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! 

End of School Activities, Grandpa E, a Pig, and More

Our May turned into it's own version of December. Whew! When May finally wrapped up I felt like we had run a marathon race. It seemed we had an event, celebration, visitor, trip, etc. every few days during the month. Here are the highlights from our very busy month of May. It was a whirlwind but lots of fun!

End of the Year Awards for AWANA

Eli was in Sparks this year and loved it. 

My 4th grade class had a special visitor, Louie the Pig. 

Backseat riding in the back of Daddy's Jeep with this cutie

"Take a picture of me, Mommy!" 

Eli chose this picture location while we waited for supper one night. 

Grandpa E came to visit for a few days. 

We loved getting to spend time with him. 

We went to our favorite hiking spot with Grandpa E.

We loved getting to show him the waterfalls. 

Treats I made for Eli's friends on the last day of school.

Ready to pass out his treats. 

I pulled up all my pansies and snapdragons so I could plant my summer annuals. 

I selected a few to put in a vase on our table. 

Left: Eli on the first day of Kindergarten.

Right: Eli on the last day of Kindergarten.

It was such a fabulous year for my little guy. He grew academically and stretched his reading skills. He was one of two kids in his class who was able to start Accelerated Reading in Kindergarten this year-normally the kids don't start it until First Grade. His handwriting and sentence writing improved a lot! I loved reading through his journal he brought home and seeing how much he progressed every week with his writing. He began taking spelling tests and passing them with flying colors. In math, he started addition and subtraction and did most of it mentally. We were super proud of all his accomplishments. Not only did he grow academically, but he grew physically as well! He lost four teeth in Kindergarten this year! Next year he'll start First Grade with some big grown-up teeth :) All in all, it was such a great year for Eli. His teacher and aide were just precious and took great care of Eli all day, every day. We loved having them!

Last day of school for Eli. 

Girl's Night Out with some of my favorite people in the world. 

The students' last day of school was Thursday, May 21st, and that morning each class had their end of the year programs. Eli's class performed a "Zoosical" and each kid had to dress up like a different animal. Eli was a snake and Cooper was a tiger. Finding a snake costume was not easy at all so we did the best we could being it was the end of May and Mommy was DONE. He was a rare blue diamond rattlesnake and he loved it :) That's all the matters!

Cooper and Eli developed such a sweet friendship this year. 

Sarah and I loved watching the two of them together. Sweet boys!

Zue-Zue came to watch Eli's program and he went home with her afterwards.

They had a great time!

Friday, May 22nd was the last day for teachers. Our day consisted of getting all our furniture off the floor,  covering everything for the summer, and completing all our end of the year records. It always amazes me that in a matter of minutes I can dismantle a room that took me weeks at the beginning of the year to put in order. Such is the life of a teacher. I'm sure it'll take me the better part of two weeks to put everything back the way it was when summer is over.  

On our way out the door on our last day, Sarah and I took one last picture. What an incredible, amazing, blessed, and wonderful year it was for both of us in Fourth Grade. The entire year flew by so quickly and I can't believe our first year in Fourth Grade is over. I am so thankful that I had this chick by my side and we were able to wade through the waters of Fourth Grade together. Both of us are still amazed how we ended up together again, but I know it was definitely meant to be. I'm looking forward to many more years with her as my teaching partner :)

Sarah and I left school, had lunch downtown, and then did a little shopping before parting ways. Eli was having a Mammy day so I stopped by the library real quick before going to get him. Summer for me means reading and I was so excited to get started! 

That was our May in a nutshell. Lots of activities, lots of memories, and lots of fun. Now we're looking forward to all the fun that summer brings!

Torri's Surprise Retirement Party

Back in February, my friend, Judy, got in touch with me and a few other teacher friends so we could start planning Torri's surprise retirement party. If you follow the blog you know that Torri, Judy, Sarah, and I go way back. We taught together in first grade for years and years and developed just a really wonderful friendship. Last summer I blogged here about how sad I was because our little group was breaking up and everyone was going off in different directions. Yet another reason why I'm glad I blog because at that point in my life I had NO IDEA what God had up his sleeve for me. I was so upset about not having my girls with me at school this year and in a turn of events that can only be described as JUST GOD, I ended up teaching at a new school with Sarah :) It really still amazes me how everything fell into place and just worked out for the best. I blogged about that here. It was something I never would have planned. 

Even though the four of us haven't been together every day like we were over the past 7 years, we still have been able to get together and spend time with each other. When Judy asked us if we wanted to help plan Torri's surprise retirement party we all said yes and started making our secret plans. It was lots of fun! We ended up having the party at a local coffeeshop and it was WONDERFUL! They catered the food, set up the tables, and did everything! We basically just showed up and brought a few table decorations. It was definitely a no muss, no fuss party! 

The only part of the party we really had to "plan" was how we were going to get Torri to the coffeeshop without her finding out about the party. Luckily, Sarah being pregnant with her fourth kiddo helped :) I sent out a fake text to Torri, Judy, and a few other girls about throwing Sarah a surprise baby shower at the coffeeshop on the exact day of Torri's surprise retirement party. Torri was so excited and couldn't wait to surprise Sarah. So for the next month, all I had to do was keep up the texts about the surprise baby shower for Sarah. Luckily, Torri bought it hook, line, and sinker. It was stressful for me because every time I sent out a text I had to make sure I was in the correct group-the fake baby shower group or the real retirement party group. Whew! We also couldn't send out invites because we didn't know whose house Torri might go to,  so we had to do the party invites through Facebook. Keeping up with all the fake information I was telling Torri and all the real information about the retirement party was difficult at times, but it all worked out in the end! 

The day of the party Sarah, Judy, me, and the rest of the girls showed up about an hour before the party started to set out our few table decorations for the party. We were so excited about surprising our friend. Her husband, Trey, and their daughter, Sophie, showed up early and we asked them if Torri was suspicious at all. Trey said that Torri left the house saying she needed to run to the mall to get a last minute gift for Sarah for the baby shower. PERFECT! 

Melanie Shankle's books are HILARIOUS. If you've never read one, you need to!! Our "card" to Torri was her latest book "Nodoy's Cuter than You." We all wrote Torri messages inside this sweet memoir about friendship. 

One of our special gifts to Torri was going to be this "Friendship Tree." 

We set it up so each guest could leave their thumbprint on the tree for Torri. 

Our only snafu was not every party guest arrived on time. I guess lots of people decided to be "fashionably late". In retrospect I should have told Torri that Sarah's baby shower was about thirty minutes later than when the guests were supposed to arrive. It ended up working out because as each guest arrived it was like a present for Torri to see who else was coming to her party. She was able to greet and talk to each guest as they arrived and it was fun to see how excited she was. The best part of the whole night though was when Torri first walked in...

We see Torri walking up to the coffeeshop loaded down with baby gifts for Sarah. All the girls run over to the side so she can't see them. When she enters the coffee shop, she sees me with the camera and then rounds the corner to see everyone in a line saying "Surprise!" She can't for the life of her understand why Sarah, the one we're supposed to be surprising in her mind, is in the line of girls saying "Surprise!" to her. Everyone starts laughing and keeps saying "Surprise!" to Torri and then it finally dawns on her when she sees the "Happy Retirement" sign Sarah is holding. Her facial expressions are priceless! She truly was surprised! 

She was thrilled, surprised, elated, happy, and so much more. We were all giddy with excitement because we were able to pull of the surprise. It was so sweet to do something special for our friend! Torri is such a wonderful momma, wife, friend, sister, teacher, and so much more. My life is greatly enriched because of my friendship with her. I've learned so much from her and I'm so glad she's in my life. We had a wonderful night celebrating her! Family members, friends, teachers that she currently teaches with, and teachers she taught with in the past all came together to celebrate Torri. It was so much fun and there was lots of love in that room :)

Torri and Judy

These girls are best friends and have shared so much life together!

Torri, Trey, and Sophie

Torri and Charles, her principal.

Torri and Faith, her sister

After most of the guests had left, Torri gave Sarah her baby gifts :) HILARIOUS!

Torri and all the hostesses :)

I can't believe Torri and Judy are both retired!

Congratulations to Torri on her retirement! It was so much fun celebrating her not only for the teacher that she is but for everything else as well! She's such a treasure! I can't wait to see what adventure awaits her next :)