easter:

Easter is often regarded as the most important holiday for Christians, because without the resurrection we have no grounds for our faith.  Of course it was really another pagan holiday that the church took and made something else, but it represents something very meaningful for me.  And in years past, I wanted our kids to look nice, take a family photo, and regarding Easter as more of a church day than anything else.  But that isn't what it is.  And this year, I clinged to faith, remember what it was like the very first Easter I went to church as a Christian in 1995 (I gave my life to Christ around Easter the year before).  I remember crying at the thought of Jesus dying for my sins and the new life I now had in Christ.  So much sorrow and so much joy.

This year I felt myself in that place, renewed, and looking forward to the journey ahead with hope even though there was some sorrow.  Manny had plans that weekend after taking Lucas out, and Manny's aunt no longer lives in driving distance, so the kids and I went to church and had Easter dinner by ourselves.  Nevertheless, I felt joy.  I spent a lot of the weekend reorganizing and prepping for my trip to Vegas the following weekend for my friend's post-wedding celebration.  When you don't expect everything to be a certain way anymore, you actually begin to be more thankful for what you have.  I have my faith, my family, my health, and a myriad of personal blessings.  

My new (secondhand) dress--flow-y and flowery.

Isaac

Nacho sleeping sweetly at my feet

Just a simple dinner of ham, risotto, scalloped potatoes, and corn

Lucas's cross craft

terminator vr:

Saturday 4/20 (so actually the Saturday before Naomi's main birthday party and our CC party):  Manny took Chris and Lucas to the Terminator virtual reality experience.  It seemed like a very fun experience, and they made a souvenir video for them.  I was supposed to take Isaac to the Easter event at our church that morning, but we were delayed, so by the time we got there it was pretty much over.  So I got Isaac a Happy Meal instead.  Naomi went to her friend's house and had a sleepover, and did a little more celebrating of her birthday as well.  She is usually with friends at one point or another during the weekends.  

Haha.  I love this.

Screenshot of Manny.

Lucas

The boys.

Photo from Manny.

Yay for father-son time.

cc end-of-year party:

It was a little crazy driving up to Naomi's party in Friday traffic (but very fun hearing the girls' parodies and conversations) and then to our end-of-year potluck party in the other direction.  But we made it!  I thought I had to leave early to go pick the girls up, but the party ended right when I had to leave.  I was so thankful, because I was able to thank all the families for their support and friendship this year.  I could not have done my job without them and will miss them a lot.  Some of the women were a shoulder to cry on when I was at my lowest.  I received cards and gifts and flowers from the families, and I will always cherish feeling so loved and appreciated.  

Lucas' class performed a round of the Orchestra Song, and my class (with Isaac) sang and did the hand motions for the Age of Ancient Empires portion (Weeks 1-12) of the Timeline Song.  Too bad I was leading it, so I have no video of it or picture of me with my class, but thankfully someone got a cute photo of the kids.  Two of my students could not make the performance.  I wish I could have stuck around like last year, but I was glad to be there at the closing.  Then the boys and I went to pick up the girls.  It was a nice drive back talking to one of the girls about cooking.  :)

Ready to eat!

Several of the families of our CC campus.

Dessert time!

Lucas's class performing the Orchestra Song.  They were only told a few minutes before that they were doing this from memory, but they did great.

My class about to perform the first half of the Timeline Song.

Certificates.  Lucas also got a birthday present with the other students with summer birthdays.

Gift basket 💓

I loved the thank-you cards.

Me with one of the parents.  She was always so generous and hospitable and knew how to feed a crowd!

Speaking to the families with the other Mrs. H.

Artwork on display.

More artwork.  We copied the unique methods used by Renaissance artists.

cc weeks 23 and 24, memory master testing:

The last three weeks of CC were very bittersweet.  Knowing we would not be continuing with the program, I was both highly motivated to do my best as a tutor and not so motivated to put in extra work or lug extra items to the facility.  I had the pleasure of teaching the combined class for Orchestra and Science, and the kids really liked my violin.  Many of them wanted to take it up after I let all of them have a chance to try playing it.  Unfortunately for Science, I forgot my little prizes for the compass treasure hunt the last day, but I did have a bag of gold coins and had everyone go together to find it.  The compass walk would have been great if they provided compasses for the kids or at least teams, but CC only provides one.  So we had the moms use their phones since no one brought or had compasses from home.  That made it more difficult for the kids to know where they were going.  I think the older kids would have outdone the younger kids as well, and I barely had any time to set up since they opened the doors late, so I think I'm glad I ended up having to simplify it a lot.  The kids were still happy finding their plastic gold coins.  I have a cute picture of them all, but for privacy I won't post it.

My very last day on the job was quiet.  I had to test a child for Memory Master.  That means 24 weeks of memory work across all subjects (History, Geography, Science, Math, English, and Latin) and the entire Timeline Song (14+ minutes long), perfectly.  An adult probably could not do this easily, but the little girl I had almost did it.  She missed two science facts, that was it, but Memory Master is all or nothing.  So she got mini-master in all but one subject.  Proud of her, and proud of Lucas and Isaac for hanging in there for 2.5 hours while I was testing her.

A few parents have told me I am the best tutor they've seen (though how many have they seen?).  I am flattered, although I know that my effort dropped off halfway through the year while I was going through a family crisis.  Still, I worked hard to prepare for every single week, even the one week I was out of town.  It gave me a greater appreciation for how underpaid most teachers are, as I only worked one day a week.  I hope that I helped grow their love for God and love for learning.  I know the kids made a difference to me.  I had a great group of kids this year.  Now to find out where God is taking us next...

I wanted to give a special gift to each student, but decided to just write thank-yous to them instead.

 

Lucas and some of his class and visitors.

Compass Walk / Treasure Hunt

naomi birthday celebrations:

This year Naomi wanted to keep her party more low-key and intimate.  She still has a lot of good friends, but she is growing closer to a smaller group of friends, mainly girls from her youth group at church.  Two of her friends, K and C, remind me so much of my best friend, whom I'd met back at this age (and it doesn't feel like it's been 30 years!).  So hopefully some of these friends will be her friends for life.

Naomi got surprised by some friends at school who took her out for Korean chicken after school on the week before her birthday.  That Sunday her friend, another Naomi, came over after church.  The following week was her birthday which happened during spring break.  So we couldn't do a party that week while many of her friends were out of town.  On her actual birthday, we took one of her friends out for her traditional birthday sushi.  Her friend stayed with us until dinner and was joined by Naomi's other friend.  We got her her traditional birthday pie.  We had to wait till Manny got home, which was a bit late, so her other friend ended up having to stay the night.  Chris came as well and stayed the night.  So Manny and I brought Nacho up to the room.

The following Friday was her party at Dave & Busters and the mall, but it also overlapped with our CC End-of-Year Party (which got moved up one week thus the conflict), which was 30-45 minutes in the other direction, and I drove all her friends up to the party except for one.  I made funfetti/party chip cupcakes with a light green frosting per Naomi's request (she mixed the frosting).  It was hectic, and I just decided not to bring any food to the CC party this year so I'd have less to transport.  My director who coordinated the party was understanding.  This has been my year of saying no to things and taking care of myself and learning to not feel guilty about it.   

Birthday sushi with K.  Isaac just had udon and rice.

K. made this awesome clock for Naomi and drew all her friends.  Nacho is at 12:00.  Lol

With K. and C.

Our family.

Flowers from her youth group leader.

Cupcakes.

Hanging out before the drive up.

Naomi with her friends.  Another friend A. met up with them later.

v birthday party / nacho got out:

We went to V's birthday party on a Saturday afternoon.  Nice party, nice people, all went pretty well.  I especially enjoyed watching Lucas playing with V, who looks up to him like a big brother.  Lucas doesn't often like hanging out with the smaller children, even his brother, but he and V seem to do well together.  Lucas is already aging out of birthday parties, but he went to this one because V wanted him there.  The theme was bubbles, which was so fun for Isaac.

While we were gone, I didn't realize my phone had jammed.  I had updated the iOS the night before, and I don't know if it made my phone unstable or what.  Manny was out of town in my old hometown of Houston with his coworker.  So Naomi was home alone for a little while.  I had gone outside with Isaac earlier and neglected to lock the door (we always double-check now).  We had left out a different door.  So with the wind, the door swung open and Nacho got out.  The neighbor was out walking and saw him.  He's met Nacho a couple of times so they know each other.  He ended up coming in the house, and when Naomi heard his voice she thought someone had broken in.  She was trying to call me, but my phone never picked up nor did it indicate voicemail.  Thankfully Manny saw the notification on our security system and saw the video feed with Nacho and checked in on Naomi.  And the neighbor got Nacho back to the house.  And because Manny was out of town, his car was still there in the driveway so it appeared he was home.  That was a scary ordeal.  When my phone finally came on, I rushed out of the party and went home.  I felt terrible.  I don't think I expressed my concern well to Naomi, just thankfulness she and Nacho were okay.  But later on we had a talk and I assured her I really felt bad and cared very much.  

Having pizza.  The boys are getting bigger and have to lean over.

Bubble cake!  The edible bubbles were so impressive.

Bubble time.

last field trip of the year:

On April 12, we went on our last field trip for CC to the Chabot Space and Science Center.  This place has the coolest kids meals at their cafe (expensive, though), but I always fail to take a photo of the menu.  We ate there before beginning our tour, which helped us avoid crowding with the other field trip groups.

In the galaxy room next to a picture the Helix Nebula, sometimes referred to as the "Eye of God."

Watching the galaxies spin.

The kids had fun in the space room with moving holograms.

Isaac viewing the descent module.

Footprints on the moon (Lucas is a bit of a contortionist).

Like a giant Lite Brite.  Isaac's lights kept getting taken, even when he asked others not to, so that was a little frustrating.

Telescope time.

The second telescope.

Next to the observatories.

Plasma ball is always a hit.  I like it because it's hidden away in a quiet room downstairs.

Checking out satellite imagery of the sun.

I love stars!

dinner with o:

This was a belated (by two months) birthday dinner for me, and the first time I'd gone out to dinner with my friend O. since last October.  It had been challenging to plan anything with Manny's  calendar, except on Saturday mornings, which my friend can't make.  I'm so glad we were able to do this, and that he watched the boys.  Naomi was at her friend's house.  O. took me to Yard House.  We also stopped by Paper Source where she got me and Naomi both birthday presents.  So sweet!  And also the Amazon Bookstore (mainly so I could return something conveniently) and LOFT.  I enjoy my time with her and wish we could do it more often.

I don't eat pasta too often, but when I do, it's seafood pasta.

Seems ironic--Amazon shut down the bookstores and then opened one itself.

Manny with the boys.

Not sure if you can see them, but I got subtle lash extensions.