Since she chose the theme of princess (those of you who know her should NOT be surprised by this) all of these pictures fit that theme.

There’s even one of me! *gasps* Be surprised. I absolutely detest the camera. I’m also more than a little gunshy about my appearance and to make matters worse, it’s a bridesmaid’s dress. We all know they’re terrifying things. But the child adores it… so I agreed to post it.

Here you go!

The next picture absolutely blew me away. Why? We were at Legoland and we walk past a roped off section. I looked over and gasped and immediately knew we had to take pictures there. Here. See why for yourself!

And while we were there, another young woman approached us. It seems that, not only was it roped off because we WEREN’T supposed to be sitting there, but it was roped off just for her. She and Lilly had a very long, very animated chat that resulted in the following picture.

Good fun.

This is my monkey, and her soon-to-be ‘twin’ cousin behind her. (Once my sister gets her butt married next month, that is!)

The quality of the photo isn’t the best, sadly. But here they are, for posterity!

Even if I’m not, I just HAD to post these original pieces of artwork, as done by my kiddo. (They’re a bit big, sadly. I quite clearly suck with scanners as much as with puns.)

Happy Easter, everybody.

Bunny

sunny bunny

Most of you know that I’m a teacher.  I teach 5th grade – 10 year old little twits.  I adore it and them.  Don’t get me wrong, but we all know 10 year olds are twits.

So…

This year’s group has been a rowdy bunch.   Lots of ADHD  and more than a few others issues.  They hated each other at the start of the year.  Constantly were bickering, tattling, bitching, whining, complaining, and backstabbing each other.  It wasn’t fun.

I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I taught them how to deal with their own issues.  We’ve worked hard at building unity and that class is now one of the most cohesive I’ve ever taught.

Go me.  Success.

Sort of?

Today, it backfired on me horrendously.

The kids have had issues with their PE teacher for some time.  Issues I understand.  He’s a bit of a power-tripper, has his favorites (including his son, who’s in my class) and tends to pick on certain kids all the time while others get away with bloody murder.

They whined, bitched, complained… and finally wrote a letter to the principal, asking for a meeting.  They got it.  He, myself, the kids, and the principal all sat down and hashed out a plan that all of us agreed would work well.

It did.

For a week.

Then he rescinded the plan and reverted back to his typical behavior.  I kept telling the kids to just wait it out, he’d go back when he saw that it wasn’t working the old way.  He didn’t.

So… all that to explain what happened today.

They all, together, unified to the last child (including his own son) walked out on him.  The just up and walked out.

*groans*

I got called up to the office and actually asked: “Why are you teaching these kids to solve their own problems?”

o.O

It’s a life skill.

I’m teaching fifth grade this year and so I have to plan and write an entire new curriculum.  It’s not easy.  It’s also my sixth year teaching and the fourth new curriculum I’ve had to write.  It’s getting tiresome and I’m frustrated and tired.

Not to mention my daughter’s at the age of after school dance and homework and everything else she wants to do, and it’s eating up my spare time.

On top of all that, this weekend my mother broke her foot, so I’ve been spending my nights over here and driving nearly an hour to and from work each day (that’s on top of starting at 7 and leaving at 4:30 anyway).

I’m really beat.  And so for now I will be stepping away from DI as a whole, until things change.  I’ll hold on to my hobbies as they are, and chances are really good that I’ll still check in from time to time to say hi and see what’s up and maybe even play  I love you guys after all.

I wouldn’t have done everything I have if I didn’t.

I need time off.  Time out.  To take a break.

I’m fried and frazzled, stressed and feeling really bleh.

It’s a bad time of year for me on top of a multitude of issues both on DI and off and I trust you’ll understand that my absence over the next few weeks is absolutely needed.

For those of you who know my PC account, if I am around I’m asking you very seriously, please do not ask me about staff things unless it is an absolute emergency.

Thank you.
TL

Well, I may be a bit more absent for the next two weeks.  If you really need me though, please feel free to email.

1. This week ends the kids’ reign of terror at school and so I have finals to grade and dunk tanks to be soaked in.  Whee!
2. Then, next week is all about packing up, putting things in storage, cleaning the classrooms and the school and getting grades settled.
3.  And last but not least, I have to resit the dumb teaching exams on June 6th.  Arizona has really botched things for their teachers… *sighs*

So between playing, studying, and finding summer fun things for my soon-to-be first grader, it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks.

My 5th one.  It still amazes me.  It really does.  When the kiddo is sleeping and being angelic, anyway.  Right now, she’s anything but.  I swear, I’ve spent the last 90 minutes trying to get a hyper monkey with bright purple hair to stop dancing around and babbling about all the My Little Ponies she looks like now, for long enough to fall asleep.

Finally successful.

I should probably add that, yes I’m crazy, but this time the purple hair is for good reason.  It’s Crazy Hair day in kindergarden tomorrow.

Oh and by the way, if you’re looking for something amusing to glance over, try:

http://bannable-offenses.blogspot.com/

It has to be one of the funnier blogs I’ve ever read and I don’t even play… in fact I’ve never played FFXI.  Still, if you get the idea of MMOs you may find it good for a laugh or two.

Most of you know, I think, that when I’m not working away on things for the MUD, I’m teaching.  It’s a self-contained 6th grade class and as much as I love them, they’re driving me absolutely batty.  (So, if I seem a bit short with you on the MUD it’s not you, I promise.  It’s them!)

Fights, vandalism, the typical 12 year old kid nonsense blown out of control.  I wish I could end the school year on Friday, just because of this.  We can’t though, so… I’ll manage.

I do exaggerate.  I love these kids but WOW.  Any of you who know me outside of the MUD have heard my rants and raves, so this will likely be a bit redundant, but how does one teach a class where the principal has ruled that half of the kids have to sit on the floor  because they’re either breaking the furniture or trying to throw it at each other and nobody is allowed paper or pencils (pens, duh, not pencils!) due to… idiocy.

Sometimes I seriously think real estate is the way to go.

Ahhh well.  It’s been a long weekend, between that and a massive building project that I decided I was just going to get done no matter what.  I did, and you’re likely to see rumors ICly (both in game and on the forums) of what’s going on, so keep your eyes and ears open, hmm?  It would be fantastic to see some of you really get involved with it.

I’m going to be fairly busy with work this week, so chances are good I’ll not be able to do more than token work on crafting, but over the holidays I ought to be able to devote that much more time to it.

Thanks for the comments, suggestions, and assistance!  You guys are terrific. 

Enjoy.