Anywhoo, as you all are aware, I'm sure, SCHOOL IS OVER. I cannot explain how different it feels to know that yes, it summer, but...I DO NOT HAVE TO GO BACK. It's a totally freeing feeling, such a huge relief of stress, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. That said, Palmyra wasn't all bad. Despite the problems, despite the bad kids, despite the frustrations, I was lucky to work with some really great kids along the way, too. And even though I often felt like everything I had tried to do was futile, and made no impact, the last day of school proved to me that I was wrong. It proved to me that I had made an impact, even if it was only on a few students. When I walked into my room on the last day of school, it was completely decorated with streamers, balloons, posters, pictures on the board, and there was even a cake on my desk (it made for a very good breakfast:)! It was very touching, and of course I cried. It seems that a group of students had gotten permission from the principal to break into my room after I left on the second to last day of school, and decorate it so I had a nice surprise when I got there the next morning. And a big group of kids got to school really early that morning to wait for me to get there, so they could ambush me after I walked into my room!! I wish I had been able to take a picture of all of them, but my camera was out in the car, and I wasn't able to get it until a couple of hours later...it was just a great way for me to end the year. There were kids in that group from each of the past three years that I've taught, so it was just a nice feeling to know that I had an impact on some of them...So Palmyra, thanks for the memories.
Moving on, Mike and I also had to say goodbye to a very important part of our family last week. We traded in Mike's truck. Oh, it was a good truck. A very good truck. So many memories of piling the bed full of almost a ton of dirt/weeds/debris from the back yard after we first moved into the house. Of taking drives over/through small creeks in the Poconos. Of moving me in and out of my various apartments and houses when I was in college. Of setting up the grill and tailgating at PennState football games. Of crawling under the bed cover to escape RAIN during PennState tailgating. So many memories of that truck doing the dirty work for us...how many trips did that truck take to Home Depot and Lowes combined?? Hundreds, I'm sure. So, to Mike's truck, thanks for the memories. We loved you. We'll always love you:)
As you can guess, since we traded one car in, we got another one! The trade in was primarily to get a second car that could accommodate a car seat, and it was a bonus to get a car with WAY better gas mileage than the truck. Our new car is a Silver 2009 Toyota Matrix. It's a pretty sweet ride. Mike, being the gentleman that he is, is letting me drive the new car, while he now drives the Civic to work. I'm sure we'll make lots of new memories in the new car, especially since soon there will be a baby in tow! There are pictures in the slide show, but I couldn't get a good angle on it in the garage, and didn't feel like moving it out to the street. If you go to google images, and type in 2009 Toyota Matrix, you'll find some good pictures.
And now, onto baby. To Baby Bean I won't say thanks for the memories, but rather, Thanks for the mammaries. Bean has caused lots of changes to my body, but the most noticeable are the boobs. So thanks, bean:) Your mother thanks you, and your father thanks you. Also, you'll notice that I haven't included any updated "bump" pictures. This is mostly because the bump comes and goes, depending on how bloated I am. I assure you, though, it's there. I can REALLY tell the difference, but that's because I get to see myself naked. With clothes on, you just can't tell. And so since I'm not into posting nude photos of myself on the internet, you'll just have to wait until bean gets a little bigger, and starts to protrude some more, and then I'll post pictures. As of right now, I'm 19 weeks, 2 days pregnant, which means I'm ALMOST HALF WAY THERE! And bean is starting to move around, a lot! I love to feel bean moving around. Mike and I had read that at this point, bean can hear sounds, and that a loud noise might make it jump! So Mike thought it would be funny one night to scream at my belly and see if bean did anything. And it did! As soon as Mike yelled, it jumped, and then was moving around for a few minutes, probably trying to figure out what the heck that was...I didn't think it was very nice, though, so Mike is forbidden to do it again!
Alright, this blog has gone on long enough.
