Outfit of the Day

Today was a special day for me! Tonight I had my districts service awards dinner and I was going to be presented a gift and could bring a guest to share in this event. Naturally I took my sweet husband. We had a nice banquet dinner and then came the presentation of gift. I have worked for 20 years in my school district. I can't believe that when I say it. Time surely does fly when you are having fun. Dress-Marshall's
Black shrug-Dots
Necklace and Earrings-Avon
Watch-Kohl's
Wedges-Payless



Below are the gifts I received. I had a choice of items to pick from; a paperweight, clock, watch, id bracelet and pearl necklace. I picked the pearl necklace I thought I would get more wear out of it. I had to walk across the stage and shake all the board members hands and the superintendent and was presented a silver picture frame at the end. I felt like I was graduating!

It was a nice evening out with my sweetie and look forward to the next 20 years!

New Space

My old classroom is completely empty and everything is moved either to my new room or taken home. A view of my new classroom.

All my boxes and crates have been unpacked and placed into the closets and cabinets. The fire Marshall has not issued occupancy so the furniture people can't deliver and assemble the furniture but we can go in and unpack boxes; somethings wrong with this!

Looking forward to a new school year in a new building. Let the summer begin!

Spring Break

Spring Break is over and I need another Spring Break! I went with my son and several other students and parents to tour Washington, DC. The days were early starts and late nights. The tour was jammed packed with historical information and places to see. We had a melt down and tears from being so exhausted but overall it was a great trip. I can't wait to go back and see more at my own pace.

Some of the highlights were the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Mount Vernon, Monticello, the Capital Building and the Smithsonian.

I hope you are having a great start to your Spring!

M I A

I have been MIA. This summer and start of the school year have been busy for me. My mom had knee replacement surgery and required help, vacation and trainings for school. Plus the many projects that I hoped to get done but are still works in progress. I have been away from blogging recharging my battery and needing a break. I felt I was just burned out and didn't have anything new and interesting to share with you. I have missed sharing my tablescapes with you all and have many ideas for the Fall and can't wait to share them with you.

But, I am back and I hope my three friends that read my blog will come back! LOL! You might have noticed I have made changes to my background. It was so easy. Just click on the banner at the top left corner of my blog and it will take you to their site. They have lots of cool backgrounds to choose from and the best part is that they are FREE!

Have a great day!

New School

As I mentioned in the Fall my school is getting a brand new building. My school is 50 years old and has seen better days. But with the new building comes many changes. We have lost our outdoor area and garden, which the picture above shows that was taken from my back door. Our gym had to be closed down since it will be incorporated into the new design of the building. So gym has been moved to the cafeteria and the lunch room has been moved to the multi purpose room. We haven't had outside recess in a long time and my lunch time has been shorten. We finally got a small fenced in area towards the front of the school to take the children out to run and get some fresh air.

Changes are good, right?

Menu Planning Monday

I am not planning a menu this week. I have returned back to school this week and I'm exhausted from meetings, from just sitting there absorbing all the information. Our son has football conditioning camp in the evenings this week so we will be running him over to the other side of the freeway during the dinner hour. I feel that I will not be able to successfully plan and create meals with out falling over from exhaustion so we are eating out or playing it by ear as to whats on hand at home.

Here is my room when I walked in last Thursday. I am almost finished for Meet the Teacher on Friday. I have meetings all this week except Friday. Friday is a work in our room until 2:00 and then parents and students will be arriving to meet me. I am never done decorating and creating until May, but it will be presentable for the Meet the Teacher. The picture above is space for two classrooms. I wished I had all that space!
As you can see I only have two full walls the rest is open. I get a lot of traffic in the hallway going in and out of the building. I'll take more picutres later when I have more completed.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Just One More Day

Today was the last day with the students. It was a peaceful day with no tears from me or the students. The day flew by. The students got to leave at 12:00 noon and then us teachers got to go out to lunch and then return to clean up our rooms. I have been working on mine all week so I don't have much more that needs to be done.

So tomorrow is my official last day. I am not sure of the exact time that we can leave but I am hoping for around lunch time. Then just maybe I can hit the movie theater to see Sex in the City.

I haven't told you what a huge fan of Sex in the City I am! I am counting down the hours till it opens. Since I have to be at work tomorrow at 8 am, I am not staying up to see the movie at midnight but will go as soon as I can. A couple of years ago, Diva and I headed over to a local bar/nightclub for a happy hour gathering after work. Well, to my surprise a well known radio personality was there and having Sex in the City trivia game with cool prizes. So instead of downing drinks, which I don't drink, I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for the questions and ran up to the booth and would win a prize. After winning several and giving some away, I left the club a happy girl.

KIDPROV

Saturday, I went to a Gifted and Talented Training and I had so much fun! Usually teacher trainings are not that exciting or interesting especially when you have to give up your Saturday. This group of three men formed Kidprov. They promote improvisational comedy with edutainment value. Let me back up and share some background information. I love comedy. My DH and I attended many comedy shows during college while dating and after we got married. We would stay up late and giggle while watching it on TV. Slowly comedy started to get dirty with the use of profanity and we stopped watching. Then Whose Line Is It Anyway came on TV and we were hooked. Think of that show and that was how the workshop was on Saturday. I thought I was taking a comedy class. They pulled volunteers from the audience and had them play the different warm ups and games. One of my favorites was Morph. This game was so much fun! The guy would bring out an ordinary object, like a box, picture frame, etc. and you had to use it in a different way. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. I needed this so much this weekend. To all my teacher friends and principals these guys will come to your school and do assemblies for students and teachers. Through improv, Kidprov establishes a highly interactive environment whereby participants learn through multiple learning modalities. Kidprov's classroom tested improvisational activities are easily applied by classroom teachers and are readily adaptable to all grade levels and subject matter. Their website is http://www.kidprov.com/ . They did say that their website was not spectacular and would be updated it soon.

Hope you had a fun weekend!

Take a Peek

Here is my home away from home! I spend the

better part of my day here. My classroom is in an open area which houses the 2nd grade team and resource. My school is 50 years old and is falling apart. Our district has a bond election coming up and one of the items is a new school should it pass. I'm not familiar with district politics but we all have our fingers crossed for a new school. I have been at this school for ten years. I have taught Third grade, Reading Recovery/Dyslexia, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade and now Second Grade. I love teaching. I grew up playing school with my dolls, sister and friends. The pictures were from when I first started unpacking for the school year. I have way more stuff in that room now. Thanks for looking!

We are going out of town for the Holiday weekend. Thanks LC for taking care of DevilDog while we are gone!

I hope you have a fun and restful one!

We did it!

Both my DS and I survived our first couple days of school! He is so excited about his class. His teacher did a great job talking about what they are going to learn and do this coming year because DS would not shut up about it. I really do love his enthusiasm for school and the excitement his teacher instilled in him for the coming year. I hope I have done the same for my class.

I had 15 students show up. It has been an easy couple of days. Three of the students I have had their siblings so I already know them and their families. I hope the other 2 show up this week and I get no more for the rest of the year! I can dream! I have more boys than girls, which could be good or bad. I'll have to see how things progress through the year.





Above is my third grader. He is growing so fast. Notice the messenger bag style of back pack. That was a must for back to school this year. He is really taken a notice in fashion and is very involved with the purchasing and wearing of his clothes. He takes after his mom.



Well, I'm exhausted and have a lot due this week at school so I will be busy, busy. Only 175 more school days til summer!

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Our First Day

of school is tomorrow. Both my DS and I have butterflies in our stomachs. He is worried about his new teacher because we missed "Meet the Teacher" due to me having to work at my school. He has a couple of boys in his class that he plays sports with. I know his teacher is going to have her hands full with them! I have butterflies due to the stress of do I have everything ready to go tomorrow. A couple of parents showed up for my "Meet the Teacher". I work at a heavily populated Spanish speaking school so many of my parents don't speak or speak very little English and makes communicating difficult. I talk using simple language and use gestures a lot. If you saw me, you would think I was playing a game of charades!

Well, I'm off to get a good nights rest!

Only 8 More Days

That's all I have until I have to return back to work. I am a teacher and I have enjoyed the time off this summer but I have so much more I want to accomplish before heading back to work. One thing we will be doing next week is taking off for a few days and heading over to New Orleans. DS loves animals and watches Animal Planet quite a bit. He is enthralled with alligators and wants to go on a swamp tour. So being the great parents that we are, we are taking a trip to the Big Easy to do all the touristy things. We will be also hitting the Aquarium, Zoo and Paddle wheel boats along with eating like crazy at fabulous restaurants. We will not be on Bourbon Street! I will be taking pictures and may post some when I get back.

Tonight we are celebrating DH birthday. We will be going to a local restaurant for dinner with friends and family. He turned 40 in July but this was the only time with his work schedule that we could celebrate. Behind the restaurant is a golf driving range so the guys will be having a good time out there. My parents are making the cakes. Yes, two! DH couldn't decide so they are making a banana nut with cream cheese icing and a strawberry with cream cheese icing. For every bodies birthday in my family, my parents make their cake of choice. I have a few last minute running around to pick up some things for tonight. It's going to be fun tonight!

Have a great day!