Jesus Journal

So as part of religion class, the fourth graders keep a Jesus Journal. This year I gave them the choice to  write their own entry everyday. In the beginning of the year I told the students that their journals were between them and God and that I would never read their entries unless they wanted me to.

Well, yesterday some of the girls sitting around EM started laughing at what he wrote. I asked to see it. He says "You said this journal was between me and God!" After telling him that since he was clearly joking around with it that promise became null and void. He brought the journal up to me. Flipping through the journal I found that half of his entries were a sentence or two about how bored he was so I made him write two pages of seriousness. Here is his entry:

"This journal is serious. My name is EM. I am in 4th grade. Mrs. G is my homeroom teacher. I have to finish this by the end of the period. It is hard. really hard. I am not good at seriousness. I had Lucky Charms for breakfast this morning. The marshmallows are better than the cereal. I was  going to have Cheerios but I changed my mind. I could go for a donut. Lunch is soon. Then I will go home at the end of the day. School is over in seven days. Then it will be summer and I won't have to do anything like this until Fall. Since this journal is serious, I'm going to call Fall Autumn like a serious person. I don't like being serious. It is boring. I am hungry. The wall behind the computers is actually a chalkboard. How unusual!"

This kid cracks me up!

Joanne and PJ's wedding

So last Saturday Jim and I went with his parents and sister to his cousin Joanne's wedding. It was not very traditional as far as the reception goes. I think the goal was to have fun no matter what but a lot of it came off as a little obnoxious and rude. 

The ceremony itself was nice. PJ wore a lei because his dad's side of the family is Hawaiian. I thought that was nice. I love all of that traditional stuff! The guys wore chucks with their tuxes. I wouldn't have gone for doing that but it didn't bother me. It was fun. 

The ceremony was at 5:00. We didn't leave the church until 7:30. The reception was at 8:00. We didn't eat dinner until 9:00. That is all to just give you a timeline! Anyway, so the reception was at the World Cafe Live. It is a music venue at Penn and is set up for live music, not weddings. We got there and hung around chatting during the cocktail hour. There were not nearly enough appetizers going around. At the appetizer table there was only vegetables, cheese, and crackers. No hot stuff! I always look forward to the appetizers at weddings so I was a little disappointed.

Jim, MaryKate, and I were walking around looking for our table and it was nowhere to be found. It ended up being on the second floor balcony. On the first floor there were 13 rectangular tables that sat 10 people. On the stage was the bridal party and guests. That sat 30. Where we were sitting there was two tables that sat 20. Jim was complaining because all of the "married" cousins were on the first floor. We were the only ones upstairs. Well all of the other married cousins are in their 40's so the idea was for us to sit with the other cousins that were our age. Well because of the table situation Jim, MaryKate, a cousin's daughter, and I all sat at one end and the rest of the cousins were at the other end. Not that they are a close family anyway but it would have been nice to sit with people we knew!

So after the bridal party was called out the buffets opened. There was no order to anything. It was a total free for all! So we got our food and headed upstairs. While we were getting our food and heading upstairs the best man and two maids of honor were giving their speeches. The one girl asked for silence but you can't expect people to be quiet once they are trying to get their food and eat already! Anyway, the speeches were nice. Then the groom's parents, who are  opera singers, stood up and each sang a song for the bride and groom. I found that so ignorant and if I was the bride I would have been pissed that they were stealing my thunder like that! They were standing directly in front of the bride and groom. The were just up there to preform. That is all! They were nice singers but it was just totally inappropriate.

Now cut back to the getting the food and speeches ect. My father-in-law was trying to be polite and not eat during the speeches, well when you are not eating dinner until 9:30 you get pretty hungry! So in between people speaking and singing he would try to eat a little bit. Well he started to choke. Went to the bathroom, came back, tried to take a sip of water, choked again, went to the bathroom, Jim checked on him, he came out and said he was going to sit in the car until the wedding was over. He was in that much pain! Well we didn't stick around much later than that. We ended up leaving around 11:00. It was later than we intended because of the situation but Jim's uncle, the father of the bride, caught us so we had to chat to him for a bit.

The best part of the night was the mummers. They hired part of the South Philadelphia string band to come and play for a bit. There was in no way shape or form enough room for the 230 (guesstimate) guests to dance along with the mummers. I had a fine time sitting on a couch in the balcony and just watching.

Here are the mummers and the bridal party coming down to dance!

They did not do all of the dances until about 11:00 when we were getting ready to leave. Here is a picture of Joanne and PJ dancing.

Joanne and PJ

I actually really like this picture a lot. I think it looks really cool! Then the father/daughter and mother/son dances came. The father/daughter dance was nice. The mother/son dance looked like they had eaten way to many pixie sticks! It was crazy! But to draw upon my original observation they were just out to have fun and not worry about tradition! To each their own. PJ is in a band and he sang a song that he wrote for Joanne. I wish we had seen that. I think that was super sweet!

All in all, I think that if we had been there with another crowd we would have had a lot more fun but since it was not a crowd that we normally are around that is why we didn't really do much. 

One more set wedding is coming up on June 20th, the day before our first anniversary! I can't wait for that one. It is the wedding of my only friend from grade school.

PS- 7 more days until the summer!!!

Sunday

On Sunday Tess was in her first art show at Saint Huberts. Her board looked very nice. Here is a picture of her board.

I was very impressed with her work. I have seen Tess' work before but not since she started taking art class at Huberts.

Before the Art Show Jim and I went out for breakfast at a place in Jersey called the White House Restaurant. It was delicious! I think we finally found "our place". I highly recommend it. The service was great. The food was great. The bill was great, only $19.01 for both of us!

I got...

... THE JOB!! Sister Theresa gave me a call on Friday night to let me know that she wanted to offer me the job. I am so excited! I will write more about that later!

The stress

Can you see just how stressed out I am? I have not one but TWO fever blisters!! How can I go on interviews with one fever blister let alone TWO???? This is disgusting! I know I certainly wouldn't want to hire me looking like this. Ugg!! I don't think those that don't think situations all the way through before laying someone off knows the consequences of their actions!

Just in case you can't see them and think I am totally freaking out over nothing, I have one on the left corner of my bottom lip and one in the middle of my upper lip!

Phillies!!

So last week I went to my first Phillies game in over a year. Last year I didn't get to any games and of course that is when they decide to win the world series! Anyway, it was teacher appreciation night so a bunch of teachers and spouces/parents/siblings/friends went. They hired a bus to take us down. I was bringing Heather so I figured it would be easiest to drive down myself. I am glad I did because the bus never showed up!! It was a great game. We won! The night was complete when a guy ran onto the field, shook Feliz's hand, and then dodged about eight security guards. Finally they tackled him out in center field. It was awesome!! Here are some pictures from the night.

The warm-up

The Phans! The stadium was packed.

The Game. It was the only win for the weekend.

My sister Heather looking cute like usual. I hate her!!!

(Just kidding mom! I know you are reading! :) )

Job Search Update

So just a quick update. I went on the interview today at St. Gen's. I felt like the interview went well. The principal, Sr. Theresa, was super nice. I think I would really like to work at this school. Well, as I was leaving the school, while the principal was still saying good bye mind you, I pulled a "Roche" and fell out of the door and skinned my knee! I was, and still am, MORTIFIED!!! Go figure, my first Roche klutzy moment is while I am trying to impress a possible future boss! Oh well, she said she would call me by Monday to let me know either way. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

New Start

All year we have been warned that layoffs were going to occur at my school. About three weeks ago I got a call from our principal and was asked to come see her. At this point I knew the other "specials" were reduced to part time so I was anticipating that. I was totally thrown off when she said that they were not going to be able to give me a contract for next year. 

I have travelled through all of the "death" stages as some of my friends here have called it. Depression, anger, and acceptance. I still get very upset when I think of the students that I have come to love over the last three years. I still get angry when I think about the responses that I was given by my principal to some of the questions I have asked. It will take time but I will be fine. I know I will.

In about ten minutes I am going to head up to St. Genevieve's school, which is about a five minute drive from Norwood, to interview for a position as a Kindergarten teacher. Their enrollment is increasing and they need to open a second room so my principal asked if she could pass on my resume and of course I said sure. 

I am so nervous and I HATE interviews but I have a good feeling. I hope this job works out. It is a pay cut and traveling the same distance but I love this area so much! I will still be able to see my friends from Norwood easily and I can always connect with my students from Norwood as well. Also, kindergarten is something that I would LOVE to do! I love that age. I will write again tonight with how I thought it went. I hope it goes well. I really do!!!