A Whirlwind of a Weekend!

Oh gosh. I think I could go a year without eating birthday cake and be perfectly content. Seriously. After all of the dessert I ate this weekend, I'm pretty sure that I no longer have blood running through my veins. Nope. It's just straight sugar.
Friday was spent celebrating Graham's and Hilary's birthdays at the Russell Family hot spot: Fuddruckers. We celebrate most every Russell milestone within its hallowed halls. What can I say? We like a good burger.

Then, Saturday was my dad's birthday. He turned 56. Wowza. That's old. We celebrated by eating a delicious family style meal at Panda County. Ooooh...house special chicken is a delightful little dish, I tell ya! Then, that was followed up with my Dad's favorite dessert: German chocolate cake.
Side story: my dad has a habit of "sneaking" frosting out of the pantry. He opens up the little canister, scoops up a healthy finger full, and then carefully replaces the foil covering. Then, when my mom goes to use it, say, a month later...it has gone bad because it was opened and then not refrigerated. He has gotten in "trouble" for this little proclivity with a great deal of frequency. But he still persists. I was quite entertained while my mother yelled at my dad on his birthday for eating half of the can of frosting. He believed that because it was "his" cake he wouldn't get in trouble. Haha. Yeah right.

Then, on Sunday we celebrated both Graham's OFFICIAL birthday, and the day of mothers. I was quite proud of myself, I must say. Those who know me are aware of the fact that I'm not very talented in the kitchen. So, when I asked Graham what cake he wanted for his birthday he replied, "Um duh...my mom's chocolate chip cake." So then I responded, "ok...I better call and get the recipe from her." Then, the little brat said, "No. I want my mom to make it."
Oh ye of little faith! It was stressful, but I produced a PERFECT cake. After consuming the first bite, he proclaimed, "Kim it's a miracle. She's been domesticated!" That's right! I just hope he doesn't expect me to bake/cook with regularity!
My mom was gifted with a lovely little necklace from all of her daughters from origami owl. She cried, so we know it was a success. And Graham got what his little heart has been desiring for quite some time: A GoPro Hero 2. What a spoiled boy! But he's very worth it!

The Big Day

Today was the big day.
The day that I got my sweet award.
You know, the award that I thought I wouldn't win?
The one that says that I have demonstrated "excellence" in teaching (wha'??)??
Yeah...that one.
I kept telling myself, and everyone else, that it was "no big deal," downplaying it as much as possible. As much as I like to be the center of attention, I'm uncomfortable with praise. It makes me antsy. Then, we went to the awards ceremony, and I've got to say...it was pretty legit. They even gave me a name tag. And we got to eat quiche and pound cake. Now that's official.
Graham informed me, "Whit, you should get awards more often. I feel like a rich person. Look, that's not just regular water. It's 'iced' water." I guess he was impressed with all of the tags on the various beverage dispensers.

But, all joking aside, I was very honored and touched by the award. They even said some pretty nice things about me. Like that I was a "natural" teacher. And a "superstar." It made my mom cry. I'm still blown away, and am incredibly humbled by the experience. Now...it's time to find myself a teaching job so I can have a desk to put my sweet award on.

Quote Wall

When I was in high school, a beautiful tradition was started in my AP US history class. When someone said something funny, we would write it on a post it and stick it to the wall. Thus began the "quote wall." Then, immediately after I graduated, I began working at a high school. So, the tradition continues. When one of my students says something funny, we yell "QUOTE WALL," scribble it on a post it, and slap it to the wall. We have gathered a pretty impressive, and colorful, collection of quotes over the years.

I often lament the absence of a quote wall in my actual life. When someone says something funny out in the real world, I find myself yelling, "QUOTE WALL," in my head, and laughing at my own private joke. Take last night for instance:
As part of our nightly routine, Graham is in charge of locking the door, and I am in charge of asking him if the door has been locked. This is standard procedure. So, the husband and I hopped into bed, and I proceeded with my usual questioning. His response, however, was far from the usual.

Me: Did you lock the door?
Graham: No.
Me: Umm...don't you think you should?
Graham: Whit, you have no need to worry. If someone decides to break in, you have a WARRIOR sleeping right next to you.
Me:...

Yikes. See what I mean? That one would have gone on the quote wall for sure!

Snap!

I often find myself browsing through old pictures, reliving memories or imagining the ones that I was not a part of. In the process, I stumbled across these gems:

I love these two pictures. They're of my mom and pops on their honeymoon at Disneyland. My mom was eighteen, my dad only twenty one. Oh so young!

Can I Just Hide My Head in the Sand??

When Graham and I decided to move back into my parents while I finished up my schooling, one of the biggest reasons that I was excited to return to the "homestead" was to be able to live with my G'pa again. If you've met Grandpa J, then you'll know why. Every day is entertaining when he's around. Take this story for example:

Those who know the handsome fella' pictured above know that he's hard of hearing. He's almost 92 years old, and his lack of hearing is the only "problem" that he has. He's healthier than me, at nearly four times my age. Unfortunately, Grandpa's hearing is a source of much frustration for him. As such, I've become his official "translator," whenever someone leaves a message on his answering machine that he can't understand. This is a regular occurrence for the two of us, so when Grandpa asked me to come over to his "wing" of the house and interpret a message for him, I hopped on over thinking nothing of it. 

This is where the "regular" ended.

I played back the message, and listened in horror as the woman on the other end began her spiel about a particular "male enhancement" drug. 

Oh crap.

I panicked, thinking, "how do I explain the contents of this message to my NINETY-ONE year old grandpa?"

So I did the only thing that I knew how to do and immediately deleted the message. 

I quickly assured my grandpa that it was merely a salesperson trying to sell him some drugs, thinking that would be the end of it. Now, I must get my curiosity from my grandpa, because this explanation did not appease him. He kept asking me questions:

"Was it an herbal supplement, because I called about one of those?" 

"No, Grandpa."

"Well, then what kind of drug was it?"

"I don't know, Grandpa."

"Well then why did you delete the message?"

"Just because, Grandpa." 

I knew this wasn't going to be the end of the questioning, and I was NOT about to explain to him what the message had been about. So, I just assured him it was nothing important, and got the HECK out of there before my red face gave away my obvious embarrassment. 

Whew.

The good news is that Grandpa's peach tree is blossoming beautifully this spring. I can't wait for fresh peaches. But, in the mean time...I'm dreading the next time I hear:

"Hey Whit, I've got a new message that I just can't understand. Can you come listen to it for me?" 

Because I might just say, "No!"

"He Was a Beautiful Butterfly!"

While the big boys (Dad, Graham, Dan, TJ, Justin, Aaron, etc. etc.) went out to the desert to ride this Saturday, the girls (Mom and me) took the little boys (Noah and Grant) to the Wild Animal Park. I haven't been there since I was little, and my memories were of a dusty, dry, hot, expanse of little interest. Let me just say, things have changed since then. The park was beautiful, with weather to match, and we enjoyed all of the activities that the park had to offer. The butterfly exhibit was a personal favorite. If you haven't been, I recommend it. There is just something so serene about butterflies, and when you are surrounded by hundreds of them flitting around, it is impossible not to be awed. The lorikeets were a close second though. Those little guys aren't shy at all, and will jump right  on your hand if you're holding some nectar. The rest of the day was spent touring the grounds, and "going on safari." We had a grand ol' time, and I definitely won't wait so long to return in the future!

Holy Heck...

I found out in January that I had been nominated as "student teacher of the year" at SDSU by one of my former professors.
WHA???
I was a little stunned/shocked, but very, very honored to receive the nomination. I even got a bit teary-eyed. But, I quickly moved on thinking there was NO way I would actually receive the award out of all of the other candidates. I was just excited to put "Philip Halfaker Award Nominee" on my resume. That was good enough in my book.
Then, a few weeks later, I received a letter in the mail telling me all of the steps I would have to take in order to be considered for the award. My initial response was, "there is no way that I'm going to win this thing anyway, so why even bother??" But, my encouraging husband and mother convinced me that I needed to at least TRY. I pessimistically did, thinking my efforts were a waste of time.
So, imagine my surprise when I received this in a letter last week:

Dear Ms. Russell:


It is with great pleasure that I inform you that you have been selected as the Philip Halfaker Outstanding Single Subject Student Teacher...

Holy heck.
How did that happen?
The letter went on to say some other pretty amazing things, and I got a little bit more than teary-eyed.
So, Graham and I went out to celebrate, by getting ourselves some delicious Mexican food at Lucha Libre. I mean, how else do you celebrate than with beans, rice and cheese?? There's no better way to party in my book.

To top off the scholastic achievements, my brainy little boy recently got accepted to SDSU. While my husband likes to pretend that I'm the "smart one," I could never claim a 4.0 GPA like he can! He's such a hard worker, and I am SO very proud of him. Now, he's that much closer to this:

On a side note...I think I've been playing "draw something" way too much lately, as evidenced by the above picture.