. I'm so ready to be done. Some days I think I wouldn't mind finding another teaching job, but others, I wonder what is a job that I can do that has NOTHING to do with children or teaching. I have found out over the past year that I do much better with small groups of children, or one on one. However, the classes I had this year are not even that big. My biggest class was 20, and the other two were 10 and 11 kids. HA!
As for the biggest loser, next week is the last week. I did not get to my goal, but I'm ok with that. I did lose about half, so that's some accomplishment. I'll continue watching what I eat over the summer, and will definitely fit into the wedding dress!

I'll leave you with a pic that is one of my new favs. It's the background to my smartboard at school and the kids love it too!

Me holding baby McKenna

Brina*

little of this, little of that.

hello all!

it's been awhile since i've been on, so i need to catch up on a few things. lots o' stuff has happened and i'm sure you all would just love to hear about it. for one thing, i'm doing away with all sense of rules today, as you can tell with my no caps. so what, i'm an english teacher and we need breaks too. also i can type faster this way and i have a head ache at the moment and too much concentration would be bad. so anyway, on with the news, starting with the things that happened first:

On the 9th ew and i became uncle and aunt. mckenna jo was born on april 9th, at 8:16pm, while ew and i just happened to be at the rehearsal dinner of our friends vicky and kevin, who got married on the 10th. it was indeed a happy weekend all around!

ew and mckenna

mckenna

hotel room scene in chicago (17th floor)

kevin and vicky

this past weekend ew and i had another counseling session, and since we were in town we went ahead and booked our honeymoon. we will be leaving nov. 29th and coming back dec. 4th from riviera maya in mexico. we are staying at the secrets silversands. it is just gorgeous and i so cannot wait to go. i feel like the wedding is taking forever to get here, but then it's another few months to get to the honeymoon, but i believe it will all be well worth the wait.

our resort

school is winding down even faster. i think the official count is 22 days. yikes! i can't believe is has gone so fast, but yet it feels like it has been forever. i really have learned a lot, and grown so much as a person/teacher.

on the weight-loss front. kristen and i will end up being the biggest loser-losers. lol, so we didn't get to our/my goal, but i did lose like 15 which is almost to half my goal. ha. oh well, at least i will fit into the wedding dress without needing any alterations!

well, i think that about sums it all up. i'll leave you with a few pics of the last few weeks.

brina*

Singing in the Rain

Ok, so I'm not really singing.

Well, I'll take that back. I am singing, and it's definitely raining, but not together. I'm sitting indoors, while it is raining not cats and dogs, but pigs and cows! Yeah, that's some country humor for yas!

Anyway, I haven't written in it seems like forever. It's probably because I haven't done so hot on the biggest loser thing. I've pretty much went up and down 1-3 pounds every week. It's this horrible hump that I can't seem to get over. So I'll move on to my next topic.

The wedding stuff is going pretty well. Everything is really coming together. There are still a few details that have yet to be done, but it's going very smoothly. Also, all my bridesmaids have dresses, so that's good news! I was worried, but everything is working out! :)

School is really starting to wind down, and I can actually see the finish line! I'm so ready for this year to be over and to start my last summer living at home with my family. It will be my last days living in a family of 4. This fall I will have to get used to being a family of 2 [for a bit anyway ;) ]

EW and I are still looking for an apartment. We are going a bit farther out, and trying to get the best bang for our buck. There are 2 requirements that HAVE to be in our apartment. I INSIST that it have in-apartment laundry room, and a dishwasher. Maybe I'm being picky, but that's just the way it has to be. I did the whole community laundry room in college and I won't be doing it again, thank you.

Well, that is all for now, I'm afraid the lights will go out if I'm on this thing too much longer!

Brina*