vacation

it is finally here and despite getting little to no sleep last night, I am content because at the beach nap time is perfectly acceptable because there isn't anything else to do, no housework, no homework, no responsibilities, just play and sleep, and relaxing. I have waited a long time for this- over a year to be exact.

this morning lily comes into our bedroom and announces "wake up, the sun is up, we can go to the big, big water!"
life is good.

finished now what

So I finished up my Physiology class with a hand cramping 3 hour exam, it was brutal and it is done, I can't believe it. I walked out of my last class yesterday at noon and I am not sure what to do with myself. For the last seven weeks I have had studying to do, papers to write, notes to recopy, curriculum units to create, research to find, if not something due immediately then some big project that needed completing and now there isn't and I am not quite sure what to do with myself. I am at a loss.
What did I do with myself before school?
This is so weird.
Thank goodness we are going to the beach today so I can ease into being a full time mom again slowly, I have been a crappy mom these last 7 weeks and I need to hang out with them more.
The beach.
12 hours from now I will hopefully be eating at the NY Deli and going to the tacky beach stores to buy sand shovels and exhausted from traveling, unpacking, and beating the crowds at the grocery store (a Harris Teeter!).
So after surviving 7 weeks of intensive classes, I need to figure out how to slow down and enjoy life and my kids, Lance is going to Kindergarten in a couple of weeks, I am so excited and so sad, my baby is going to school all day everyday! AHHH!

tomorrow, tomorrow

i'll love you tomorrow
tomorrow is the last day of my physiology class.
tomorrow is the last day of graduate school (until comprehensive exams in november).

I will be DONE!

I can't believe this journey that I started 2 years ago is complete, I thought it would take me at least 3 or 4 years.

I have met some interesting people, some good, some bad. I have learned a lot.

I am so relieved that the stress of school will be behind me tomorrow.

I am sad school is over, I love learning, I love class when we are discussing something I don't know, I love the social interaction.

I worked on this degree so I could teach at the community college, but I think I would like to teach at a college or university.

My dream of getting my doctorate has kind of resurfaced though I don't know how or where.

Since January I have had my sights set on July 29th, and I can't believe it is here.

The big question is what now.
For the last seven weeks I have been kind of in social isolation, even family isolation working on school work and studying so though I look forward to being social and not having to study, I have kind of forgotten what that is like, not having SOMETHING that has to be done. Then again if I think about, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

So today I am going to hopefully enjoy my last class lecture and learn all I can learn. I am going to hopefully getting an A on my last quiz. I am going to study for my last exam for a class which ironically is probably going to be the hardest one of all my classes.
and tomorrow I am going to celebrate, I did it. I managed to complete the coursework for a graduate degree with two small children. I balanced it all and I only got one B+, well hopefully only 1.

you've got to be kidding me

I feel horrible, AGAIN!
I thought this was suppose to be summertime, the season of good health and fun in the sun, not colds and sickness.
This summer is seems to be in the running for worst summer ever.
So I think I might have another cold, this is getting ridiculous.
Let's see, I had something allergies or a cold the 9-11th of June which turned into a sinus infection the 19th of June. July 4th weekend, just two weeks after recovering from the pink eye and sinus infection I came down with a definite cold, even a day spent in bed trying to break a fever.
And now I am feeling crummy again.
Now it could be allergies, but it is pretty ironic that on Friday Lily didn't seem to feel to good and had a runny nose, a sore throat, and was sneezing. I didn't know whether it was allergies give her problems or a cold, but now, four days later when I feel the same way she did, I am starting to think it was a cold.
So it is bad enough that my kids keep picking up colds which is more than they did all winter, but they are sharing their love with me, I guess I should be more specific, Lily has shared her germ love with me.
So this summer Lily has given me two colds and one case of the pink eye.
Ridiculous.
I should note, it is ironic that the past seven weeks when all of this illness has been going around, I have been in class all day and not there to remind my kids to wash their hands immediately after grocery store/playground/library etc, wonder if that has anything to do with anything.
Then again, they both go to preschool which I thought was germ center.
Maybe it is all the stress of my classes.
Who knows, but only 4 more days!
I just pray we all stay healthy during our beach trip so we can have one good week.

approaching burn out

Halfway through class today will mark halfway through my physiology class.
The glass half full side of me says, almost done, on the home stretch.
The glass half empty says, I have still have to complete and do well on 5 more quizzes, 1 take home exam and one CUMULATIVE exam, the worst is still to come.
My motivation to study, read, learn, make flashcards is decreasing, if I don't understand something I am not very motivated to try and figure it out, this is dangerous. I have made A's in all my classes except one and I want to make an A in this one. 8 more days.
8 more days of spending my whole morning in class.
8 more days of spending part of my afternoon and evening studying.
1 more weekend working on a long, take home test.
Home stretch, halfway there, maybe it would help if we were done with muscles and the cardiovascular system.

sweet girl

last night we went downtown to play, it was a little chilly but that didn't stop us from playing in the fountain/sprayground and when lily was done playing she curled up on the marble bench to get warm and I took her picture because she looked cute all curled up in her bright pink shirt and blue eyes




I love this picture, now I am no photographer, I think it might be a bit out of focus and I don't necessarily know about what makes a good photograph a good photograph, but I love how it captures lily in a quiet moment which is a rare event

the home stretch

so day 3 of my last 3 week class.
I will be done with graduate school in 16 days.
I can't believe it.
What am I going to do with myself?
I am currently drowning in studying, working housework, etc.
I can't wait.
16 more days.

the 4th was redeemed

The 4th of July was redeemed and all was not lost. I finally started feeling human again Saturday. I had dinner with the family, worked on schoolwork while the kids went swimming, and then went to see some fireworks. Though we weren't at the beach this 4th of July, the fireworks were enjoyable and the waiting for them to get started was bearable thanks to two thunderstorms in the distance that provided some amazing lightning to keep us entertained until the real fireworks began.

Monday was definitely a better day, the best day of the whole weekend for me, but not so much for other members of my family. We all seem to have caught the cold Lily started with and though I seem to have had it the worse and Lance the mildest, he either was feeling its affects yesterday or was just overly tired from staying up the night before and getting up really early or a combination of both. Despite Lance's grouchiness that was apparent at 9 am, we packed up the car and headed up the road to the Virginia Safari park where we paid a small fortune for some close encounters of the wild animal kind.


The drive-thru/feeding part of the park was fun since we could sit in our car and see the animals, but the walking around exhibits was a bit much, it was so hot and HUMID it was miserable and most of the animals were beating the heat by hiding or in some other not ideal for viewing position. So despite the heat and Lance's bad mood, we had a nice afternoon with the animals, we did get to pet a 12 foot python which was pretty neat. We got home and headed over to my mother's house for a cookout. The kids survived dinner, but it was obvious they were exhausted, Lance especially, so right after dinner we took the kids home and got them ready for bed, no fireworks on the actual 4th, which didn't really bother me, I guess I was too tired. So we celebrated America the American way- we went to a tourist trap and spent money and had a cook out. I am thankful for the white, rich, slave-owning Aristocrats so many years ago that didn't want to pay taxes who made this country, happy ____ birthday America.

worst summer ever

Lance has been a bit of a drama king lately and when something he happens he calls it the "worst ______ ever." Well this summer is starting to seem like the worst summer ever. The summer started off badly, Memorial Day weekend, Lily was running a fever. Then the following weekend Lance had a fever and the following weekend we were healthy, though I had just gotten over a cold/allergies the days before the weekend. The next weekend I was sick, pink eye and a sinus infection, last weekend everyone was healthy, and now this weekend, I am sick, I thought it was just allergies, but this morning I woke up achy and with a low grade fever.
Weekend illness would not be that big of a deal if I wasn't in class Monday through Friday from 9 to 12, which for the kids is the main part of the day since Lily naps in the afternoon and many days it is too hot to play outside.
So it is 4th of July weekend and I am sick in bed, not the way I was planning on spending the holiday weekend, there is still one more day of the weekend and I hope and pray I will be better tomorrow.
There is a lot of summer left and hopefully this summer won't really be the worst summer ever.