It's Not Just Another Birthday.....

It's The BIG ONE!

Tuesday was our lead teacher's 50th birthday! She is our school's second 'mama'; our first 'mama' being our principal. It took me a while to come up with a pseudonym for her..... but I decided on Mellow Mama.

Those of you who know her will know exactly why I chose that name for her! ;)

Anywho.....
I was put in charge of getting the cake together. After browsing the internet with my boss, we came across this picture and thought it would be perfect for the cake.
Here are a few pictures of the Birthday Girl!

Fun In The Sun

Today was my first day of Summer break! Having said that, unfortunately I have a great deal of work that I needed to finish....

What I should have accomplished today:
1) Finishing my paper for comps (this is the last thing I have to do before I earn my masters!)
2) Studying for the oral exam (this also goes with the comprehensive exams I take on Wed.)

What I actually accomplished:
1) Made our summer reservations for the beach =)
2) Bought groceries
3) Spent the afternoon in a hammock at my Dad's house =)
4) Had a water balloon fight with my nephew =)
5) Rode my nephew around on the four wheeler =)
6) Stayed up late watching 'Under the Tuscan Sun' =)

Sometimes you just have to take time to play! I start my last month of grad school on Monday..... I will officially be done at the end of June! =) So, I figured I save the work stuff for Monday and Tuesday!

I'm definitely not in the mood to spend my first weekend of summer break doing work! Instead, I'm going to P L A Y !

Introducing......

Our newest addition..... Jesse James! Ha!

My blogging buddy, The Happy Life of A Happy Wife, posted this on her blog and I thought it was hilarious! I've always wondered what our children would look like! I guess now I know!

My only upset is that Jesse's hair is more blonde than red........ I want red-headed babies! Plus, he looks more like a she!

And no..... Jesse is not one of my baby names! It's just a family joke!

So, who do you think Jesse looks like the most?

All Packed Up

One of the biggest headaches for a teacher is the end of the year packing! Last week I had to label everything and pack it up/get it off of the floor so they janitors can repaint and buff the floors.

I succeeded!

Here is a picture of me on my very last day of work......next to my room number! I have many memories from inside that classroom! I'm officially no longer a 'first-year teacher'!



I've been telling everyone that I need to print out and bind my journal notes from my first year, take a trip to New York, and have them published! I promise that after reading the very first page I would be offered a book deal!

It's bittersweet! I can't believe I've complete my first year of teaching. Although I know there are many more to come, my first year will always be the most special and memorable!

Schools Out For Summer

Today was the last day of school for students- I had zero students....zero! Several teachers only had 1 or 2 students show up!

On the way home from work I rolled the widows down and blasted out to this song! It makes me want to stay up late and watch 'Dazed and Confused'! =)

Technically I have one more day- tomorrow- but the students won't be there. Our faculty party is tomorrow so I'll post pictures!

Moving On Up.....To A Deluxe Desk In First Grade!

It's official- I survived my first year as a teacher.

Friday, May 22 was our Kindergarten graduation. It's the first one Parkview has ever had! The students were even able to wear the cutest cap and gowns- complete with a 2009 tassel!

I cried the entire morning- I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make it through the ceremony! Surprisingly I made it through just fine......with the exception of my now infamous zebra panties!

I wore a dress to work that day- one in which I never wear a slip with because it's a bit thick and I always wear matching undies. Well, this particular morning after finding that all my matching unmentionables were dirty, I decided on my zebra print! I went through the entire ceremony never knowing that everyone could faintly see my zebra undies! If it hadn't been for my dear friend, Mizz Hoppa, I would have gone the entire day without knowing! Thankfully it wasn't as noticeable in darker rooms! However, in the Snoopy Center (our auditorium) and outside in the sunlight, you could see them plain as day! I even went to Wal-Mart not knowing about my 'situation'! After I found out, I quickly changed into my gyms clothes that I had in the car. The ensemble wasn't the cute pink dress I had picked out.....but at least I was decent! =)

Needless to say, sadness was quickly replaced by embarrassment and laughter! Even my principal noticed and commented on them! She now teases me relentlessly about them!

On the bright side, at least there were cute and not granny panties- or thongs as someone else noted!

Any who! Here are some pics of me on graduation day! You can't see my zebra prints in these pictures thanks to the dark breezeway! However, I did have several parents take pictures of me outside with their kids....... I cringe when I think of what those pictures might show! I hope I never know! Also, one of my parents is posting a video of the ceremony on youtube, once she emails me the link I'll post it..... I really want to see it because I'm sure you can see my unmentionables!

Check out those toned legs! ;)

Head Shot!

Oh, the places you'll go...... My Last Lecture

Two weeks ago I began thinking about what I would tell my kindergarteners...... sort of my 'last lecture'. To find inspiration, I read the book The Last Lecture by Randy Paush- I recommend it to anyone who needs a different outlook on life. You can check out YouTube and actually watch Randy's last lecture which inspired the book. It gave me chill bumps!

I'm such an ordinary person- so there's really nothing meaningful I can say to these young minds that they will actually remember.

So I chose to use the words of someone Not-So-Ordinary- the great Dr. Seuss. I love his book Oh, The Places You'll Go and Oh, The Thinks You Can Think - these are two great books to read to anyone about to graduate; whether it be from kindergarten or college.

And thus follows my last lecture.....

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

---Dr. Seuss

Earth Day 2009

I know this is a few weeks late.....but you know what they say- better late than never!

For Earth Day our kindergarten classes planted flowers around the front of our building. I'm not sure who had more fun - the students or the teachers!

Here are a few pictures.....

The very lovely Mizz Hoppa
She has been such a wonderful friend! Love her =)
(Even though we love her so much, somehow she managed to get stuck with the dirty work!)
Her quote "I need a hoe"! =)

Here is the other kindergarten teacher, Senorita!
As you can probably tell from the picture- she is a blast to work with!
She was also my mentor since I was a first year teacher!




Didn't you hear- I'm the Bomb Digity!

This pic shows just how much weight I have lost! Those pants are being held up by safety pins! =)
My waistline hasn't been that slender in years!
In this picture I weigh right at 125- down from 152 last December!

The Three Amigos!
(Just had to point out that you can now actually see my collar bone! I love that! Ha!)

Earth Day was a blast for our students! They really enjoyed planting flowers- we just had to remind them not to pick them! They always pick the blooming flowers and put them on our desks- soooo sweet! However, we wanted these flowers to last at least a week! ;)

We were given 'Green Bags' to use when shopping and packets of peas to plant. We planted them, watered them daily, and graphed each day how much they had grown. I must say, although I've had trouble with tomato plants, I can definitely grow pea plants!


This picture was taken one afternoon when two of the pea pots were accidentally knocked over. I had four groups/tables in my classroom: Red, Yellow, Blue, and Red. Each table had a pea pot and we were having 'The Great Sweet Pea Race" (since I call my kiddos my sweet peas, and refer to my classroom as 'the pea pod' =) .......... needless to say the Blue and Green tables were devastated when their pots were broken.


Nonetheless, we replanted them and they did just fine! =)


On a side note- although I'm not quite a 'Green Freak' or 'Tree Hugger', I am using my Green Bag when I go shopping! You never know, this just might be the beginning of a change! =)

Here is my Green Bag donated to us from Wal-Mart.

Tickle Me ELMO

Back in February my school district offered this really neat deal. You could use your 1% money (money we get each year to spend in our classroom, this year it was about $180) to put towards getting an ELMO.

Well, I found out about this incentive after I had spent all but $12 dollars of my allotted money. Against a few coworkers negativity, I decided to give it a shot. Everyone said that I would never get an ELMO for $12.

Two weeks ago I received my ELMO.

Then, the second miracle happened. I did not have a projector in my classroom (to have one is the envy of most teachers). In order to use the ELMO, you have to have a projector. Well, after giving a spectacular speech to my principal and harassing the technology department, I was promised a projector.

When I left my room this afternoon they were installing my projector from the ceiling. They will hook it up to my ELMO and to my computer. So now I can use PowerPoints to aid in teaching, I can use fun quizzes as whole-group reviews, stream videos.....the possibilities are endless.

When I received my ELMO, one of my students asked what it was. I told them it was a gift from Santa. The student replied.... well, if it's from Santa why did the mailman bring it. I replied, "Because it was really expensive and it took Santa a while to raise enough money from his Christmas tree farm to buy it for me. So, even though it is a bit late, I'm really glad Santa didn't forget!"

For those of you who are out of the loop, I'm not talking about ELMO from Sesame Street!

This is the ELMO I get to play with tomorrow!

I cannot wait to play with it tomorrow!

Our theme has been 'Under the Ocean' so I can't wait to stream some ocean videos from NationalGeographic.com.

Hooray! =)

So Fresh and So Clean, Clean

I alternate between Gain Original Scent and Arm & Hammer with Baking Soda detergents. The other day while browsing, I remembered I needed some more washing detergent.

I had always ignored it.... but I decided to be open-minded ( a trait I'm working on lately).

I fell in love with the smell of Gain's Joyful Expressions Apple-Mango-Tango.

Today I wore a pair of pants that I washed with this new scent. All day I could smell the fragrance.

I was feelin' so fresh and so clean, clean!

Quote of the Week

You can be mad as a mad dog at the way things went; you can swear and curse the fates - but when it comes to the end, you have to let go. --- Benjamin Button

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again. --- Benjamin Button

"You never know what's comin' for ya' "

These are my favorite quotes from the film, it's true, there are really no rules to life. People will always tell you what to do, how to think, how to behave, but in the end, it's your life, you have to live the way you want it to be. Don't be restricted by the norms, don't get tied down to conformity, don't settle on what you have at the moment. If you're unhappy about one aspect of your life, go and change it. Life is too short to be miserable or boring. Go and be spontaneous and don't take life so seriously. Be passionate about living life to the fullest. We're meant to experience great things.

Oh and yes, let go. Easier said than done. One lesson I'm having a hard time learning, but hopefully my 2009 will be a year of letting go of bad memories and useless emotions that are just tying me down.

Walter's Take on Marriage

My husband and I love to watch comics perform- our favorite is ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. His performances come on Comedy Central a good bit. He has several puppets such as old cranky Walter (my favorite), Peanut, Jose Jalapeno on a Stick (my second fav), Ackmed the Terrorist, and a few others.

Last night my husband and I saw this episode and we laughed until we hurt! My husband found Walter's take on marriage especially funny. We've been together for eight years, and married for four of those.... so at this point we can laugh at jokes such as these. It makes me really want to meed Walter's wife!

Caution: This clip contain a few graphic jokes.... sorry!

To the women who touch our lives.....

To my mom (Rachel), Kris (my step-mom), and Rhoda (my husband's mother).......
Thanks for all you do!
Happy Mother's Day


And.....
Happy Mother's Day to our two wonderful grandmothers, Marlene and Nanny!

It's the simple things in life that are ahhh-mazing!

This weekend my hubby and I are laying low! I haven't been at home much lately, so I'm ready to just relax and enjoy our home (aka the new couches/chairs in the living room- sooo comfy!).

One of the things on my list for today is to cut grass. I know this is actually considered a chore, but I love it for 2 reasons: 1) I enjoy gardening and manual yard work always gives you a sense of pride, and 2) I LOVE the smell of fresh cut grass!

So, we're off to buy some new pots for more flowers, then we're cutting grass. This evening I'll open every window in the house so that I can let in that fresh cut grass smell! I'll sit and sip a glass of sweet tea- after all it is the house wine of the South- and enjoy my day off!

Ahhh...... it's the simple things in life that are ahh-mazing!