Summer Vaca is Here!!

Summer vacation kicked off Tuesday with our annual Teacher Boat Party on Shelbyville Lake. It was a lot of fun and extra special because we had a retiree to honor! The weather ended up being better than expected. It rained a few times but luckily the party boat had a top over the picnic table/food area. I'm still trying to process that school is really done for the year. It seems more like Spring Break, but if you were to visit my classroom, it is definately Summer Vacation! Hard to believe I will be starting my fourth year in August... man how time flies! I'm getting to the point where I can't use the "I'm new" excuse which I kind of like.

I got a text yesterday asking if I was ready to start at the Park District on Monday. I thought I had a few more weeks to just lay around before I was needed to work job #2! I of course said that I will be there... I have a hard time turning down a chance to make some extra money! I may see if I can just work 8 - 1 so I will still have some good lay out time.

Doug and I took the pool cover off on Sunday. I'm impressed by how great the water looks! I just need for it to stop raining and get a little warmer so I don't have to swim in icicles! We haven't had any major encounters with Brother Bob yet... My fingers are crossed for a peaceful summer. He's been outside a few times and just kind of gives me the stare.... I'm fine with stares, I just can't tolerated the cussing madness! Luckily, he has been working at Kroger during the day and I'm praying for both our sakes he keeps up that schedule. After getting the pool all ready to go, my goal is to put up a nice, tall privacy fence all around our lot. I feel we owe our four-legged child that much this summer!

In a few hours my momma and I are heading to Seno Formal Wear to order our invitations. I think we picked out some good ones.... now I'm just hoping they are actually available to order. While deciding on how many invites to order, we also worked on narrowing down our guest list which was not an easy task. I think all our "major" wedding tasks will be completed after we get our order placed... Notice "major"... we still have a LOT to do! :)

I get to brag!

Wow... it has been a LONG time since I last blogged! Either that is a sign that I am really busy or that I just haven't had much excitement to blog about...

I just checked EIU PAWS and I get to brag for 2.2 seconds... I got an A in both my Personnel Administration and School LAW classes this semester! Yipee! It has been a long, stressful semester with Law on my plate mixed with Grandpa's health worsening right at finals time. After studying, reading, reporting, and speaking law jargon for several months, it has paid off! I can't tell you how good that A feels. Only 4 semesters left and you can call me Master Mindy :)

Ok, I'm done! Only 8 official days of school left... minus field day, an AR reward movie, a math facts reward movie, and clean out our lockers/desks day.... summer is so close I can feel the warm sunshine mixed with lounging in my pool!

Another Classy Weekend

This weekend was my first personnel class... or as the teacher would say, human resource development. I guess he is right, the second does sound a lot more important. Personnel consists of hiring, retaining, and motivating teachers. Class was pretty simple... which is okay. I figure as long as I get credit, I don't care at this point how long we meet or how technical we get. Last night we were suppose to be in class from 5 - 10 p.m. Our teacher lectured from 5 - 6 and then we went on a 15 minute break. He lectured again from 6 - 6:15 then we went on dinner break until 8. We went back at 8 and by 8:30... DONE! Pretty easy night! Our class was suppose to meet again today from 8 - 4. Our professor decided 8 was a little too early so we started at 9 instead with bagels from Panera. Introductions took from 9 - 10 and then we took a 15 minute break. From 10:15 - 11 we worked on project one then took a lunch break from 11 - 1. He wrapped things up after lunch and we were good to go at 1:30. Now that is what I'm talking about! Pretty short, sweet, and to the point :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy News

I will finally be able to get a good nights sleep after hearing that I will be teaching 5th grade again next year at M.I.S. I told myself from the very beginning of the year that I wouldn't worry about my job again this year come "cut time." Unfortunately, the more rumors that are spread, the more I WORRY! I am probably one of the luckiest teachers because I have a GREAT principal who I know would/will fight to save my position until I am tenured. There is a special board meeting on Monday to decide who will be where next year! Please pray for the members as they make the personnel decisions next week that will benefit our District positively in the future. I find it a crazy coincidence that I start my Personnel class this weekend. I'm hoping to learn some inside secrets that I can use to improve my ways of teaching. Happy Birthday to me! :)

My Cardinals porch/Doug's man cave is ALMOST completely painted. The red walls were finished yesterday and one coat of white was added to the remaining walls and ceiling. I think after one or two more coats we can take up the carpet and paint the floor. I know it's crazy, but I have decided to put a floor paint down and then just get a large area rug to cover the majority of the floor. That way I won't have to worry about the door leaking when we get major rains. My goal is to have everything complete by opening day... we will see!

State Tournament

Yesterday was a very intense basketball game at the Peoria Civic Center as the Meridian basketball team played in the final four game. We won, but it was't pretty. Actually, I don't even know if you can say we won by playing to win. We simply played to not lose. In the first half we were up by 17 and most fans, including myself, thought the game was in the bag. Oh, no! Meridian ended up winning by only 3 points. I'm really hoping the championship game is not as close... I really like winning by 20 and have been pretty spoiled the whole season! :) The game is on TV today so check it out. Meridian is 1A and will be playing at 12:45. Go Hawks!

CELEBRATE!

I have been told by Ashley that I'm slipping as a blogger... Unfortunately, I just haven't had much to talk about!

Today was my class's final day of ISAT testing! Woo Hoo! The kids have really been pretending to work hard. We will see how hard they really worked some time this summer. The week has actually been really boring because it has been TOO quiet. I know, is there such a thing as too quiet while working in a building with 300 kids? YES!

The students took 2 tests a day starting Monday. I made the mistake of getting all my grades caught up on Sunday. What was I thinking? Since I didn't have papers to grade I decided to organize my filing cabinets. I still had some useless things in my files from the previous teacher. I also started reading the third Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I love that series. I think the kids thought it was funny that I was actually sitting there reading the book which is a 5th grade reading level. I got a lot of thumbs ups because it is definitely the "cool" book to be reading right now at our school. I'm trying to hurry up and finish because I know that it would give Alex something to do on the car ride to Florida.

Tomorrow we are having an ISAT party to celebrate being done. It's only appropriate because all we have done this week is eat yummy snacks and test. I told them we could have a party if we had perfect attendance Monday-Thursday because then we wouldn't have to worry about make up tests. Kids are great with challenges.... not one of them was absent all week! I am going to make the kids nachos for an after lunch snack and we are going to watch Akeelah and the Bee. It should be a good way to end a very stressful week. Toby Tucker is also coming to my class tomorrow because I won the Cookie Monster contest on 95Q. He is bringing my class Girl Scout cookies and milk. Yummmmmy! I will have to do my wii fit after all the nachos and cookies!

Ready to be a Bride!

Today was a busy day for Mom, Allie, and me. We started the day by visiting a little wedding shop in Decatur called Marina's, desperately seeking a jr. bridesmaid dress for Riley. I didn't realize when we bought the oh so cute bridesmaids' dresses that the brown would be so darn hard to match! My mom had heard that Marina can make any dress from scratch but our problems has been finding fabric. Marina had been on vacation for a few weeks so we finally sat down to discuss our dress wishes before running off to our next appointment. We are in luck. Marina can order fabric that matches the bridesmaids exactly and can also make the dress for little miss Riley. Next item on the to do list: Find adorable dresses for my flower girls- Grace & Peyton!

After visiting Merchant street, we went around the corner to the best salon in Decatur, Fringe. My mom got her hair cut and styled by Alyssa. It is soooo cute and in style! She goes for highlights before they leave for Florida in a couple of weeks! She is gonna look ten years younger before you all see her again! After Mom's appointment I sat down with Alyssa for a trial wedding up do. I surprisingly knew what I wanted and am SO excited for the results. With a cute hairdo- I'm officially ready to be the bride! I can't reveal the final results, but my decision was based off of the ever so beautiful Carrie Underwood. I can't believe how long my hair is and that I haven't gone crazy and chopped it all off. Even though my hair is beautiful, we both agreed I have a little further to go to pull the look off like Miss Underwood. After Fringe we headed to David's Bridal in Springfield to get my dress altered. I love my dress but the store annoys me ever since I was told I had back fat. It was soooo busy with prom and wedding shoppers. I was glad we had an appointment for the back alterations room and I didn't have to model a dress in front of the whole store. My dress almost fits perfectly. The length is just right with my high heels and really fits good. I'm a little self conscious about the top so she is going to take it in just a little so I don't feel the need to tug at it. The only major transformation taking place is the bussles (sp?). I love having my dress on, hair done, and jewelry shining to see what I will actually look like on October 10th! I'm excited.

Our last stop before home was Shoe Carnival where we FINALLY found SHOES for the GIRLS! Hooray! I didn't know if we would ever find something that matched. Allie said they are really comfy so I hope every one else likes them. They do have a good heal on them so I am going to continue to look for the mommy-to-be flats! Don't worry, Tara, I won't stick you in stilettos! :)