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! 

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!

Summer Fun-The Glenn Gang Comes to Visit and More

VBS ended Friday, June 5th, and later that afternoon our friends, the Glenns, arrived to spend the weekend with us. They used to live here before they moved to Florida about 5 years ago and they were coming in for our church's celebration service for paying off our sanctuary renovation debt. Dan was the pastor here when our church decided to completely renovate our sanctuary so they wanted him to come back and preach a special message on Sunday, June 7th. Dan, Nicki, Josh, and I were all really close when they lived here and spent lots of nights just hanging out together talking and having fun. We've stayed in contact with them ever since they moved so whenever they come to town it's like nothing has changed. We just pick up where we left off last and keep going. Our boys love each other and play so well together. I always get a little sad when I see them playing because it makes me wish that we all lived closer together. The Glenns were with us from Friday night until Tuesday morning and we had the best time. Here are some pictures from our time with them. We were busy, busy, busy! I can't wait to see them again soon!

Saturday morning was spent by the pool with these three boys. 

They loved having pool time!

Dan, Nicki, Jonah, and Micah 

Sweet boys!

Saturday night our friends, the Welchs, hosted a little get together for Dan and Nicki and invited current and former staff members from the church and other close friends of Dan and Nicki's. We all  had lots of fun catching up with everyone. 

Nicki and Josh Hargon

Zue-Zue and Jonah

Eli and Jonah

Zue-Zue with her favorite boys

Micah and Eli

Josh, me, Nicki, and Dan

I miss these people so much!

Dan, Josh H., Josh, and Tim

Sunday morning we all went to church for the special message from Dan and afterwards our family skipped the church pot luck and went to a local restaurant to celebrate Josh's 36th birthday. Eli was enamored with the chopsticks and gobbled up his food super fast. We most certainly brought those chopsticks home to help encourage him to eat at home too :) 

After we ate, Josh and Eli dropped me off at the hospital because my best friend, Sarah, had delivered her fourth little baby that very morning. She normally delivers super early but this time she delivered on her actual due date. I'd sent her a text that morning that said, "Happy Due Date Day!! You've never made it this far before!" and about an hour later I got a text of baby Colt! I couldn't believe it! I couldn't wait to get some sweet baby snuggles.

When I got to her room our friend, Judy, was already there soaking up the baby loving. It was so good to see her too! She and I passed Colt back and forth between us and visited with Sarah and Brandon before we each had to go. 

We left the hospital and came home. Eli and I took a quick bike trip around the neighborhood while we waited for Dan, Nicki, Jonah, and Micah to get back from visiting. 

Since no one had to be up super early the next morning, we let the two older boys camp out in the living room and stay up late to watch American Ninja Warrior. They were thrilled!

The next morning the adults relaxed and enjoyed coffee while the boys played. Then we all stayed by the pool until it was time for lunch and nap time. 

Micah loved "Bark-a-ley"

Josh came home for lunch after he got a text from me saying I was frying up some squash (I know how to keep my man happy!). He ended up staying home the rest of the day and we spent the afternoon talking and hanging out with Dan and Nicki while Jonah and Eli watched a movie and Micah napped. When Micah woke up it wasn't too much longer that we heard the sound of the ice cream truck making his way around the neighborhood. The boys grabbed their money and ran out to sit on the front steps to wait for him. 

They all put their ice cream in the freezer to save for after their supper and then we took a moment to look at our Summer Fun List. Jonah helped Eli and I mark off some items on our list. 

Our long weekend with Jonah and Micah was over but it had been so much fun. These boys had a blast playing together and so did the adults!! I can't wait to see our friends again...maybe we can go visit them next time :) 

Our friends left Tuesday morning and the rest of the week we kept things simple and easy. Eli enjoyed some time in the sprinkler Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, we rode our bikes to the Farmer's Market to buy some fresh fruit (I was pleased to note that most of the veggies they were selling are ones I already grow!). Since we were close to the library we went there to check out some new books and then we rode our bikes a couple blocks down to visit Zue-Zue at work.  On our way home from visiting Zue-Zue, we stopped at the bakery and picked up some cupcakes. This is a perfect example of why I LOVE living in a small town. We were able to ride our bikes to all of our destinations and it was just a short 10 minute ride from our house. It was such a fun morning! 

Sprinkler fun Tuesday afternoon

Our Wednesday morning bike riding fun

Cupcakes for all of us-strawberry for Josh, Italian cream for me, and Oreo for Eli

Fresh nectarines and peaches from the Farmer's Market

Pool time with Barkley

Later on in the week we made some yummy root beer floats. We didn't have Blue Bell, but Breyer's was a suitable substitute. 

Friday we visited our friends the Atkins. I wanted to see baby Colt again and Eli wanted to see Cooper and play with him. We stayed around until about lunch time and the kids had a great time playing, swimming, and hanging out with each other. I'm so glad my little boy gets to grow up with these guys. It's such a joy watching them together. 

After our fun week, Eli updated our Summer Fun List and then it was time for us to pack. Next up was our beach vacation! Yay!