The last few weeks...

Our life took a hectic turn in June. As a teacher I always wait and plan for summer to catch up on sleep and relaxation. Yeah, so far that hasn't happened. I've been Busy, Busy, Busy, but so far "summer" has been very enjoyable. Here's a recap (I had originally written "quick recap", but, well, it's getting a bit long!):

*As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm working as a Mentor this summer - I currently have seven kiddos - and each kid gets thirty hours this summer. It sounded super simple to me, but I'm finding that these kids are busy and fitting them into a schedule has been a challenge. Plus, they all have different goals and things I'm working on with them. It's been a really positive experience so far though.

*Two workshops -- one on Poverty (check out Ruby Payne -- interesting stuff) and one on Differentiated Instruction (another valuable one with lots of things to ponder and try) - and with these workshops, I got two college credits (I'm already only six away from a lane change!).

*Out of the DI workshops, I got on a summer project with some coworkers from my middle school to work on differentiated lessons for the 7th grade English curriculum. They want to do all of the hours in June so they can get paid before school starts up again. So again, working with all of our schedules, (plus one with babysitter needs) has been interesting!

*We did tons of stuff with CLA, JPJ and JPJ's sister MJ, since it was MJ's first time in the US. CA and JPJ totally planned her trip down to what meals they wanted her to try each day to introduce all types of cuisine (although, they never made it to the most American place of all -- the golden arches). Some or all of us went fishing, to a local park, shopping, to wedding showers, to Church, to Itasca, etc. We all helped plan CLA and JPJ's big day and had a wonderful time at the Groom's Supper. Then, at 04:05 on 06-07-08, CLA became Mrs. JPJ in a beautiful and wonderful ceremony. I even got to walk down the aisle with JJ (who was the best man). We had an awesome time dancing the night away. MJ taught us Hindi dancing. Later I was telling (and showing) someone how MJ had taught me how to dance. She said, "Is that how I look??!" heehee

*We even got to go along on the trip to Minneapolis to drop MJ off at the airport. The day before we went to Valley Fair and had a blast! I heart roller coasters - the bigger and scarier the better. The day before we left it rained and rained, so we were searching for other things to do in the cities, but on the day it was BEAUTIFUL. Yay! But it was so hot and sunny, JJ got sick -- maybe a bit of heat exhaustion.

*In Minneapolis, we got to stay with our buddies TAF and MF. They have a GORGEOUS house. I'm so jealous. I know we'll get to a house at some point, but they're there. And it's wonderful! Yay for them! They've done a bunch of updates - the house was vacant for quite some time before they moved in - and they've been doing a wonderful job. I love, love the paint colors and the things they brought back with them from Thailand. It all fits together so nicely. Gush, gush, I know. While hanging out with the F's, I got to go to a scrapbooking event with TAF, her SIL AP and a friend K something (who incidentally is a former Miss ND)! I even got to meet Miss SweetiePie NGP (AP's daughter). We went to Archivers to use all of their stuff, watch some demonstrations, and eat some junk food. I finished six pages (not so many, but a great start since I haven't scrapbooked since January) and TAF finished TEN.

*In Minneapolis, we also got to catch up with nieceypoos MH and KC (M's hubby PH was working). We can't wait to come back to Minneapolis in a couple of weeks for the H's wedding reception.

*Then, on the way back home, we caught up with CLJ's sister (JG) at their wonderful log cabin house for J's husband JG's bday party. We met and got to know JG and JG because they were also in CLJ and JPJ's wedding. It's funny because JJ and JG have the same first name, so it was easy to reprimand them. But, if we wanted to keep them straight, my JJ became "Tall J".

*Today we slept in until after 10am and haven't done anything productive since. Ahhh, laziness, sweet laziness.