First Grade Tea Party!

Last Monday, Maddie invited us to her end of year tea party. It was a big deal. So big that Maddie wore a dress AND did her hair! So big that both mom and dad took a half day to be there with her. It was so worth it. Our baby is growing up and she is turning into this amazing little human; she's smart, witty, gorgeous and confident.

 

The tea party started with an adorable performance by Maddie and her classmates. They sang a funny and cute version of I'm a Little Tea Pot. 

 

 After the performance, Maddie got to share with us her writing!

 But not before I took way too many pictures of her!

 The tea party fell on a Monday which was perfect! My mom and Carolyn both got to come and see her perform!




 Meet Kylie and Willow! Maddie's 2 BFF's from school, her partners in crime. Trouble with a capital T!

 Her teacher also threw in a bit of Mother's Day at the tea as well. Loved what Maddie had to say about me!
 Here is a sample of Maddie girls writing. Hard to believe she's writing about dogs :)

 We did eventually drink a bit of tea as well! Such a fun afternoon celebrating Maddie and all her hard work in first grade this year! She has come SO far since the beginning of the year! We are so proud of her! We love you Maddie!

Parenting.....

I've got this weird thing about holidays. I struggle with them. Like, lets say, Valetine's Day. You know, it's supposed to be romantic and spontaneous and oh so lovey dovey right? And then, it arrives, and I get into this funk and it doesn't turn out just how I thought it should. It's the same with all the major holidays for me; Thanksgiving, Christmas.Today was no exception. I struggled. It bothered me all weekend. I felt it looming over me, waiting to set in on me. It came, even though my day was good. Donuts, coffee, flower shopping, crafting, and doing projects around the house (all of which I asked to do). I feel like I almost have to put on a big show that all is great and that this is the BEST day ever when really my best days being a mom come when I least expect it. Like, for instance, when Maddie runs across the room and jumps into my arms and hugs me tight. Or when Taylor rushes to me after school to tell me her newest joke she learned at school. When they grab my hand and don't let go. I guess my point is that this "day" we call Mother's Day isn't always what it's cracked up to be and that for me, I need to remember that I'm a mom celebrating my girls milestones, ups and downs with them 365 days a year.

Being a mom is hard work. I feel like I'm constantly on a roller coaster. We are up for a moment, a day, week or even a month and then we go down so quickly and the pace changes so rapidly that I feel like I've fallen off the track. It's hard getting back on that track; knowing what's right for the girls. How to handle different situations. My eldest is struggling right now- in fact, together we fell so far off the roller coaster track on Saturday that I wasn't sure we'd be able to find our way back. But that's what us mom's do. We get back up, dust off our pants and hop back on the roller coaster- for there is nothing greater than the love for our chidren.

 

 

 

Together we can step back on course; learning from our mistakes and doing our best to correct them. Knowing that she's only 8 helps me too. I'm trying to let her BE herself- I don't want to mold her into someone I want her to be. Being patient is hard. But loving her is Oh so easy.



These two women help me a lot. They provide encouragement, advice and let me vent without casting any judgement. Most importantly, they remind me that I too, was 8 once and that I turned out pretty well.

I'm blessed beyond belief to have two healthy, beautiful, intelligent children. My love for them runs  deep and is so strong. Not just today, on Mother's Day, but every day. Always and Forever.

Pencil Vase with Sunflowers! A quick and easy Teacher Appreciation Gift!

 Teacher Appreciation is this week! I got an email a few days back asking if I might be willing to take one of the days to help make the teachers at the girls school feel loved. Even though I am a teacher, my girls are being taught by teachers as well and I know that a card that simply says Thank You can go a long way so I couldn't turn this opportunity down. Thankfully, they go to a very small school and only have 12 teachers total!

**Disclaimer...I will say this is a quick and easy (and inexpensive!) gift UNLESS you are making more than 2! By the 12th one, I'd had it with the whole thing!**

Here are the supplies that you need:

 1. An empty can (and your hot glue gun!)

 2. Pencils. I got these at the Dollar Store.

 3. Ribbon. I found these on clearance for $2.00 at Michaels.

How to Make your Pencil Vase:

Step 1: After my first few cans, I stopped and wrapped yellow paper around the can. This helped prevent ugly spots when those last few pencils didn't match up in the back! So, I'd suggest wrapping your cans first.

Step 2: Take your hot glue gun and start gluing pencils around the can (I used about 37 per can). They won't look extremely pretty- you'll see that they start to go sideways and that there are bare spots in the back. Don't worry. Once you put the ribbon around it and add the flowers it all looks amazing!

Step 3: Either make or find (like I did!) http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/ your tag that you'd like to go around your vase. Then, cut and measure your ribbon to wrap one time around the vase. Hot glue it onto it.

Step 4: Back your tag (if you'd like) and then stick that in the center of the vase on top of the ribbon.

 

Step 5: Now the fun part! Add the flowers! I got all my flowers from Trader Joes. They were $3.99 for 5 sunflowers.

I'm hoping these let our BH teachers know just how much we love them! Be sure to thank a teacher this week!

Field Trips, birthday celebrations and a graduation!

 I got to go on my first field trip ever with Taylor on Friday. Yes, she's in 3rd grade and yes, I'm being serious when I say it's my first field trip I've ever been on with her. When you are a teacher it's hard to go to your own kids field trips at the end of the year. Her teacher this year has several planned and this one was early enough to not being close to June that it all fit and worked out. My girl was beyond excited and over the moon that I sat with her on the bus and stayed by her side for every minute of the field trip. I just soaked it all in; her interacting with her friends, silently thanking the Lord that I didn't have a boy (because wow! They are a whole new level of energy!) and watching her teacher nurture and love on all her students.

 The grounds we were on were beautiful- I think it helped that it was 75 degrees outside but really, as you'll see, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures because the place was screaming with cuteness and beautiful gardens.

 The highlight for ALL the kids was that they got to have a mini lesson on worms and then got a big pile of compost chalk full of worms. They got to pick them up, measure them and hunt for baby worms. I'm half toying with the idea of bringing in some worms to my class just to keep them quiet for these last 28 days!

 I warned you earlier that I took way too many pictures of flowers so you can quickly scroll down if you don't want to see these! Spring has sprung and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

 (this one was taken by Taylor)

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 On Saturday, we went to Bothell to celebrate our adorable Trey and Sweet Emilie's birthdays! I can't get over the fact that as soon as we arrive for our visits, the four cousins are instantly connected. They are four souls that are certainly intertwined and full of love for each other.

Hey hot stuff! Cool Shades!

And this girl? Love her to the moon and back! We got to giggling on Saturday night and the sun slowing started creeping down and instead of rushing to get home you know what I did? I sat. And it was so nice. We laughed, we caught up. It was good.

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Our family was split up on Saturday. Us in Bothell and Dave in Pullman. Zack, our nephew graduated from WSU! We are so proud of his hard work and are both in shock that he's old enough to be all grown up! We love you Zack!

I loved getting this picture of Dave after graduation. It sums him up perfectly.

 

We spent our Sunday catching up with one another, running errands early so that we could enjoy the beautiful weather we've been blessed with this May! Stay tuned for an adorable and easy project to make for Teacher Appreciation!