Afternoon naps/Sleepovers/Date Night

Yesterday after I finished cleaning and closing out my classroom, I picked up the kids and headed home to enjoy the wonderful weather! It wasn't long before the neighbor kids headed over to play outside. I took advantage of this time to get caught up on housework (putting laundry away, organizing the toys in the basement, etc.). Then we played with an easel that I had brought home from my classroom for the kids to play with over the summer. Soon the kids were on the neighbor's Gator riding around. (Erica, my 13 year old neighbor, loves to play with the little ones.) I took a quick afternoon nap during this time ... another advantage of having my summers off!

When Tony got home, we took Micah and Rhett to Aunt Cindy's for a sleepover with Brian Anthony and then headed out to look at a house. We have friends that are moving to China for at least 2 years to do missionary work, and although we hadn't really ever talked about moving, we thought we should at least take a look at their house.

Then we headed to Qdoba for a late dinner date night (with Blair) and home to watch a movie. Well, when we got home, we realized we forgot to stop at the video store, but decided just to hang out instead. This morning, I've exercised, had a tea party with Blair, and now I'm off to go walking outside. We'll have to pick Rhett & Micah up soon because Rhett is going to a birthday party this afternoon.

School's Out For Summer

So all day long the Alice Cooper song School's Out For Summer has been going through my head. Crazy, huh?

Today was such a bittersweet day for me. I've been so emotional all week. Of course I'm ready for summer- no alarm clocks, spending more time with my kids, catching up with friends, relaxing by the pool, campouts, etc. but it makes me really sad to see the kids in my class move on. I've had such a great little group this year, it was very hard to say good-bye. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

I've cried several times this week. I think it all started when I wrote and sent a letter to a former student for a memory/scrapbook that his parents are making for him for his High School graduation. Yes, you read that correctly, my first year teaching kids are Seniors graduating this weekend. His parents e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to send a letter with memories that I had of him. Well, by the time I finished the letter, I was crying. He was such a unique kid, one that I'll never forget. It amazes me how fast that time went by ... it just seems like yesterday he was in my 2nd grade class and now he's about to go to Ole Miss for college.

That was Tuesday night. On Wednesday I began writing my "teacher comments" in each of my students' 2nd Grade Memory Book. I started getting teary-eyed again. I try very hard to make each note unique by telling each student special things I liked about them and how special they are. Again, I just kept thinking about how much I will miss these kids and how fast the next 10 years will go.

I kept telling myself not to cry, to stay strong for the kids. Well, it didn't work. At one point, a couple of minutes before the bell rang, I had to just walk away, get a kleenax, and just take some deep breaths. I was on the verge of a full blown bawling session and needed to recover quickly. My kids hugged me so many times and they just kept looking at me with these sad little faces. I have a group of about 8 little girls that are all really close friends that I knew would probably shed a tear or two. What I was not expecting was most of boys getting teary-eyed, too. I think this was the saddest last day that I've had.

JJ Talent Show 2009

Anyone that knows Rhett, knows that he's came a LONG way overcoming his shyness. In fact, today he even participated in a group reenactment of a fight scene from Star Wars for the entire JJ student body!! Seth's mom let me borrow her flip video to download their performance! Logan & Preston (the 2 boys humming) played the bad guys and Rhett & Seth played the Jedis. As each class at JJ earned enough points for a party, our music teacher held a mini-talent show and served popcorn. She kept notes of "eye-catching" performances throughout the year and invited these students to join together to put on a school-wide talent show. Rhett's group (led by Seth) was one of these acts. Then, they held an audition for all of the empty slots. There were about 20 different acts. Singers, break dancers, accordion players, actors, cheerleader/tumblers, piano players, and many others all came together to entertain the kids at JJ. Even the teachers put together an act dancing to the Hoedown Throwdown (including myself). -too bad she didn't get that on video ... ha! ha!

Here's the video of Rhett's act. What do you think? Are they ready for America's Got Talent???? ;)

Van Conversation

This is the conversation this morning in the van:

Sulayne: Everybody wave, here comes Papaw on his way to McDonald's.
Blair: (squeal) Hi Papaw! (pause) Can we go Laney's house?
Sulayne: Yes, that's where you're going right now. Why? Did you miss Laney?
Blair: Yeah.
Micah: Do you think she's gotten bigger?
Rhett: (seems confused) Who? The puppies?
M: No ... Mamaw Laney!
S: Umm, I don't know, but don't ask her!;)

Play Ball!

We are almost halfway through the Little League season which has been my new excuse for not having time to blog! ;) Rhett and Micah are both playing (Micah: t-ball & Rhett: Farm League) so we've been spending most evenings at the ball park. It's brought back a lot of memories for me. I never played, but practically lived there as a kid because both of my brothers always played and my dad coached. It's been fun catching up with old friends who I've seen there as well.
Micah's games aren't very exciting but are really funny to watch! She's getting a lot better and can even hit off of a pitch now! Most of the time she plays left field and spends her down time making little piles of dirt with her shoes. ;)

Rhett's games are very exciting and fun to watch. There's a lot of talent on his team and he has really good coaches (Tony is an assistant). They hit off of a pitching machine which made both Rhett and myself nervous at first. Rhett has played several positions. The coaches try to switch them around to give them a lot of different kinds of experiences (I guess). It's amazing to see each player improve from week to week. 2 of the boys on Rhett's team are in my class at school, so that's been fun as well.

I'm off to a game right now. I'll post pictures soon!

A Potty Training story

There wasn't a nursery worker last Wednesday, so I had Blair with me during Inner Circle. She was being VERY good quietly playing with her doll and purse contents. (Side note: She's almost potty trained and was wearing "big girl panties") Then, about halfway through the service, she leaned over and whispered, "Tell me if you have to go potty." And I said, "What? Do you need to go to the potty?" Then she said, "No. Tell me if you need to go potty." I got so tickled. I don't know if she was trying to think of a way to get out of the service and that's all she could come up with, or if she's heard me tell her over and over again to let me know if she needs to go. ;)

All My Life With You ... today

Last Friday I took off work to go on a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese with Micah. This was the Pre-school's reward for learning their address and phone number. I took the whole day off work and Micah and I shopped and hung out the rest of the afternoon as well (Cindy & Brian Anthony went, too).

To get the story, you need to know that Micah is a social butterfly at times and would spend every waking moment with all of the neighbor girls. I'm always telling her that she needs to stay home more and spend more time hanging out with me. So now that you know that, back to the story.

On the way back, while waiting in the car line to pick up Rhett from school, Micah says, "Since I've spent all my life with you today, when I get home can I call Alyssa to play?"