Wrapping up the year

The school year has come to an end and I am PUMPED.  9-10ish weeks of doing errands during the week day, folding laundry at 1 pm, and relaxing by the pool.  (that last part is clearly a lie but a girl can dream, can't she?)  I love my students and love my job but I think what I really love about teaching is that each year has a process.  You get to know a completely new batch of students, try to instill in them a passion for what you love, and then say goodbye at the very end.  I can't imagine having a job where every day, each year, I see the same people, do the same sort of thing, and there is no real "beginning, middle, and end."  If there is one thing that teaching lacks, it's monotony.  I look forward to doing it all over again in August with a totally new group of kids and new experiences to have.

I will miss this year of kids because they will be my last class of AP Combined Studies kids for a little while.  We didn't get enough students to sign up for yearlong so we went back to only stand alone.  While I'm sad about this (I really get to know the kids better having them all year), this could not have happened at a better time.  Now when I go on maternity leave in October, I won't be stressing about grading essays and coming back to a mess that my sub may or may not have left.  It will be a dream.  So I really did savor my time with this last group of kids and clearly I'm the lucky one here.  As an end of year gift, one of my super talented students/artists Grace made me perhaps the best present ever.  I will be framing this for sure.  And for two seconds I felt bad for dogging Henry Clay so much in class until I realized, "Nah.  He sucks." :)  Some people get cash bonuses at the end of the year with their jobs.  I get this.  I win :)

As the year wrapped up, we have begun to spend more and more time outside.  And as a right of passage, I taught my kids how to eat honeysuckle.  It's tasty, time-consuming, and a necessity for childhood.  Looking forward to more time outside because of things like this :)  And for a brief period, Lucy was referring to them as "huckle suckles" which was adorable.  But in true Lucy fashion, she quickly learned the correct pronunciation and began calling them by their proper name.  She really is too smart for her own good.  Jack also corrected a common mispronunciation this year as well.  For the last 3 years he has referred to mosquitoes as "smog-ee-toes" and I loved it.  Now, that is no more :(  At least I got to enjoy that for 3 years.  

We also rounded out the end of the school year by celebrating Max turning 2!  Melissa planned a super fun, super laid back cook out in her mom's backyard and we had a great time running around with Max, Anderson, and their awesome cousins.

Cannot handle this girl's pigtails.

I also cannot handle that this boy is 2.  It's unreal!  Personally, I think Melissa needs one more kid so I can selfishly enjoy her kids always being little in one fashion or another. Happy birthday, Max!