Papa's 29th Birthday!

Happy 29th Birthday, Papa!

A few weeks ago, Justin turned 29. To celebrate his last year in the 20's, we did a few Papa-related activities. First, I surprised Justin by taking him to the #1 rated rib joint in Denver, Yazoo BBQ. As the picture below shows, the restaurant itself was quite interesting. When we were driving around the area trying to find a parking spot, I was really worried it wasn't open because of the ghetto-looking exterior (and, Justin didn't know where we were going, so I was even more nervous that it wasn't going to work out!). But, I saw the half-blinking open sign, so I knew it was at least open. After we parked and walked up, we opened the shattered glass door to a semi-outdoor eating area with metal furniture. I knew right away that we couldn't eat any food in this actual restaurant. So, after Justin ordered, we ended up taking his huge pile of ribs to a Qdoba near the next event I had planned. So, his birthday dinner was eating ribs in a Qdoba, haha.

Papa loved his ribs so much that he had to dig into them in the car on the way to eat them.

Justin's birthday cake: Chocolate Decadence Cake from Whole Foods. Yumm!!

After Justin ate ribs and I ate a quesadilla, I surprised Justin yet again by taking him to our favorite coffee shop to have a meet and greet with a local artist. He liked talking to the artist, who was our age, and hearing about all of his different works of art. He even invited him to come and speak in his classroom!

After all of this running around, it was time for Grey to get home and get settled, so Justin opened up presents and we all enjoyed cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!!!

Everyone else is updating... so I guess it is our turn.

Grey's nightly goal: sit on our heads.

Happy birthday, papa! (birthday post coming soon...)

Control (or lack thereof)

Tonight, on this eve of TCAP testing (Colorado's new state assessment), I am constantly stressed about my lack of control I have over my work life. I have taught everything I could have taught, and said everything I could have said. I know my students can do amazing work; I see it every day. However, I worry that Emily, who is advanced in math, will rush and say 2x3 is 5. Or that Marla, whose second language is English, will draw a rectangle with an area of 40 square inches instead of a triangle with an area of 40 square inches (no matter how many times I have guided Emily to go slower, or Marla to read and underline the directions). I will stress and worry about this until scores are released in August.

However, tonight, Grey reminded me that I can't control everything. Instead of eating his food the way we wanted him to (which is another blog post!), Grey decided to make guacamole before eating his avocado pieces. Just when I needed it, Grey helped me realize that I can't control what others say and do, and therefore I shouldn't try so hard to control everything :). Enjoy this pic of guacamole Grey.