real not-in-school-anymore grownup

the days of grad school are winding down, and i'm so ready. tomorrow will be june; a month i've been waiting for. linds and i are slowly packing up the house, getting rid of a lot of stuff, and closing up this chapter of our lives. we've lived together the past 3 1/2 years, and it will be strange without her. but on the up side, i get a new roommate to look forward to;)

tomorrow's my last day at Seymour with my kids, and i think i'll miss them more than i realize now. right now, i'm just wanting to be done so bad that i'm looking straight ahead towards that goal. but today during our first grade "awards day", i realized just how special each child is and how much i've fallen in love with so many of them.

there's really nothing much to tell; my days of late consist of cleaning, packing, wedding details and getting ready for my next class on monday.

the end of grad school means a lot of new things:
free time to read for FUN
back home with my family
a new job that i will LOVE
a new apartment with a new husband:)
becoming a real not-in-school-anymore grownup.

i almost forgot

i successfully defended a Master's thesis. *proud face*

boys will be boys

the boys got ahold of some of the leftover bridal shower supplies one night during graduation weekend, and this is what came of it. of course i stood by and caught it all on tape. some of my favorite things about this video: 1)jake's mustache, 2)tyler's giggles, 3)our only interventions as "yeah, that DOES look like it hurts" or "no, put it there at least", 4)jake's very accurate imitation of Santa meets the talking trees from LOTR, and 5)that he actually let tyler keep going.

p.s. listen closely, you'll hear Summer honk.

jesus in a bunny outfit

i know i've talked a lot about my first graders at Seymour Primary, but you have to understand- they're my life right now. plus, you'd fall in love with every single one of them if you were in my position, too.

here's a picture way back from Halloween. Instead of "Halloween" costumes, they were all asked to come dressed up as a book character. This is my favorite. This child is the most gentle, loving creature God ever made. Lauren knows exactly when to latch onto you and hug you until you're blue in the face, and the perfect time to just slide a handmade picture of a dolphin that says "I love you" across your desk when you're busy. She sits right in front of my desk, always watching me. She doesn't get to go to second grade next year, though. But she just tells me that it means she'll get to help out the other kids.

This child is Jesus in a bunny outfit.

so close

5 more days of school.

10 more days of class.

36 more days of being a Blum.

salt shakers & ice cream

my kids at Seymour surprised me today with a "secret wedding party" as they called it. it was so sweet of them- they made a sash, special decorated chair, had cupcakes and juice boxes...the whole shebang. they were so good about not giving it away the entire day i was there, and they were all so excited about the presents they picked out.

they had a kitchen theme for the shower, so i ended up getting a massive amount of fun kitchen tools, half the stuff the kids have NO idea what they're used for (and neither do i).

my favorite present was from a little boy named Jacob. he has coke-bottle glasses and always wears a Sheriff's star. he gave me salt and pepper shakers in the shape of a hot dog & hamburger. they're pretty incredible. he also gave me ice cream dishes and an ice cream scoop. this kid knows what's good in life.

dinner for one

this weekend was a little bit lonely. it seemed like almost everyone was out of town, or preoccupied with other things. i guess i'm so used to traveling on the weekends, that when i have a weekend for myself, i don't know what to do. i was looking forward to some time for myself, but too much of it makes me depressed and really bored. and when i'm bored, i look for ways to spend money. which is never good.

so this is what i've done so far this weekend:

watched seasons 4 & 8 of Friends start to finish
babysat a cat
picked out music for the wedding ceremony
written baby shower invitations
got the rest of the bridesmaids' shoes
cleaned the house
found a rug & pictures for our new kitchen
sold used clothes
gone running a few times
packed a few things in my room
went to dinner w/ a friend
church @ Crossings
rented "Because I Said So" and had a movie night w/ Nicole's cat
worked on our thesis defense presentation
got my oil changed


...so i guess looking back, i really did get some things done that needed to be done. however, this weekend has dragged on. i know i'm just anxious for days to start flying by.

"these days, i wish i was six again..."

these are my precious ones at Seymour. we were stoked about winning anything and everything for field day. we had cheers, signs, shirts, etc. it was a great chance to relive my elementary days.

seven dollar shoes

well, i'm sick again. back to Seymour = the crud. i love the place, but apparently i'm allergic. it makes for some cranky mornings and headaches early on. ah well, 2 more weeks. at least the kids are absolutely precious. ;)

gonna have a great weekend for "me". i'm cat-sitting at the Gooches, which means every single season of Friends at my disposal, along with cable tv. a big comfy bed, and time to just do whatever i want. (aka prework)

spent some good QT w/ the Wolfs tonight...which only reminds me of how much i'm going to miss them. we held in our tears during the season finale of Grey's tonight, which are moments that i can only share to the fullest extent with Betsy.

also, i got some "i have a new job" shoes tonight at good ole' Shoe Show for only $7. gotta love it. they have pointy toes, so don't tell Tim. he'll hate them. but you can't win 'em all.

i apologize for the meaningless post. three times a week is harder than i thought.

coming up: field day footage.

knoxville

my friend Betsy Wolf took a few (awesome) pictures of downtown Knoxville this weekend, so i wanted to share. if you're like me, you've spent some great summer nights in Market Square at Sundown in the City, met the flower guy, walked around wishing you could afford a cool studio loft at Sterchi's, attended the Dogwood Festival, and just enjoyed a little part of east Tennessee.

i'm gonna miss it.

virginia is for lovers

this weekend was exactly what i needed.

it was awesome walking in the house and watching my mother absolutely flip out when she saw me. she was so excited, she hung up on the person she was on the phone with. she got her wish- all of her kids (plus Tim) home for mother's day.

tim and i signed a lease for our new apartment! i'll post pictures later. i love the place, and we're going to be living in the building next to nick & lindsay (friends from home getting married this summer, also) so it's going to be a blast. it worked out great that i went home, since we couldn't get the apartment unless i was there. it was a little bit surreal to walk around an empty apartment and realize that it would be our first home.

dad got a nice sized gift card from work to a fancy steak place in downtown Virginia Beach, so to celebrate Mom's birthday, Mother's Day, and my parents' 25th wedding anniversary (yeah, Mom's got it real good this time of year), we all got dressed up and had a night on the town. we did the whole thing...appetizers, steaks, desserts...everything. this restaurant has the best steak i've had in my entire life. i'm not going to mention the fact that the average entree was $40-50. we had a great time, on someone else's dime, of course! ;)

church today was very encouraging, as well. Northside's congregational vote for my call into ministry is next week, so there were a lot of people coming up to introduce themselves to Tim and I. it was very encouraging to have so many people express how excited they are of us coming back to Northside, friends and strangers alike. it's amazing how much peace we feel about this whole thing, and how it all just fell into place in a matter of a month's time! God is good.

all in all, it was hard to leave. it was so much fun being home with the entire family at once, celebrating so many fun things. only five more weeks and i'll have it all back! :)

i decided rather last minute today that i'm going to go home to surprise my mom for mother's day. all of us kids will be home, and i would rather be home with everyone than anywhere else right now. her birthday was yesterday, mother's day is sunday, and she & dad have their 25th wedding anniversary on tuesday. she's got it made.

i can't wait to get home and just be with family. i don't even have to pay for gas- i'm counting it as "moving expenses" from the church so i'll pack my car to the brim with my stuff and consider my moving started.

i suppose i should get to packin' - bon voyage.

the beginning of the end

this weekend was wonderful with everyone in town for graduation. it's so weird to think that it's already been one full year since we walked across that same stage. so much has happened in that year, and i feel like it's flown by. of course, looking back it seems to have gone by faster, but in the midst of the student teaching and papers and paperwork, i didn't seem to think so.

we all had so much fun together enjoying each other's company and really holding onto the fun times we had together. other than our wedding in June, i'm sure when i'll see some of those people. Tim's already having a hard time with it since he's already in Virginia, and i can spend time with people while I'm still here. It makes me realize that we really do have the best friends i could ever ask for. the friends i've met at jbc are HONESTLY friends that will be there for the rest of our lives.

and yeah, i realize that we all grow up and live in different places and have families and jobs that take us away from eachother. but i wish it wasn't so. wouldn't it be great to still have that community where you know you're going to see everyone during dinner, and at least five times a day? we complain about it sometimes when we have it. but i'll miss it.

p.s. i don't know what the matter is with my smile.