First Day of Kindergarten

So, my little guys (excuse me!) BIG GUYS started Kindergarten today!

Here they are: Benji (L) and Micah (R)

We have been so excited for school at our house. I don't know who has been more excited, me or the boys! 

I have been itching to get back to a routine and (dare I day it?) eager to give the boys another outlet for their boundless energy! They couldn't wait to go to school this morning. In fact, they asked me, "Can we walk to school by ourselves?" 

Oh my. (My heart screamed, "Noooooo! I'm not ready for THAT!")

I knew I wouldn't cry on Kindergarten morning. We did a full day pre-K program last year and experienced the big transition that comes with full time school then. 

However, I was a little more emotional than I thought I would be when dropped them off in their classrooms. Right now, my heart is beating in Mrs. Clingenpeel's class and Mrs. Smith's class at Perrymont Elementary school. 

But despite my emotions, I am so excited for this year!

I am looking forward to... 

Seeing the world unfold before them as they learn to read (I cannot expressed how ecstatic I am about this!)

Seeing them develop math skills

Watching them make new friends and develop relationships

Seeing how their teachers inspire them to grow in ways that I would never think of

And, if I can be so honest, I am also looking forward to missing them. We spent LOTS of time together this summer.  (lots and lots and lots) A little space is going to be healthy for us. I think it will help me appreciate them more, love them more. 

There is one more thing I am excited about: 

Picking them up every afternoon, hearing them squeal "MOMMY!" feeling those skinny little arms around my waist, kissing the tops of their tousled heads, and telling my boys, 

"I missed you! Now, tell me what you learned today?"

Our Summer Reading and Writing Adventure!

Today we started our great Reading and Writing Adventure! 

I wanted to keep the boys' school skills fresh this summer and in order to encourage them (hey, who am I kidding? I need to encourage ME!) to do reading and writing every day, we made this super cool chart/game today. It kinda looks like CandyLand! (right?) 

Anywho, here is how the game works. For each book we read out loud together (because I am not above bribing my kids to read with me) they get a sticker (one sticker per boy/book per day. The number of books we read is unlimited). 

For each worksheet they complete, they get a sticker too!

I made copies of this number and letter workbook we have so they can practice their writing throughout the summer. 

 Today they worked on some coloring. 

Coloring isn't their favorite thing in the world but I am just glad they actually completed the sheet! 

 And they got a sticker! 

We did some reading this afternoon so now there are 4 stickers on our chart. 

 There are 102 squares on our chart (I decided to go for a nice round number....just kidding. That's just how many squares it took to fill in my squiggly line on the poster board. 

My math major husband reminded me that 102 is not divisible by 4). 

When we get to 102, we get to go to TOYS R US to pick out a new toy! The boys can't wait. 

Really. They wanted to go today. 

I reminded them 7 times that this chart is going to take lots of hard work and patience. 

So, while we wait to get to TOYS R US, we have some Star incentives along the way. There are 11 stars (I just asked the boys where we should put the stars and we ended up with 11. Go figure).

At each star we will pick a Star Card and do something fun like "Play the Wii" or "get a slush from Sonic." Hopefully the Star Cards will keep the boys motivated this summer until we get to Square one-oh-two. 

I really have no idea how long it will take us to complete the chart. We may need to make another chart before the summer is over. (fingers crossed...maybe that is just wishful thinking...)

I am hoping that our great Summer Reading and Writing Adventure Game will keep us all motivated to keep practicing those skool skillz...

What do you do to keep your kids' academics fresh over the summer? 

First Day/ Last Day: How they grow!

I can't believe today was the last day of school for Micah and Benji! We have had such a great year! 

 Their first day of school: August 2012. Four years old

Their last day of school: May 2013

Look how much they have grown! What big boys!

I DID IT!

I just finished my last exam of my last class for my graduate degree.

I. AM. DONE.

I did it!

I finished my Masters degree in two years taking classes full time and teaching two classes on top of that for the last year.

I am not sure of my final grades for this semester yet. I might get a B for the first time in a class; yep, I'm gonna brag: Pending grades this semester, I have a 4.0.

AND I did it with two kids. HA!

Ok, I know this sounds like a braggy, self-glorifying post but I am really really glad to be done and I am so proud of myself.

Because these last two years have been so hard.

Like anxiety-attacks, constant-back-pain-from-stress, going-crazy, want-to-scream hard.

But I did it. And I did it well.

I am so happy.

I had to fight tears when I was talking to my supervisor, Mrs. Towles, about the weight of this accomplishment. She had kids when she went through grad school. And she knows what a big deal it is.

Thank you Aaron for encouraging me (in your own way) to do this. And for letting me be a crazy woman in pursuit of a goal.

Thank you Micah and Benji for putting up with a cranky mama for the past two years. I will try to work on being sweeter and more calm.

Thank you Nicole and Brooke and countless other babysitters who watched the boys for me. Without you, this degree would not have been possible.

Thank you Kalina, Chelsea, Amberley, Kellan, Mom and Dad, and Nonnie for telling me how proud you are of me and for encouraging me to keep going.

Thank you Candace keeping me sane on our Thursday night dates.

Thank you God for helping me through every reading assignment, every paper, every late night class, every worrisome moment when I just thought I couldn't do it anymore. These past two years have been for your glory.

I DID IT!!!!

Thesis peek

Here is the abstract from my thesis + the official title! It is going to be published online tomorrow and then I am officially done. YEA!

Enjoy!

"The Enduring Austen Heroine: Self-Awareness and Moral Maturity in Jane Austen’s Emma and in Modern Austen"
Jane Austen’s novels continue to be popular in the twenty-first century because her heroines are both delightful and instructive; they can be viewed as role models of personal growth due to their honest self-examination and commitment to high moral standards. Chapter one establishes the patterns of personal growth that uniquely characterizes Austen’s heroines in each of her six novels. Chapter two tests these conclusions by carefully examining the character of Emma Woodhouse. Though Emma is a unique heroine due to her wealth and social privileges, she follows the principles of personal growth possessed by Austen’s other heroines. Chapter three further analyzes these conclusions by examining how Jane Fairfax can also be viewed as an Austen heroine because she too cultivates self-awareness and corrects her inner failings. In fact, several contemporary writers have recognized the heroic qualities in Jane Fairfax and have rewritten Emma by placing Jane as the heroine; three such adaptations are analyzed in chapter three. To further evaluate the characterization of the Austen heroine as realized by modern authors, chapter four examines three versions of Emma set in modern times to see if contemporary renditions of Austen’s novels are consistent with the model of growth that Austen promotes. Though these contemporary adaptations are not always faithful to the underlying moral themes found in the original Austen novels, the mere existence of these adaptations affirms the influence that Austen has on the minds, hearts, imaginations, and moral education of twenty-first century writers and readers.

I'm thankful that...

...my thesis is (almost) done. Today is Thanksgiving and I guess a pretty good day to give a thesis update for all of you who were anxiously waiting for it (umm....is this anyone? No clue).

I finished my thesis two weeks ago today. Or I should say, I finished writing it the first time. Heh...

I had one and a half heady days of celebration. And then my chair emailed me back. Oh boy....

In her words, "Your thesis needs extensive revision."

As my defense was on Monday (and I received this email on Saturday morning) I knew I had some frantic editing to do. I spent 7 hours revision chapter one (that's right, just one chapter) on Saturday and in the process, cut out 9 pages (the original chapter was 42 pages).

The next day I spent 5 hours on chapter two.

Monday = defense day. From 7:30-12pm I worked on editing and revising chapter three and at 12:30 I had my defense.

A thesis defense is basically a meeting where the student (aka me) talks about her thesis to her committee members (I had three). We all met at the beginning and then they sent me out so they could decide what they wanted to do. Then they called me back in and I spoke for about 10-15 minutes about why I wanted to write about my topic and what I learned through the process. Then each committee member asked me questions and shared their observations about my thesis. My chair, especially asked me some really tough questions ("In today's postmodern, primarily amoral society, why do you think people are still drawn to Austen's novels considering the values she promotes in her fiction?" and "If you were to expand on your ideas for a PhD dissertation, what would you write about?") but she seemed impressed with my answers. After the question time they sent me out again and talked for a while. When I came back in, my chair said she wanted everyone to go around and praise me for the good work I.

Some of the most memorable compliments were:
Are you going to go for your PhD?
You definitely have some publishable and conference (Professional academic conferences) worthy writing here.
After three hundred years of Austen criticism, it is tough to find something new to say about her works--but you did it.
You integrated professional criticism with your own analysis very well.
Very creative!
I really enjoyed your writing.

They all knew that I had to finish my revisions but we ended on the fact that I would be approved and then the defense was over.

However, my work was not over.

I finished my revisions for chapter four and my conclusion that evening and sent them to my chair, Dr. Ayres and felt like I was really done now.

Nope.

On Tuesday morning I checked my email as I was getting the boys ready for school and found another long message about revisions again. I still had major things to change in chapter one, even though I had spent hours and hours on it on Saturday. And she didn't even read chapters 2 and 3 because on first perusal, she found a lot of mistakes (left out works, grammatical, mechanical, etc).

I snapped. I felt so overwhelmed, like I would never be done with this project and it would never be good enough. I spent the whole morning crying off and on and fighting depression. I was a horrible mom that morning and actually felt relieved when I dropped the boys off at school. And then I felt guilty for being relieved.

I had reading, a 1-2 page response, and the first 5 pages of a term paper due in my Shakespeare class that afternoon. Not happening. Not when your chair tells you she wants all revisions done by Thursday.

After more tears, much prayer, and a severe mental pep-talk, I pulled up my big girl panties and got back to work. I spent all morning and afternoon reading chapters 2-4 out loud (70+ pages) in order to catch my mistakes. And...um...there were quite a few that I had missed, simply from just looking at the darn thing so. many. times.

I went to Shakespeare still feeling the emotional weight of the day, and feeling guilty for not getting my work done (though I had emailed my professor and let him know what was going on).

Twenty minutes into class, I get a call from the preschool: Micah had a 101.5 fever. So, I checked out of class, again bouncing between feelings of relief and guilt.

My poor baby was so pitiful and looked like he felt so bad. And as soon as we pulled up the the house, he threw up in the car. (I'll just let you imagine the hours that followed, though Micah actually was feeling better later that night).

That evening, after the boys went to bed, I started revising chapter one A.G.A.I.N. I sent everything back to Dr. Ayres that evening and crashed into bed.

Wednesday: Another email--Minor revision left. I do them. I send it back, AGAIN. I felt hopeful though because at the end of her email she said that after I made the changes I should send it to the rest of my committee.

It is now a week and one day later. I have heard back from everyone on my committee and only have to make some minor changes to my abstract (which I will try to post on here in the next few days for those of you who are interested in what has consumed my life for the past year).

So, needless to say, I am very thankful the thesis process is almost over. I am meeting with Dr. Ayres on Nov. 30th to go over everything again and then I have to publish my thesis in an online professional database. Then it will be done. Finis. The End.

Thank God.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hot Momma

This story is just too good to pass up. I hope you enjoy...

I defended my thesis on Monday (will post about this later, when I am out of revision purgatory) and bought a new dress for the occasion. I got a great deal at Ross--$27 for an Calvin Kline dress! It is black, knee length and fitted with cap sleeves and a square neckline. It is the epitome of the little black dress, if you know what I mean: classy and sexy. Paired with sheer black stockings and black heels, I was feeling good!

I got a lot of compliments from my friends, coworkers, and even my thesis chair. My students also told me I looked nice.

That's when the trouble started...

I have a Korean student that I adore. He is so funny, fun, and a joy to have in class. Although he speaks excellent English, he doesn't always "get" slang references or when to use certain words at the best time.

I was standing in front of him checking his homework when he asked, "Is hot degrading?"

I had just teased him about wearing two collared shirts at the same time (???) so I thought he was referring to being too warm.

"No," he clarified. "Is calling someone "hot" degrading?"

Knowing he is trying to figure out relationships (especially with a super cute girl in the class) I said, "Well, not always. It really depends on the context."

"Well, in that case, you look hot."

My head shot up and I immediately replied, "Ok! well, that is a little inappropriate" as I turned five shades of red.

The girls sitting on either side of him burst out laughing, as did I.

I got a kick out of sharing the story with the rest of the graduate assistants.

Of of my friends said, "Ok, you have a new title now: "Hot GSA mom!"

I'll take it. :)

Thesis update

Dear blog readers (whoever you are...thank you for your faithfulness),

I am so sorry to leave you hanging on such a bad week.

This past week has not been much better. We have been hit with a plague. As in throwing up plague for the boys and body aches, shooting joint pain, and extreme exhaustion for me. Thankfully Aaron has been spared (so far. Fingers crossed and prayers said)

BUT, the thesis is in a better state than when I left the last blog post. Chapter four is done, revised and sent to my whole committee. All have responded with good comments and minor revisions. YEA!

Now, all that is left is to revise my conclusion, write my introduction (yes, now that my thesis is all done) and organize the whole thing in an official thesis format. I have over 100 pages so far. Oh my goodness. This project is HUGE!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou GOD it is almost done.

Not out of the woods with it yet though. And I am running out of time....because....

....my defense is scheduled for a week from tomorrow. EEK!

Most pressing project right now is to grade the 14 papers English 101 papers that I have to turn back...umm...tomorrow...

oh my life...looking forward to Christmas and some REAL peace on earth...

Whew what a week!

Last week was...shall we say...NOT GOOD!

Here was the break down:

Monday: I had long been awaiting (4 months to be exact) of a acceptance letter of a short story I sent to a magazine. Well, it came. I was shaking with excitement until I opening it. Yep, it was ANOTHER impersonal rejection letter. I was so upset.

Then I went to school and picked up my graded Shakespeare paper (that I felt pretty good about when I turned it it). I got a 72. Sad, sad day. I was so depressed. This is actually only the 2nd C I have ever gotten in my entire college career (undergrad and grad).

I had to give myself a pep-talk: Pull it together girl! It is NOT the end of the world.

Tuesday: Better than Monday as far as severe disappointments go but Aaron I had to deal with an icky problem: FLEAS. Goldie was infested. We moved all the furniture out of the living room (sans 1000 lbs piano) and treated the carpet with flea powder. Then we bathed the living-daylights out of the poor dog with flea shampoo. We felt happy about our accomplishment...but it took a lot of time away from other things...like umm...the thesis chapter I had due in less than a week that I had yet to start on?? PS. this story is not over...this did not get rid of the fleas...:P

Wednesday: I am stressed about my thesis chapter due on Monday. It is raining. Hard. Blech. And to top it all off, I hear a very loud CLUNK outside my right hand car window as I drive to work. Commence racing heart. I have hit a parked car with my side mirror. I drive around the block and realize I have badly broken the parked cars' mirror. It is still raining. Hard. I can't leave a note. I am panicked. And I do NOT want to tell my dear husband what just happened. I decide to tell him in an email when I get to work. He is mad. I start bawling and cry for 20 minutes. To make a long story short though, everything worked out. I went back home (therefore wasting more time that could have been spent on my thesis) and leave a VERY apologetic note in a plastic bag on the windshield. The girl called me and was very nice and we got it all worked out for us to pay for the broken mirror. Thank you God.

That night I emailed my thesis chair and told her I was overwhelmed and that I hadn't even revised my chapter three of my thesis yet. She emailed me back some encouragement and told me to get on the revision right away.

Thursday: Better than all previous days in the week. Got chapter three revised and sent back to Dr. Ayers but no new work done on chapter four....

Friday: Spent the day either at school or preparing for the Cloth Diaper Yard Sale on Saturday

Saturday: This was probably the highlight of my week. I made $268 dollars at the Cloth Diaper Yard Sale and I didn't even sell all my diapers!!! WOW! Plus I started writing on chapter four

Sunday: More writing...but the chapter is due on Monday....by the end of the day I only have 7 (ish?) pages....

The End. Good riddance bad week!

Thesis happiness

I sent my third chapter of my thesis to my chair yesterday and she emailed me this morning:

"Brittany, well done! . . . I am so proud of the quality and timeliness of your writing. Besides that, your work with the novels is simply delightful. You are blessing me a lot! Dr. Ayres"


This just made me smile and sigh a happy sigh. 


Plus her encouragement made me feel a little better about all the revision comments she made on the chapter....  

Back to Normal

There have been a lot of changes this semester but one thing I have really enjoyed is having a little time in the morning to myself after I take the boys to school. Every day I drop the boys off and come home for a few hours to walk the dog, eat breakfast, drink coffee, watch a little Food Network, and do a little housework before heading to school for the day.

This week, however, has robbed me of my sweet morning routine. 

I have had student conferences Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. Each conference is 15 minutes long--not bad, right? Well, if you multiply that by 43+ students (I had two conferences with some students)....let's just say I've been living at school this week. 

Yesterday I had 25 conferences. My stomach cramps up a little bit just remembering. While I love meeting with each student (most of them, anyway...) one on one, I really do not like the all-day-marathon of mental energy expended while helping student after student generate ideas, thesis sentences, organizational patterns, and MLA citations. It is exhausting. 

Plus I missed my date with my french vanilla coffee and Food Network.

Well, today is Thursday. Blessed Thursday!

I dropped the boys off at school and headed home for some me-time. Goldie and I took a beautiful walk on this crisp fall day, and I enjoyed a yummy breakfast and coffee, and yes, I am currently watching Food Network as I write this. 

And I have been looking forward to today for another reason: I am going shopping for the boys' birthday party this morning! I am so excited. 

Party hats, balloons, plates, party bags, here I come! 

How are my babies turning 3? Amazing! 

First Day of School

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for both me an the boys. This was the only picture I got this morning, bright and early at 6:45am. YAWN! My day is off to a good start and I hope the boys are doing well too. I haven't cried....yet.

BTW, this is my 100th post! WOOT!

This is what my life looks like right now....

A look into the world of the thesis writer. These are 5 of the 6 Austen novels that I am using. Chapter One is done--it turned out to be 42 pages (!!!!!!) That is definitely the longest paper I have ever written. Now on the Chapter Two...I already have 30+ pages of source notes....::shakes head and sighs::

What I do while the boys nap (besides sew and waste ridiculous amounts of time on the internet)

So, this summer I have done lots of sewing projects, as my blog and pictures have shown. I also spend LOTS of time taking care of my two year old boys. What other time is there to do anything else, you ask? Well, much of my time has been spent working on my Master's thesis. There has been no break from school for me this summer, though I have spent a lot less time doing school work than I should.

Most afternoons and many evenings I am working on gathering research, reading, typing notes, and now, writing my thesis. It is not going as fast as I would have liked or planned, unfortunately. By this time in the summer, I wanted to have 2 chapters written (a chapter being 20ish pages.) BUT, I have 6 pages written at this time. Phoo, phoo. (not to be mistaken for poo, poo--which I write far to much about.)

So, lately, instead of sewing (which this morning I did a lot of, though it wasn't very exciting. I hemmed two bridesmaid dresses for my BFF Candace and her sister, and shortened a pair of pants to a pair of shorts for myself), I have been working on my thesis. I wrote 3.5 pages this afternoon and hope to get as many done this evening after B and M are in bed.

Thank GOD my boys take long naps still--usually 3 hours in the afternoon. I don't know what I would do if they didn't nap so well. Probably really start freaking out about my thesis. Right now, the freak out is at a dull roar.

Hopefully, I will catch the writing bug, or the writing muse will slap me on the rear will her magic want, and I will finally get my butt in gear and WRITE WRITE WRITE. Otherwise, I will really be freaking out when December comes. And the thesis is due.

If I don't, there won't be any more fun sewing projects.

Now that is a real motivator.

PS. My camera decided to break up with my computer and won't download pictures right now. Sad day. I am trying to get them to reconcile. Stay tuned for more updates on this drama.

Back to School

I am in my second week of school and second semester of my MA English program. So far, it is going well. I am taking 9 hours (3 classes) which is full time. Am I crazy? Sometimes I think so! Here is my schedule:

MW 4:05-5:20pm Christian Poetics (this is not a poetry class. More like a "What makes good literature good" class and "So what are we going to do about it as Christians?" class) Love my professor. I took her for almost every class she offered in undergrad. Go Dr. Prior! 

M 6:00-9:00pm Victorian Literature. Currently reading "Oliver Twist." Can't wait to get to "Dracula" later in the semester. Bring on the vampire lit! Wonderful, witty professor in this class too. She keeps us laughing. 

Tues 6:30-9:30pm Seminar in Jane Austen. Sigh. I love Jane Austen. Re-reading "Pride and Prejudice" for the umpteenth time. Double sigh of happiness. That book is delicious every time you read it. 

I chose to do my small (7-9 page) research paper for my Christian Poetics class first (we had to sign up for a date) so I began working on it 2 weeks before classes even started. I had to present/read it aloud in class on Monday. I was SUPER nervous. The topic was hard--Aristotle's "Poetics" was the book--and I choose a very abstract concept to write about. But the end result was very satisfying and once I was done reading, I felt really good about it. The paper provoked some good class discussion. And I am SO glad that I don't have to think about another paper for that class until the end of the semester. YEA!!!

Did I mention, I love school? Well, I really, really do. :) 

Done with school!

I realized I needed to post an update on school! I AM DONE! My survived my first semester of full time grad school. YEA! And I got a 4.0. SUPER YEA! It was a lot of hard work but I learned a LOT and had a great time. Grad school is a lot more challenging than undergrad. I was really stretched.

I relished the time I spent in class each week. I felt like a woman, an intelligent human being, whose only objective was to learn and better herself. It was very nice to think about myself for a few hours every week instead of taking care of everyone else.

I told Aaron I still wanted to go out for a couple of hours every week by myself, to get away, be by myself, and read or write. School has been out for 3+ weeks and I've gone out once. Sigh....it is hard to carve out time when you are a busy mom. 

Looking forward to a break this summer but I am excited about next semester too. I am taking Seminar in Jane Austin, Victorian Lit, and Christian Poetics. :) :) :) 

Where I've been

I realized I haven't blogged in about 2 weeks. And this will be short. I am SWAMPED with school work! I have a huge paper due at the end of this week and have only had a week and a half to work on it, thanks to my teacher only letting us know of the deadline a week and a half ago. Grr. Plus I have book review due for another class on Friday as well. I am still frantically trying to get the book read. I can only work on school work while the boys are sleeping so I have been up late every night and letting housework go out the window as I am hitting the books during nap times. And I am sick. Life is hard to say the least. Tired, tired, tired. I just need to survived until the end of the month when one of my classes ends. Say a prayer for me!

LONG week

Well, I survived my Bibliography and Research intensive. It was actually a really good class and I SO enjoyed being back with my fellow English majors, as weird as we might be. We were able to have some great discussions about literature, language, the duty of a Christian critic, and the qualities of "good" writing.

The class was slightly overwhelming- so much information in one week. We had about 4 hours of lecture in the morning and then did research/ group meetings in the afternoons. I was gone every day from about 8am-4pm. My mom said the boys were angels for her! I am so glad. But as soon as I walked in the door it was "whine, whine," cling, cling, "mama, mama." Which lets me know that I was missed but hard at the end of a long day. It really wasn't as hard as I thought to be away from them. This was the longest time that I had ever been away since they were born. 

It was nice to feel like an intellectual woman for a change instead of just a mommy. Motherhood is rewarding, but it is nice to have a real conversation that doesn't include the words "juice," "all done?" "stinky," or "sit!"

My master's degree is going to be a lot of fun and a LOT of work. I hope I can balance it all without having an emotional breakdown or be stressed out all the time. Say a prayer for me as I start my regular classes this coming week! I am taking TR classes. Tuesdays will be 5:10p-6:25p and 6:30p-9:30p (ug!) and Thursdays will be 5:10p-6:25p. I am taking Classic Greek Literature and Non-Fiction Writing. Should be lots of fun! 

Back in my Element

I am back in school! I have officially started my M.A. in English yesterday. I am taking a research and bibliography intensive this week from 8am-4:30pm. It is so nice to be with my fellow English majors again. I have really enjoyed the discussion and literature. I really feel like I am back in my element. I know this is the right program for me. :) The only down side is that I am really tired at the end of the day and now have lots of reading and homework.

The other downside is that I am away from the boys. This is the longest I have ever been away from them. My mom is here from KS taking care of them during the day. It is nice to have her here. She has even been doing things like the laundry and changing sheets. She says that the boys have been great. In her words, "These have been some of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time." YEA! I'm glad the boys have been angels. Only three days left! This is a really busy week for us. We have a busy weekend at church this weekend too. Whew! My regular classes start next Tuesday.