R is for Roses

When I finished my student teaching, my amazingly wonderful mentor teacher gave me a tiny yellow rose bush. They were super cute and smelled fantastic. They came in a little disposable pot, but the tag said that we could plant them and it'd be a bigger rose bush. So, Josh helped me, and we planted it in a bigger pot (since we don't have a yard). At first we thought it was dying. Maybe because the leaves turned brown and fell off. But then all of a sudden one day, we had four little buds! And today, I found a fifth one. We're super excited that it's thriving.
Some of the leaves also got holes in them. It really bothered Josh, so he went out and tried to figure out what was wrong. Apparently he found a bunch of itty bitty green caterpillars eating them (I pictured the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and was obviously sad at first). I realize they had to die in order for our bush to be healthy though. But we also had a spider friend eating some of them, so the leaves toward the top where he lives were all good! But anyway, the roses are a symbol of tons of hard work and a new phase of life. Plus, they'll always remind me of Kristi, who I can never thank enough for everything she taught me about teaching...and the friendship I gained during that experience.

Here they are...

This is actually about the size of my pinkie nail!