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Well, student-teaching got the best of the blog.

I will say, if something had to halt my hopes for a successful blog, this was a good interference. I spent four stressful, exciting, wonderful, confidence-building months teaching and learning in a second grade classroom. If it were up to me, I'd still be there. Alas, finishing my master's degree had to take precedent. Hey, by the way, I have my master's degree. That's pretty awesome and since I couldn't stay on another semester in second grade I was fortunate to find another great opportunity before I apply for actual teaching positions this summer. I'm now a teaching assistant in the 4/5 classroom at a local charter school. The initial few weeks were full with finalizing things for school and preparing to leave for Christmas with our families in addition to learning about my new position. I'm excited to challenge myself with this new job. It allows me to work with a different age group than in my student-teaching experience and in a school with a different set-up.

What I look forward to most though, is finally earning a classroom of my own. I get so excited looking at activities and projects on Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. I think about all the magical books I have (thanks in huge part to an unbelievably generous aunt) for eager students to explore. Maybe I'll eat my words someday, but right now I can't wait to be busy going over student work and preparing lesson plans. I love that kind of busy.

While the blog has been silent, I've been busy with a few non-job items. We've continued planning the wedding. We have a date, a venue, a bridal party, and a continuing argument about the playlist. I found a dress over a trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. It's exactly what I hoped to find and didn't cost as much as a car! So far, wedding planning has gone very smoothly. I hope the planning continues to be this peaceful.

 I'm going to do my best to breathe life back into this blog.

Name Changes

I suppose there needs to be a small change made here in blog land. Boyfriend's title is no longer entirely accurate. The best way to describe him now is Fiance. That's right, after five years together, three states, a pup, and buying a house he and decided to make it official. We're pretty jazzed.

We'll be tying the knot (jumping the broom, getting hitched, and other assorted euphemisms) in Kansas City next summer. I'll have a brand new (easier for kiddos to pronounce) name just in time to be teacher all on my own. Hooray!

Green Thumbs?

So, when you buy a house in the fall and move in during the winter guess what remains a total mystery? The yard. The now-overgrown, not well maintained, chaotic mess of a yard.

Lest this get too rant-y, here are the things we really like about our outdoor space:

1. We have a nice deck. It's big enough to accommodate our patio furniture and grill with a little room to spare. It's in pretty decent condition too. A power-washing and re-staining should be all we need to do in the near future. 

2. The flower beds in our front yard. We have two well-established (albeit, overgrown) flower beds on either side of our front stoop (I have a love/hate relationship with that word, btw...stoop. stoop. stoop.) which are currently a disorderly mess of tiger lilies and crazed ground cover. What's great is that they're a good size, plenty of potential for changing up the layout in there and the boundaries are already well-established by pretty classic brick paving stones. 

3. We have a shed. We love our shed. Our shed loves us. Seriously though, we don't have to keep the lawn mower or the smoker or the grill in the garage. Win.

4. Lots of space! For a pretty typical neighborhood lot, we have plenty of open green space. For now, it's main purpose is as room for Arley to roam. We have dreams of a picnic table or even a fire pit, though.  

Here's what we're up against in our battle to achieve yard zen:

1. Random flowers everywhere. It's great that the previous owners planted a ton of perennials. It's not as awesome that they pop up next to the shed, along the fence, in the garden, next to the house, aaaaannnd in the flower beds. 

2. Weeds on weeds on weeds. No one was diligently keeping these rowdy little buggers in their place. We've been waging a weak uphill battle since the spring. It doesn't help that our opponents can grow about a foot overnight. 

3. Dead things. As far as we can tell we don't have zombies (whew). What we do have is a large dead bush in our front yard. I managed to hack the smaller limbs off so we can mow near it, but it still looms are gray and sad at the front of our yard. It's got a date with a chainsaw eventually. 

4. Bald patches. We're not yet old enough to experience these personally. Our yard is not as fortunate, though. Some of them seem to be of the long-term variety while others we acquired when someone else's movers may or may not have backed into our yard as they turned their truck around. Ugh.

This summer hasn't seen a lot of progress in the yard, but now we know what we're up to for next year! Any yard care secrets are very welcome : )

Would You Like a Boy One or a Girl One?

I was a little girl during the 1990's. I was the kind of kid who had Barbies, but wouldn't turn down a Nerf gun. Growing up, I thought it was rough that nearly anything intended for a girl came in the color pink. I had no idea how good I had it.

A short list of companies that have recently felt the need to market a girl-specific (read: pink) version of their apparently only for boys toys include heavyweights like Lego and Nerf. Lego Friends were released a few years ago to a barrage of criticism. Lego Friends are Lego kits marketed at little girls. Check these disasters out. Not one of the characters is even wearing pants! Most of the building has already been done for little girls who play with sets such as "Sunshine Ranch" or "Downtown Bakery". Nerf has a line of foam-shooting weapons for girls, Nerf Rebelle. My favorite product in this line is the "Heartbreaker Bow." Seriously, Nerf? Boys slay enemies and girls slay hearts? Ugh. Of course, the Rebelle products are decorated with white and pink swirls and stars.

But do you know who is actually taking a step away from the completely unnecessary gender divide? McDonald's. I know, right? After a young girl contacted McDonald's about being asked if she wanted the girl toy or the boy toy in her Happy Meal, McDonald's will now be instructing employees only to ask which franchise toy children would like (i.e. My Little Pony or Skylanders). Three cheers for small steps!

Sure, there are still pretty obvious visual cues as to which gender stereotypes are being represented in Happy Meal toys. The My Little Pony toys are meant to be groomed and admired, while the Skylanders shoot and chop. And sure, the place that is taking baby steps toward eliminating gender-based childhood is the same place selling deep-fried, sugar laden, processed foods to kids, but McDonald's is a massive national company. Perhaps this a sign of bigger things. We can hope.