Last Day of School!

But first, here is Christine at the very beginning of her education: kindergarten in Boardman, Ohio! (Thanks for the pic, Lori!)

Is she not the cutest little girl?? Apparently Brent had the foresight to videotape Christine's first day of school--knowing on some deep level, I'm sure, that we would have a blog someday... so maybe if I get my hands on that footage I will post it here. Stay tuned.

And here she was this morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7am on her very last day of

school--20 years later. Still super cute... and 21 weeks pregnant! With a baby girl that will, in a few years, bear an uncanny resemblance to that little girl above! I cannot wait... :)

- Taylor

Christine's part:

Today was my official last day of graduate school and my last day at Ironwood Elementary School. I've had a placement there for the semester, and for the most part, I've enjoyed it. However, there were days that I was completely at my wits' end. Juggling 90 kids with speech/language disorders in 5 hours is a pretty wild experience!

However, my last day was a lot of fun. The wonderful teachers there gave me some baby clothes for our new little one, and I have to say, I think I will be much more in to clothes than I ever have been previously in my life. Baby girl clothes are SO CUTE!!

The kids were also really sweet. No matter how the day is going, when a little elementary schooler hugs me, I just melt. It's funny; when I told them today was my last day, I got more than a few devastated looks and comments. I see these kids maybe twice a week for 30 minutes a day: not very often. It makes you feel pretty good, like you're actually having some kind of impact.

Here are some conversational nuggets from my day:

1. Kindergartener sweetness to my co-teacher:

"I love you more than outer space!"

2. I love their logic:

First grader Isaiah: "I'm the teacher!" (while standing in the teacher's spot)

First grader Derrick: "You can't be the teacher! She's taller than you!" (pointing to me)

3. Second grader Tyler was asked to lead the group in some stretches to get the wiggles out. He grabbed both of his ears and moved them up and down really fast. When my supervisor and I commented that we liked his ear stretches, he said, "I'm stretching my brain!"

4. And this, I think, is the best: Remember a few weeks ago, when I mentioned the cute little 5-year-old boy who asked if I was pregnant? Today his third grade sister (who had translated his unintelligible speech for me) admitted that SHE put him up to it! I love it! She said she hadn't wanted to ask because she didn't want to make me feel bad if I wasn't pregnant - smart girl! That makes a little more sense than the 5-year-old boy noticing my baby bump.

Thank you, Ironwood Elementary, for the good memories and the great learning experiences.