Flashback Friday- The Minnie Dress

The dress that Madison  has on in these pictures is my dress from D*sney World circa 1984.  She is very proud to tell everyone that she is wearing Court's dress. I have my mom on a mission to see if she has a picture of me wearing the dress.

Don't Blink

I feel like if I blink, it is going to be Logan's graduation day. I can't believe that Logan graduated from preschool this year and is headed to kindergarten in the fall. I feel like we were just in the hospital it this tiny newborn and now 5 years later he is headed to school. I know I say it but time goes too fast. I want to hit the pause button and stay here for just a little longer.

Logan's preschool does such a wonderful graduation program. It is not too long but long enough to savor the moment. The go all out with cap and gowns and a ceremony in the auditorium. I always love going to his program and taking it all in because I know these days are precious. Luckily I was able to arrange it with my college professor so I could leave class a little early so I could be there. I did my final presentation (which I got an A on) and headed out the door to graduation.  It is so much fun to see the kids walking up the aisle and singing all the cute songs they have learned.

 

 

Starting the walk down the aisle

I think he was a little excitedd

Ready to perform

Waving to his adoring fans

How precious

Receiving his diploma

The graduate

It's official we are headed to kindergarten

Posing with Aunt Court

His teacher was wonderful and worked so well with Logan

 

All Aboard Madison's Adventure

I loved having Fridays off in May. It was a great opportunity to take each of the kids for a special day out and not have to fight the crowds. My parents scored some great tickets for a model train museum that included a behind the scenes tour. It was pouring down rain that day, so it was the perfect day for an indoor activity. We enjoyed lunch out and then headed to the museum. We were lucky to get our backstage passes for about a half hour time slot so we had a little time to look around before our tour. I really enjoyed the behind scenes tour but it was a little over Madison's head so we ducked out a little early. She really enjoyed the kids area which has interactive displays and a play place. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy day and get a little special time with Madison.

Enjoying the train displays

They have a fun play area for kids

Going behind the scenes to the train repair room

I love how she is on her tiptoes to try to see if it is real snow

They had an adorable carnival display

More playtime

Look WHOOOO"s Expecting

NO, NO, NO it's not me!!!!  I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for my cousin Kim. Our family was so excited to celebrate a new one joining the clan. When we started talking about the baby shower, she mentioned she really liked owls. Now must people that know me well, know that I DO NOT like birds or owls. So I had to chuckle that I was going to be planning a shower that consisted of owls. I have decided that the whimsical owls are cute, but the real thing-not so much! I had so much fun planning the shower and decided to use bright colors which was perfect for spring.

We  had tons of yummy food, including chicken salad and pulled pork, dips and cheeseballs and my cousin Kim's favorite- grape salad.  I was so lucky to find a local lady who did the cupcakes for an incredible price and they were so good. We had a wonderful day and she was blessed with many wonderful things.

My grandma(on the right) with her 4 sisters

The sisters and some of the cousins (there are tons more, but they had already left)

The cupcakes

The entry table with favors and games. I had each guest sign a copy of Kim's favorite book that she read as a child.

I made a diaper cake for the cake table.

The guests

The cake table

My cousin Mandi is a professional photographer so she took some pregnancy pics that day

Aren't baby girl clothes the cutest.

She got just a few gifts

Mother and Daughter Banquet

Every year, our church celebrates all the ladies with a mother/daughter banquet. It is always a great evening full of yummy food and fellowship with the ladies of our church. This year my aunt Louise, my cousin Amanda and Amanda's grandmother in law from Oregon were able to join us. We kept teasing Lani that if there was a prize for traveling the farthest, she would get it. It was so nice to get to know her, since this is the first time we have met. Madison also joined us for the first time this year. She enjoyed coloring and of course getting lots of attention from everyone around her.

Madison loves playing with Aunt Weez

All the ladies

All the ladies in my family  (me, Madison, My Mom, Aunt Louise, and My Grandma Pat)

Amanda and Her Grandmother in Law Lani

See I told there was a lot of good food and this is just the dessert table.

Year End Wrap-Up

First of all, lets celebrate the fact that I am officially on summer vacation!! I understand the rest of the world is still working but for my career this is a big thing. The first exciting thing I have planned is to really clean my house. I want to get that task done and out of the way so I can have fun the rest of the summer. 

Second, I am so behind in editing pictures, so that is next on my to do list. So there are no pictures with this post.

Finally, I wanted to do a wrap up of my school year while it is still fresh in my memory. As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I was taking on a different position. I still taught second grade, but I was in a new room called the co-teaching room. The room consist of children with mild learning disabilities to children who were typical learners. As part of this, I got to have a full time interevention specialist in my room.

When they first started talking about this and asking for volunteers last year, I was unsure. Did I want to leave my comfort zone to try something new. I really prayed about it and the decision actually turned out to be a definite yes!  The best part about it is that I am teaching with a really good friend of mine and that has made all the difference. We are so comfortable with each other that everything fell into place. We know if we are having a bad day, that  we can just give each other the look and we back off. I think it has been a blessing because our students see we are at ease with each other and we have had such a calm classroom this year.

I have loved having an extra pair of eyes and ears, as well as someone to share this experience with. It is really too bad that every room could not have a co-teacher. We divided the task of teaching reading and math. She took the math and I took the reading. While one was teaching, the other one was helping students. We took shared responsibility for centers and small group work. I am sure that if any of you walked into our classroom you would not be able to pinpoint who was the intervention and who was the regular ed teacher. We have several administrators comment on how they didn't even know the difference with students because we worked with everyone equally. It really benefited all of our students and we were able to show growth with every student in our room.

I am excited that we will be doing this next year as well. I am happy that we had a strong finish to the year.

I also have to share a story because I think it is such a strong reminder of why I do what I do. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the politics and business of our job that we forget the little things. Education is changing so much right now and I am not always sure it is for the best interest of the children involved. However on the last day of school we got a reminder of what is really important in teaching and that is touching the lives of children.  We have a student in our classroom that comes from a rough home life. She is being raised by her father and lets just say, home is not always easy. This child is very guarded in her relationships and does not show emotion easily. Moments before dismissal on Thursday, we were saying goodbye to our students and many were coming up and giving us hugs and telling us they would miss us. I honestly did not expect any emotion from the above student, in fact I thought she may even tell us she was glad to be moving on. So as I turn around, she wraps her arms around me and gives me a hug and tells me she is going to miss me. Well by this time I have tears in my eyes and she goes and does the same thing to my co-teacher. We are both in tears and as she walks out the door, she has tears in her eyes to. Up until that point, I really thought she did not like me and I was just a thorn in my side but apparently we had chipped away at that tiny rough exterior. I do not tell this story to brag on myself but rather to share a lesson on how we don't always know how we may touch just one persons life. I will continue to pray for this little girl and that as she goes on through her school career she will have teachers that will love and encourage her even though they may not get initial feed back.

So that's a wrap. I will try to get some pictures ready for a post soon. I would be more than happy to answer any specific questions you have about co-teaching.