a few wedding snapshots

we're still waiting on the official shots from our photographer, but i'm so excited to share some candids taken by my friends ann & mandy.

our wedding was absolutely perfect. i'm sure there were little issues but i was mostly unaware, so that means other people took good care of me :)

the weather was relatively nice for november 20th. the sun was shining. my friends and family were amazing. my hair/makeup/dress turned out awesome. i got to kiss my best friend in front of hundreds of people. we sang together. my bridesmaids looked totally rad.
at the end of the day we were so happy to be married. and thrilled with the opportunity to make the day ours while sharing it with many of our loved ones!

happiness & honeymoon pics

so this is cloud nine.

i keep forgetting that today's not a unique day where i get to go straight to joel's after work...

i live here. i get to stay here for a long long time. i don't have to leave at night. i can sleep here. and wake up here. and eat breakfast with my husband. and my clothes are in the drawers. and i'm married.

holy cow i'm so happy.

gotta make this fast

i'm happily married, back from my tropical honeymoon, and now totally swamped with report card junk!! (i have pics and stories from the dominican republic but they'll have to wait till the weekend at least...)

immediately upon entering the classroom :45 this morning, one of my fav students gave me a big hug and handed me a letter sealed in an envelope. this is what it said:

"dear mrs. alberts,

thank you for being my 4th grade teacher. i hope you had a great wedding and an awesome time there. thank you for helping me learn and doing all that you could to encourage me in doing a better job. i am really happy that now i can start calling you mrs. alberts! you are the best 4th grade teacher that a little girl could have. also i am thankful for whenever i had a problem you helped me solve it out. thank you for everything!"

makes me so thrilled to be back.

happy almost thanksgiving!

this will be my second thanksgiving out of the country. three years ago i was incredibly miserable on thanksgiving b/c my apartment in japan was freezing and my co-workers had no idea i was missing my family like crazy.


i have a feeling that this thanksgiving, as i'm snuggling with my brand new husband in the dominican republic, will be 10 million times better than thanksgiving of 2007.


today i'm overwhelmed with grading, planning, creating, & managing my school stuff. and i'm already a little stressed about the arrival of wedding guests. but mostly i'm just thankful.


for my fiance, soon to be my husband. for my parents, who do not cause unnecessary anxiety over stupid things. for my friends, who are coming from far far away to celebrate my marriage. for my students who bring me joy along with headaches. for my almost house, which has room for all my belongings, even though they are not even close to organized/put away yet. for good health and energy to do everything i need to do.


a few photos from last thanksgiving, the first time J. met my fam:

lately...

Arriving Home: from a day observing my lead teacher. who is totally awesome.

Excited About: having NO school on thursday so i can do wedding stuff! THEN becoming mrs. alberts in 10 days.

Not Looking Forward To: packing up my room to move it. here. into joel's house.

Procrastinating: grading. planning. etc.

Thinking: i wish i could be married already

Reading: about to start "the book thief", recommended by rachel, my inspiration for this post.

Cooking: pancakes, bacon, and cheesy eggs. (note: we have used our brand new griddle for the last 3 nights & it's totally rad. makes pancakes like a dream!)

Watching: my beloved fiance talk to the roofer

Missing: my parents, relatives, and my friends.

Laughing At: my silly and patient fiance. who i can't freaking wait to marry!

days go by, i can feel 'em flying!

i barely have a second to think and yet here i am keeping up on all the blogs i read and updating this thing with nothing special to say... i'm not even posting any interesting pictures because i think it's probably against some school policy.

life is so crazy right now with just 17 days till our wedding(!!). in the meantime i have so much to do, starting with returning a couple things to various stores and doing lesson plans.

this has been a hard week at school for me & i'm feeling a bit discouraged:

1. on monday one of my kids didnt take his medicine and was completely off the wall. i tried everything i could possibly think of and nothing worked. it was awful.
2. my students continuously talk negatively to each other. i've had three kids crying this week because other kids are making fun of them and teasing them and being hurtful. it breaks my heart.
3. today i got observed and the feedback was basically that i know nothing about the school's structure of curriculum presentation and i need to completely re-organize/re-do everything i've been doing. i'm getting observed for the entire day on monday so my lead teacher can tell me every single detail about what's good and what's bad in my classroom. all the feedback was helpful, i guess, but it's frustrating because i didn't know about any of the stuff they said was wrong. i got tossed into the position. nobody explained what i absolutely needed to have posted on my walls. nobody told me i had to have a mini-lesson before every single reading class...
4. i have TONS of lesson plans to make for the sub while i'm out for a week for our honeymoon

the good news: my students are learning. some are actually excelling. my lead teacher is really helpful and practical. in 17 days i get to take a week off and go to the dominican republic with my darling. tomorrow is a new day. i can't possibly cry anymore, so hopefully that's out of my system. tonight i'm hanging out with my friend julie who always makes me laugh. i have an awesome support system of friends, family, and fiance.

yum!

last week we got this new toy for a wedding present:
today i made chocolate chip cookies & they turned out perfectly!

(about 10 times as good as the ones i made in the food processor a few weeks ago....)