...summer, here I come!

For me, summer seems to start on the last day of school. I get so excited knowing that I have several weeks at a time to relax without stressing over deadlines, preparing lesson plans, grading papers, standing in the wind and cold temperatures on morning bus duty, and eating a cold sandwich (usually peanut butter) while walking around the cafeteria asking students to "please sit down", or "lower your voice level"----I could go on and on, you get the idea. I just love not having to wake up to an alarm clock and rush around to get ready to go somewhere. Not that I do anything spectacular or special during my time off, really just the opposite. I revel in the slower pace, enjoy having the days to do exactly as I wish, even if it includes taking a 2 hour nap! This year has been a bit different, or maybe I should say a bit delayed. While attending a 2-week curriculum workshop 2 days after school was out, my "last day of school" excitement had been put on hold. But, finally the day has come---school is out! workshop is over! my summer can officially begin! I get so excited with so much free time in front of me---I struggle with knowing what to do first. For example, since I woke up this morning I find myself multi-tasking, something I tend to do during the school year because I'm always in a hurry and want to get a lot accomplished. There are so many things I like to spend extra time on in the summertime, and I don't want to leave anything out. Since getting up this morning I have eaten my breakfast on the porch with Marley relaxing at my feet, finished reading a book, checked my email, done 4 loads of laundry, made a cake, started another book, written out a new "to-do" list, checked my fb account, and started a new scrapbook page. I need to keep telling myself over and over, s-l-o-w---d-o-w-n!!!! I have another quilt top started, I've ordered and received 2 new quilting books and new yummy fabric, a crochet project is started, and several knitting projects are in the works. I'm still working on, s-l-o-w---d-o-w-n! It may take a few days...
Another project in the works will be painting a wall in my classroom to brighten things up a bit. I'll post pics after it's all finished.

I'm happy to have more time to enjoy the outdoors and time to prepare fresh fruit smoothies in the morning!

I'm sure my family will appreciate more home cooked meals. I love to cook, but so often don't have the time or energy for it during the school year.

And, Marley is crazy about me being home all day! She keeps her toys all over the place, ready to play at a moment's notice. So, here's to a laid back, s-l-o-w, relaxing summer!!! I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.....In closing, here are some pics of the beautiful flowers my kiddos sent me on Mother's Day.

I LOVE fresh flowers!!!

And, I LOVE my kids!!!!

out of this world.....

creative work of some of my students who attend another class during the

afternoon, aren't their planets cool?.............they were made of paper mache and painted, they were so proud of them.........

we made "Stone Soup" today in my class. we've been reading re-written versions of the fable and comparing them. i surprised them today with the ingredients and everyone helped! we got to smell that "yummy" soup cook all day in the crock pot. we ended up having to make the "Button Soup" version, because I forgot to bring a river stone. i actually forgot the button too, but luckily had an extra sewn into the inside lining of the jacket i wore today!!! (shhhhhh...please don't tell my students-they think i used the "magic button")

need to go record grades, because at 3:00 pm tomorrow----nothing school related until next Monday!!!!

It's a small world......

23 third graders + 23 pumpkins + 6 school days + 14 bottles of paint + 9 colors of paint + 26 different paint brushes + 30 markers + 7 days worth of newspapers + endless splatters = one messy classroom and one crazy teacher!

We painted pumpkin globes! The kids had a great time with this project, but I was happy to send their little worlds home with them and get the classroom back to "normal".

Believe it or not...

Believe it or not, here I am! The picture above shows what I've been up to lately. Halloween, you say? Well, actually, no. That's a new friend I found this weekend to help me in my classroom. We're studying the human body--isn't he/she cute! I asked hubby if he thought Ken doll clothes would fit him.....

And this is what I face every evening. A stack of papers to grade. That's the part I'm having a difficult time fitting into my schedule. My family has been very patient as I have logged hours and hours in my classroom getting all settled in. I'm finally sliding into a nice routine--all except for the paper work. Maybe I'm just not as fast as I used to be!! This is the first Sunday I haven't gone back up the school to work in my room since school began in August. I'm trying very hard to get my weekends back!