The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

Last week, Princess and Juicy Boy were finishing up their lunch of hot dogs and applesauce. This lunch, although not appealing to me (I do not like hot dogs. Never have. Never will...and I really don't care for applesauce), was what Princess asked for and Juicy Boy likes. Juicy Boy was enjoying his meal and so was Princess. That is until she heard her show come on television.

The theme song started and she immediately tells me that she's not hungry. Princess is not a big eater, but I do require her to eat three meals a day. So, I told her that she could watch her show after she ate her lunch. She gave me the defeated look and stared at her food. I told her the faster she got through her meal the faster she would be able to watch her show.

I turned my attention back to washing the dishes and Princess jumped up and told me she had to go to the bathroom. I told her to hurry up and go. Well, I wasn't paying attention when I told her to go to the bathroom, but I did glance up as she was running to the bathroom and started laughing to myself. Princess was running to the bathroom with a fist full of hot dog nuggets.

I couldn't believe that she was attempting to run a game on me! She wasn't running just any game on me, but the game that I perfected with vegetables when I was her age. Here are the rules: When you have food on your plate that you don't want to eat, you ask to be excused to the bathroom and then shove veggies in your mouth and immediately spit them in the toilet (my version) or put them in your fist and throw them in the toilet (her version).

My dear Princess thought she had it made, but I stopped her. I told her to show me her hands. She did and this big smile appeared on both of our faces. I didn't tell her that I used to do the same thing with my vegetables, but I told her that she had to eat some of those hot dogs and that I would tape her show so she wouldn't miss any of it.

She ate all of her hot dog nuggets and watched her show while I continued to have a good laugh. Princess doesn't know, but I was so good at playing the game that my parents only knew that I flushed my vegetables down the toilet because I told them once I became an adult:)

Kindergartener's Can Do It

On Tuesday, September 2, 2008 my big girl started kindergarten at my school! Princess was sooo excited to get school supplies, select her own backpack and lunch bag for the first time. She woke up the ready to go to school on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Each day we had to tell Princess that she had to wait until Tuesday to go to school. She couldn't wait!

Tuesday morning arrived and she woke up with bright eyes. She ate breakfast while I played one of her favorite songs, "Everybody Rejoice" from The Wiz. Then we played "Superstar" by Lupe Fiasco (another favorite of hers) to remind her that she is a star (shining bright to see what she can truly be - you know I have to get my EW&F in). We got dressed and headed to school.

She grinned from the time we hit the door until we got home. She was excited to see her new teacher. She was excited to see that she knew people in her class already. She was excited to know a lot of the teachers in the building already (one of her Godmothers teaches there also). She was excited to be in Mommy's big school because she was a big girl. She was just happy! She reminded me that "kindergarteners can do it!"

I was happy too. Since I work at her school, I popped my head in a couple of times to check on her. She was so into what was going on that she didn't even see me. Princess is fortunate to have a loving and talented teacher who will challenge her academically in a warm and nurturing environment. I stopped by to spend some time with Princess at lunch time. She was eating her lunch and enjoying her new friends and school. She grinned, gave me a big hug, and told me that she was having so much fun! Just what a mommy wants to hear on the first day of school.

At dismissal she came to me with a big hug and bright eyes. Princess and all of the other students who have parents that work at the school were treated to ice cream sandwiches. One of teachers (a good friend and member of Team MBS) treated the students to welcome the new members of our school family.

It was a good day!

Shave and a Haircut

I started back to school two weeks ago. The relaxing, hazy days of summer were over and I was getting into the swing of things at work. I came home happy to see my family and eager to spend quality time with them. On Thursday, while playing with Juicy Boy after work, I noticed that something wasn't quite right with his hair. I looked and rubbed and looked and rubbed. I told Bear that Juicy Boy's hair looked like he had a plug missing. He assured me that he didn't touch Juicy Boy's hair since his last haircut the week before.

I kept looking and then turned to Princess to ask if she knew anything about Juicy Boy's new hairstyle. She didn't say anything. Bear asked her if she cut some of Juicy Boy's haircut. She hid her face in his shirt. The truth sssssssssssssslllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwlllllllllllllyyyyyyy came out. She was cutting her dolls hair and decided to cut a piece of his! I went in her room and found the curls on the floor.

We talked with her and explained how Juicy Boy could have gotten hurt if he had moved while she was cutting his hair. She cried and apologized and we went about our evening.

I went to work the next day and hung out with Team MBS after work. When I came home and opened the door, Bear told me to close my eyes. I said okay and listened to him tell me that I was hot or cold in order to reach him. I like games and Bear likes surprising me just because, so I was trying to figure out what I would see when I opened my eyes. I was wondering if it was a new top, some cute shoes, a pair of running socks. It could be anything.

Well, when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe it...a little brown Calliou was staring at me. Bear had shaved off all of Juicy Boys hair to even out the plug his loving sister "styled" into his hair. I wanted to cry! Juicy Boy just sat there with his big bright eyes and laughed. Bear said he almost gave Juicy Boy a fro-hawk, but the plug was in the wrong place. Lord help us!

Juicy Boy's hair is growing back...thank God! There are too many stylists in the house:)

Up in the Air Jr. Birdsman...

Juicy Boy's newest "thing" is his excitement about planes. Whenever he hears a plane he looks up to see where it is. Then he squeals with delight, "ooooh! wow! plane!!" We love to see his enthusiasm.

Bear thought it would be a good idea to for us to hang out on the Potomac River near National Airport and watch the planes land. So, off we went...

Juicy Boy loved it...and so did Princess. This was one of those family outings that everyone enjoyed. Check out the slideshow from the day.

Dynamic

Just dynamic...



What an inspiration..."my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me!"



Our ancestors must have had a party up in heaven last night. I'm so proud!

The Apple of My Eye

I began this week by taking a road trip to Kent, Ohio. I took my Goddaughter, Apple, to Kent State University (go Flashes) with her mom. We drove up and down the mountains of PA and OH for 5 hours and 45 minutes on a bright, sunny day with little humidity. We had a move in team of six. We laughed, reminisced, carried boxes and containers of clothes, clothes, and more clothes:) We arranged and rearranged her room to ensure that everything fit and had a place. We visited Walmart at least twice a day to get her everything she needed and wanted (I am on Walmart overload. I was glad that the Walmart Super Center had been recently remodeled and looked like the stores on the commercials, not like the realities of Walmart stores I've visited in VA, MD, and DE). We made sure she had everything she needed and then...we left. Everyone thought I was going to cry, but I didn't. I wasn't sad about leaving her. I was excited for her to begin the next leg of life journey.

Kent State University is very large. I went to University of Maryland and people think that campus is big. It's not at all compared to Kent State. Apple is in a "traditional" dorm room with another roommate. The coolest thing is that they have private "rooms" in the larger hall bathroom. The shower, toilet, sink, mirror, bench, and full length mirror are in one "stall" with a door that locks! They are also very big on security. You have to slide your key card to get in everywhere. We even heard the weekly emergency alert system testing while we were there. I'm sure something like that has been in place since the four students were killed and nine students were wounded by the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam protest held there in 1970. I know a lot of parents felt at ease when they left the children there. Apple's met some nice girls and I think she'll have a great experience.

I was tired after dropping off Apple. We were constantly doing something to make her transition a good one. We must have been running on pure adrenaline. Now, can someone tell me where I'm going to get the energy to take Princess and Juicy Boy to college and set them up the way we did Apple and the way my mother and father did my brother and me? I'm going to be old and tired by then!

He Lives in You...

Yesterday Princess, my mom and I had a wonderful day. We traveled to New York by train for the pre-birthday celebration for Princess. Princess is turning five on Sunday. My parents treated her (us) to Lion King on Broadway. What an awesome performance visually, musically, and lyrically! I was moved to tears during the opening "Circle of Life" and "He Lives in You (Reprise)." Take a look at and listen to the clip of "He Lives in You" that was recently performed on The View:



Lion King is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and has been performed for over 43 million people around the world. I am privileged to say that I am one of those people. The universal message that audiences worldwide have heard is one that I will always remember:
He lives in you.
He lives in me.
He watches over everything you see.
Into the water.
Into the truth.
In your reflection.
He lives in you!

We were singing "He Lives in You" as we walked to the playground with Juicy Boy today. Princess said that she really liked that song and asked me if I did too. I told her that was one of my favorite songs from the play. She smiled and began to swing. While swinging she said, "Mommy, you know that song is about God." How my heart beamed, my soul rejoiced, and I thanked God.

What a wonderful gift for a five year old...to travel to NY, see Lion King on Broadway, eat at Mars2112 (space inspired restaurant), to see fireworks at the end of the night...and to understand the prevailing message of the musical. What a wonderful gift for her mother too. My mother said our experience reminded her of the Master Card commercials...train tickets $$$, Broadway tickets $$$, lunch and dinner $$$...the look on Princess's face throughout the day...PRICELESS.

The Princess and the Frog

Did you hear, Disney has finally decided to make an animated movie featuring an African American princess? Yes, African Americans are finally worthy enough to have a fairy tale told about them that includes a Black Princess! I was so excited when I heard the movie would be out in 2009. The movie is entitled The Princess and the Frog and is based on the fairy tale The Frog Princess and is supposed to take place in New Orleans during the 1920's.

I could just picture Princess and I going to see The Princess and the Frog on a special "Girls Day Out." I imagined seeing lots of other African American mothers and daughters at the theater along with other mother and daughter pairs on opening day. I thought about purchasing all of the movie inspired dolls, clothes, bedding, etc. for Princess. Let me tell you, I was geeked.

Here's a teaser trailer of the movie:


I am really excited about seeing the movie. Princess saw the trailer and asked when we could go see it. She said the princess was so beautiful and "she was brown!" Now, why does the lightning bug have to be missing all of those teeth? Come on Disney!

What are your thoughts?

Sand Castles

I think I've figured out a new way to post YouTube videos in my postings. I promised to share about our trip to the beach awhile ago, but I'm just getting around to it. We had a WONDERFUL time!

I loved spending quality time with my mom, aunt, grandmother, great aunt, and cousin. I love that my children got to spend time with family on a relaxed and relaxing vacation. I'm glad that my children will have special memories to share about their summer trips to the beach with their grandmother and great grandmother. The women in my family have a strong bond, and this was a fun way to keep the bond strong.

As I predicted, I didn't have a relaxing trip where I lounged on my beach chair while reading in between taking naps. I chased little people up and down the beach, made sand castles, searched for buried treasure [we lost (and found) the Backyardigan molds Princess hid as treasure], jumped waves, and chased Juicy Boy around the cabana (he's into being chased!).

Princess had a great time of jumping waves and building a house for her doll. She also made sand cakes that Juicy Boy insisted on tasting:) He ate sand the moment he got there. He also seemed to dump sand on his head daily. Juicy Boy and Princess and I also played with the dump trucks and had fun building roadways. I wasn't chasing my children by myself. My mom, aunt, and cousin all pitched in to have beach fun! I was so grateful! We wore those children out! They slept most of the ride home.

My grandmother and her sister didn't come down to the beach. They sunned on their patio and looked at the ocean from there. We were fortunate to have a beach front hotel, so the view was always beautiful. They also relaxed inside their room and caught up on their beauty sleep. They enjoyed sitting out on the boardwalk in the evening watching the people go by.

Memories were made. Fun was had. Love was shared. This song entitled "Sand Castles" makes me want to hurry back...

May I Have this Dance?

As much as I like YouTube.com, it has been messing up my blog posts for the past couple days. I had some really good music lined up to go along with my posts, but they wouldn't show up. I'm a little bit frustrated, but I'm going to try again today. I hope it works.

Earlier this week the family was having it's evening dance session. It was even more fun because one of my goddaughter's joined us. Bear was showing our goddaughter that he still had moves:) Princess was shaking and shimmying while dancing with her daddy. Juicy Boy was working the happy feet while turning in circles. I was just letting my body do whatever it wanted to do. We were dancing to everything from reggaeton to hip hop to old school R&B classics. The energy level was high!

I stopped dancing for a moment to take a look at something on my desk when something out on my desk when Juicy Boy came over to me, took my hand, and walked me back over to where everyone was dancing. Once he got me there, he turned and started to bust a move!! My heart just melted and danced with my son...Awww, thank you God for my boy!!

Juicy Boy inspired me to pull up one of my favorite Rick James tunes - Dance Wit' Me to accompany this post. Enjoy and make sure that you "shake it up, shake it up now baby." Listen to Roy on the vibes!!

The Eye of the Tiger

I am really getting into working out as a part of my lifestyle. In order to reach my next big goal of walking 500 miles, I set a personal challenge for myself. I have challenged myself to walk 75 miles in the next four weeks. Take a look at my widget on the side to follow my progress. You can cheer me on if I'm doing well or let me know if I'm slackin'. Can't wait for your feedback. I'm like Rocky...The Eye of the Tiger!

One Foot in Front of the Other

When I came back from walking this morning with some of my crew, Team Mind, Body, and Soul, I logged in my workout on the Nike+ system and I was pleased to see a banner across my page celebrating that I HAVE WALKED 100 MILES since I started walking in March!!!!! I was sooo excited. I have a virtual milestone badge in my Nike+ profile. I printed out the certificate and posted it on my computer for continued inspiration.

Can you believe it?!! Jillybean has walked 100 miles, and at a pace of 15.36 minutes per mile no less. I have been humping. I get up in the morning around 6:00 (I got up at 5:30 this morning!!!) and hit the road. Sometimes I walk with the girls from Team Mind, Body, and Soul, sometimes I walk by myself, and sometimes I walk with the family. Team Mind, Body and Soul is a wonderful support group. Bear and I take the kids with us some mornings and get a family workout. He takes Princess in the running stroller and I walk with Juicy Boy in his stroller. I affectionately call them my resistance weights. Bear is such a huge supporter of my working out. He makes sure that I have time to workout when I want and need to. He encourages me and tells me how proud he is of me. He challenges me to increase my speed and push the limits. Bear even picks up things to help keep me motivated like and arm band for my ipod (I was sweating so much that my ipod was getting wet and I lost some data), getting me better fitting sneakers (the new sneakers have a bigger toe box), and cute exercise tops and socks!

I am so geeked that I reached the 100 mile milestone. When I thought about how far 100 miles is, I realized that it's like walking to my parents' house in DE from my old house in Forestville, MD. That's like walking from Reston to Richmond. Who knew that if I put one foot in front of the other that I'd be walking further than across the floor?

I can't wait to reach the next milestone. I'm walking about 6 miles every other day now. For the past two Saturdays, Team Mind, Body and Soul has walked 7 miles. I feel empowered! A nice side effect of walking is that my body is really responding and I wore a cute little black dress on Saturday that I haven't been able to fit in more than 5 years!

Check out my 100 mile certificate at this link http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/html/milestones/print_certif.html?id=1955001542&region=us&language=en&locale=en_us&dateFormat=MM/DD/YY

Let me know if you want to come walk with me one day.

Daddy's Girl

This post isn't about me this time. It's about Princess. Last week, Princess and Bear went out to "get us some lunch." They were going before my girlfriend came over with her son to play with us at the pool. My friend arrives and we get ready to go to the pool. I figure that Bear will bring Princess to the pool when they return because they've been gone for quite awhile.

As we gather our stuff to head to the pool, Bear calls to see if my friend arrived. I told her that she did. He said that he and Princess were on their way home and that they'd meet us at the pool. Cool! We are making our way to the pool when he drops Princess off. Bear gives us a holla and heads home to change. She runs up to us with a bottle of water and gets very excited about going swimming. She and Juicy Boy are truly water babies.

Princess jumps right into the pool after putting on her swim vest. She's getting ready to go in a second time when I ask her if she had lunch. She stops, turns, and looks at me and tells me she got a bottled water. I told her that I saw her water and ask her if she went to lunch with Daddy again. She looks at me this time and says...nothing.

I start giggling to myself. This chickadee is keeping her date with her daddy a secret from me. She didn't lie. She didn't tell me it was none of my business. She wasn't sassy at all. She just conveyed her message...what goes on when she's with Daddy isn't for Mommy to know. Let me tell you...I KNOW I AM IN TROUBLE IN THE FUTURE!

I told Bear what happened and he cracked up. He said that he and Princess' dates were like Vegas sometimes. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Princess is truly a Daddy's Girl!!!

Her act of omission just lets me know her bond with Bear is growing more and more each day. I am grateful for that. I know she'll need to confide in him without my knowledge every now and then. I'm so sure about it because that is the same bond that I have with my daddy. But let me tell you, she really makes me laugh.

Love is You

While I was at the beach (we had a ball!- another post a little later on) Bear and I celebrated our Eighth Wedding Anniversary. On July 8, 2000 we said, "I Do" before our God, our family, and, our friends.

I love my husband! I am so blessed to have in him my life as my partner, best friend, confidant, personal comedian (oh, he has JOKES!), support, personal cheering section, sound board, and more! Bear is love. He is the romantic love. He is the honest love. He is the love that is there through sickness and health. He is the love that stays around through the tough times. He is the forgiving love. He is the encouraging love. He is the real love.

This Chrisette Michelle songs says it well. Happy Anniversary Bear! Eight years and counting. "It just gets better with time." I LOVE YOU!

We're Going on a Trip

As you know, I am a mother of two children under five. Because of Princess and Juicy Boy, I watch a lot of Noggin television. I love the channel for the commercial free pre-school shows that promote early reading skills, early math skills, sharing, friendship, honesty, and other positive social behaviors. Instead of commercials, Noggin plays music videos for children. I know quite a few hits from Laurie Buckner and Dan Zane. Noggin also has it's own catchy songs with featuring Moose A. Moose and his sidekick Zee. One of those songs is called, "Are We There Yet?"

Princess loves this song. She can be heard singing, "Are we there yet, are we there yet? My excitement's getting stronger. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I really can't wait much longer!" Well, she's not the only one singing the song now. I'm singing it too because, we are going on a trip!

The Thomas women (my mom, grandmom, aunt, great aunt, cousin, Princess and I) plus Juicy Boy are going on a trip to the beach. We're not going down the shore like I used to when I was younger when we went to Wildwood or Cape May from Philly. We're going to Virginia Beach to spend some quality time, soak up the sun (I LOVE THE SUN), play in the sand and the ocean.

I was thinking of taking one of my library books to read, but I know I won't have time to rest on the beach. I'll be making sand castles, playing with dump trunks, and dipping in the ocean with Princess and Juicy Boy. Last year Juicy Boy slept quite a bit on the beach. We had a cabana which provides a good amount of shade while still allowing you to feel the breeze and the breeze was our friend. This year I'll probably be chasing him up and down the beach while watching him eat sand (YUCK)! That's just fine with me. I guess that will be a part of my daily exercise while I'm gone.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? My excitement's getting stronger. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I really can't wait much longer!"

Happy Fourth of July!

He's a Big Boy Now

It happened on Sunday, although Bear and I tried to hold out as long as possible. Juicy Boy got his one year old hair cut. We followed the African American tradition of not cutting Juicy Boy's hair during his first year of life. He rocked little curly ringlets...his own natural style for 14 months. He looked so cute (mother's love ooh, mother's love).

But now he is officially a big boy. He's wearing a nice summer cut that changes his appearance. Everyone who's seen him has exclaimed..."oh, my! where's your hair?" or "oh, look at the big boy with the big boy hair cut!" He just grins and grins. I think he likes his new style. I've caught him rubbing his hands over his head a couple of times. I know my dad will love Juicy Boy's new look. He's been asking, "When you gonna cut that boy's hair?"

No more Mommy's baby...(sigh)...SIKE! Always Mommy's baby:)

Soul Food

I had the best soul food this weekend! Ya'll know I love a good meal of greens, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, corn bread, and sweet tea, but that is not the soul food that I'm speaking of this time.

The soul food I'm speaking of was an outdoor concert at the Carter Baron in DC on Saturday night featuring Kindred the Family Soul and Rahsaan Patterson. I went to the concert with my line sisters the Shoe Diva, the Exercise Example, and the Partner. We had a good time together enjoying the music and each other. Both of these acts sing (and they can really sing!) about real love...the kind that's not always perfect, but the kind that recognizes and relishes in the special and unique qualities of the individuals while growing together.

Kindred and Rahsaan Patterson sing about that mighty love. They fed my soul. I hope this song feeds yours.

Run Like a Girl...Wherever You Are

Last summer Bear bought me some cool sneakers. He said that he bought them because I had started losing weight and he wanted to support my efforts (he always does thoughtful things like this!). I told him thank you and never put them on...that is until this spring.

This spring, I took another look at those cool sneakers and I am sooo glad that Bear bought them for me. Bear bought me a pair of Nike Air Max 180 plus track sneakers. These sneakers allow you to listen to music on your ipod while the sensor in the sneaker tracks your distance, time, pace, and calories burned on your walk/run. THIS IS THE BEST MOTIVATOR!

So, this spring I started walking with my Nike plus system and felt a sense of accomplishment not only in the results I began seeing in my body, but in knowing that I was increasing my distance, time, and pace with each walk. I even ran a couple of times. When I returned from my workout, I was able to sync my ipod and my stats went directly to Nikeplus.com. Each walk/run is recorded, graphed, and averaged to show your growth. Nikeplus.com not only keeps track of your workouts, but it also sets up training programs to meet your needs, it keeps track of your goals, it has a chat board, and sends out email about Nike events.

Well, they sent me an email about a half marathon in Cali on October 19th that will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I signed up right away for the Run Like a Girl Wherever You Are half marathon. I'm not going to run it in California, because I don't have to. Anyone, anywhere in the world, who registers for the event, runs with Nike+ and logs 13.1 miles on nikeplus.com on October 19th, 2008 is a finisher of the Nike+ Women’s Half Marathon. Every participant will receive a t-shirt and a key chain designed by Tiffany & Co.

Isn't that great?! So, I've begun training to complete the half marathon. Bear was extremely excited about the new challenge I've set for myself. I am taking things slowly right now. A group of us from work are walking together and hopefully we'll be running together on October 19, 2008. We even have a co-worker running in Cape Cod where she is spending her summer. Every weekend we pick one day to walk together. This is our "me" time where we work on our spirits and our bodies in the company of friends. Our goal this weekend is to walk around 6 or 6.5 miles at a decent pace. Each week we will add a mile and/or a challenge to increase our pace or add a mile of running to our workout. The Nikeplus sneakers are helping us keep track of our runs. We chat during the week about our successes. We encourage each other. We are motivated!

Join us on October 19th if you'd like. We'd love to have more people run like a girl...wherever you are! (THANK YOU BEAR!)

Summer Reading at the Library

One of my fondest memories of summer as a child is participating in the summer reading program at the Chestnut Hill Library. Every summer my mom would sign up my brother and I for the summer reading program. The program is a little different than the library programs of today where the goal is to get children to read more. This program was focused on getting children to read different genres. Each week participants were assigned to read from a specific genre. The next time the group met (the next week), each child had to share their book with a presentation. Sometimes we had to write summaries and book reviews. Other times we created dioramas or posters. The best week is when we read How-To books. Most people read cook books that week and brought in treats for their presentations. I liked the experience and exposure to genres I wouldn't normally read. So, summer reading programs are special to me.

Last year Princess participated in the Reston Library's summer reading program. She had 15 books read to her and received a coupon book for summer food and fun with the family. We're going to sign her up for this year's summer reading program next week. I am excited because this year, she'll be able to read some of the 15 required books. Yes, Princess is reading!! It is the coolest thing!

I jumped the gun with our first pilgrimage to the library today. I really wanted to read a light hearted summer book and snuck to the library this afternoon while Princess was taking a nap. I couldn't resist starting my summer reading on my first official day of summer vacation. I checked out four books - three from my Shelfari wish list and one from Jane Smiley. Since I snuck to the library and knew that Princess would fuss at me for going early (she loves our weekly outings to the library during the summer), I picked up two books for her. She was excited:)

So, I'm going to stop writing tonight even though I have ideas for about seven posts in my head, and stick my head in a book.

What will you be reading this summer?

Summer Madness

"No more pencils, no more books. No more teachers' dirty looks." I am finally finished with school! Today was my first official day of summer vacation and it was all I wanted and more.

After a long year of school, I always look forward to the summer. I look forward to not having to be up by a certain time to get to school. I look forward to spending more time with my children than I do with other people's children. I look forward to spending days at the pool with the kids and Bear. I look forward to going to the beach. I look forward to hanging with friends in the middle of the week as long as I want because we don't have set bed times. I look forward to play dates (for Princess and me). I look forward to visiting museums. I look forward to reading good books. I look forward to grilling. I look forward to feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I look forward to being away from school. I LOVE the summer.

Please don't get me wrong. I love teaching. I believe that I was placed on this earth to teach...in some manner. It is my vocation. This school year was a good one. My students were bright, energetic, full of humor, and enthusiastic. They enjoyed learning new things and making connections. We listened to music, danced, sang, cared for crickets, played math trash ball, took walking field trips, saw a musical called Suessical, built things and created beautiful artwork all to support our reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. I took a special interest in each one of my twenty-three students. They all were shining stars, "shining bright to see what they could truly be."

The connection that I had with my class was one that teachers wish for. I really liked them as people. They were cool kids. My class demonstrated what they thought of me during Teacher Appreciation Week. My students and their parents treated me like a queen! Each day during the week, I was given a special thank you gift along with wonderful sentiments in cards from the parents and students. I received potted Gerber Daisies (one of my favorite flowers), two dozen roses, a beautiful handmade necklace, bookmarks, post-its (the cool kind, not the plain yellow stickies), homemade chocolate sweets, a snack pack full of Pepsi, pistachios, Pop Secret Home Style popcorn, Baby Ruth's, and Snickers, as well as gift cards to Safeway, Starbucks, and Barnes and Noble, and Target. To top it all off, I was given a gift card to Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Salon and Spa!!!! I love Red Door!!! The gifts were fantastic, but the sentiments in the little notes, homemade cards, hugs, kisses, and letters were priceless.

So, although I am ready for the summer, I know that when the end of August rolls around again, I'll be ready for school. But until then...here's my Philly shout out - "school is out and it's a sort of a buzz, back then I didn't really know what it was, but now I see what have of this, the way that people respond to SUMMER MADNESS."

Enjoy your summer!