Last Day

This year's last day of school was overshadowed by torrential downpours and tornadoes. So really, it was just another day in Oklahoma.

Bode loved first grade and had a mad crush on his teacher, which is turning into a theme. For her end-of-the-year- gift, he insisted on going to the Cracker Barrel to get her some of those tiny bottles of pancake syrup. No amount of arguing could talk him out of it. 

He nailed it on the "finish the famous phrase" assignment because diamonds are a girl's life.

First day:

Last day:

Mia smugly let us know that 4th graders don't have ridiculous and juvenile things like "end of the year" parties at school. She then asked me to take her to Sonic because it wasn't fair that Bode got to eat all of those treats at school and she didn't.

The best advice I can give mothers of tween-agers: Bite your tongue.

Summer break is officially here. My goal is to accomplish as little as possible. So far so good.

Marathons are, like, hard and stuff.

So the BRPE (Best Running Partner Ever) and I decided to tackle the full marathon recently. It may or may not be that I talked BRPE into running a full by convincing him that it wasn't going to be that bad and that he would totally love it. This may or may not be why I have to keep getting new running partners.

Running a marathon is like giving birth - it's so impactful and deeply meaningful that you want to share it with anyone who will listen. And also, no one else really wants to hear about it.

So, I'll spare you the gory details.

I'll just say that we finished and are better for it. I'll also say that if these three (and a hamburger stand) weren't waiting for me at the finish line I may not have crossed it.

The practical part of my brain tells me that running full marathons is kind of dumb and is eventually not going to end well for me. The other part of my brain is the part I usually listen to.

Graduation; Epic Fail Style

Nothing sums up my graduation experience better than this picture:

That's right, folks, this is all that is left after flash floods, torrential downpours, tornado warnings and power outages. The weather was so terrible that they actually canceled convocation a few minutes before it was scheduled to start, which left us no choice but to graduate ourselves.

Once all the deans of the graduate departments split (which took about 10 seconds) the students that were left decided to go up on the stage and just take care of it ourselves. Someone found the script with the list of award winners, another person pilfered through the certificates, someone else dug through the gift sacks and about ten minutes later we were done.

Graduate students are nothing if not resourceful. We have lived in survival mode for years. We know how to stir a pot on the stove while reading textbooks, we write papers in carpool lines, and for goodness sake, we don't let a little (or a lot) of life-threatening weather derail us.

So, yah, all that to say I'm done. Finished. Through. My only regret is not swiping one of those gold key necklace things.

Thankfully the weather and my graduation did not get in the way of Mia's theater performance.

I would rather watch this girl perform than just about anything in the world.

Latest Reads

I'm graduating from grad school tomorrow. This means I never have to read for an assignment again. This also means I no longer have an excuse for not cooking or cleaning.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

However, I have to say that the last three books I read in grad school I would recommend to any parent.  

First of all, if you are raising a kid in Edmond, OK, for goodness sake read The Price of Privilege immediately. On second thought, if you are raising a kid in America, read this book. It's informative, based on quantitative and qualitative research, and it makes sense.

Teach Your Children Well is kind of a companion book to Privilege. It has a bit of overlap but it's also excellent. Anything that comes out of Madeline Levine's brain or mouth is worth listening to.

I think How Children Succeed is a great read for educators and parents of school age children. Less parenting info and more educator info, but I found it very valuable.

I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to read this little nugget. Loved. It. It's simply wonderful. One of the most interesting autobiographical novels I have ever read.

 And this is great entertainment. Such a wonderful and surprising story.

I fully intend to read tons of trash fiction now that I'm out of school, but I keep finding myself drawn towards books about my field. Which makes me a nerd. But there is something gratifying about reading nerdy books because I choose to, not because I have to.

And also, nerds rule.

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

I got myself a brand new nephew and he's pretty perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he was polite enough to come two days before we left on vacation. (I totally dodged a bullet on that one.)

 Mia could do this all day:

Weston Aaron Wade, named after Maresa's and my wonderful grandfather:

He likes to stay up all night and sleep all day.  Kind of like every college student I know.

I can't wait to introduce this child to Dr. Pepper, just like his momma did for my kids when they were toddlers. It's payback time.