Cause for Celebration

Yesterday, Ryan came home with great news! He was promoted to Senior Airman, the 4th rank in the enlisted Air Force. The reason this is so exciting was he earned it 6 months early through something called "below the zone". 17 people were eligible and only 3 were chosen to recieve an early promotion. The next rank is Staff Sgt, and Ryan can begin testing for that in March. Then he'd be a boss! I'm so proud of him not only for being in the military, but doing such a good job!!!!

July

Well, July is almost here and that means busy, busy, busy!!! We've got a driving trip back home to see family, a plane trip to another home to see more family, and Sam and Susan coming to visit us at our home! It will be fun. I have to squeeze in a week of work getting my classroom ready and teaching all the newbies. I'm excited. I've been getting a little cabin fever hanging out around the house. I am slowly running out of projects. Now it's time for fun and friends and family. Pictures to come :-)

Baby Ryan!

Leslie, Ryan's sister has been finding old childhood pictures and posting them on her photo page, and I just had to throw this one of Ryan up for all to see. He was a pudgy old man baby! How cute :-)

No more pencils, no more books. No more giving dirty looks! Another school year has come to a close and summer has begun! I am stitting in a lawn chair in the front yard listening to lawnmowers mowing and children playing. I'm so glad to be done working! I look forward to resting and traveling this summer. YAY!!!

Plans

We're excited to announce some plans we've made! Ryan is going to start his bachelor's degree in Fire Science and then join a fire department for his career when his contract is up with the Air Force. This has been a dream of his and I'm so excited he is on his way! He's going to do a program with the University of Maryland, and it's online courses so he can fit it in with his weird shifts/deployments.

Only 1 1/2 days left of school! I'm working on a committee to write the 1st grade literacy curriculum this summer and I'm also going to be setting up my room early to be a model classroom for new teachers. I'm excited to have a little something to do this summer, that is useful, but not working WITH kids. And not really a big committment.

It's a Race!

Here our the pictures from our first race! We finished 63 and 64 overall out of 209 participants. I won 3rd place in my age group, and we both ran a 8:19 mile pace. I finished in 25:48 and Ryan was 2 seconds faster than me. The last race I did I ran it in over 31 minutes, so this is a big improvement!!! If you are interested, go to www.kalerunning.com and click on results. Then you will see Lee's Friends Run on the Wild Side and click on 5K age groups. Photos will be at the same place sometime soon. We can't wait to race again :-)

Quote

Heard this quote at a retirement dinner and saw it again on a friend's blog...

To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! —Emerson