Bits of things.

You wouldn't know it from the looks of these photos,

but the last 11 weeks have been the most intense, enduring, and stressful of my life.

I went from one placement in a 1st/2nd grade classroom
with a mentor I adore almost as much as my own mother (not really, mom!),

to a 4th grade class at a new school, with a new mentor teacher, and yet another work sample to create and teach.

It's been a whirlwind of constant work, self-reflection, vulnerability, and, sometimes, self-doubt.

I'm doing what I can to get by. Emotionally and physically.

I am doing my best to fulfill all of my requirements, while doing it creatively, thoughtfully, energetically,

and somehow find it within myself to also be all of those things at home with my family.

The balance is not easy, but, perhaps anything truly worth pursuing should have some sort of intense struggle.

Who knows what I'm talking about. 

I'm tired. I should be sleeping, but I thought it was about time to update this ol' thing.

These photos give a little glimpse of the past few weeks.

Last week Ramona's grandparents took her across the state to stay with them,

giving us some much needed time to both relax/have fun, as well as work freely on things we needed to finish up.

I brunched, biked around the city, went dancing, and arguably could've/should've worked more, 

but my spirit needed that little bit of fun more than I needed to type a few more pages.

I valued that time more than I can even say, 

but after five days, I was sure ready to see my little lady again.

I graduate next weekend, WITH A MASTER IN TEACHING (!!!!!!!!!!!!),

although it seems a bit false since I have eight more weeks of school with my students.

I'll get there, and by then it'll be SUMMER.

For now, this gorgeous Northwest Spring weather is doing amazing things for my mood and energy.

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52 / 52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013/2014.

It's warm enough to hold our sweaters!

Hello, April.

Please keep us healthy and relatively stress-free.

Be good to us. 

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51 / 52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013/2014.

This girl loves the beach. and her grammy and grampy.

We are making it a tradition to get a beach house for her birthday every year,

because it just so happens that it falls on spring break and everyone we know are teachers.

And, when you only have one child, you really let everyone know it.

hashtag weeklongbirthdaycelebrations

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50 / 52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013/2014.

Double ear infections hardly keep this girl down.

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BITS OF SUNDAY.

This weekend was a good one.

I haven't had time in the last 5 weeks to relax, 

so it is a wonderful thing to feel accomplished enough to just be.

Today, Sunday, we went to the soaking pool, grabbed pizza on our way home, baked a peach pie, 

went for a rainy walk around the neighborhood looking at all the new sprouts and blossoms 

and collecting things for vases, 

and then we ate that pie for dinner.

It was a wonderful day.

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49 / 52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013/2014.

We were stuck in traffic yesterday 

and she saw a bunch of litter next to an over-turned shopping cart.

She started saying how litter is bad for the soil, the earth, 

and "maybe even little fish get stuck in bottles!"

then her train of thought went on... "sting rays should use their tails 

to poke a hole in the bottle, but not too hard to hurt the fish, 

just to make a hole for it to escape."

I love watching her mind at work.

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48 / 52

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013/2014.

This was during a ballerina/wookie/comedy show you were putting on for me.

Please never choose just one thing to love.

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