A night at the theater

 Growing up in Tucson one place that I have always loved is the Gaslight Theater. Since moving home I have been patiently waiting for my kiddos to be old enough and for a show to come along that I thought would keep their attention. "The Curse of the Pirate's Gold" was the perfect introduction to this Tucson original. We were lucky enough to be joined by Moma and Opa Vaterlaus. Our seats were on the balcony which made for an interesting night. The littlest spent the first half of the show terrified that he would fall over the edge and the second have of the show terrifying his mom that he would in fact fall over the edge. As for Princess in Training---she spent the whole night "on the edge". She had a blast signing and dancing along. It was lucky for us that there was a good distance between us and the other theater goers because I am sure we had the potential to be quite an amusing distraction. The show was fun and the food was good. A perfect start to summer fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though there are no pictures of Princess in Training and Opa 

I promise they were there and had a great time!

My Classroom in May

Many of the projects that we did were the same as last year. But I did stumble upon a few new things to throw into the mix. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last day of school

Well...I only cried a little bit.

The kids cried a lot.

The moms cried even more.

I just keep reminding myself---

"Don't cry because it is over-

smile because it happened."

So glad this year happened.

This was the class I dreamed about

when I decided to be a teacher.

There will never be a year like this.

I am going to miss these kids

more

than

words

can

say

And now--crying again.

Bummer.

Living with blinders on

That is exactly what I have been doing the past few days around this house. I have been up to my eyeballs in scrapbooks that- by the way- are DONE! But in the meantime a bomb has gone off in my house. I actually looked up today and saw the destruction that lays before me. I wanted to cry but didn't have the energy. Then I quickly averted my eyes and retreated to my room to keep on working. I still have to write letters to the kids. As midnight approaches the idea of writing a personal message to 24 different kids is starting to sound like a really bad idea. There are some cute poems out there for end of the year, but then the guilt starts to sink in. I have loved these kids more than any before. Don't they deserve my best? I think I am going to take the easy way out. Poem for everyone for tomorrow (Promotion day!) but I will leave myself open to the idea of writing good-bye letters to be passed out on Thursday. I love a good compromise - even more so at 20 minutes to midnight.

Procrastination is the name of the game

Seriously. There is no reason in my right mind that I should be on here right now. My list has not gotten any shorter. In fact, I should go back and add the things that I forgot the first time around just so that I don't continue to forget them. I am five-ish books away from being done with scrap books-well except for binding them. Which I can do tomorrow while I have a sub. But the real reason I am on here is to record some things about today to remember. I really can't believe that I am not going to first grade with these kids. I waver back and forth between understanding the logic behind the choice and realizing how truly sad I am to see them go. Which leads me to today. Two of my little boys were crying today. It makes it all that much harder when the tears start early in the week. But the real kicker was my quiet, stoic little boy. The one that never gives me a high-five or hug at buses. He is a super smart kid, and he is sneaky or maybe deliberate would be a better word. He knows just how to push buttons, but not in a bad way. Like I will remind him to write his name with only one upper case and all the rest lower case so his A will be HUGE and I won't be able to read the rest without a magnifying glass. I am going to miss him. And apparently- despite his stoicism he is going to miss me too. Because today I got, "I am not sitting on this rug to do calendar until you promise to be my teacher next year. " Holy cow, talk about ripping my heart out kid. I know why I made the choice I did, and I know that I will be glad for it when a new crew comes in August, but here today it is literally breaking my heart to see them go. This is one group of kids that I will never forget. Hopefully, with Princess in Training being the same age, I will get to watch many of them grow up together. Alright. Back to the grind. These silly books will be done by 9 so that I can spend the rest of the night working on 101 other things.

Ear Infection

Sugar and Spice had a rough night. Which means that I also had a rough night. He went to bed like normal, but then woke up complaining that his ear hurt. He was really tired so we thought maybe he had been sleeping on it and just not moved. To make things worse, he wasn't really awake. He was talking gibberish and refused to take the Tylenol that we offered. He was whiny and tired. Finally, we managed to get him to take it and he fell asleep on our bed. Maybe 2 hours later he woke again. More gibberish, more pain. :( No fun. Down here in the middle of nowhere we don't have any 24 hour urgent care places. He was really restless and unhappy. So more medicine and we watched cartoons until he fell asleep. Because really, what were the options? Drive 45 minutes to town, which of course would put him to sleep only to find out that there was either nothing wrong, or nothing that antibiotics could help any faster or to sleep as much as we could and hit the Minute Clinic today when they opened. It is a rotten situation to put a mom in. On the one hand you don't want your kid in pain, but on the other you realize that the possibility of really being able to fix it in the middle of the night is slim. So we stuck it out. I slept on the living room floor. Not fun. He woke up this morning much happier, but would occasionally say that his ear was "bonking" him. So off to Minute Clinic daddy and son went. Sure enough-ear infection. You wouldn't know it. He hasn't stopped talking since he woke up this morning and then pain and restlessness of last night have disappeared, but we both figured that if we didn't take him in that tonight would be a repeat which truly I cannot afford on the last week of school. So-no church today. But my scrap books could maybe, just possibly be done tonight. As for sugar and spice, he has two new medicines that he gets to take 3 times a day for the next however many days.

Final Countdown-To Do List

Print Groupon
Get haircut

Important Book
Go back to school to pick up certificates
Fill out Kindergarten certificates
Laminate certificates

Grade handwriting samples
Finish report cards

Write letters to the kids
Get picture with each kid, print and add to letter, laminate
Scrap books
Picture page-just need a few pictures of Spencer and John

Slide show
Order cake

Reminder email to families

Burn cds

Laundry

End of year gifts for the kid's teachers

Bring home furniture on Monday and Tuesday

Plates, napkins, forks, balloons for Wednesday

Cumulative folders

Box bookshelves

Clean every inch of the classroom

Move way too much stuff to a way too small piece of linoleum

Easy Day Take 2

My little friend went home again. Even earlier than yesterday. Sort of. We called earlier than yesterday but no one showed up for 90 minutes. I appreciate the zero tolerance policy at this point. The rest of us had a great day. I scooted out right after buses for my appointment with Dr. Phil. Guess what? He re-cemented it after all! 45 minutes in and out. No drilling and no anesthesia! Yippee. Hit a few errands then picked up the kiddos. It is amazing how much more energy I have at the end of easy days compared to my little friend's hard days. Hoping to get busy on the end of the year slideshow tonight. Maybe even finish entering report cards.

Easy Day

My little friend started off on the wrong foot today. :( Resulting in her going home early - like super early - before 9 early. But the rest of us had a stress free fun day. Dentist is on the agenda for tomorrow. :) Still crossing my fingers for a glue and go, though with my dental history I know that is a really BIG stretch. A girl can always hope!

PS. Loving this quote today- “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.” Phyllis Diller

Ugh-I don't have time for this

So, tonight after dinner it felt like something was stuck in my tooth. We had pasta and salad. I threw some yummy almonds in my salad and figured that one was wedged between my teeth. Floss to the rescue. Right? WRONG !!?!?!! That silly floss popped a partial gold crown right out of my mouth. Drats. I do not have time for this. Ben is again out of town. Next week is the last week of school which means I have 101 things to do including report cards, scrapbooks, slideshow, cake ordering, graduation planning, classroom cleaning, and packing and stacking. I know there is more. So.much.more. More than I have time for and now I have to make a trip to the dentist, too. What? With Ben being gone that likely means that tomorrow or the next day I get to haul three kiddos into town to sit while I have my tooth fixed. Bleh. Please, please, please let it be an easy re-cement and on your merry way. No anesthesia, no drilling, or mold creating. Just a little bit of glue and on my way. It would be lovely to steal away in the middle of the day sans-kids for a quick and easy fix. But that would mean sub plans and worrying constantly about how the sub will handle my little friend. Although, if tomorrow is anything like today was- tomorrow could be her last day of school this year and then I would be completely in the clear to go to the dentist on Wednesday. Just say a little prayer for me that this gets taken care of easily with the least amount of added stress possible.

BTW- I did in fact wear jeans today and was in fact VERY glad for them.

Silver Lining

It turns out there is a silver lining to the ongoing situation in my classroom. Today I earned the right to wear jeans any and every day I want for the rest of the year. Yippee! That might sound like small stuff, but really if you are going to be wrestling and chasing and developing some really great, though still somehow legal, wrestling holds, you might as well get to be comfortable because really there is no room for heals or dry cleaned clothes in WWF. And the truth of the matter is, just about now I could be a rockin' WWF star. Just call me, "Octopus Arms." Yep, that's my new WWF name. It goes with the current theme in my classroom and with my unparalleled ability to control all 13 of my friend's weapons of destruction. "Thirteen" you ask. Oh yes. 10 pinching, grabbing, clawing fingers, 2 kicking, bruising, running legs, and one fantastically sharp set of teeth (her dentist must be so proud). But none of that matters because tomorrow morning when choosing my outfit it WILL include jeans. Comfy, beautiful, awesome, wrestle-proof jeans. Thursday is going to be a beautiful day.