Life on the Runn...

Every weekend should be a three-day weekend!  Our little family packed a lot int our extra time together, which was just what I needed - a glimpse of what's to come -  to get through the last stretch of school days when everyone is counting the minutes until summer. We started the long weekend with takeout and a 'dinner party' with my parents - nothing says wild Friday night like tacos and Stage 20 of the Gira d'Italia.  Also...guacamole! Saturday included a trip to my parents' house while BR hit the bike trails, and then a meet-up at his parents' house for a Runnells family gathering (good thing I arrived with provisions - his real people clothes - before too many guests arrived). HQ was a big fan of the toys her cousin Addie shared with her and of Great-Grandpa's beard. The next day was our typical gym day, so we headed to Milwaukee to get some climbing in before a climbing crew party.  When Dawn and Chris host a gathering at 'the prop',

It was Teacher Appreciation Week last week, and while the day-to-day operations in F003 did not change, my lunch habits did - yogurt bar, popcorn bar, and sundae bar, oh my. I genuinely love teaching, and I have for the 11 years I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into spreading the literature love, but this year was extra special thanks to some of the most generous words I could ever have received. I was described by different students as both “soft spoken yet bold” and as a “fem icon” and a number of my kids contributed kind words and gratitudes to a thank-you document our principal orchestrated. My heart swells with pride, and I’m still blushing a little. And that great week I drew from my students’ kind words rolled right into an amazing weekend, my first official Mother’s Day with sweet HQ on the outside. We spent a perfectly beautiful weekend in Door County.  While she’s mastered many modes of transportation, this was our first official family road trip. Our necessary st