Wrapping Up the 2015-2016 School Year

I've always felt like May is like the warmer version of December because of how busy it gets, especially with teaching school and having to wrap everything up for the year. Not to mention the last minute field trips, end of semester tests, parties, performances, buying teacher gifts, making vacation plans, etc. By the time the end of May rolled around, I was DONE, my students were DONE, and Eli was DONE. It was time for summer break! 

I'm proud to say that Eli met or doubled his Accelerated Reader goal each nine weeks in 1st grade and was reading above his grade level. Josh and I were very proud of all the progress he made in 1st grade. We also found out that Eli was chosen by his classmates for the Good Citizenship award. His class voted on the person they thought had the qualities of someone who was a good citizen and it made my heart so happy that they thought of him. To me this is a greater honor than his academic achievements. I love knowing that more than anything Eli treated his classmates with kindness. He's a pretty great kid and I love his gentle heart. 

Last A.R. Test in 1st grade. WOO HOO!

The last week of school we have early dismissal days for our students, but the teachers have to stay until normal dismissal time. If you're a teacher's kid, this means you get leftover popcorn and a movie in the classroom while your mom finishes working.  Eli and Cooper didn't seem to mind having to stay at school a couple of extra hours.

On Eli's last day of 1st grade we took pictures. As you can see from the comparison photo below, he lost some hair and gained some teeth in 1st grade. (If you're wondering about the hair, Josh convinced Eli to get a summer haircut. I cut it and regretted it immediately. He's still cute as can be, but I love his beautiful hair. No more "summer" haircuts for this kid!)

I ended my second year in 4th grade with my best friend and teaching partner. This year we both felt much more at ease and like we (kind of) knew what we were doing. We were also so happy that our friend Torri was able to join us this year too! We had a great year at school, but we were all looking forward to a long summer break! 

San Francisco: NCTM Conference

Thursday morning we were all up bright and early for the NCTM math conferences. The night before I planned my day and selected the different conferences I wanted to attend. There were so many math teachers in attendance from all over the country. It was such a great learning experience to be with other educators and share what works, what doesn't work, and how we can always improve on our math instruction. If you know me, then you know that I'm new to teaching fourth grade math. Most of my teaching background is in the first grade. Let me tell you, there's a lot of ground to cover between math in first grade and math in fourth grade. Whew! I enjoyed the two days of conferences and I came away with a lot of good information that I can't wait to share with my coworkers. Plus, walking around the city of San Francisco on my way to the different conference rooms was so nice. The weather alone put me in a great mood every single day. 

After a full day of conferences, it was nice to unwind each night with some chips and dip and a Dr. Pepper at the restaurant at the top of our hotel. The view was incredible! 

Thursday night we had a great dinner beside the bay and spent the evening discussing what we'd learned from all of our conferences that day and since we had a teacher from the elementary, middle, and high school on this trip we were all able to share a different perspective on all of our conferences. We were all learning so many new things to help make our teaching more engaging for our students. We ended our night with some yummy ice cream and headed to bed.

Friday was basically a repeat of Thursday. We each had conferences from 8:00 until about 5:00 that evening. Our brains were swimming with math information overload at this point :) We ended our last night in San Francisco with dinner at a really neat restaurant called The Stinking Rose, an Italian restaurant that was known for its insane amounts of garlic it served with each dish. We were all reeking of garlic when we left but it was a fun experience! We walked back to our hotel and on the way ate some more ice cream because vacation :) What a fun trip this had been! We were able to see and visit so many new places, eat incredible food, ride the historic cable cars, and engage with such a wonderful group of educators. The NCTM conference was such a wonderful learning opportunity for me and I hope I can attend another one in the future.

Eli's 7th Birthday

This year for Eli's birthday I found myself reminiscing about the past 7 years we've had with our precious little boy. It's hard to believe that 7 years have come and gone so fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that Josh placed him in my arms and I got to see that sweet little face for the first time. It makes my heart so sad and so happy at the same time. I tell Josh this all the time but I really feel like I have savored and enjoyed every single day of every single year with Eli. I don't feel like I rushed or took anything for granted. I truly feel like I celebrated every milestone and moment and enjoyed it to its fullest. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything like that, but I would attribute being able to make those statements because of all the mamas who have gone before me.-Nicki, Sarah, and Torri just to name a few. They all really impressed on me to enjoy the moment and every single day with my baby, the highs and the lows. I truly feel like Josh and I have done that and continue to do so each day. We are so incredibly grateful for Eli. He has changed our lives in so many ways and we love him so much! 

This year Eli's actual birthday fell on a Friday so we planned on doing cupcakes at school with his class and then a family dinner that night. Thursday night before his birthday I decorated our breakfast table with a Happy Birthday banner, balloons, and set out a couple of the gifts he had already received. I also put balloons and streamers all in the hallway for him to walk through when he got up the next morning. I love making the house festive and fun for his special day.

Before going to bed I also finished the cupcakes for his class the next day. This year since Eli has really been into all things involving the great outdoors we did a camping themed birthday. I made campfire cupcakes for his class with tootsie rolls, orange and red colored icing, and red sprinkles. I thought they turned out pretty cute :)

Eli woke up the next morning, opened his gifts from Jonah & Micah and a little present from us, and ate a special birthday breakfast-chocolate chip pancakes. Then it was time to get ready for school. He was so excited about going to school on his birthday!

We went outside before leaving to take a couple of pictures by his birthday wreath. This poor thing needs a makeover in the worst way, but Eli loves it. I can't believe he's 7!!

Looking so big and so handsome.

During my planning period, I walked down to Eli's class for his birthday celebration. He was having a great day and was excited to pass out his campfire cupcakes to his friends in his class. 

I sat with him for a few minutes while they all enjoyed their cupcakes and juice. Being able to be a the same school as my little guy is such a blessing! I love that I was able to walk down the hall and see him on his special day.

Jonah and Micah got him a joke book and a science kit for his birthday. He brought the joke book to school that morning, and I found out he had been telling his teacher jokes all day. He loved the book!

Before I went back to my classroom, I took a few pictures of Eli with some of his friends. 

Eli and Cooper

Eli and Thomas

Eli and Scott

Eli with his teachers

Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Freeman

When we got home from school later on that day, Eli couldn't wait to try out the first experiment from his science kit. 

Normally, Friday nights are pizza and movie nights for our family, but Eli wanted to eat at Popeye's instead for his birthday meal. I volunteered to cook anything he wanted, but he really wanted Popeye's red beans and rice, chicken, biscuit, and a Fanta orange drink. It's what he gets every single time and he loves it! 

His party was originally scheduled to be the next day, but there was a 100% chance of rain so I sent out a text and moved it to Sunday instead. I'm glad I did that because the next day it rained and it poured! I used my extra day to get everything ready for his party, clean up the house for our guests (Grammy, Pop, and Tinsley), and enjoy my little boy's birthday weekend! 

Halloween 2015

Halloween this year was lots of fun just like always. Eli decided early on that he wanted to dress as Captain America this year so one weekend when we were visiting my mom and dad I picked up his costume at Target. Oh, how I wish we had a Target! 

The night before Halloween, I laid out all his Halloween goodies on our breakfast table so they'd be there when he woke up. I don't do much for him, just a couple little treats usually like a book and some favorite candy. This year I used some bonus points from my Scholastic teacher's account to pick up a Halloween Berenstain Bears book for him. He is reading like crazy and I want to encourage him as much as possible. I also love using the Frankenstein Halloween treat bag my parents gave him when he was only one each year in some form or fashion. It used to be the Halloween bag he went trick or treating with, but I guess now it's too "little baby" for him. My little boy is growing up too fast :(

I always like to give Eli's teacher a little "happy" during each holiday. It's nothing big but it's just a small token of my appreciation for all they do to take care of my little guy during the day. This year I found some pumpkin scented soap at Bath and Body Works (again when I was out of town because we have NO STORES in our small town) and printed out this cute tag I found on Pinterest. Nothing frilly or fancy, but I thought it was simple and cute. 

Our school adopted a superhero theme this year so all the teachers on my hall chose to dress up as superheroes for Halloween. Sarah and I went as Wonder Woman and Superman. We made our tutus and then pieced the rest of our costumes together. She found some of her stuff online, I found my shirt at Walmart in the kids section, and I borrowed Eli's cape and Clark Kent glasses. It was a super fun day and I always love teaching in costume. My first graders used to get a big kick out of it and I'm happy to say my fourth graders still think it's cool for their teacher to dress up as well.  

Sarah and I were also excited that we got to share another dress up day with Torri! I don't know if I've mentioned it on the blog or not, but Torri is now teaching at the same school with me and Sarah!! Yay!! She retired from our old school in May 2015, tentatively accepted a teaching job at another school in our area, and then got a call from the school where Sarah and I are (and where her daughter goes to school) for a third grade teaching position. I'm so happy that she accepted and she's back with us again. It's so refreshing to see her sweet, smiling face in our hall. What's even crazier is that next year the three of us might be teaching fourth grade together! EEK! Talk about a wonderful year that will be! No official word yet, but we're all crossing our fingers that it will work out :) 

The only sad part of the day was that Eli didn't get to trick or treat around school this year. They only let preschool and Kindergarten students dress in costume and trick or treat through the classrooms, but Eli was excited to pass out candy to the little kids. It's just hard for me to accept that he's not considered a little kid anymore. My students LOVED passing out candy to the little kids. A lot of them have younger siblings or cousins that come through so it's always cute to see their costumes. Even though our sweet boys didn't get to dress in costume they still had a super fun day and we managed to capture some of their craziness in our group picture at the end of our day. I love that we get to do life with these guys :)

The forecast for Halloween day was 100% chance of rain so the towns in our area decided to change the official trick-or-treat day to Friday night. Sarah and I made plans after school that day to trick-or-treat with the kids in my neighborhood, so Eli and I ordered pizza on the way home, ate, and then changed into our trick-or-treating outfits. We usually go to our church for their big Trunk-or-Treat event but because of the weather it was moved inside. I knew it would be crazy crowded so we opted to just walk around our neighborhood. In the long run, that was the BEST decision and probably what we'll do from here on out. Before we left our house Eli humored me and let me take some pictures. His serious poses in his costume crack me up! He's so much fun when he gets in character :)

Captain America means business!

Sarah and the kids still hadn't arrived after our quick photo session so we decided to go visit B's house because she'd sent a text saying she had a special treat for Eli. We are so thankful to have B and Mr. Tim on our street officially now. Eli loves riding his bike down to their house to play games and visit. We got to B's house, he rang the doorbell, and watched for B through the window.

B had a treat bag full of the good candy and Eli was so excited about that! 

We walked across the street to see Mrs. Diane and she gave Eli some yummy goodies too. I LOVE our street and our neighbors. It's such a wonderful place to live! 

Sarah sent a text saying they were close to our house so we walked back down to wait for them. When they got there I had all the kids take a quick group picture and then we were off! Our little gang was ready to trick or treat!

Some of our neighbors couldn't be home but they made sure someone covered for them and was there to pass out candy to the kids. Yet another reason why my neighborhood rocks :) 

Sarah's newest little one, Colt, slept through most of our walk around the neighborhood. He's so sweet and so big! He's definitely Sarah's biggest baby ever. 

We walked to Torri's house and she and Sohpie had a few special treats for our kids, too. It pays to know people at Halloween time :) 

Torri and Sophie with our whole crew. 

Colt woke up right as we were walking back to my house. He'd been a perfect baby the whole time!

These two were a hot mess...literally :)

It rained all day on Halloween day but we were still able to carve our Jack-o-Lantern on our patio. Eli helped me from start to finish and we even roasted the pumpkin seeds as a tasty snack :) We spent the rest of our rainy Halloween day watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks (anyone remember this old Disney movie??),  eating Halloween candy, and lounging around. It was a great weekend!

Happy Halloween everyone!