it's impossible to be unhappy in a poncho

So, Mom, Dad, Megan, Katy, Mike, and AJ were all here sometime between the 15th and the 21st. Whew!

What we did:
-Ate at Retro's, Blue Talon, the Cheese Shop, Chik-Fil-A (there are none in Michigan), California Pizza Kitchen... I can't remember where else. LOTS of good food.
-Gave dad his Father's Day gift (Tiger Woods Golf for Wii--he loved it)
-Went to the Sunday night movie on Price George St.
-Went to Macarthur Center for Body Shop and H&M goodness (oh my, do I love H&M--that was my bday present from my parents)
-Played mini golf while mom got her Mother's Day massage (she said it was the best ever)
-Went to Jamestown
-Went to Richmond
-Went to Busch Gardens (David and I now have a Fun Pass and we're looking forward to going back again and again and again... and again...), but sadly, the rides were shut down about an hour and a half early due to a storm, so we left.
-Tried out new recipes, made by master chefs Megan and Ruth (mom).
-Drank St Julian wine and lots of good beer. Also, had a pomegranate margarita. Deeelicious.
-Played Things (Dad wanted to know what the Canadians sent me for Xmas-- looove it) and introduced AJ to Apples to Apples
-Played Wii!! OMG. They brought down everything, including Mario Kart and Wii Fit, as well as this other game full of carnival games (difficult, but addicting). David and I have been thinking more and more seriously about getting a Wii, mostly for Mario and Wii Fit.
-Went swimming, scared Megan by floating up beside her in the pool.
-Made lots of Mighty Boosh references and sang many of the songs.
-Laughed until our stomachs and cheeks ached over the Creepy Traveler.
-Counted quilted bags and the amount quilted bag conventions (when 2 or more women in a group of women have a quilted bag).
-Saw The Happening-- HORRIBLE! What the hell M. Night Shamalan?!

Did I forget something? Probably. I think I got it all though.

My birthday was absolutely wonderful because they were here, there was lots of good food, lots of laughter and lots of new clothes.

improvement on yesterday

Today was much better. I got a lot done, my kids were annoying and endearing. One of them chased me around the room, threatening to hug me. I asked him, "Maino- what am I going to do with you?!" He goes, "LOVE ME!". That kid is crazy. Another student, Kendall, came into 8th bell and asked me, "Mrs. P, you feeling better today? Someone told me you were having a horrible day yesterday."

I got some more good news today, too. My birthday will not only be awesome because Tye and I will be having a joint birthday (and my teachers-only "going away") party (possibly involving roller skates?) and because that same week, my parents, Megan, Liz will be here, but also because Katy and her boyfriend Mike will be here! YES! That is so fantastic.

Tomorrow night I'm going to Tye's for a spa night and possible sleep over. It is the perfect weekend for that to happen. This weekend and next I have a TON of work to do to get me on track, ready for David's graduation and his family's visit, and ready for the SOL craziness that's gonna happen in about 2 weeks. Wow--It's almost the end of the year.

a very colonial birthday

So, it's now June 17th, which means I am now 24 and a second year teacher.
My last days of school included many nice times. I watched Pan's Labrynth and Stomp the Yard with my kids. I got hugs. I got a t-shirt. I got awards. I gave awards and cards (one girl cried). And we ate a lot of food. Oh! And I found out I will have my own classroom, Tyesha (a long-term sub I just looove, she's just amazing and hilarious) will be joining our department as a teacher next year, Amy (other Michigan teacher) will have a desk near me, as will Ahmasi. Good changes, even though we saw many teachers leave and Chandra and Jerilyn will be downstairs with the 9th graders.
I took class pictures of every class but 3rd bell because a lot of kids couldn't make it, were making up other stuff, whatever, and I ended up with only five kids staying. I had pictures of most of them already, anyway, so... whatev.
I'll post the class pictures here, my flickr will have all the other pictures I took of kids and their funny faces, dances and handshakes.

1st bell: Paul, Chris, James, Bryan, Colin. Cleo. Renika, Nycolle and Ronisha. We were missing about 5 kids, a few of which never showed up because of family or medical issues.

2nd bell: Justin and his beloved donut, Tremaine, Melvin, Sandra, Franklin, Aric, Annette, Ariana. (Front) Sequena, Bonnie, Josh, Tony, Cody. I loved this class, I love this picture.

5th bell (most of it, anyway): Danielle, Zakiyyah, Vanessa, Nekita, Matthew, Dustin, Chen, Robert. (Front) Damian, Brittany, Samantha, Chris, Taphanies and Ryan. Loooove them!

8th bell: Vicky, Dorian, Kristian, Bre, J'mari, Deena, Julia, Shane, Rodney, Eric. Lauren, Patrick, Shawn and Ashley (cutest couple ever.), Crystal, Cherae. James, Le'Stace, Carl and some kid from Bugge's class that snuck himself in there. This was my crazy, but hilarious class. Many times we all laughed until we cried. James and Patrick had an amazing handshake they showed me that day, I took a picture of part of it. I should have taped it, it was amazing. haha.

So, my birthday. Thank you to everyone that sent me a birthday wish, I really appreciated it. Meg and I went to New Town, shopped, bought stuff, had lunch, went to get manicures and pedicures and then we all went into downtown Williamsburg, got a gift to send to Amanda to help her heal, and went to dinner at the Green Leafe Cafe. Very delicious!
I played around with the photo merge program that came with my camera. Here is a visual representation of what I bought for myself, what was bought for me, and our nailzzzz. It was not a wild & crazy birthday, but it was relaxing and wonderful.


Our parents should be somewhere near Charleson, WV now, on their way here. Tomorrow by noon, they should probably be here, along with our cousin, Liz. We're looking forward to hanging out with them in the CW, shopping in and going to Va Beach and Norfolk, seeing Pet Sounds and maybe convincing them (or part of them) to go to Busch Gardens. Woo, visitors!

bad, sunglasses, bad!

Last week. Lastweeklastweeklastweek! It's just hitting me now that on Thursday, I will be done. No more students, no more grading until September. Oh. my.
Tomorrow I have my 1st/3rd bell picnic. On Wednesday I have my 5th bell. After that I'll have class pictures, a run-down of what happened, and pictures of kids dancing, doing handshakes they made up, and general silliness. One of the most awesome moments of teaching so far happened on Friday with my 8th bell's picnic. We had it indoors since the heat index was about 100 degrees! I gave them their awards, and Patrick, Deena and James started a cheering section because Deena complained that no one was clapping. So, they were in the back going, "YEAH! YEAH! GET 'EM! GET 'EM! KEEP SMILIN!! YOU GO (name)! WOOOO!" and all sorts of crazy stuff. They got the whole class riled up. I wish I had a video tape of it, because it was 15 minutes of awesomness. People started doing touchdown dances, making shocked faces like the ones you see at pagents or the Oscars, faking crying, doing crazy walks around the classroom. It was amazing. We were so loud with the cheering and laughing, not only were people crying from laughing so hard, but an assistant principal popped her head in to make sure everything was okay. I was laughing so hard that I could only go, "No, no, we're okay! It's all good! It's a good thing!" Amazing.
Yesterday I took Megan out to Knitting Sisters and ended up finding an "upscale resale" shop. I got some Report shoes for $8, which was pretty sweet. They are very cute and the price made 'em even better. Today I pulled my sunglasses I bought from H&M when Meg and Mike were here for spring break and found out they snapped in the same place as my others that snapped over a month ago! Damn! And superglue won't fix these, there was a chunk missing that I couldn't find. Oh well, they were like $8. I liked them, though. I have bad luck with sunglasses. Megan and I made a list of my bad luck:
1. Lost green sunglasses at Silver Leaf. Never got them back, although they said they would drop them off at the house.
2. Lost a pair walking Brody, we retraced every step and didn't find any trace of them!
3. Screws fall out of David and I's sunglasses while they're in the car. Strange.
4. Sunglasses break when I get my first flat tire.
5, Today.
I think it's because I really love finding and buying sunglasses, so I subconcious sabotage the ones I have so I don't feel guilty. We went to Target and I bought myself a birthday present: new glasses and a new bag, big and sturdy enough for a laptop that I'll hopefully get in the future or a weekend away or tons of books or whatever. Either way, it's sturdy, which is what I've been lacking in the other bags I've been buying.
Speaking of my birthday, I have no clue what I'm doing. Meg is getting us manicures and pedicures at the place across the way in New Town. David's coming down. We'll probably go to dinner. I'm thinking of inviting Norfolk people up, but I don't think any of them will take me up on it. But I'll try. The parents and Liz come down after, on the 18th, so I'll be celebrating then. I would say that while I'm in Kzoo, we could celebrate, but I'm getting more worried that I'm going for really no reason. Maybe to see two people, but everyone else will probably be busy or have moved on. I'm no longer needed or important and most of the people I was closest to there have moved, but I still miss it. Hopefully, it'll be fun.