Brian's 32nd Birthday

Today, we celebrated FBIL's 32nd birthday by firing up the grill for some carne asada, pollo fajita, home-made Spanish rice, 7-layer dip...everything you can think of for Brian's Quinceanera x 2 + 2!


Hubby and I got there two hours earlier to prepare and decorate (a la ghetto) a little bit.

I blew up about 30 balloons while Hubby put the festive streamers up.

The party got really wild when it became a dog park. At one point, we had 4 doggies! Max, Baxter, Buddy, and Mosey.

Van brought Mosey...and this pimped out bottle of Absolut. I LOVE mirrorballs and vodka encased in mirrorball quality.


When it was cake time, we went crazy with the candles...and cakes.

And alas, the family portrait. :)

..

Visiting Max

Hubby keeps teasing me, saying that I don't have to make excuses to go to my brother's to see Max. Brother is now onto me, too. On Saturday, Bro said, "You can stop by tomorrow to see Max." I said, "Gosh, I don't only come over just to see Max. What if I just want to see you?" He said, "Liar!"

=X

Today, I had a very legitimate excuse. I had to drop off some Filipino spaghetti that Hubby made and pick-up half of a J.J.'s Bakery neapolitan cake. :)

Not that an excuse was needed. Brother left to go camping yesterday, and since Max would be alone all day with FBIL working long hours, I stopped by after work to check on him. I managed to catch a few candid shots of the pound puppy.



I <3 Max!

First Home-Cooked Meal from Husband

Since we've been married, this is the first time that Hubby has cooked for us. :)

We've been making quite an effort to not eat out as much for a few weeks now. As the "Thank God, the school year is finally over!" celebration continues, Hubby cooked what he swears is my favorite meal of his culinary repertoire...Filipino spaghetti! Well, it is pretty damn good, especially since this time, he made it as close to Lola's recipe as possible.

Last Day of 2008-09

I have to admit that many times this year, I couldn't see this day coming...but we made it! The last day of the academic year!

I say "we" because Hubby has been by my side day in and day out as my loyal therapist, companion, guidance counselor, and friend who always knows how to help me through the rough times and celebrate the mini-victories (even if it's a persnickety, "I told you so" from him).

Last night, Hubby still had to give me a pep talk for my last and final day in MB. He also said, "I'm really proud of you. Not once did you say you wanted to quit." That really caught my attention, and I kind of surprised myself when I said, "Oh no, I would never say that." It's interesting because there have only been a few times that I have said I wanted to quit at something. Actually, I can't remember any other time except during my hospital externship at Cedars-Sinai. True, I learned the most from that time...things that I still employ as a professional even while I work with kids. But for reals, I never want to go through that again.

This year was especially challenging in so many ways, but in retrospect, I've been able to see the major positive outcomes. I have tremendously grown in my profession, and I have established new friendships. I see that no matter what, the same still rings true: God will not give me more than I can handle, and He is always with me. (Oh, and I have really strengthened my faith this year...probably through all the prayers out of despair and desperation.)

My last day was a little anti-climactic but alright considering there was drama all week and not too much today, so this day was relatively easy. I got to work early and finished up my last IEP paperwork, completed end of the year procedures, packed the room, and checked out with my administrator and the District. There was a minor hiccup when at noon, a parent called for an IEP that my co-worker had asked me to hold at 1 PM, but we never got confirmation. I was sitting there, sweating in my jeans and long sleeve shirt, thinking, wow, really?? Thankfully, it didn't happen.

At 2:30 P.M., I left the room for the last time. I'm horrible at saying good-byes so I pretty much snuck out since most of the staff expect me back next year. Parents have been more keen and asking me if I'll be back. The most I do is smile and say, "nothing is for certain."

As I drove home, I was hit with a wave of exhaustion. It's been a monumental year of stress and I couldn't believe it was finally over.

Around 4 PM, Hubby and I went to celebrate with happy hour at Enterprise Fish Co. It was so nice, just sitting on the patio and relaxing. At one point, Hubby said, "I have a little surprise for you. Since I can't get you a dog right now, I thought that I'd bring the next best thing..." and in through the patio gate came my bro, FBIL, and Max! I was so giddy that I caught myself tearing up! It was a total surprise that all three showed up! I had left my bro a voicemail an hour before to see if he could join us, and I assumed FBIL was working late. Lastly, I had no idea that guests could being their dogs into the patio dining area. Sweet.

(Throughout our dinner, I realized a sad truth -- Maxwell totally likes Hubby more than me! Boo!)

Our celebration went on for a few more rounds and yummy appetizers, and then hubby went home to finish up a project while I went lolligagging at the dog park with bro, FBIL, and Max. It was my first time at a doggy park, and it was pretty cool, especially since there were some friendly labs. Our last stop was to CeFiore for frozen yogurt before we headed home.

Oh wait, just kidding. My last stop was Yoku Yoku...when I went back out to get hubby frozen yogurt since his wifey kind of forgot to bring CeFiore home for him. Oops!

Last Team Day

I am still anxiously counting down the days until this academic year of craziness ends. Today was my last day with the Team, and it was so anticlimactic and aggravating for a plethora of reasons. I texted Hubby at 9 AM with an obscene message relaying how aggravated I was. I had to put my game face on b/c we were "partying" all day with the kids -- we baked cupcakes and the kids got to decorate them.

Actually, our first guest was a kid I saw individually. I recently held his IEP and was like, great, both parents are attorneys and wouldn't you know, the mother's sister is an SLP in a nearby school district. The IEP actually went really well. In fact, his parents even shared that he loves working with me. That was a shining moment for me. When I got ready this morning for work, I was a little bit sad to think that I couldn't really say good-bye to these kids b/c I can't let anyone know that I won't be back next year (politics). Well, he was the first one that came in and wouldn't you know, he's allergic to nuts. And everything we had was processed on equipment/plants that processed nuts. He seriously looked like he was going to cry. I read every label twice but didn't want to chance the cupcakes, lest the flour be contaminated. This kid tells me to go to Target (down the street) to buy a mix to read the box. Seriously. As I frantically tried to think of something, he reminded me of Crane from "Kung Fu Panda." He looks at me with his huge, sad eyes and said, "this sucks...this is turning out to be really disappointing." I know! His teacher has been telling me since last week that he was so excited about this party!

Suddenly, I remembered that just last week, I bought a 3 pound bag of gummy bears from Target! I ran to my car to get it and scored! He was a happy camper, putting cupcake icing and sprinkles on and making me eat one (or two :). Then he asked for lemonade and so super-paranoid me said, "Wait, I have to read the label." This second grader shows me up and says, "Gees, it's not like you're pouring me peanut juice! It's lemonade!!" I said, "Has anyone ever called you a smart aleck?" He said, "So are you, but that's okay because you're a teacher." This is one kid I will miss.

On my way home, husband mentioned that he did something at home that was a surprise (and that if I don't figure out what he did, he was going to be "so mad").

When I got home, I looked around and then instantly noticed that Lil F's aquarium water level was higher than this morning (for the past few mornings, I've been telling myself I need to add more. Per husband, I've been neglecting my poor turtle this year). What the fuzzy? Hubby had cleaned her tank!! It gets even better. He did four loads of laundry...and FOLDED IT ALL!

And he listened to me vent for a while and didn't even stop me from cursing b/c he knew how upset I was.

What a great one I've got!

...But after accruing all these brownie points, one was taken away when he said I couldn't make myself a drink. I guess I have to hold out until Thursday for the real celebration.

Tomorrow will be my last day with two of my students with severe autism. I'm really sad so I gladly baked another batch of cupcakes to bring tomorrow. The lame thing is that I didn't have a muffin tin...nor aluminum baking cups...so blobs came out of the oven. I ended up cutting them into heart shapes. :) If I remember, I'll take pictures tomorrow and post them. That's if they don't get frosting everywhere...!

Middle School Crushes

What comes along with the territory of working with middle schoolers is dealing with pubescent teenagers. Throw that into the severe autism arena and you get a bunch of boys who don't respond to their hormones appropriately.

The staff has been teasing me all year about how J320 (one of my favorite students!) has a crush on me. Several times through the year, he has gallop-sprinted over to me and gotten a few inches away from my face but I always manage to block him. Yesterday morning, we were all trailing onto campus and he followed me through the school gate. I had my hands full of bags and my coffee. Normally, I'll ask the kids to hold onto something for me, but knowing him, he'd chug my coffee in a heartbeat. He was following me to the classroom, but before I could put my stuff down for me to grab my keys to unlock the door, he sprinted to me and kissed me on the cheek. (Although I RARELY ever scream) I totally screamed and pushed him away while dropping all of my stuff. Dude! Thank goodness it was just on the cheeks!

About two hours later, the kids were lining up to go to the bathroom and I had my side to them while I was on my computer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw T320 coming towards me. It was like slow motion -- he slowly hobbled over and came up behind me and slapped my butt! I started tripping on his aide, thinking he set T320 up to it b/c his aide saw the whole thing go down and didn't even stop the kid! But I guess T320 did it all out of his own delight.

Gees...I felt violated...twice.

Life-Changing Chicken

Hubby went to hang out with his rapper cousin on Sunday night. Since he was coming home much later than expected, rapper cousin decided to send home to me a small edible gift. The message he wanted to get across about it was, "This chicken is life-changing."

We had our doubts...but when Hubby decided to give me first taste, I was blown away.n We had no regrets about snarfling down a dozen deep fried wings at 11 PM. It was worth it.

Anytime you're in K-town, you gotta try the soy sauce garlic chicken wings from KyoChon Chicken. It is so good...that it is life-changing.