On a NON-Work Day (the best kinds of days):

With only 2 more weeks teaching DANCE and 5 more days teaching school, I can't help but find myself giddily anticipating more and more time without plans and schedules.  Summer is almost here!  There, I said it out loud.  Now it really must be true.  On Tuesday I told the 8th grade that I felt like I had run a marathon, only when I staggered over the finished line no one was there.  Instead they had left me a note that said,
 "Sorry, we are 5 miles down the road.  Keep running."  

Endurance is the best way to describe this past year. 

Here is the best way to describe our favorite but rare non-work days:

Annie and I wake up after 9 pm and head straight to the couch to eat cereal and watch Barney on Netflix.  We love Barney.  We know all of the songs by heart.

 After Barney we check up on our favorite blogs.  Annie sits on the desk while we look at photos of her favorite people:  Lailee and the Twins.  She studies each picture and tells me when to scroll down.

 Close to nap time, Annie throws a tantrum.  I am working now to hold steady with discipline.  Instead of distracting her, I let my NO sink in and allow her deal with it.  It's tragic of course.

 After a huge nap we wait for Q to come home.  When I see him pull up, I tell Annie he is here.  She runs to the back door, opens it, and sits on the step waiting to catch the first glimpse of him.  She loves sitting on this step and sometimes asks me to sit by her if she gets lonely.

Honestly Brad, WHY would you take her to the race track!?!?! OH STEVE!

The only thing I can figure is the producers need ratings so they're using Brad to exploit Emily's heart breaking story of her fiance Ricky dying in a plane crash on the way to a race a week before Emily discovered she was pregnant with his baby! I mean, why else would Brad take her up in a plane on their first date and to the race track on their second? He seems like a nice guy.


Yep. I'm shamelessly {and for reasons I cannot validate let alone understand} watching The Bachelor this winter.


...And I hopelessly and painfully SOBBED and SOBBED my eyes out watching Terri, Bindi, and Bob on Oprah's Australia bit. It was only 5 minutes of footage but it took me back, WAY BACK, to that moment I found out Steve was gone. I can almost not bare a world without Steve. I know it's crazy, but I feel like I lost a close member of my family that day. I know Steve and I were best mates in the pre-existence. I feel a strong connection with Steve and his family. I just love them, and I love Steve... and now I'm sobbing again. Still, after all this time- I sob for Steve.

Oh, and it's Annie's 6 month.
She's a dream. A real dream in living color.