welcome to the world

Baby Connor
born May 29, 2008 at 4:07pm

this evening and favorite things...

Celebrating: my last day of work for awhile
Watching: the 2 hour season finale of Lost... some answers, more questions ("Hey. Is he talking about what I think he is talking about?" -Locke "If you mean time traveling bunnies, then yes." - Ben)
Sharing: an amazing bottle of South Australian cab with my husband
Eating: yummy cadbury chocolate that also reminds me of our trip to Australia

And the best news of all - an e-mail this week from my Aussie friend Lisa. She may be coming back for another visit soon!

wrapping up the year

I'm at work this week packing up my classroom and attending trainings. It's funny how tired I am at the end of these days - even though there are no kids! Just like everything else in teaching, I feel like I could spend hours/days/months here cleaning and organizing and planning and never be done. It has been bittersweet this time around. I had a wonderful class and only 21 students, so nice. It was the smartest group I've ever had. My co-worker is already having back-to-school nightmares about next year. We are cutting a 2nd grade class and so our numbers will be back up, and we heard yesterday that there are twice as many boys as girls in each of our classes. Sheesh.
I need summer.
I need to relax and enjoy my husband and baby girl!

bree loves bono

careful - this one is loud!

date night

I dropped the baby off at my mom's house Sunday so that Dan and I could have a much-needed date night. We started our evening at the movies, watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was a fun movie - if you've been a fan of any of the previous ones I would highly recommend this one. Lots of action, creepy gravesites and ancient ruins, Cate Blanchett as the villian. We got a HUGE tub of popcorn and enjoyed the show!
From there we went downtown and had dinner at Phantom Canyon a favorite place of ours where we had our rehearsal dinner when we got married. Afterwards we went upstairs and played pool. I was surprised, my husband is actually pretty good! I guess this was the first time we had ever played against each other. Of course, I'm terrible, but we enjoyed ourselves. I hope we can manage to have a date night more often!

just read

Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
I read this book to my second graders and we all enjoyed it. Even the boys liked it, which was a concern when I first pulled it out and overheard comments from some of them about it being a "girl's book." I guess anything with a girl as the main character qualifies as a girl's book. The fact that she had a machete early on in the book seemed to help tremendously.
In my children's lit class a few years back, we discussed the fact that many beloved children's novels center around characters who have been separated from their parents. Nim is no exception. Her father, Jack, leaves her for three days on their island all alone, and she must fend for herself. I love the idea for this novel - a girl and her two animal friends (Selkie the sea lion and Fred the marine iguana) facing the world together on a remote island with no one to help them. Wish I had thought of it! It was a fun read aloud.


New Moon (Book 2) by Stephenie Meyer
These books make me feel old.
Ten years ago, I'm sure I would have been a huge fan of the Twilight series. Now, some of it just seems over the top and ridiculous. I also had a hard time relating to the teenage angst in this book. New Moon (Book 2) went in a totally different direction from the first book, and I was disappointed in the change in the main character Bella. Gone was the spunky, sarcastic, and likable character I had enjoyed in the first book. In her place was a morose teenager who believed she would be better off dead after a break-up.
Despite its shortcomings, I did find the book entertaining. It is nice to read something that involves no brain power or intellectual thought once in awhile. I may even decide to read the third one, we'll see.

one of my favorite sounds

It was a sunny, warm day and one of the first days I've driven home from work with my windows down this year. As I was driving, I heard one of my favorite sounds - a western meadowlark singing. This bird always reminds me of my grandma. She used to love watching the birds at their feeders, and told me once that the meadowlark's call says, "Waiting for the wheat to grow." I always think of her now when I hear one.

cherries and teeth

Bree has a new favorite food - cherries! It seems they are in season again and I bought a pound at Albertson's tonight. I cut some up for Bree for her dessert and I couldn't cut them fast enough - she kept screeching at me for more. Summer cherries happen to be one of MY favorite food so I'm not surprised, just happy that she enjoys eating something that is also healthy. I finally had to stop giving them to her because I was afraid she'd eat too many and get sick. My friend Lisa from Sydney, Australia teases me at Christmastime because that is when they are in season in Australia, and I was surprised when she told me about the tradition of eating fresh cherries for Christmas. The only cherries I get at Christmas are the chocolate-covered kind!

The other exciting news is that Bree's back teeth are coming in! My mom and I felt in her mouth this weekend and found two molars poking through on the top, one on each side. Her doctor told me they were coming, and says this is early. He said she can pretty much eat anything now that is not a choking hazard, with the exception of peanut products. Even honey is okay, but we haven't tried that yet.

just ordered this

As a mother's day gift, we are getting a new comforter! I love the quilt we have on our bed but it is so old it is falling apart and the stuffing is coming out. Looking forward to receiving this one - I hope I like it as much as I like the picture of it on jcpenney.com!

don't bother trying to call...

Our phone is lost. We tried paging it but apparently it has no charge because nothing happened. We've searched the house, no luck.
My cell phone is dead also. I kept meaning to plug it in, but never did.
It's just been one of those weeks!

so busy

Last year at this time I was on maternity leave.
I'd forgotten how crazy this time of year is at school...

a lovely mother's day

I have had a lovely mother's day! I am so proud to be a mom, Bree's mom. This morning she and daddy went out for breakfast and some shopping while I had the whole house to myself!! This was wonderful as I have always been a person who enjoys a little alone time. I spent the day working on the yard, for the first time this year, and boy did it need it. We have been infiltrated by the dandelion squad, and they are exploding relentlessly. Hopefully the thatching and the fertilizer/weedzone stuff will help! Dan and Bree came home with flowers, cards, giftcards, and wine (from my mother-in-law.) He also brought me snapdragons and pansies which I planted in the garden. It has been a nice day together, I have enjoyed my second mother's day very much! Even the wasp that stung me this morning didn't ruin it - I had never been stung by anything before and was surprised by how mild it was. I don't think he got me very good. And thank you to mom and Mindi for the sweet e-cards!

bree's down dog

Bree can do yoga, too! I hope someday she will be interested in a mommy and baby yoga class. Corinne - she will make a great student of yours!

The Sonnet Lover

Carol Goodman has a way of making me feel like I am part of the story, like I am there. I love that. The Sonnet Lover has been no exception, and best of all, it takes place in New York City and Florence, Italy so I feel like I've visited these places recently even though I haven't.

Literature professor Rose Asher travels from New York to La Civetta, a tuscan villa in Italy, to search for some mysterious sonnets, perhaps written by Shakespeare's dark lady, and answers to why a student of hers plunged to his death in an apparent suicide. La Civetta is also where she first fell in love, and the tangle of characters are all so well-described I felt like I knew them, too.

I will say I felt lost in some parts of the book. I have not read much Shakespeare or classical poetry, and that part for me was at times confusing. This book has inspired me to perhaps delve more into that arena in the future, and also to read something by Virginia Woolf. On the whole, I did enjoy this novel and will continue to look for more by Goodman!

quote of the day

I am testing my students today for their end of the year literacy scores. One little girl was trying especially hard:

"Why does the rabbit zig-zag when it runs?"

"To confuse its anemone." (To herself) "Wait, no, that's a sea anemone." (Again) "To confuse its anemone."

"Enemy."

"Yeah, to confuse its emeny."

(Thanks Marika!)