Goodbyes and More Goodbyes

I'm finding it difficult to make time to blog these days, but I do have things to share, so here goes.  

Remember last time I showed a splotchy watercolor page?  That turned into this:  

Super easy, yet beautiful, bookmarks.  

Liquid watercolor, pipettes, Crikey, and laminator.   I thought to myself, "Self, you could do this project with the second graders, it's so easy!"  Self should have laughed at me, knowing that I have them for only 30 minutes, and also planned to go over rules, book care, introductions, etc, *and* do checkout.  In 30 minutes.  So that was kind of a disaster.  But now I know.  Honestly, one of my favorite parts of teaching is how much I learn.  

I split the kids into two groups, thinking one group painting, one group selecting books and checking out, and then they'd switch.  Erm.  I underestimated how long things would take.  

(side note:  the paper towels under the pages were pretty when they dried and I couldn't bear to just toss them, so I'm using them when I clean Tuzi's cage, and they make me smile.)

But most of the students got to paint, and everyone eventually got a book, and all's well that ends well, right?  Their bookmarks turned out beautiful, and I was able to Crikey cut 2 bookmarks from most pages, so everyone will be getting a finished bookmark.  I'm going to try this project again this week with another class, and more realistic expectations for what else we can accomplish.  

Mid road trip potty stop.  

We went to Nevada for a funeral.  

It was nice having most of the family together, even though it was for a sucky reason.  Bri tried to make it, but their flight was cancelled.  Zach's got a new baby, so they elected not to travel.  But 7 out of 9 is really impressive for my crew, so I enjoyed that.  

Even just seeing them interact with each other warms my heart.  

Later, at the hotel, swimming happened.

And lounging.

And socializing.  

My Dad and step mom, beautiful examples of what I'd like to be more of.  

Katie got pretty brave in the pool with Jack and Eli.  Hannah wasn't having it, so she got out.  

Relatively new on the scene is Josiah's lady friend, Miss M.  I'm glad she was there to comfort him, as he was the closest to the deceased from our nuclear family.  

We drove through horrible smoke both ways.  This is daytime.  

As we started getting further from the fires and closer to home, you can see it got much brighter out.  

Sam was home with us for a few days before heading off on his next adventure, so he and the girls started watching Lord of the Rings together.  

Eli's visit came to an end.  Miss Adorable's family loves him, and they all went to Tahoe together and had other fun adventures.  I'm glad they had a nice time.  It's good to see him happy.  

Eli left on a Tuesday, 

and Sam left on Sunday, so my heart is a bit achy, and the house seems quiet and empty without my boys.  (Yes, even with 4 kids still at home.)

Warning light, eh, tire looks fine.  Next day, still on.  Paul put some air in it for me.  Next day, light was back on.  Meh, looks okay.  Next day...

Reading a book at Honda for over an hour, waiting for Matilda to get a new tire.  

Box of new books for the library.

Speaking of which, here it is again.  This arrangement seems to be working for the moment.  It's still very much a work in progress, of course, but we made it through week one okay.  I'm going to need more bookcases eventually.  

My classes have different numbers of students, but between table chairs, ottomans (ottomen? lol), the rug, and chairs requisitioned from the class next door, we make it work.  I do some rearranging between classes to accommodate various group sizes.  

I'm rocking my new Hello Kitty lunch bag.  Because I can.  The older kids would have rolled their eyes at me.  These last few stragglers seem to accept Mom's just a lil weird.  

I was having a rest when I heard a noise and opened my eyes to this.  Yikes!  Oh Grumman.  

Heading back to Shriners this week.  I wish the girls didn't have to miss school already, but Hannah needs to get that new leg going, and it's quite a process.  Katie's looking forward to a less conspicuous ankle.  

Sorry the formatting is a bit off this week.  Blogger put my photos in reverse order, which was a pain to semi-straighten out.  I figured posted but imperfect was better than not posting at all.