Life On Lisburn

Tomorrow Jamesey starts Kindergarten.  We love the classroom that's been selected for him.  He'll be part of a Multiple Exceptionalities classroom with a phenomenal teacher and team.  This classroom curriculum emphasizes communication and skill development - both areas that we are so excited to see Jamesey grow.  More than a few elements in this adventure don't match our experiences with Anna Monkey.  Let's see - he'll be attending school in a neighboring district.  Our district shares special needs classrooms with surrounding schools - it's a pretty smart arrangement! How else is it different?  I'm pretty stuck (and not in a good way - in a kind of nervous stomach, butterflies the size of elephants kind of way) on the fact that Jamesey is non-verbal.  Anna has always been a chatterbox (she comes by it honest and I'm okay with admitting that).  We have always heard about all the details of the day in a very thorough accounting.  I'm grie...

When you work at your college alma mater and it's where you met the love of your life you'll frequently encounter memories that make smiles happen.  I remember the spot in front of on campus apartments that crazy people did a gallon challenge, late night conversations on a bridge between two buildings, dinner 'dates' to the dining hall or a now renovated coffee shop turned commuter lounge.  All those things make me smile - but this time of year as the Residence Life staff returns to campus holds a special place in my heart.   We had mutual friends but our paths didn't really cross until the end of our First Year in college - at our campus formal when someone asked me to dance.  It's silly, but I remember that his tie had Volkswagen Beatles all over it.  He asked me for a second dance and I said I needed to get back to my date.  We never really had a conversation but you can bet after that I knew who he was.  Fast forward a week ...

Summer has flown by! It's my favorite time of year (but I'm working hard to embrace all the seasons).  As we start getting ready for school by ushering in earlier bedtimes, returning to routines, and school supply shopping it seems appropriate to reflect on some of my favorite memories.  It's been an incredible couple of months and a pretty amazing mixture of perfect and total chaos. We built an extra special bucket list and really enjoyed randomly choosing our adventures for the day.  The rascals did so well with understanding that some of them involved delayed gratification - for example we had to plan our trip to the zoo and they poured energy into helping choose what activities we would enjoy while we were there.  It was so neat to watch their enthusiasm as they bounced into the day and it particularly touched my heart to see how they anticipated Jamesey's involvement in the activity and discussed how he could enjoy it more. I enjoyed our adventures with pain...