Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

I was in Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) April 14-20. I have been going since 2007; this was my 8th annual meeting. The first meeting I ever went to was also in Chicago when I was still a junior high teacher. I started going because my supervisor at the university recommended that I go. I walked and walked and came home with walking pneumonia and wasn't really better until July of that year. I also bought a snow globe and forgot to put in in my checked bag and so they took it away from me at the airport (quite violently) and broke it. I tried calling everyone I knew but couldn't get ahold of anyone so I sat in the terminal crying and feeling sad. I stopped buying snow globes after that. Since that fateful trip, Brian has come with me some years and stayed home others. Hannah's first meeting was in Vancouver in 2012 when she was less than 6 months old. This was her first time not to go. The day before I left, Brian...

We were quite busy on Thursday, dyeing eggs, stuffing plastic eggs with candy. I tried a new dyeing technique this year and I think I would do it again. Basically you use very little water and paint the eggs instead of dipping them. It really let Hannah do more than sit and watch them.  Hannah liked shaking the eggs with the jelly beans in them. So much, in fact that I had to take them away and put them back on a high shelf. We also got invited to dinner and so I did what preparation I could ahead of time so I wouldn't have to get up at 4 a.m. Sunday to pull everything together.  On Sunday, the Easter bunny visited Hannah and left her some legos. Every time we get the mail and there is a package, she looks at it, shakes it, and says "Oh, I hope it's Legos." It never is. But good ole' E. Bunny came through. He also left her some chocolate peanut butter eggs. My parents also sent Hannah some Easter treats. I spent Easter morning finish...

I went to Alexandria, Virginia (outside of Washington DC) for a forum where the federal project director, the grant partners, and representatives of the center that I work for discussed research priorities. My official job was notetaker, which I did with finesse, I think, even when the keyboard wasn't working. I also minded time and asked clarifying questions. The room I stayed in was very nice. I was able to participate and look like I knew what I was talking about. Then I went back to Kansas. George Washington had his farm at Mt. Vernon, but he went to church in Alexandria. The town's other famous citizen is Robert E. Lee. His boyhood home and one from his days in the military are here. Currently the place is more of a business park. Here is the plaza outside of my hotel in Old Town Alexandria.  Here is the view from my room. The place is set up where the rooms all overlook and indoor courtyard instead of having long hallways. Reminded of me of the inside of casin...

I bought an egg kit for dyeing eggs this year, but I also bought some wooden eggs that had been painted white. Hannah and I sat in the kitchen and painted them with Sharpie makers. This worked extremely well. The best part is that I can keep them for another year until I get tired of them. I like to keep the Easter baskets in good condition and so I put them up on the cupboards in the kitchen and I don't let her play with them, except for the one that I think needs to be deaccessioned. When we were done with the eggs, Hannah gathered them in her basket and she has been hauling them around. We also made cookies. Hannah wanted to make sugar cookies, but she was disappointed that we had to chill the dough for two hours. She dealt with this by watching television. She is a big fan of rolling out the dough and cutting the cookies. I am the kind of person who likes all the cookies to be neat and pretty, but if I insist on this, then the experience is pretty miserable. I have fou...

Last Saturday we went to Olive Garden (my friend had sent us a gift card) to celebrate my comprehensive exams. Hannah ordered a pepperoni pizza and she really liked the breadsticks.  Mother-daughter selfie at the restaurant.  Neither of us is very good at looking at the camera.  On Monday I read stories to Hannah before going to work (as is typical). Then I came home and ate lunch with Brian and Hannah. I came home early and took Hannah to the craft store to let her pick out some projects and then we stopped to get an ice cream cone on the way home.  On Tuesday we went to the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade after lunch. I wasn't sure how long Hannah would last, but she made it a good 40 minutes before she was asking to go. It was hard for her because she wanted to get down and run around and told her she had to be holding my hand or in my arms. There was just too many people and I didn't want to lose her and have to go around looking. ...

On Tuesday I took my oral comprehensive exams. In my department we have to do written and oral ones. Some people only have to do one or the other. Anyway, I was grilled for almost two hours and I passed. Actually people asked me really good questions and I was glad for their help in thinking, but to be sure, my five committee members were not easy on me. Brian and Hannah waited for me in the building where I was being tested. When I was done, we went to eat lunch at a sandwich shop and then I went to work and told my boss and my colleague that I had passed. Then I went back to the building I had been tested in for class. However class had been cancelled for group consultations so my research partner and I went downstairs to go out into the sunshine when we met up with other colleagues that congratulated me. I am not much of a celebrator for events like these, but my research partner insisted that I do something so he and another doctoral candidate and I took a ride around campus i...

On Wednesday after one of my classes, I went to the airport and flew to Utah. My master's thesis adviser won the Benjamin Cluff, Jr. Award for Educational Research and I wanted to support her. The ceremony was on Thursday with a special luncheon and then I did some homework. In the evening I went to visit a student in Springville who had just returned from the Ukraine. His brother was also recently returned from a sojourn to South America. After our visit I was able to go and see another student and play with his baby before meeting some friends at Denny's for a 10p.m. dinner. The next day I flew home. My plane landed at 5 p.m. and then I met my research partner at 6:30p.m. to write a paper for a class we are taking together. Finally, I met Brian and Hannah for dinner around 8:30p.m. While I was gone, Hannah wrote me this letter.   This letter says "Dear Mommy, you have to come home so that we can get ice cream and so that we can go eat. Please come home. Thank you...