Graduation

I finally graduated with my Master's this weekend. I now officially can put M.S.ed after my name. For the last 2.5 years, I've been working towards graduate work in Curriculum and Teaching with a reading emphasis and a Reading Specialist. It was a fantastic event even though I was feeling a little under the weather. My in-laws and immediate family were able to make it down. I huge thank you needs to go out to my husband, family, friends, and colleagues for making this happen. I never would have been able to accomplish this without you! P.S. The red shoes were a Kansas tribute to the Wizard of Oz. There's no place like home, which for now, is Kansas!

Crooked Christmas Tree

I have to admit, my lovely Christmas tree seen two previous blogs before, is totally crooked. I received this tree from my mom when we lived in a condo with vaulted ceilings. She thought I might be the only person who could use such a tall tree. Which, is totally true. Most of my family members are currently renting or live in spaces sans vaulted ceilings. We have always chosen spaces with vaulted ceilings or taller than average ceilings. I have a tall husband and we both always choose what is aesthetically pleasing to our(his) eye. Anyway, it is an artificial tree which comes with branches that are supposed to be in order; however, it has taken over five years to really figure out the order in which the branches are to be hung. You see, my mom just sort of gave me the box to get it out of her house. My mom's definition of alphabetic or whatever order is very different than that which fits normalcy. So, now we have the order figured out, but how in the heck do we fix the crookedness?? It is a gorgeous tree! A totally gorgeous, crooked, Christmas tree. While I would love to fix the crookedness of the tree, I began thinking that life is not always organized, gorgeous, nor does it lead you on a straight path. Thus, I have come to accept the crookedness. I love my tree. Every piece exemplifies something about what my life and my family's life is totally about. In Lou of 1980's popularity, I must say it is totally awesome.

Family Time

Our Thanksgiving break came and went so quickly, I was glad we took a lot of family pictures. It was a wonderful trip and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.