Wednesday, 5/14/14

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Check out what I got this morning!!!!!!!!!! Lilacs!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you to my sweet little D.C. for bringing them in. They've brightened up this gloomy day and they've smelled amaizng all day!!

Add to that the fact that our first two little chicks hatched from their eggshells today, and I'd chalk this up to a good day for Mother Nature and her miracles!! I'll post pics later in the week when more of the chickie siblings arrive. =)

Happy Spring!

Monday, 5/12/14

Happy Monday----Happy Spring (finally!) and Happy day-after Mother's Day! I hope you all had a great day relaxing and being catered to! From what I hear, that's not typically how Mother's Day rolls, but I can still hold out hope for you all. The kids were excited to tell me about giving their moms the books that they made for them in school. I usually find time to read them because they are usually so cute and funny, but I time escaped me this year.  I hope they were wonderful and you all loved them. I'm all about the keepsake gifts that have more heart and humor than razzle and dazzle, so I sure hope you found the joy in them that the kids had while making them.

I'm so incredibly excited that the trees are finally blooming, and I might even have lilacs on my bushes at home one of these days! They've usually blossomed and gone away by this point in May, but to be honest, I don't mind waiting for them. As long as they eventually appear, I'll be happy! On the downside of this sudden burst of spring----the dandelions in my yard are out of control! I've never had this many before, and I swear the stems are more like hoses with how thick they are. I spent a lot of my weekend outside spraying them. It's me against the weeds, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not totally confident that I'll come out of this war victorious! The joys of home ownership I guess----it's just that I'm a bit of a girly girl, so when I'm out pushing the fertilizer thingee or spraying weeds, I'm so far beyond my comfort zone, it's not even funny. I'm counting on one of you to find my knight in shining armor (I'd settle for a knight with a shining lawnmower) for me! ;)

Well, that paragraph sure took an interesting turn, huh? Lol! Perhaps I should take it as a sign to hit the Publish button and get my work done for the afternoon. Have a good night----hopefully there will be a sign of lilacs when we all get home! =)

Friday, 5/9/14

I know that I wrote on Wednesday about our amazing IPTO and the luncheon they'd provided on that day, but I feel I need to write another humble and sincere thank you to the members of our Parent/Teacher organization. As Benson's  "T"  in the IPTO, I know first hand, and behind-the-scenes how blessed we are to have such dedicated parents supporting our efforts for our kids, but this week, they hooked us up! We felt love everywhere we turned, from the luncheon, to a magnificent breakfast, to chocolates in our mailboxes and capping the week off with an array of desserts and sweets in our lounge today that would put the finest bakeries to shame! Our jeans' waistlines may be a big tighter this week, but our hearts are FULLER than we could have ever imagined. Next week we can get back to our salads and workouts, but this week we felt love and appreciation and nothing but gratitude to the families in our community. We are abundantly blessed, which is something we are acutely aware of every single day, but this week the IPTO outdid themselves and, as you can tell from my rambling sentences, there are no words to properly say thank you-----but THANK YOU!

Add to that the love that I've been showered with by my precious students and their fabulous parents, and I am a spoiled, but insanely happy chick this week!!!!

And then there was love demonstrated in a different way in my world today: my class released our butterflies into their forever home, Earth. The kids who wanted to were able to hold a butterfly and feel it flutter in their hands as they carried them from our classroom to our school garden, at which point they were released. It was one of those bittersweet life moments when something we've seen grow from when they first arrived as teeny tiny caterpillars had to be released to go and life their lives. I know the kids didn't like to let them go, but they did a good job of letting their little friends go. As I'm writing this I'm finding it all too similar to the emotions I've been feeling as the month of May flies by me and the days I have left with my little ones are rapidly disappearing. They came to me as teeny tiny little caterpillars and they are now the most amazingly beautiful butterflies I could ever imagine. I hate the thought of having to let them go and fly on their own, but I know it is what is best for them. I guess this is what they'd call "Life imitating art" in the school world. <3

I  was able to capture some precious moments as they did:

Tuesday, 5/6/14

Before I write anything at all about our excitement of the day, I must send a gigantic THANK YOU to anyone and everyone who is involved in the IPTO. Today their Teacher Appreciation committee provided the most amazing lunch for our staff. I've been very diligently watching what I've been consuming lately, but that all went out the window today. Tree Guys catered and it was AMAZING! I wish I could go back for more and more and more it was all so yummy! Thank you thank you thank you---any and all who contribute funds, time and/or talent to this wonderful organization. They do such incredible things for our kids and today made each of us feel extremely special!!

Now--on to the Room 16 excitement: BUTTERFLIES! Right here in our room! We've been waiting so incredibly patiently ever since the teeny tiny caterpillars arrived. We watched those caterpillars eat and grow, eat and grow, eat and grow. Eventually we saw their final molt as their metamorphosis transformed them each into a chrysalis. And now, the moment we'd all been waiting for, their final emergence into the beautiful Painted Ladies. The kids noticed first-thing this morning (I hadn't even noticed yet!). At first they were concerned because the butterflies were not moving, so I had to remind them that they were brand-spankin new to the world. By lunchtime I was getting excited reports that some had opened their wings. It's so fun to watch the kids run to the net every time we return to the classroom. I love hearing them talk to each other and use the vocabulary that I've been exposing them to throughout this science unit. They make me so proud!

Monday, 5/5/14

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!  Just writing that is making me crave tacos!!!

Today was our spring trip to the nature center. I must admit that I was a bit concerned about the weather, but the sun came out and we all had a blast (which made up for the fall when we were rained out!). The activities that Ms. Chris led the kids through were so incredibly cute and I was grateful to the moms who joined in for the fun. I've attached some pics of the "mother birds" and "father birds" as they built their nests for their future babies. Throughout the afternoon, the "birds" then protected the eggs that wound up in their nests from the predators (the chaperones), later found food to feed to their babies (the chaperones) and ultimately we all wound up inside where we washed up and Ms. Chris gave all of my little birdies a gummy worm for their hard work.

Friday, 5/2/14

Ugh--another week that has flown by. I need more time in my days to be able to blog!! Isn't that what we all wish for... more hours??? =)

Today was a big day in our second-grade world. We made a trip over to Franzen for the kids to see their new school! The second graders have been pen-pals with third graders this year and today they got to meet them in person! They met in the third-grade classrooms and were able to talk and hang out for a bit. Then the kids had lunch and recess together. After that, the third graders went back to class and the second graders gathered in the library. Half of our kids then went on a tour of Franzen with Mr. Taylor while Ms. Wit read to the other half. When the tour was over, the kids returned to the library and the groups switched. Our time at Franzen ended with the second graders all coming back into the library and doing a brief Q and A session with Mr. Taylor. The trip was a great success, and hopefully has put the kids' minds at ease about transitioning to a new school in the fall.

They look ready, don't they? (I'm not ready for them to go, but they sure are!)

Monday, 4/28/14

I feel like it's been forever since I've written. This time of year moves at a rapid pace, mostly because of the exciting things we have going on, but the rapidity (I just made that up!!) causes my blog to be forgotten by the time I'm getting kicked out of here at night.

Today we went to our middle school to see their production of "Aladdin." Oh my gosh, I might be slightly biased, but seriously only slightly, when I say they do the most amazing job with middle school students! The true testimony is the sheer number of students who volunteer to be involved. There are stage crews, light crews, the actors/actresses, make-up and hair--the whole thing! They work for months and months in preparation, and it shows. It is nothing less than stellar each year. Kudos to the staff members, parents and MIDDLE SCHOOL kids (it's a little mind blowing to me that so many kids of this age are so involved in their school's play--like I said, to me, that's testimony enough to what a quality production is created year after year). And, of course, then there's dorky me in the audience nearly in tears watching my former students up on stage lighting the place up. I'm a proud mama bear, that's for darn sure!!

That's it for today. My mind is a bit of a bowl of mush. I'm not sure why, espeically since we spent the afternoon enjoying the arts, so perhaps is the rain, but nonetheless, I'm taking it as a sign to say good-night, so Good-Night Gracie!