Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for college
Fun with Ry Ry
Ryan stayed over last night, and the kids were so excited to see him this morning. Ben wrestled and wrestled with him, and to Ryan’s credit, he just let it happen. It actually brought back so many memories of me playing with Ryan when he was that age. Ben reminds me of him so much. I can still hear Ry Ry shouting, “Wrestle!” as we rolled around on the floor, and then this morning it’s like I was reliving the past as I heard Ben shouting the same thing. It was awesome.
The kids are lucky to have a cousin like Ryan. Although it’s tough having him so much older than Ben & Emma, he really seems excited to be a part of their lives, and they will certainly learn a lot from him. If our kids turn out to be like Ryan, we would be very fortunate parents.
The “last” class
Tuesday nights are y ISU class nights. Typically at this point of the semester, I am ready to be done with my class. You know how it is…no matter how great the semester has gone, there’s always that point when you’re just ready to be done with it all. Right now, I think a big part of that feeling is because I got way behind in my grading, so I had to spend a lot of time last weekend catching up on that. Not fun. I was looking forward to this class for one reason and one reason only; technically, this is my last class of the semester. We really have three more weeks, but two of them will be filled with student presentations, and the third will be the take-home final exam.
Tonight, though, really turned out to be an exceptional class. The newly hired ISU Library Program Supervisor sat in on class, and it seemed like she really enjoyed it. She was making all kinds of positive comments to me, and she added a lot to the class discussion. Afterwards she told me that she loved my teaching style and said that she could tell that I had a lot of expertise in the field. What a great thing to hear from someone in that position! I know that at this point in my career I should know that I’m a good teacher, but it’s always so wonderful to have that reinforced by someone completely unbiased.
It always surprises me to see how much I get out of teaching this class. I hope that the opportunity to teach more of them does come, because I really do love it.
It’s the best…even the next day
Tonight we had Pop’s leftover pizza for dinner. Seriously, even as leftovers, it’s one of my favorite pizza on Earth. It’s so sad how happy something like a hot piece of pizza can make me, but it does. No, we didn’t give any of it to the kids, and no, we didn’t feel guilty about it one bit! They are much too young to appreciate it yet!
Pomp and circumstance, part II
Today was Ryan’s graduation in Sycamore.
I was looking forward to going up by myself to enjoy the day with the family. Not that I don’t love my kids, but there are times when it is nice to be by myself so I can relax and focus on what is going on around me besides tantrums, dirty diapers and the desire for juice. Even though I was totally looking forward to this day, I really had no idea how much I would enjoy it. Being up there by myself brought back so many memories of the time when I lived there and was totally a part of the Swartzy. Don’t get me wrong…I really do love my life now and I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It’s just that hanging out with all of them was such a huge part of my life for so many years that it was really great to visit that time again. I don’t think I’ve talked to any of the boys as much as I did today in years.
But I digress. The day wasn’t about my enjoyment, but it was about family. We had such beautiful weather that we took a ton of pictures outside before the ceremony. 
I swear we thought of every combination of family we could to photograph. We took pictures of the boys alone…the whole Swartzy family…Ry with his grandparents…Ry with both sets of grandparents…the whole family with the grandparents…Ry with just his parents…and Ry with his mom and with his dad alone. 
Then the Johnsons came over and we did it all over again with Jenna and Ryan in a whole new set of pictures…all of the kids were complaining that their cheeks hurt from smiling so much! 
After pictures we were off to the high school for the ceremony. It was very nice, with the exception of a couple of stuffy speeches from the “suits” (the district superintendent and the president of the school board) that rambled on a little. The highlight for me was definitely the student speaker. SHS has a tradition of choosing the student speaker based on speeches submitted by interested candidates. The boy who was chosen to talk was poised, well-spoken, and wrote one heck of a speech. He had us all chuckling one minute and wiping tears the next. He spoke about some of their teachers specifically and about some of the things that every high school students faces. It was a really great speech. In fact, my dad actually searched out his parents to compliment them on his performance.
After graduation we all went for some dinner together. Again, I was taken back in time to my pre-married life when this was actually pretty customary. I had a really great day, and I’m so excited for Ryan to begin this new phase in his life. One of the first things I said to him after the ceremony was, “Ry, you’re an Illini now!” By far, my favorite picture of the day is this one.
Oskee-wow-wow, Ry!
It’s an Illini world after all
Tuesday night we got a very pleasant surprise. Ryan made his final college decision, and he picked the right one…he’s going to U of I ! 
Dave and I are so very excited for him…and actually for us, too. It will be so nice having him only an hour away for the next four years. 
I know that this was a long and difficult decision for you, Ry, but I genuinely think that you will love it in Champaign and will know you made the right choice. Welcome to the club!!
I L L-I N I
Last night Dave and I had the pleasure of attending the Illinois vs. Indiana game in Champaign. Thanks to Theresa’s generous birthday present, we had tickets that were very close to our old season ticket seats, so it was especially fun and nostalgic to go to the game. As we walked around Campustown earlier in the day, we marveled at how much the campus has changed. There’s even a giant high rise apartment complex being built on Green St. where Burger King was! Thankfully they didn’t tear down the old O’Malley’s building next door, though. That would have really been a blow. But as much as some things change, there are so many things that just stay the same…the Alma Mater is still welcoming everyone to the quad, the line to get into Kam’s was still almost to the C.O.’s doorway, and Pop’s pizza is still the best you can find anywhere!
It was a great day for us and was topped off with a 55-13 pounding of the Hoosiers. The only thing that could have made the day or night better was if the Chief came running out of the band while it was playing the Three-in-one. *sigh*
