My First Final Exam (in 23 years)

I was really nervous to take this test, finals are a big deal. I did really well on my mid term but I was still pretty nervous, finals are usually harder and it was over more units. I have to get pretty great grades to get into and stay in this program, they want well qualified teachers. I get that, I wouldn't want a teacher who got D's in her education classes teaching my kid. Well I GOT A 100!!!!! That’s 100%, all points possible, I couldn't’t believe it! After I took the test I felt pretty good, I was nervous but I figured I knew it pretty well and I probably didn’t totally bomb it. But the test was all essays so it makes it really hard to know how you did. Did I cover everything? Did I use all the right terms? Spell them right!!? So add that to the fact I haven’t taken a real college Final Exam in like 23 years I was pretty freaked. It took my teacher 4 days to score the mid term which at the time felt like an eternity so I was expecting about that for the final but she was way faster this time. After the mid term I was checking my score on line every couple hours. Sunday morning (the day after the final) I checked, I didn't really think there was any chance it was scored, but it popped up and it said 100!! I squealed, (honest not scream just squealed, I’m not proud of it just giving you the facts) I couldn't’t believe it was a 100! I was so excited!! I was actually bouncy! I bounced into my room and told Robert who was in the shower, he looked over the shower door and said “good job” nice but not nearly enough. I understand excited is not one of Roberts regular verbs but I needed a little more enthusiasm. Hey this is a big deal to me, so I called Jessica and she was suitably impressed she has been pretty excited about this college thing since I started. But then I called my mom, now if there is one thing a girl, even a girl my age can count on it’s that her mom will celebrate with her in her good news, (I think its in the mom manual) anyway she was great she squealed and clapped her hands and made all manner of excited noises and of course said she knew I would do great cause again, that’s what moms say, but even though you know its coming from your mom who is only completely biased, it still makes you feel good. This is the first time ever I have gotten a perfect score in a class. I got all points possible on the midterm, all points possible on the homework and then all points possible on the final. Woo Hoo!! As you can imagine I am super jazzed about this development. Back in college (the first time) I was a solid B student, sometimes I squeaked in an A and sometimes I slipped and got a C. But even when I got A's they were like 93% A's never 100% A's!! I am so happy about the results and most importantly I have a lot more confidence now that I can do this crazy thing I have taken on. I may actually become a teacher.

I have gone back to school!!

I am so excited I have gone back to school ! I am going to be a teacher!! This is not a whim, it's not even a new idea, I have been thinking about this and planning for it for many years. I had it all figured out even to the point of filling out applications 8 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with Emily. Obviously that put things on hold for a little bit! For the last couple of years since Emily has started school I have been thinking of getting going again but the idea of spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars held me back. Then I was surfing on a state certification web sites and found a new program they started. After the 'No Child Left Behind Act' there were new requirements about the proportions of teachers that had to be 'Highly qualified' that meant a lot of teachers on provisional certificates had to go back to school and a lot of new applicants needed more credits. Before only 4 Schools in the state were approved to educate teachers, ASU, NAU, Grand Canyon and University of Phoenix. Now because they had to change the requirements many more schools were allowed to start programs just to handle the load. So I was looking at the list of schools and I saw Rio Salado. I almost freaked because Erin had taken classes there through her High School Dual Enrollment (you get college credit for advanced HS classes) I knew what their tuition was cause I had paid it for Erin and I knew it was affordable. They have what they call a Post-Bac teacher certification program. Which basically means if you have a bachelors already you can take 27 credits (about 2 semesters) of EDU classes, do a 9 week student teaching, pass all the teacher boards and you have a teaching certificate! All at Jr. college prices!! YEA!! So I jumped right on that puppy and signed my self up. Because it is mostly online it is really flexible and works with my Mom Job perfect. I am going to start part time and see how the family does, I will probably go part time year round instead of full time and take summers off like traditional students. But then there is nothing traditional about this student!! So in about 2 years I should be in a classroom somewhere in the East Valley teaching school. I am leaning toward High School mostly because I like teenagers, but I have a few classes coming up that have in class (observing, helping the teacher) requirements and am waiting to 100% decide till I have more info. I would love to also get certified as a Library teacher and run a library at a school. I have to teach for a while to be able to do that so it is a further-down-the-road-lets-see-what-happens kind of goal. So there you have it Jennie Bradfield, 46, college co-ed! (hey I even got into a movie cheap the other day with my student ID, how cool is that!!)

Jessica Got Married!!

Jessica and Steve

February 7, 2009

I can't believe Jessica is married!!

So here's the story Jessica and Steve got engaged right near Christmas. The plan was they were going to get married at the end of May or first of June because Steve has an internship with the Clinton foundation in Boston till the end of May and Jessica was going to be doing her student teaching in Arizona till the end of May. But unfortunately ASU messed up and Jessica wasn't allowed to do her student teaching this semester so she decided she wanted to go to Boston with Steve. That required moving up the wedding date.....a lot! Instead of 5 months to plan we had 3 weeks. We got to work and were able to pull it off, it helped that Jessica fell in love with the second dress she tried on (I think we set a record of quickest bride at Davids bridal...ever) and she was amazingly easy to please and decidedly not bridezillaish. I tried out my floral arranging skills and did all the flowers for the wedding, I think I found a new talent, they all turned out really good. (Am I allowed to say that?) We had the wedding and luncheon at a restaurant in Tempe and it was really pretty. The wedding was really, really small, basically just our immediately family, Steve's parents, my mom and a couple of Jessica's girl friends. She and Steve plan to have a reception in June after Steve's internship is over so hopefully we will be able to share that with a lot more family and friends.

I really can't believe she is married!!! I am sure all mothers feel this way and I am not alone, but I still can't believe my little girl is married, that she is old enough, grown up enough, to be married. I know, I know she is 23! But this girl has always been such an independent person, since she left me without even looking back on her first day of nursery to her and her best friend making plans to move out and get an apartment after HS graduation (they were making these plans when they were 16!) she has always been ahead of me. I have always been trailing behind saying "Are you sure you are ready?" "Do you really think you can do this" and she has always been saying "no problem Mom, relax!" So once again she is ready before I am, but as always I will give her a hug, smile, hold my breath, say a prayer and reluctantly let go, wishing her everything wonderful in her life, and wondering where all the years went.

All the Bradfields

Erin - the beautiful maid of honor

Three generations

Mom, Jessica, and Grandma Weingard

Miss Emily

the cutest Jr. Bridesmaid around

Jessica and Erin
Sisters and best friends


Jason and Kelsey

I'm Blogging!!

Ok I know it has been 2 and a half months since I posted on my blog so I am officially a super lame blogger. I know in my last post I said I was going to only post when I wanted to and not feel guilty about it, but I never intended to go this long. That being said a whole lot has happened in the last few months so much so I should have been blogging all that much extra but I do not seem to have the skill of chronicling my life and living it at the same time. Since the last time I blogged my daughter got married (and I planned and did much of the wedding), she moved all the way across the country to Boston, I started college and finished my first couple of classes, and changed my major! I just finished my class and I did really great! So now that I have a break in school I have a little time to catch up here. There is more of course but these are the highlights I imagine I should cover each one with a separate post, hey good idea see you there.

Double edged sword

I was blow drying my hair yesterday and got to thinking (I have to take whatever opportunity to think that comes along) about my giant list of to do's and everything that needs to be done for my kids, Young Womens, school, the house, Robert, Christmas, our finances, my blog, my to be read book list, my diet - or lack thereof, the environment, ......... AUGH! I feel a bit over loaded, I think that is the normal for moms, at least the normal for me but it has become much more intense lately. In that moment I realised that this blog has become a lot like my journal, this wonderful place to express myself (here publicly, my Journal, a little more privately) a place to connect and share. But it has also become just like my journal in the pressure I feel just by it's very existence. It is always on my to do list always nagging at me, sometimes silently and sometimes actually (through comment by readers, honest I am not that crazy yet hearing voices from my blog) . This blog has become a double edged sword for me something wonderful when its good but something dark and draining when its bad. So I have decided to shake free of all of it. No, I am not shutting down my blog I am just rejecting the pressure, I will post when it makes me happy, period. If that is once a month, great, if its once every 2 months, fine, if its 3 times in one week, great! I am taking it off my to do list and taking it off my guilt list!!! Honestly I need to do this with many, many more things in my life but here it is manageable, controllable, and absolutely no one will be harmed in anyway if I am an inconsistent, undependable, blogger. I think I need to save my dependability and consistency for other things I would hate to run out.

We Start Young Aound Here!

Emily went to her first rock concert tonight!! We had so much fun! A couple of weeks ago I bought tickets to see Goo Goo Dolls on the 16th and Sheryl Crow on the 21st of October. These concerts have seemed doomed for us, I was going to see Goo Goo Dolls with Erin but she and I both got sick and couldn't go. Then Jessica was going to go see Sheryl Crow with me but she got sick today and couldn't go. I really didn't want to go by myself and Erin and Joy both had things they had to do. I figured I was just out of luck, then I thought "hey maybe Emily might want to go!" She did and we had a blast. It was so cute to see her out of her seat dancing to the music clapping along and totally loving the experience. Hey she is my kid after all!! The Concert was at the State Fair so afterward Emily went on a few rides and we had a really great night together. I think I have found a new concert buddy!

Maroon 5 and Counting Crows

September 10, 2008

Maroon 5

Counting Crows

Emily Johnson and Erin

Us Girls having fun

About 2 months ago Emily Johnson, one of the laurels in my class, came into Young Women's a little sad and unhappy. She had found out that Counting Crows was coming to Phoenix in concert but none of her friends wanted to go and her parents understandably didn't want her to go by herself. Then she remembered that I like Counting Crows (we talked bands on the drive back from the Trek) so she said "we should go Sister Bradfield". I am not sure if she was serious but I thought that would be fun so I told her it sounded like a great idea. When I got home I checked on tickets and talked to Erin and texted Emily and just like that we got tickets. It has been fun talking about it and looking forward to it and then it finally came. It was so much fun Emily is a blast to be around so sweet and fun and she and Erin together are even crazier and funner than each of them alone. The music was great Maroon 5 was way better than I expected and Counting Crows was great of course. This is the third time I have seen them in concert and they never disappoint me. I love live music you feel it rather than just hear it. Hmmm who should we see next.