Hair Styles

One of the fun things about having daughters is playing with hair.  I don't personally like long hair on my own head, but I enjoy playing with the hair on my daughters' heads!

My SIL found hair extensions at a garage sale for a $1
and thought it would be fun to try on me.
 I can handle it for about ten minutes.  

I know I've shared this before.
These are my hairstyles from the past 20 years. 

And here is what I did this spring.  

Here is a sampling of hairstyles I have tried on my girls.  Thank you Pinterest for inspiration!

Let's Bring Back Summer!

The week before the official end of the public school year, my youngest daughter graduated from preschool.  I am so excited to send her to kindergarten next year because she is beyond ready.  She may even be a bit bored because she has been bringing books home to read already with simple sentences and sight words.  Thank you so much to Kathleen and her cutie for helping with pictures.  

Model C and I are of course the top left.  In the middle is our friend Nick.  Model C went with the preschool director to the scholarship award assembly at the high school to present Nick with a scholarship.  The director didn't know that we are friends.  Nick scored major brownie points when he showed up for Model C's preschool graduation.  On the bottom left is Hannah and Model C.  Hannah put up with Model C when she was just six weeks old while Hannah's mom babysat for me.  Plus she keeps showing up at our house with Nick.  I guess Hannah is family now.  She thinks it is safer to be part of our clan than to hunted down for offending us.  The bottom right is a group from Model C's class reciting a poem.  They all spoke very clearly and did a fantastic job.  The big picture is Model C and Kathleen's cutie.  They have been friends since they were crawling.  I find it hard to believe that they will be the class of 2027!  

The end of school is always a stressful and difficult time.  It wears me out emotionally.  The kids and teachers usually just give up at the end.  Finishing grades turns into "survival of the fittest."  My teammates and I discuss what is most important in assessing a student's mastery of a skill or concept and what that should look like in the grade book.  The bigger question should be, why haven't we been doing that all year?  Little Miss Cutie English Teacher, next door to me, and I agreed on some major changes for next year.  A student should not be graded on how many of the same type of assignment he can complete, but rather the one assignment from that concept where the student is successful.  "Practice makes progress," says Michelle Duggar.  Therefore, we will continue to do practices, but our grade book needs to look different.   We are hoping that this idea will help us to keep our sanity as well as show student success.  Chocolate helps too.  

Everyone tried to enjoy the last day of school.  Do student realize that teachers are people too?  Do they realize that we have friends and like to be silly?  Here is what happens to photo bombers in my pictures!  

This year, I attended my first graduation ceremony in this district.  It was the most casual graduation I've ever attended.  When I graduated from high school, I graduated with 750 students in a large college basketball stadium.  We had to be in and out in 2 hours to make room for the next school.  Small towns hold ceremonies on the football field.  There is no need to dress up too much in this heat!  I thought it was very awkward that as soon as students started crossing the stage, they walked off and took pictures with family and friends.  The end was very anticlimactic.  The poor kid who had to deliver the benediction was barely noticed.  I don't think anyone was quiet for that prayer as cameras were still flashing.  Honestly, it seemed very irreverent for a rite of passage ceremony.  Even though it was very strange, I really enjoyed seeing students from the past and getting hand-shakes and hugs.  One of my besties and I took a picture before it started to prove to one special guy that we were indeed there to support him.  

Recovery time for the last week of school will probably take the rest of summer.  Locally, the last class let out one week ago.  I have accomplished a few things, but not enough.  My sweet and crazy friend Diana has made it a point to stay on my case to finish my thesis.  It has been hanging over my head for a year!  I did make a partial submission this week, but my professor is in another country and won't get back to me until next week.  That's ok.  I will keep trudging ahead.  

Special Edition: Pray for our Schools

The end of the school year is crazy.  Somehow this year seems worse than others.  See You at the Pole is a fantastic way to start the year and we need maintenance throughout the year.  I don't need to give specific details about what is happening in my own district because I'm sure similar things are happening everywhere.
Here is my prayer for my schools, my students, my kids, my friends, my neighbors, my people.  Please make it your prayer too and take ownership of this problem back to God.

Father God, I cry out!
Luke 5:12 - Lord, if you are willing, I know that you can do this.
James 4:7 - Help Your children to be subject to you God in everything so that the devil will resist and flee!
Deuteronomy 3:22 - Fight for us God!
Luke 10:19 - Overwhelm us with authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and overall the power of the enemy!
Colossians 2:15 - God, You disarm the principalities and powers that range against us and make a bold display and public example of them in Your triumph over them in Jesus and the cross
AMEN!

Then, I shall speak Matthew 4:10 - Away from me Satan!

Be Christ-like.  Be bold.  Be courageous.  Be active.

Matthew 18:20 - Where two or three are gathered, I am in their midst.