Last Day

Well, the last day of teaching has come and gone. There was a part of me that thought it would never arrive and the other part of me that wishes it never had to. Very emotional day. Coupled with the fact that I am over 37 weeks pregnant... Pretty much an open fire hydrant for tears. Some things I will not miss, not even a little bit. But some things I will ache for I think. It is incredible how a decision can seem so clear and right when you are making it and then become so blurry and questionable when it arrives. But we know that once Etta arrives with us there will be no more doubts. That and the crystal clear way that God has made his plan known over the course of the last ten months. There is really no questioning that now. Here is a bouquet that one of my students brought to parent/teacher conferences last night. (Along with a chocolate cake.) She hand selected each flower and had them create the arrangement. No pre-made store selection for her. That right there - that's what is tearing me up inside.

"D" Day

Tuesday was Defense Against the Dark Arts Day. Oh wait, I mean that the day had finally come for Bob to defend his thesis. Yes, he scheduled it for Tax Day. Thankfully I am the one who does the taxes, but I think that is a whole other blog entry. I took the afternoon off and traveled up to Moscow with Cathy to be there for his defense. We had a nice little crowd actually, very good feeling to be so supported. It was amazing to me as I knew that he had been putting a lot of time in to the whole thing over the last three years, but I guess I didn't really comprehend how much time. Oops. Live and learn. And many people have said that the roles will be reversed once Etta comes...But he made it through the presentation and the question and answer time and passed! He now has to do some more revisions to the written part, have it edited and then get it "published". Oh, did I mention that it has to be by May 1st? That along with the two concerts he has next week, and the fact that the baby seems ready to come at any time has him a little stressed out. We just keep remembering that God never gives you more than you can handle and that we are truly blessed that these are the worst of our problems right now.

So a thesis defense isn't necessarily the most exciting of times but I tried to capture some shots to bring the action to you:


"As you can see, I have very long arms and can point across over half of the black board." (Actually he was exlaining how much kindergartners can learn in one year.)


"And then the board comes along and crunches the budget and compacts the music department yet again." (Really? He was showing a rubric that he has classroom teachers use to evaluate student concert etiquette at concerts.)

EWU Invitational Band Festival

On April 12th I took the 7th-9th grade band up to Cheney for a band festival. When I planned it in January it seemed like a great idea. Right before I was going to go on maternity leave, spring time, pretty close by...well, getting to week 36 1/2 and having to travel on a bus with a ton of kids three hours away from your main OB suddenly doesn't seem like such a great idea. But it went really well. The kids were super behaved, Bob was able to come along and overall it was a really educational - and fun! - day. Here are just a couple of action shots.

Week 37

2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced.

The Final Countdown

From right now I only have three days of work left. After seven years of going to Jenifer every day for work I'm not sure if I am still excited not going in. (Having school keys, my own office, my own classroom...) Well, I am pretty excited about not getting up at 5:15 a.m. every day to go to work but I am really going to miss my kids. Seven years - the only other thing that I have done continuously for seven years was go to elementary school! But it's not like I'm never going to see them again, it will just be different.


Mrs. Pregnant Band Director

They seem incredibly at attention. Why do I not notice this when I am actually conducting?

New roof

The old, moldy garage roof. Bob has had reroofing on his "to do" list for a couple of years now.

He decided that this spring break would be the best time to finally "git 'er done" and with Steve's help...

We have a beautiful new garage roof. Guaranteed to last thirty wonderful years!

The Ladies Man

This is Jonah. Will he be Etta's boyfriend? We will have to make sure that they are not playing doctor!