Good Student Day

I had such a good day as far as my students are concerned.

My day started off with an email from the mom of a student I tutor.  I've only met with her three or four times, but she's already one of my favorites.  She's so sweet!  When I started working with her, she was struggling to maintain a D in math.  I worked with her twice before the end of the quarter.  She had two tests to prepare for, and she managed to get Cs on each of those.  She started doing a little better at the beginning of this quarter.  Today, her mom emailed me to say that she got an A on her test last week.  I couldn't have been more thrilled for her!

A few hours after receiving the email, it was time for my lowest class of the day.  We have been working on one-step equations with addition and subtraction.  Since I haven't taught 7th grade math for a few years, I had forgotten what a struggle this was, but the other 7th grade teachers reminded me before we got to this chapter.  I was prepared to deal with it.  I came up with a hands-on activity to help my students understand WHY and HOW we solve equations.  It took awhile.  In fact, it took about 3 days for my lowest class to grasp the concept.  But I knew it was all worth it today.  At the end of class, one of my students came up to me and said, "Thank you Mrs. Herman.  When you first told us what we were going to be doing with all of this equation stuff, I thought it looked SO hard.  But, now, I really get it and it's so easy.  I know you didn't have to do all this extra stuff to help us get it, but it really did help."  It was such a great thing to hear!

The Upstairs

I finally got around to taking pictures of the upstairs rooms in our home.  Here is the rest of our house.

This is the upstairs hallway.  I'll start by heading down the hall to two of our bedrooms.

This is one bedroom.

The bookshelf in this room.

And the closet

As you walk out of the room and turn right, you come to the bathroom vanity.

Behind the sink is a door to a room with the tub and toilet.  Here's the shower curtain we chose.

There is another door on the other side of the bathtub.  This leads to another vanity.

In the picture above, you can see a doorway to the left.  That is a walk-in closet for our other bedroom.  You can see the reflection of this bedroom in the mirror.  Here is a better shot:

And another view

As you walk out of this bedroom, and back down the hallway, you come to the laundry room on your right.

Across from the laundry room is another bedroom.  Right now, it is Scott's music room.

At this end of the hallway is our bedroom.

Here are the doors to our bathroom.

The vanity in our bathroom.

Here is our tub and shower.

Our toilet has its own little room.

And finally, our closet.

I hope you enjoyed your "tour."  We'd love to have you come visit if you are ever in the area.  Just give us a call!

Family Pictures

I know, I know, I'm gone for days, and then I'm post-happy.  These are some of my favorite pictures from the ones we had taken today.

We started with some Christmas shots.

The boys loved wearing their jammies!

Connor, checking to see if his brothers are ok.  He's a great big brother!  :-)

Our family

We didn't get any copies of this last one, but I love it because it's so natural.  Connor is being responsible and posing for the picture.  Quentin is hamming it up for a funny picture.  Zeke just wanted his binky, and was unhappy about having to give it up.  :-)

Thank you!

My 30th birthday party was on Saturday.  Scott did a WONDERFUL job of organizing the party, and I had a great time!  Thank you to all of my fantastic friends and family who were able to attend.  It means so much to me to have such great people in my life, and I truly felt loved and appreciated by everyone at my party.  I am glad the kids had such a good time.  I'd like to give a special thanks to my mom for being the emcee for musical chairs.

In no particular order, thank you so much to the following people for helping me celebrate my 30th birthday:

Mom, Dad, Brandon, Connor, Quentin, Sue, Ron, Melinda, Andre, Leo, Fiona, Deb, Tony, Andy, Heidi, Ashtyn, Brock, Brian, Rebecca, Libby, Charlie, A.J., Bryan, Stephanie, Madi, Caden, Liana, Matt, Belle, Jeff, & Jena.  You are the best!

Here are some pictures from the party.  Mom was using my camera, and isn't quite used to how STILL you have to stand when taking pictures, so they are a little blurry.  But I really appreciate her taking pictures for me.

My cake.  Thanks Deb!

Zeke, making sure everything is ready upstairs.

Zeke and Poppy, having a chat before the party.

Getting ready for cake

Scott, giving his speech to thank everyone for coming

Blowing out my candles (or watching as all of the kids blew them out before I could).

My guests...

After the party, my parents, brother, and his three sons spent the night so we could have our annual family pictures taken today (Sunday).  Here are some (less blurry) shots from this morning.

Zeke (and his tongue)

Connor, reading the morning paper

Quentin, just chillin'

Dad, talking to Quentin

Thirty

In my education classes, I was taught the "sandwich method" to properly deal with parents.  You start with something positive about the child, then talk about the issue that you are having, and end with something positive.  I can think of no better method to use to describe my feelings on my thirtieth birthday.

I have so many great people in my life, and I am so thankful for all of them.  They have truly done their part to make turning 30 wonderful.  They let me know how great my life is.  In order to properly "sandwich," I'll save the specifics for the end of this post.

Now for the issue(s).  Sorry if I ramble a bit here.

I hated high school.  Not for the academic part, but for the social part.  I never fit in there, and I couldn't wait to get out.  This birthday has been a bit of a reminder of that experience.  It's been a reminder that I still don't quite fit in.  And I thought I did.  I thought I had made some really good friends as an adult.  I have; but not as many as I thought.  I was reminded of that this week, and it really hurts.  I know it shouldn't bother me.  I know I should focus on the many great friends that I do have.  For the most part, I do.  But this is my place to vent, so I am.  I know that my blog is on Facebook, and people can find me pretty easily.  I guess I'm just past the point of caring.

And speaking of Facebook, that's another thing that is bothering me tonight.  I feel like unfriending a bunch of people.  Since people can read this, I'm not going to go into detail on that, but it makes me wonder why some wanted to be my friend in the first place.  For me, Facebook is a reminder of high school, and how easy it is to ignore me.  Not a good feeling.  Especially today.

But enough of the bad.  It's time for the other piece of bread.  I have a wonderful husband.  He's planned a party for me, and I appreciate all of the work he has put into it.  He's sick today, but he's still doing what he can to make my birthday special.  He still managed to get me a present, wrap it, and sit up a little to watch me open it.  :-)  I may not "fit" everywhere, but I do fit with him, and I'm very lucky to have him.

My family is also wonderful.  My first phone call of the day came from them.  My middle nephew was pretty tired, and he doesn't like to talk on the phone, but he told me happy birthday.  My oldest nephew was a little more excited.  He SCREAMED "happy birthday" into the phone.  Then said, "you're really going to like this one...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  My youngest nephew is a little too young to tell me happy birthday, but I like to think he was wishing me well, too.  My mom, dad, and brother also talked to me for a little while to wish me happy birthday.

I have several great coworkers.  My best guy friend (aside from Scott) wished me happy birthday right away this morning.  He then told a few of my students to make sure they did the same (they later told me this).  My teaching team was also great.  They got me a birthday card, and we are going out for a birthday breakfast tomorrow morning.  This is my first year with this team, so it's nice to know that they've accepted me so quickly as "one of them."  The other woman on my team also helped some of our students to make a birthday banner for me, and then I heard "happy birthday" from about 100 kids today.  They really are so sweet.

Best of all was my friend, Liana.  She's the first friend I met when I came to this area, and she is truly one of the best people I know.  She goes out of her way to make everyone feel special, but always makes it seem effortless.  I remember my first year at Clay.  She arranged for a group of us to go out to lunch together.  I don't know if she knew it at the time or not, but I was a little upset about being away from my family on my birthday.  It was the first time that I had ever not seen someone from my family on my actual birthday, and I was kind of dreading it.  I hadn't met Scott yet, so I was thinking that there would be no celebration.  Liana helped to make my birthday special, even though we'd only known each other a short time.  Staying true to form, Liana made this birthday special, too.  She got me a birthday cake and offered to help with the party this weekend in any way that she can.  She is truly a great friend, and I do appreciate her. 

Finally, I am thankful for all of the cards, texts, wall-posts, phone calls, and other birthday greetings that I got.  It's always great to know that others are thinking of me.  It makes me feel important and loved, and that's always a good feeling.  So, thank you, to my true friends.  You're the best!