Teacher Appreciation Week

Have you ever taken on a job that when offer you thought "Oh, I could totally do that. I'll show everyone how great I can be" and then realized that you'd gotten in WAY over your head? Being a room parent has been like that all year for me. I have these fabulous ideas that seem super quick and easy, but end up turning into craziness.

Take for example this year's Teacher Appreciation Week. We were told by the PTO that we could do something small for the teacher every day as long as we didn't ask for monetary donations. Working with Darlene, we came up with what I thought would be sweet and simple projects for the kids make in class or at home to let Mrs. Huey know how much they loved having her as their teacher. Keep in mind, everything had to be approved nearly a month in advance by the school secretary, so I didn't really know what the kids would be working on in class at this time, nor did I realize that it was also the week before spring break.

Here comes the craziness! Not only were we (Darlene and I) at the school everyday for teacher appreciation, we were also there for class projects, parties, pictures, and scholar dollar. And that's not mentioning the reports that the kids were working on at home. Please believe me when I say that it was a crazy week!

Our Teacher Appreciation week consisted of:

Monday~ "Thanks for Helping Us Bloom" where the students made flowers for Mrs. Huey.

I think the student bouquet turned out pretty cute!

Tuesday~ "Everything You Wanted to Know About Mrs. Huey" Scrapbook where the students completed a survey about what they thought about Mrs. Huey.

The cover page for the scrapbook

I know the print is small, but you've got to read some of B's answers!

Wednesday~ "Favorite Recipes for My Favorite Teacher" had the students baking their favorite recipe at home and sending in a sample along with the recipe for Mrs. Huey to try. I didn't get a picture of that, but it was a hit with her husband and son (who was home from college for a break).

Thursday~ "My Teacher Deserves a Little Pampering" got Mrs. Huey a basket of pampering items such as candles, soaps, lotions, and (from me) monogrammed towels. It turned out sooooo adorable! I couldn't have planned it any better!

Most of the items from Teacher Appreciation Week

On Friday, the students also made homemade cards for her to keep in her scrapbook to remember these students in the future

All in all, I think that Teacher Appreciation Week went over very well. While it was a lot of hard work, I know that Mrs. Huey appreciated everything that was done for her.

Now the question for you... what do you think?

Brennan's School Projects

For the past few weeks, the 2nd grade has been learning about Tennessee at school. For a conclusion project, B had to put together a poster at home about Tennessee showing what he'd learned. He amazed me with his ability to remember the details about the state we currently call home. Do I have any idea what our state flower is? No. Tree? Nope. Gem? Not a chance. But does Brennan? Oh yeah. Quiz him. He'll surprise you.

Along with learning about Tennessee, he also had to study a famous Tennessean. Of all of the famous people from here, you'd have thought he'd pick someone in the music industry or a historical figure... but no. He picked Albert Gore Jr. Not that I have anything against him personally, he's just not really that interesting of a character. The reason we needed character is because along with the report, Brennan had to make a character poster that he could wear and be recognized as that person. How interesting is a suit and tie? Not very. I'd say he did the best he could with what he had.

Got to love the cheering arms!

Scrapbook USA

It's that time of year~ Girl's Weekend in Utah at Scrapbook USA!

Though the trip was short (flew in Thursday night and out Sunday afternoon) and sweet (saw some family), it was extremely rejuvenating and fun!

Here's the quick run-down of my weekend: saw Anne, shopped and scrapbooked with Tammy & Steph, yummy Cafe Rio, ran into random people from my past, completed 14 pages, yummy Tempanyaki, shopped for friends in TN, dessert and games with Brian and Family, breakfast with Jessica, Kaci & boyfriend, and church with Tammy. Lots to cram into a weekend, but well worth the time.

Waiting in line for Scrapbook USA to start!

Still waiting...

Tammy working hard (she finished 15 pages)

Steph's super intense... because she had to beat everyone with 16 pages done

Me and Best Friends

Can I just say that I have the best hubby in the world!?! He's the one that made the trip happen and stayed home with the cute crazies all weekend. Thank you honey!

Storytime at the Library

So I've started to feel like we are in a rut. Doing the same things everyday and not really having fun or enjoying it. So when one of our friends invited us to story time at the library, we decided to see what it was all about.

When we got there, I remembered why I didn't go to story time.... my children have such short attention spans and Nolan doesn't really like large groups. It ended up that we sat outside the reading room playing with the wooden train (which made Nolan and Ian very happy) while Dylan sat with the group.

Judging by the hats on the kids when they came out of the room, they read a book about firemen and their dogs. What was great about this was that there was a real firetruck outside for the kids to explore.

Nolan LOVED it!! He wanted to drive the truck so much that he kept cutting in line and I'd have to pull him back. We even waited until the very end after everyone else had left so that both Nolan and Dylan could drive the truck again!

Doesn't he make a cute little fireman?

RainForest Cafe & Glow Golf

One of our favorite places to take the kids is the Rain Forest Cafe. If you've never been, you need to go, just to experience it at least once. We are lucky enough to live so close to one here in Nashville that we've become frequent guests when we are trying to find somewhere to go that's fun and yummy.

Sorry the pictures are that great.... it's super dark there and the flash kept throwing everyone for a loop.

The other surprise for the day was to take the kids miniature golfing at Glow Golf. It is exactly what it sounds like~ golfing in the dark. Brennan and Dylan thought they were in heaven while Nolan just liked climbing and throwing the ball.

Rub a Dub Dub

4 boys in a tub!!!

Who'd have thought they'd all fit in together? Though Ian had to stand the entire time and didn't really like the bubbles, the boys had fun playing pirates and turtles (go figure) in the tub.

Acting Silly

Sorry. I couldn't help but post these pictures. Though there's no real story behind them other than they are just cute playing as little boys do.

Even with snot running down his face, isn't he just the cutest chunk you've ever seen?!

Got the Nerf gun and glasses... where did Dad go?

One of my favorite pictures of Nolan ever

And what are the big boys doing while the little ones are crazy? Playing with their DS's, of course!