Charlie and his human: Still here

It's been a while. But I'm still here.

Much has happened since my last post. I'm teaching again. My break from the classroom was short-lived, but I forgot just how taxing the life of a teacher can be. When I made the decision to return at semester, I thought I was going to be able to maintain a balance between work and life. I still think that I can. Yet living the life of a teacher is different from thinking about it: the lesson planning, extra time grading papers at nights and on the weekends, going in to school early and staying late, and, of course, the emotional and intellectual investment. The strangest part is that I feel like a first year teacher all over again.

After seven weeks of regaining my footing, I feel slightly more comfortable with this life-change. And I miss Charlie and His Human. Plus, English teachers should be writers, so I must make some time to write again.

Here are a few updates:

Charlie had his teeth cleaned for the first time. He loved it. And the people at the vet love him. Charlie is also becoming too-overweight, at 25 pounds. A male Cavalier is only supposed to be around 18 pounds. We are working on more exercise and less food. Charlie has been helping me train for the Lincoln Half Marathon. He can handle short, three-mile runs.

Charlie had been spending a lot of time in the back yard. I knew he was up to no good, but couldn't really figure out what he was doing. Then, one day, after an extremely long time out behind the garage, I let him back into the house. Michelle began screaming. Charlie had brought in a bird carcass, dropping it on the living room rug.

Maybe Charlie's weight gain is the result of some extra snacks out in the yard?

Yesterday, when we came home, there was a hawk in our front yard oak tree. It was pretty amazing. Our neighbor is the one who pointed it out to me. He told me that earlier he watched it take out a squirrel in his yard. I was able to get a couple of pictures, but as I tried to get a better picture, I spooked it and it flew away.

And tonight is the Haase Family Annual Academy Awards Extravaganza. This event is probably the coolest thing I've married into. Currently, we're sitting in the living room watching the Academy Awards, with our compiled ballots and highlighters to see who is going to win the traveling trophy this year. A mysterious thing happened last year. The trophy was stolen and somehow I got blamed because of these two pictures that were circulated on Facebook:

Regardless of this drama and being wrongfully accused, I'm enjoying the evening.

This is the second year we have dressed up as a character from one of the nominated movies. Here is what we all look like this year: