oh happy day

i am in love with farmer's markets. i checked out the market downtown today and hit the jackpot. i love the freshness and not to mention the price of farm-fresh produce. i can't believe how expensive the taxes and groceries are here! now i'm planning out our meals for the week...i'm thinking shish kabobs tonight...yum. happy summer!

my cousin megan was in town for business, and it was sooo good to see a familiar face.
we went out to dinner at bubba gump's. mmmmm. shrimp. thanks meg!
chicago is really lovely at night. the restaurant is right on the pier, and the city lights are beautiful to me.

- - - - - - - -

i am OFFICIALLY done with my summer teacher training. it's crazy how much you can love children in such a short time. i taught all my kids how to "strike a pose" (with their hand on their hip), so they framed a picture for me of the whole class striking a pose. precious.
i'm excited and nervous to get my own classsroom in two weeks. yikes!
also, i woke up at 6:15 am this morning. it's saturday. that's what you get for waking up at 5 am every morning for six weeks.

spikes

in class the other day...

J sits on my lap, touching my leg.

J: Why are there spikes on your leg?
Me: Well, honestly, I think I need to shave my legs.
J: Oh, okay.

haha. have i mentioned how much i love 4-year-old honesty? they are totally okay with themselves and totally okay with me, spiky legs or not.

a little bit of life lately

this is the view from our apartment. i love it! we live on a little park, and i can see nate's office (the tall white building). if i wave our red pillows in the window, he can see me. i can literally watch him walk home from work through the park. directly behind us is lake michigan. we walked down to the marina the other night and it was jumping. roller bladers, bikers, walkers everywhere. man, if only i hadn't sold my roller blades in a garage sale 10 years ago.

we spent a lot of time in costco this weekend, and the strawberries looked amazing. i decided to make jam, which is supposedly fool proof if you follow the directions exactly. i am here to tell you that i followed the directions on the sure-jel box to the tee and i got strawberry syrup instead of jam. i am trying to be a domestic goddess, but i'm falling flat on my face. i just want to be my mom. please, give me your jam wisdom. any tips?

the other news is that i got hired for the fall! i will be teaching in a pre-k headstart center, so that means i will have 3-5 year olds all in one class of about 20 kids. i am nervous but really excited. i have one more week of my practice teaching, then a mini break before school starts mid-august.

art institute

i think i could die happy in a museum full of impressionist paintings. nate and i like free stuff, so naturally we headed to the art institute of chicago on friday free night. we always go see the seurat painting, or the ferris buehler painting as we call it...

we also checked out the new modern art wing. pretty weird/cool.



we really like chicago.

he needs a whoopin

i read a book called No David to my class the other day about a boy who gets in trouble a lot. as i'm getting to the last page, one boy shouts out, "mannn, he needs a whoopin! who's gonna give him a whoopin? he sure needs a whoopin" i tried not to crack up in front of the kids (gotta keep the teacher composure). he says the funniest things.

the joys of ikea

here's the thing about IKEA furniture...it looks so great in the store, and then you have to heave the boxes into your car, and then...you have to built it. and after about three hours, this new dresser is pretty unexciting. you're covered in sweat. it's midnight. and it's still half of a dresser. maybe sometime soon our piles of wood, nails, and screws will look like this:

teaching

so, it's about time i talked about what totally, completely consumes my life right now - literally every waking moment. i have been teaching a class of sixteen 3-4 year olds for the past two weeks, and i've got two more weeks to go before my intensive training is over. there have been times when it's taken everything in me to stop the tears until after i left the classroom and other times i have a hard time leaving because i love those kids so much. they can be pretty hilarious, and their 4-year-old compliments can make anyone feel good about themselves..."miss jessica, you are so beautiful." "miss jessica, i love your shiny ring." why thank you, darlings/terrors.

one kid seriously is a miniature version of snoop dogg. every morning, instead of coming into class and joining the other kids in circle time, he opens the door, puts his hands out wide, and announces, "oh heyyyyyyyyy guys." i wish i could post a picture of him, but i'm not clear yet on the rules about that (privacy purposes...you know).

i've been whipping out primary songs like nobody's business and the kids LOVE them. see? primary prepares you for life. the thing is, i have so much respect for teachers. teaching is HARD (lesson planning = kind of awful). and to be a good teacher is even harder. i still don't know where i will be teaching in the fall, but hopefully i will find out soon. i am also still living in the dorms during the week for two more weeks. i can't wait to actually live with nate at our new apartment instead of just visiting on the weekend.

i will leave you with this lovely new addition to my life: the green smock. this is my uniform everyday. the truth is i love wearing it though. it's so comfortable and who wants to get urine, snot, boogers, swine flu germs, and who knows what all over their clothes?

p.s. i definitely need to find out if costco sells packs of travel-size purell. big time.

america, we love you

the big celebration of america in chicago happens on july 3.
people camp out all day in the park with coolers, blankets, umbrellas, the works.
everyone has the day off...except i didn't!
the fireworks show was awesome, plus we had some great commentary from the guy next to us
lots of "bring it on baby!"s and "duuuuuuude"s

on july 4, we spent a good chunk of the day at IKEA.
two easiest places to spend money: costco and ikea. why????
i want almost everything in both these stores.
i wanted to just buy the display rooms at ikea. "umm, yes, i'll take that room please."
last but not least, we hit up the taste of chicago, a big food festival that is to die for.
highlights include roasted corn on the cob (our favorite), chocolate-covered bananas (not as good as balboa though), eli's key lime cheesecake, and fresh chunks of watermelon.

we have unpacked all the boxes and are getting situated.
in our married life, we have rented every apartment sight unseen.
it's worked so far, and we are very pleased this time too. turns out we have an awesome view!
nate starts work tomorrow, and i only have three weeks left of my intense teacher boot camp.
life is good.

i always look forward to those fridays

nate got here safely, along with everything we own.

almost three weeks apart from your husband is miserable.

so happy to be reunited.

tonight is the july 3 fireworks show in chicago.

pictures of life to come...