so close I can taste it

It's only 16 days away and I really don't know if I'll make it. I'm literally salivating for it, I want it so bad. I'm talking about summer folks. As a teacher I need a break just as bad (if not worse) than my kids do. My brain is fried and I am SO done. I can't be clever, or witty, or creative, or challenging, or interesting while teaching anymore. I left my knowledge, wit, and humor back at Spring Break and it's too late to turn around and go get 'em. So OF COURSE this is the time of year when EVERYTHING happens. We've got awards banquets, and spring recitals, and graduation performances to get ready for AND early-bird meetings for the kids starting my awesome fine arts program next year - so...cool, but still...LAME. I'M JUST SO TIRED. And as the sprinkles on top of it all I decided this year to do summer STEP (an arts program spanning the mornings of the first two weeks of summer for those gifted & talented kids who just can't get enough of school). WHY DID I DO THAT AND WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP ME?!?! Anywho, some nice things have been going on and for your pleasure I shall share:
Wendy was the flower girl for Alex's cousin Sarah's wedding today. She did very well for a not-quite-two-year-old. She walked down the aisle without running amok once. She forgot that whole part about throwing the flower petals on the ground, but seriously, what did you expect? She can't even weild a spoon with one hand just yet - did you really think she could multi-task by walking AND petal-tossing AT THE SAME TIME and in front of a big room full of NEW PEOPLE and completely WITHOUT mommy or daddy walking next to her? (Also this was an improvement from her trial runs yesterday where she would do a very un-ladylike squat every so often and scatter the petals then loudly start to sing the"Clean Up" song from daycare and gather them all back into the basket before standing up to walk a few more steps, squat and repeat the whole thing all over again.)
My theatre students had a big performance today and they did a pretty darn good job. OK, so someone did a big line flub and it was totally obvious when another kid tried to cover for the kid who lost the line...and another kid forgot a key piece of blocking that sort of threw the whole story out of whack...and my most responsible, dependable and reliable kid FORGOT HIS ENTIRE COSTUME but all in all it really wasn't too shabby. Audience folk told me they could hear and understand all kids but ONE (and it WASN'T the one I was afraid it was gonna be, either!) and we got quite a few laughs. So what if the laughers were mostly comprised of parents of my students and the students who wrote the play we were performed - they were still laughing at us, and when you're doing a comedy you totally want that. I was pleased that they made it through their first real performance in one piece. It's hard and scary to perform when you first start and they really took care of each other out there. And that part, the being there for each other part, made me real proud.
I am trying to be more positive so here's a silly picture for you - Wendy & I rolling our tongues - enjoy!