[insert HSM music here]

What time is it?? Summer time!

If you don't know what this title is referencing, you need to watch High School Musical 2.

Furthermore, if you didn't know what HSM stood for before I typed it out, you need to watch High School Musical 1, 2, and 3.

The school year has ended and summer is officially here! I'm looking forward to a break, although it was sad sending my class off today. I've really enjoyed them this year.

Enjoy this week's pictures!

May 22: As of Saturday afternoon, my Saturday evening plans consisted of me at my apartment, productively checking things off my to-do list. Becca said she might come over and help me with some things, but this plan soon evolved. Her husband then planned to join us, and before I knew it we had two other couples from our small group at my apartment. It was a beautifully spontaneous moment, and the evening turned out to be so much fun! We ate at a nearby mexican restaurant, returned to the apartment, and played "Imagine If" while enjoying laughter and fellowship. We finished the evening with a viewing of "The Incredibles", which apparently I haven't seen in awhile because I remembered VERY little of it. It was a great Saturday night!

May 23: Dear friends from my small group, Dani and Elizabeth.

May 24: A sweet student of mine brought in cupcakes she had baked over the weekend. She and her aunt had carefully decorated each one to look like the students in our class. They were precious! Doesn't this look just like me?

May 25: Love this new album by Jimmy Needham! I've listened to it several times this week, and I appreciate the rich lyrics. My favorite is probably "Grace Amazing", which he apparently cowrote with Shane Bernard (folksy singer) and Trip Lee (rapper). Needless to say, it makes for an interesting song! :)

May 26: Cherry tomatoes - delicious. This is part of a random mixture of ingredients including pasta and parmesan cheese. I was trying to be chef-like and throw together something brilliant, but my dinner didn't turn out the way I'd envisioned it. It was edible, but I decided not to become a professional chef at this time in my life.

May 27: Relief. Thank You, Lord. When I left work the temperature in my car read 93 degrees. When I arrived home 25 minutes later, the temperature read 82 degrees, and the sky looked like this. This week it's been in the 90s and HOT. Don't get me wrong...I'm grateful the temperature has not yet reached it's summer peak, but I'm also grateful for a rain shower.

May 28: The last day of school. My empty classroom. :(

This Year is Different

Last week I had my students pick from several writing prompts, all which had to do with the school year ending. One of them was "How was this year different from what you expected at the start of the year?". One of my students showed me her paragraph, titled with the above title, and I was not expecting to read the following (original spelling included):

This year is diffrent because at the start of the year I thought it was just a big room of just friends, but actually this class is a big family. We all just get along so well and we are all just family. We know eachother from the inside out and thats what family is, but somtimes we fight, but we work it out and the next day we are all friends.

Her paragraph perfectly describes the class I had this year. These kids LOVE each other, they work well together, and I have enjoyed spending time with each and every one of them this year. I'm grateful to God for these students, and I pray that the truth of the gospel will take root in their hearts as they continue to hear His Word taught. I love them and will miss them greatly.

Four more days of my 6th year teaching - it's hard to believe...

The Day I Wrestled the Vacuum Cleaner

Enjoy the pictures! :)

May 15: My friend Mica (in the blue shirt) took Becca and me to the Ft. Worth Stockyards last weekend. She is a professional photographer and is very gifted! We enjoyed our time with her and learned a bunch...below is a favorite picture of my dear cousin.

She's just beautiful. Inside and out.

May 16: Working on end-of-the-year letters to my students.

May 17: I didn't have a good picture for this day, so...this is a gift for my cousin Catherine. She's graduating high school next week, and I thought she needed an essential item for her dorm room. You'll soon find out what it is...:)

May 18: Okay, I'm so proud of this moment! I started vacuuming the apartment, and suddenly the vacuum smelled like it was about to explode. I quickly turned it off so my apartment wouldn't burn down. After at first feeling defeated, I thought "How hard can it be to fix this thing?" So I Googled. Google is amazing, by the way. I pulled up directions on how to change a belt (since my apartment smelled like burnt rubber), and I started unscrewing things. After disassembling everything, I came to realize the belt was fine, but the rotating brush was disgusting. So I cleaned that out, put everything back together, and tried vacuuming again - success!

May 19: Dinner with Cary and Kim. We enjoyed dinner at a mexican restaurant in town called Gloria's.

May 20: Dinner at Megan & Kc's. Megan made delicious sloppy joes, corn on the cob, and fries.

May 21: I had a work day at school on Friday, and I utilized my Snuggie during the afternoon! It. Is. Awesome. Who knew I could be warm and work on report cards at the same time?

Catherine has one, too! She opened her present while she was in town - Happy Graduation! :)

Original Title

Enjoy this week's pictures!

May 8: I ran out of body wash last weekend, so I thought I'd pick up another at the store. Kroger was having a 3 for $10 sale, and I hate to miss a good sale! Turns out I already had one stashed under my sink, so when I got home I discovered I now had 4. A little excessive? I like to think I'm just extremely prepared...

May 9: Cousin Deborah stopped by on her way back home from college. I'm so glad she did - it's always such a treat to see her! She came to church with us on Sunday, and we all spent Mother's Day with Becca's mother-in-law. Pei Wei and good company...a great Sunday afternoon.

May 10: McAllister's sweet tea - delicious! A treat before BSF on Monday night.

May 11: Right now my kids are dissecting owl pellets, which is one of my favorite projects in our science curriculum. Two of my girls found the biggest rat skull I've seen yet!

May 12: Fried rice attempt #1 - it was a success! I've always wanted to try this, and I loved this recipe from Simple & Delicious. This picture is a realistic view of my kitchen while I cook. I like to make a mess...:).

May 13: The senior I meet with each week had her last day of classes on Thursday. At my school, the seniors have what's called "Uniform Desecration Day" - a day they embellish their uniforms to show off their college choice. Cassie was all decked out in maroon and white, and she donned a cute pair of cowboy boots for the day - Gig 'Em!

May 14: Tonight I had the pleasure of dining with a family from school. Abby was in my class two years ago, and she invited me to her spring piano recital. Before we went, her family and I enjoyed dinner at their house - pizza from Papa Murphy's - delicious! The recital was fantastic, although I only stayed for half of it. Abby played a beautiful sonatina, and she did so well! I had no idea she was so musically talented!

Best Of...

In honor of the end of the school year, I'd like to share some sentences that have made me smile over the last several months. Every Thursday for homework, my kids have what's called "10 Brilliant Sentences". They are to choose 10 spelling words to use correctly in 10 sentences. Not just any sentences - 10 brilliant sentences. My classroom assistant loves grading these, and she chooses a favorite each week and stashes a copy in a file labeled "Best of 10 Brilliant Sentences". Below are a few of my personal favorites. You can see the spelling word (or some variation of it) underlined in each sentence. Kids are so cute!

I salutationed my family last night.

I am almost always right sometimes.

I am the most awesome person. (*Humility at its best...)

I stared at Nick for an hour.

The eraser on my pencil is worthless.

A person, place, or thing is a verb. (*I do teach grammar, I promise!)

My kitten was born in the year of 1969.

My brother loves to unroll toilet paper.

Miss Cunningham has always wanted to mow the lawn. (*So true...)

Grateful for my students. They are precious.

Fun New Fact

FACT: Sunscreen expires.

The rest of the world probably knew that, but this is a new concept for me. I discovered it this morning when I applied sunscreen to my arms and noticed a peculiar smell. Turns out, when you use expired sunscreen, you smell a bit like sour milk for the rest of the day. *Awesome*

I had a random batch of pictures this week, but it was a great week! Enjoy!

May 1: A great start to May! :) This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning. Read Psalm 19.

May 2: On Sunday evening I went back to my old church for a visit. They have recently built a new children's building, through which I was led on a grand tour by my friend Araenae.

May 3: BSF! Monday night was a fun one because I got to spend the evening with two amazing girls, Cousin Becca and Megan. Becca started attending my class when Megan went on maternity leave, but now she's back! I'm not sure if they are gesturing toward each other or my chair. Either way, the picture is awesome. :)

May 4: I group my students into table groups, and when the group earns a certain amount of "points" they get to dress me up. This is one of many outfits I parade around in for a day. Don't worry, there's a tie to match.

May 5: Elder-led prayer service at church - such an encouraging time. Dani, Garrett, Becca, Caleb and I all went together Wednesday night.

May 6: I work for the best principal ever. To motivate our kids to read, he promised to rappel down the side of a building when they reached 252 million words. Apparently we have a way to keep track of that. They made it just in time!

May 7: A treat to satisfy my sweet tooth. :)