june part two.

Here are my photos for June 8-14.

June 8: Six o'clock.  My post-wisdom teeth vegetable ice packs

June 9: My view today.  Riley insisted on sleeping on my lap.  The ground won't do for this little baby.

June 10: Best bit of my weekend.  Frozen yogurt is good for sore mouths.

June 11: Door.  Or the cute little greeters at it.

June 12: From a low angle.

June 13: Art. Supplies.

June 14: Time.  It's summer time!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

june.

June has started off nicely, mostly because it brought summer with it.  You may have heard, but there is a blogger out there who has started Photo-a-day challenges for each month.  I started playing along in February on Instagram, but decided to share my challenge photos here as well.  If you haven't heard of this, basically there is a "prompt" for each day of the month and the challenge is to take a photo that somehow relates to the prompt.  Some are a bit of a stretch, but the ultimate goal is to be creative.

Here is the challenge list for June:

 And here are my photos for June 1-7:

June 1: Morning.  This was the last morning I made this drive to work.

June 2: Empty.  My empty classroom that I said good-bye to (technically on June 1).

June 3: On my plate.  P.F. Chang's for lunch.

June 4: Close-up.  Brady, my cleaning helper.

June 5: Sign. Lunch at Juicy Burger.

June 6: Hat.  Well, I don't have a hat to take a picture of, so Riley will have to suffice.

June 7: Drink.  I've been drinking a lot of pineapple juice (plus oranges and strawberries) this week.  Freshly juiced...nothing better!

another chapter.

If I had to sum up the way I feel in one word, it's this: relief. 

Thursday was the last day of school, I got the rest of my things packed up and out of my classroom, and I walked away a little bit sad.  I had to fight back the feeling of tears as I drove away that day.  It was the day I had waited so long for, but hard to face at the same time.

Friday still loomed over me, one last time at the school.  Friday was check out day.  It was far less official than I thought it might be, other then hanging over my keys.  That felt like the final moment...that lingered for a couple more hours.  We had a staff brunch at Rio Bravo Country Club, which was nice.  It felt like an extended, forced good-bye.  It was nice, but I was ready to be done.  My heart had moved on.

I got back to school, climbed into my car, and drove away for the last time.  I wasn't sad, I was relieved.  I don't have adequate words to explain all of how I felt, but it was as though I could feel a weight lifting off of me, one I had been carrying for 3 months.  This chapter of my life had finally come to a close. 

the end.

Today was the last day of school for the students.  So crazy!  We pretty much spent the whole week doing nothing, which makes for a long 3-day week.  (I'm not complaining...)  Anyhow, I knew that I didn't want to be stuck cleaning out my room all this week, so I've been taking a small to medium sized load home each night for the last 2 weeks.  Yesterday I had the biggest load, taking home everything I could easily take home that I knew I wouldn't need the last day.  Even though it was a bit of a pain each day, I'm so glad I did.  Come this afternoon, I had all of my belongings out of the room and the room all ready to leave not long after school released today. 

Reality that this was the last day hasn't fully set in, although I felt the tears welling up a bit as I left school this afternoon.  The rest of the staff was gathering to meet the new principal and I was heading to my car.  It might have been one of the single hardest moments to keep my head up and not be obviously upset.

I was happy to spend a fun week with my students, though.  They kept themselves pulled together for the most part and I didn't have to get too mad at them.  (Well, there was a moment on Wednesday when I almost pulled out some work for them to do...)  Tuesday morning we had our awards assembly, which may have been the longest assembly in the history of assemblies.  Ok, maybe not, but it took nearly two hours, which is an extremely long time when you need to use the restroom (Recess is at 10:10, but the assembly wasn't out until about 11:15).  And it wasn't exactly stimulating either.  I then had to wait even longer because I had to do yard duty.  We were in class for just a short time when it was time to have our class party.  My wonderful mother brought the class Subway sandwiches and we watched Cars.  The kids gorged themselves on junk, but were really quite well behaved.  (It's amazing to think back to the beginning of the year and to see how much they have grown!) 

Wednesday was basically one big retirement celebration for the principal.  Definitely not my favorite day ever, but more bearable than I thought it might be.  When we weren't at planned activities, we were watching Cars 2.  And, like I mentioned before, today was a whole lot of nothing.  We had a raffle with all kinds of prizes, most of which were food.  I didn't let them eat it before recess, but let's just pretend they didn't eat it all today.  Because I pretty sure most of it was consumed.  The day felt anticlimactic, as I said a quick goodbye to them, handed them their report cards, and ushered them out the door. 

Tomorrow is officially my last day when I check out and head to our staff breakfast.  I'm sure reality will set in tomorrow morning when I arrive to an empty room and I have to hand in my keys.

only nine.

...more days of school.  Can someone please tell me how that's possible?

Today was one of those days when I really wished I could slow down time.  I know that sounds crazy, especially considering how close to summer we are.  But my students were genuinely good, we had a pretty easy, but productive day, and my kids thanked me for taking it a little bit easy on them.  It was nice and I enjoyed being with them. 

Today was also the day I started cleaning out my classroom and bringing a small load of things home.  I took down one bulletin board and the room already feels a bit empty without it. 

It's strange that it's almost over.  It would probably be easier to deal with if I knew where I was going to be/if I'm going to be somewhere next year.  But, still, it's bittersweet.

Still ready for summer, though...9 more school days.


And, no post would be complete without some puppy cuteness:

Waiting for Mom to come home...it's so boring...

They are pretty sure I don't love them when I make them stay out...

five and counting.

5.  The number of weeks until summer vacation begins.  Just 23 school days.
It's hard to believe, really.  I can still vividly remember going for my interview, getting hired, and the whirlwind that ensued afterward.  I remember the day I met my students and how I wasn't quite prepared.  I've learned so much, and now it's almost over.  It's bittersweet now that I've come to love my class, yet some days are just uncomfortable to be on campus.  Besides that fact, now I'm looking for a job all over again.

I've tried to not post much, careful to not complain too much about the position I've found myself in.  It's unfortunate in a lot of ways, especially the way that it all happened, but I'm simply trusting that God has a bigger plan in mind.  I'm letting go of the anxiety of finding a job, even though I'm still searching.  I'm letting go of trying to control things, because I know that's not my place, and I couldn't even if I tried. It's hard, but I'm thankful to have God to lean on.  I'm also extraordinarily thankful for the kind, encouraging, and wise words from friends and family as I walk through this time.

On a different note, our puppies are as adorable as ever.  Life is tough around here, though...



...you have to get a lot of baths...

...and be really cute all the time...



...and smell the roses...



...it's really just all so tiring.

more than a coincidence.

Almost two weeks ago, on Friday, March 23, I was driving to work and heard on the radio that it was "National Puppy Day."  I texted my mom that news (at a red light, of course) and we joked about it.  Little did we know what that day would hold.

Fast forward to Friday evening, when my dad came home from work.  It was around 7:00 and he told us to come look outside.  There was saw three small dogs/puppies running around.  They came right to us and were lovable from the second we laid eyes on them.  Since they were adorable, we felt obligated to help them find their way home.  They just ran around in a little pack, sticking fairly close to the obviously older dog with them.  We spent an hour or more asking neighbors until it turned dark.  Dad called and told us to bring them home and we would try again the next day.  They were adorable and perfectly content to stay around.  They also adored us every time we went outside to see them. 

Our cute visitors on Saturday morning

We put up signs around the neighborhood and waited.  We imagined every possibility as to why they were out.  And we still heard nothing.

Fast forward to last Friday when we decided we would give them names, since they were obviously sticking around for awhile.

Meet Henry, Riley, and Brady:

Henry

Riley

Brady

Since they were sticking around for a bit, we thought we should take them to the vet, see if they were healthy, etc.  Fast forward to this week.  We called a friend on Tuesday afternoon to find out which vet she went to, not wanting to draw attention to the number of dogs we had by going to our regular vet.  Anyway, she told us, we called, and got an appointment Wednesday afternoon.  Mom and I left the house around 2:40 with 3 wiggly dogs.  They were good in the car, but none of the leashes/collars we had on them really fit, so we had to carry them inside the vet.  Riley was the wiggliest of them all, whimpering to get down and see the other dogs for the entire time period we sat in the waiting room.  Mom checked them in and filled out what we could as far as paperwork went.  The lady there checked them for microchips and found nothing.  After sitting there a good 20-25 minutes waiting for our turn to be called, I noticed a girl walk by us with a small white dog in her arms.  She walked back over with her mom and minute later who proceeded to say, "I think you have our dogs."  We were completely flabbergasted by her statement, but she told us all about the dogs.  We found out they lost them on Thursday, March 22, one day before we found them.  They also lived out off of Harris Rd., which is miles from our house.  We talked for a few minutes and then she said she needed to go call her husband.  She came back and said that they wanted Henry (or Bon Bon, as they called him) back, but that they really had needed to give away the puppies, so we could keep them if we wanted to.  Having fallen in love with them, we said yes, and now have two very sweet additions (Riley and Brady) in our family.  We had assumed they were brothers from the same litter, but they aren't.  Henry was Brady's dad, and they had Riley's mom (the white dog I had seen with them).  Brady's birthday is June 1 and Riley's birthday us July 4.  We had guessed they were 4-6 months old, but really they are 8 and 9 months old.  And, since we were at the vet, their previous owner had their vet records transferred to our account. 

I still can't get over the whole thing.  Honestly, what are the chances that of all the vets we could have chosen on all the days at all the times, that was the same vet, day, and time they would be there.  Really, we have to believe it was more than a coincidence. 

And here's just a few other cute pictures I've taken:

All 3 "new dogs" playing with Cody.  Our dogs have been very accepting of them.

Riley and I hanging out with our (my) feet in the pool.  He was enamored by the leaves floating by.

And then he fell in shortly thereafter.