Graduation

CJ's spring pictures yesterday, the day that she went to have them done, I wanted her fix her hair differently.  She wanted to do her hair herself and did not what to put any bows, clips, or headbands in.  I told her that if the pictures did not turn out nice I would not buy them.  I was very surprised that they turned out so nice for school pictures. A guess after I left for work she decided to find a clip that she liked for her hair.   It is hard having CJ growing up and her not wanting me to help her with some things and wanting to do things on her own.

CJ’s School had their annual 5k fund raiser. All three of us this year got to run the race.  Well we did not run it this year we walked it.  It took us 51 minutes and my feet were soaked because it had been raining all night.  I found that Jay had a slightly competitive side.  He really did not like that fact that we came in last during the race.  It did not bother me I was just happy that we were all together.  CJ and her friend Claire wanted to stay ahead of us.  Every time we would catch up to them they would run ahead so that we were behind them and could not hear what they were talking about.  At the end of the race CJ and Claire did not cross the finish line they exited to the food 3 yards from the finish line.  So as we got close to the finish line we yelled at them they we were going to cross the finish line first.  They started to run on the side lines to bet us.  They said that they did not realize were the finish line was. 

On May 25^th CJ had her 5^th grade graduation.  I took the whole day off to attend.  CJ came home with a lot of awards. I cannot believe that she will be in middle school next year, were has the time gone.  After the graduation CJ and I went to lunch at Subway her favorite place to eat.  We then came home and just had a nice day together.  I needed the day off and we were not doing much at school with the kids anyway so it really did not matter much. 

Sometimes with teaching Middle School special education you really wonder if what you tell students really matter, especially on those really tough years. I got a message from a former student this week that reminded me that I am not just wasting my time, that my children really do hear what I say. As the end of the year closes and things get really crazy I keep reading this note to remind me how important my job is and why I teach. Here is the Message from my former student, "I didn't forget about you and I always remembered what you told me. Now, that I'm about to graduate and move on to a new chapter in life. Thanks for believing in me."

For Memorial Day weekend we went camping, it was a warm weekend and when I went to pick up CJ from Claire’s.  I invited their family to come out to the lake to go swimming. Claire asked if she could go out that night with us.  I said that was find but she would have to spend the night because it was too late for her parents to go out to the lake to get her.  She was all for that, which was surprising because she has always been so scared to spend the night with other people.  She did great spending the night with no problems. When we got to the camp site the girls get dressed and went swimming.  Jay and I were able to set the camper up without CJ complaining about being bored.  The next morning the girls got up and put there suits on and were in the water again.  They swam all day only coming out of the water to eat.  Claire’s family got there about 2:00 and played until after dinner.  The next day it rained most of the day and we were not able to do much.  We went to see a friend of Jay’s and eat lunch in town.  We thought about packing up early because of the rain and heading home.  In the evening the rain stopped and we had the most beautiful sunset.  At the point we were very glad that we did not go home.  The next day it was not raining and everything was dry which made packing up easier. We so needed the relaxing weekend of doing nothing but watch the water and enjoy nature.  I feel so much better and ready to finish this busy week out.  When we got home Jay was ready to sell the camper.  He wanted to sell it and get one with bunk beds so that CJ’s friends did not have to sleep on the floor.  When we got back Jay put the camper on Craig’s list and within an hour we got a call from someone wanting to buy it.  The next day he came and bought the camper.  We have 2 more camping trips on the books and I am very worried that we will be doing it in a tent.

Last days of school for CJ were half days, because her teacher had not given her MAP testing yet and CJ needed that for placement in classes at Glenview I made her go to school on the half days.  CJ was not that happy about it but she went anyway.  CJ was in the 90^th percentile on MAP testing which at Glenview you have to be in the 94^th percentile to get into the GT classes.  CJ will be placed in the accelerated classes but not GT which is ok.  I think that she will do better in the accelerated classes. I

In the afternoon CJ went to Claire's house to play and on Friday when I had in services and she did not have school.  She went swimming most days and was not all that happy when it was time for me to pick her up and she had to get out of the pool.