V is for Volcano

I was feeling very preschool-teacher-ish this afternoon, and you know what? It was so much fun! I don't see myself enjoying that as a career, but I did love teaching my own kids. Not that I don't teach them all the time, but this was more formal. I don't plan to homeschool, but I think it would be great to do a lot more of this kind of stuff when we move and I'm not working full time. And now I am rambling!

Anyway, it all started when I went to get vinegar and baking soda out of the pantry. We're studying chemical reactions at school, and I was surprised to learn that most of my students didn't know what happened when you mixed the two-- so I plan to show them tomorrow. Of course, Nikos walked in and asked me what I was doing. I made the spontaneous decision that we needed to play with vinegar and baking soda, right then and there! We loaded baking soda into a small cup, set the cup in a large baking dish right in the middle of the kitchen floor, and all sat around it (Maya had joined us by that time). They shrieked and giggled about the "erupting volcano" on our kitchen floor, and requested that I do it again and again (which I obliged until I realized I was running low on supplies needed for school tomorrow!).

Once the mess was cleaned up, I suggested that we go and color pictures of volcanoes. Both kids were SO excited! I handed them paper and crayons, but started looking through my craft supplies to see if there was anything fun we could use. I found some brown ribbon, which I glued onto their papers to form a volcano. Maya promptly ripped her ribbons off, but Nikos very carefully drew in the "magma and hot lava." We talked about different shapes of volcanoes (cindercone, shield, dome, and stratovolcano-- thank you, 5th grade reading program, for teaching me this!). We talked about how this volcano looked like a letter "V" if you turned it upside-down, and how the word "volcano" in fact STARTED with the "v" sound (Nikos found this thrilling, for real). Maya was more into the coloring, but Nikos was just soaking it all in like a sponge. And while a lot of what I was telling him was 4th and 5th grade science material, he retained a lot! Which made me happy, because science is my absolute favorite subject to teach. I see a lot more projects and experiments in our future-- today was so fun!

Here's our boy, hard at work adding lava to his cindercone volcano...

And the finished product! Not bad for something I just made up on the spot! :)

My Favorite Kids

This is a longer video, but it's made up of clips I took today and a few days ago (though, ironically, Nikos is in a very similar outfit! I swear I did the laundry between the two filmings!). I just love how they play together nicely (most of the time), and how Maya gets sucked right into Nikos' pretend play. They are so darn cute together!

On another note, our boy wore new shoes today!!!!! While this might not be a big deal to anyone else, Nikos has been especially stubborn in this regard for months now. He has staunchly refused to wear ANY shoes other than the skater shoes I bought him from Target a long time ago. They were completely ratty, and bordering on too small. Well... Gus took him on a special shoe-buying trip to the aforementioned store yesterday, and they had the EXACT SAME SHOES in the next size up! He was happy about them, until it came time to wear them this morning... and then he realized they weren't the old, beat-up ones he was accustomed to (and anyone who has seen my shoes recently knows I can relate! Sometimes he is JUST like his mommy!). However, we managed to get him out the door while still wearing them. And by the time I picked him up today, he was beaming and exclaiming that "All my friends liked my new shoes!!!" It was so cute! Success!!

And, on yet another side note, I want to say congratulations to my very oldest friend, Alayna, and her partner on the birth of baby #3 (little Rosa Jane). I am so, so happy for them! YAY!!!

More of my girl...

Well, I tried to snag a few pics of both kids today, but Nikos was Not Interested (understatement!). It seems fitting, anyway, to talk about my girl. I am feeling so sappy, with her birthday just over a month away now. How did we get here? How can that sweet little newborn now be this amazing (and still very sweet) toddler? It kills me! I know I went through this with Nikos, but it seems to be hitting me harder this time... probably because I know that everything with Maya is a "last" for us, since we do not plan to have any more kids. A decision that I am 100% fine with! But it doesn't make it any less bittersweet. I love little Maya. I hope she stays this sweet forever!


On a less-sweet note, though... We went out to dinner tonight, and Maya was SO hyper! I think it was because she got to sit in the booth with us for the first time (as opposed to a highchair). She wanted to jump, sing, dance, you name it-- anything but eat! After I finished, I ended up taking her outside to burn off some energy. She was in a great mood, but simultaneously SO naughty! She is so totally a two-year-old. Little stinker! Good thing she's so cute and snuggly!

My Girl

Today was a rough day at work (as a lot of them have been lately), and I am feeling really ready to move on to the part of my life where I am a stay-at-home mom. sigh... I just wanted to share these two pics of my sweet girl! I really do have the two sweetest kids on the planet, but only one lets me take her picture. I love this face!

Tomorrow is another day!

I Love Them SO MUCH!

Really! There's not much more to this post than that. And a video from today. We had a nearly hour-long dance party in the living room, and this was a snippet from near the end. Poor Maya was so tired from not napping at daycare today, and was in an "emotionally fragile" state. Still, SO cute. I love my little boogers. Though it is amazing how quickly they can mess up an immaculate living room (seriously! it was SPOTLESS when I got home!). Oh well. Totally worth it. :)

Thinking Ahead

So, it looks like our garage sale is going to be on April 16th! We have never had one before, so it's kind of exciting. Our next door neighbors (our daycare people) are going to do one at the same time, which means we will have good company out there! But it also requires planning. Mostly just figuring out what items will be for sale. And holy cow, that's a lot of stuff!

I really, really, REALLY (x1000) don't want to move things across the country that aren't in use anymore. That being said, it is SO HARD to go through the kids' toys. Ok, it's not hard. But it's hard when I get together a pile of toys that haven't been so much as LOOKED at in a year, transfer said pile to the garage, and then Nikos walks by and declares that he absolutely MUST have THAT SPECIFIC TOY because it's his FAVORITE. Note to self: Nikos can't go in the garage for a while. Ugh! It's so frustrating, because the toy inevitably gets tossed aside again, and I end up sneaking it back out to the garage. Two steps forward, one step back. This even happens with the toys he specifically told me he was willing to part with. Of course. He's three. What did I expect?

Today, though, the focus was on my own clothing. I emptied out my drawers, which were jam-packed with clothes I hardly ever wear, and took a good hard look at everything. I decided to part with more than half of it. Maybe even more like two-thirds. I still need to go through my part of the closet, too, which I am certain will produce a lot more for the garage sale pile. After I was done with the clothing, I dug out some of the "big ticket" items to photograph for our CraigsList ad (which obviously won't be posted for a while, but I wanted to be prepared). I also debated how to price things, and decided on the method our neighbors employ when they do garage sales: When someone asks "how much?", just spout out whatever number seems reasonable at the moment, and haggle. haha! I will definitely put price tags on the bigger things, but for items like clothing, CDs, etc. that won't be worth a whole lot (and that vary a lot in quality), I figured it would be easier to just wing it! So we shall see how that goes!

Anyway, that was most of the day, aside from a trip to the store and general house-cleaning fun (ha!). The kids did entertain me by playing with Charlie's new cat carrier, which arrived yesterday. I put it in the living room so that he could get used to it and hopefully feel comfortable about traveling in it when it comes time to fly him across the country. He is just about the WORST traveler imaginable. Seriously. Anyhow, he still wants nothing to do with it (so far), but the kids think it's great! These two pictures of Nikos made me laugh, so I will end the post with them.

(Maya got in there, too, but there was a pinched finger incident that meant no pictures!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What? Nikos doesn't look happy? That's our boy! Getting him dressed in the morning is a constant battle. He was fine with wearing his new green Boston shirt until it was time to actually pull it over his head... and then the whining and resisting began. But I really, really wanted him to wear it, since Maya had a coordinating shirt and it's St. Patrick's Day, of all days! So Gus and I won this one. And he resented it. Can you tell? This was right before they left for daycare.

Then, after school, we spent the afternoon doing reading lessons and then baking a rainbow cake. The cake was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it turned out really well. Nikos liked talking about leprechauns and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He also liked eating the cake. A lot. He was much happier than the Nikos in that photo up above!

I decided to continue with my food-coloring fun and make green eggs and ham for dinner. I had originally thought I'd make something traditionally Irish. Like corned beef and cabbage. But Gus vetoed that, saying he didn't like it, and Nikos most likely wouldn't, either. But everyone in our house likes ham and eggs, and Dr. Seuss, and the green part seemed fitting. Nikos got upset about it at the last minute, though, and requested "yellow eggs and pink ham." I let him have it.

Meanwhile, while I was cooking, Miss Maya crashed in the living room. I mean, she was out cold! I could see her breathing and all, but she was very deeply asleep. I guess somebody partied a little too hard this year? haha!

Anyway, it was a good day. Made better by the fact that Gus was back from another business trip (this one was to Utah). Hooray for family togetherness!

Maturity

When Nikos turned three, and inspired by my friend Alayna (I stole the idea from her blog, hehe! Thanks, Alayna!), I wanted to get him started on reading lessons through Headsprout.com. I purchased the program, and we started on the first few lessons. However, his focus would last for 10-15 minutes, and then he was done. Plus, I had to operate the touchpad on my laptop, clicking where he told me to. Anyhow, we decided to take a break and come back to it another day.

It turns out that "another day" was yesterday! Nikos came home from daycare and announced, out of the blue, that he wanted to do a reading lesson! Months after we had stopped!

I didn't think the touchpad on the laptop would work well for him, so I managed to dig up an old mouse in the garage. He did the introductory lesson that focuses on mouse skills, and then a few of the reading lessons. And he was SO into it! I sat with him for a lot of it, but he did everything himself. By the end, he was easily reading the words "see," "vee," "san," and "van." Amazing what a few months can do! Check out my little guy, enjoying his reading lessons this afternoon. He can't wait to do some more tomorrow! WOW!

A New Beginning...

Check out what's sprouting in our kitchen window!

What's that, you say? Little baby strawberry plants! I bought Nikos this mini-planter as a Valentine's Day present, and we planted the seeds together. Now, we have seven little sprouts that might very well grow us some tasty strawberries in a few months! I am so excited!

It's symbolic, though, in a way... These plants will probably fruit around the time we move out of this house, assuming everything goes according to plan. Just in time for a fresh start! I can't wait to see what the future holds!

The Best News!

I posted about this a long time ago, but this is a story I have been following since the beginning. This little girl, Aubrey, is just a few months younger than Maya. She was (very unexpectedly) diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last fall. Most kids who have this form of leukemia respond well to chemo-- but she didn't. And despite a successful bone marrow transplant, her liver, kidneys, and lungs started to fail. At one point, she was literally on life support and it seemed that the end was near. It was unbelievably awful and devastating-- made worse by the fact that her mom, Lacey, is a member of my online mommy group, and someone who I consider a friend.

Anyway, in the past month or so, things have done a complete 180-- and Aubrey actually went HOME today! After 111 days in the hospital! She's in isolation for now, and the entire house had to be sanitized to protect her fragile immune system, but she is home!! It's a day that so many of us were worried would never happened. Aaack, I am SO HAPPY!! Here's the news report from their local station (Lafayette, Indiana).

YAY, Aubrey!!!!!!

Holy Hair, Batman!

I was taking random pics of the kids this morning, and was struck by just how much hair my baby girl has. It's like it all appeared overnight, I swear! I think it was much more noticeable since she normally has it away from her face, but I looked at the picture and it hit me like a ton of bricks: she looks like a toddler. I can't believe she is almost two years old! And I wonder how much hair she will have when she's three?? I imagine we might actually have to trim it before then, haha!

Anyway, today was another great day, despite the whole losing-an-hour thing. The kids were thrown off a little by the time change, but still went to bed at their regular times. It probably helped that we went to the park for an hour this afternoon, where they played hard. Nikos did announce, however, that it wasn't time for bed because "the sun isn't even sleeping yet!" Smart kid! Still, we convinced hin. I just hope I can convince myself to get to bed early, too, or tomorrow morning is going to be a rough one!

Productivity

Hooray! I felt a bit better today, just in time to get things done around here!

Gus spent most of the day doing heavy-duty yardwork... pulling weeds, trimming things and such. He even tackled our side yard, which is where things just sort of end up. Old doors, molding, broken toys-- that sort of thing. He cleaned it out nicely and loaded a lot of junk into his truck. Go, Gus!!

Meanwhile, I threw open all the windows (since it was another beautiful day) and tackled the indoors. I went through ALL of the kids' toys and clothes, pulling out piles and piles of things to sell. Both kids' rooms are now so much cleaner and more organized, and the prospect of packing them up and moving across the country isn't quite as daunting. I still need to go through a lot of my own stuff. But progress is progress, right?

We also made a spontaneous decision to be done with the highchair, as of lunch today. Up until a few days ago, our baby girl never had a problem eating there. So, we let her! But since she finally started fighting us on it, we figured it was time to take the plunge and get her a booster seat. And tonight, for the first time, she joined us at the table! What a big girl! Excuse her less-than-stellar dinner of chicken nuggets and ketchup. I let her choose what she wanted for this very important occasion (Gus and I had Chipotle, which neither kid will eat). She did also inhale a large cup of fresh blueberries, but of course that wasn't in the picture. Doh!

After dinner, the four of us shared one of these cupcakes:

I swear, I was feeling domestic today! Really, I wanted to try out a recipe that I might use for Maya's birthday cupcakes. This batch was made from this recipe. They were tasty, but not as gooey and super-chocolatey as I had hoped. I still need to try another recipe that was recommended to me. Fingers crossed that it is exactly what I am looking for! Still, a cupcake is a cupcake. These won't last long, I assure you!

In other, random news... Nikos told me that the cupcakes were "delish" (his words, which cracked me up). And Maya has started telling nonsensical knock-knock jokes now, which is downright hilarious. Such funny kids! Maya also loves to sing JUST the ending part of the alphabet song, and can count to ten, sort of. The numbers are there, they just aren't always in the same order! She is getting really good with her colors, too. She knows red, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and white. Orange always throws her off, for some reason. And the way she says "blue" is so entertaining! Instead of saying "bwoo," like you'd expect kids to do, she says "buh-LOO" with an emphasis on the "l" sound. Her face is priceless, as her little tongue hangs out in an attempt to enunciate as clearly as possible. haha!

Anyway, it was a great day. Here's hoping that tomorrow is a little more relaxing, though!

Portraits

I still feel like I have been run over by a bus, thanks to whatever virus is currently attacking me. However, I did my best to pull it together and be a good mommy this afternoon. I took the kids outside for over an hour to play and run around and just soak up the glorious weather. Might as well, since this will probably be the last time they wear t-shirts in March for many years to come! Anyway, I brought my camera outside, as I always do, and managed to snag a few portraits of my very very busy children. So, here they are!




In other news, I also learned that my friend Ikuyo is safe and sound in Yokohama, along with all her family and friends. She was at work when the earthquake occurred, and didn't make it home until dawn today, but she made it home nonetheless (by taking trains and walking, when needed). She even said that the trash truck came by this morning on its regularly-scheduled route! Such a relief to hear!

Devastation

I am home sick today (for the second day in a row). Which means that I have basically spent all day resting on the couch, watching CNN's coverage of the 8.9 earthquake (and subsequent tsunami) in Japan. Holy. Cow. It is just unreal! I am also eager to hear from my old friend Ikuyo, who lives in Yokohama with her husband and one-year-old daughter. I am fairly certain they are alright, since they aren't in the hardest-hit area, but it must have been terrifying for them nonetheless. And it's probably still pretty scary, since everything is basically shut down!

At any rate, the whole thing got me thinking about earthquakes. For a moment, I wondered why anyone would WANT to live in Japan, knowing the amount of seismic activity that the country sees on a regular basis. But then I realized that-- duh!-- I live in California, which isn't much better. Still, the worst earthquake I have ever been in was the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. 6.9. If I am understanding the Wikipedia article correctly, that is 1,000 times WEAKER than the one in Japan today. And believe me, the Loma Prieta one was plenty strong. I can't even imagine what an 8.9 would feel like. That's just insane.

So then I thought to myself, "Well, there's one advantage to moving to Massachusetts." Right? No more earthquakes. WRONG! I learned that there are actually quite a few earthquakes in New England every year. And better yet, they don't usually occur along the fault lines. They are "intraplate" quakes, which means it is even more difficult to predict where they might occur. Great. Granted, the earthquakes are puny compared to what we get here, but the buildings are also a lot older and are constructed differently (and aren't as resistant to quake damage). Fabulous!

Long story short, I guess nowhere is completely immune from natural disaster. I just hope that the worst has passed for Japan, so they can start trying to recover from this mess.

Hippos

Hippos are hot stuff around here these days. Back in December, the kids heard the song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" on the radio, and it became an instant favorite. In fact, they STILL ask me to play it for them at least once a week, and they love to march around the kitchen in their own little parade. It's pretty darn cute. Anyway, toss in some Sandra Boynton books that Maya LOVES (and that also feature a hippo character), and we just love hippos!

Which is why I smacked my forehead in a "Duh!" moment this afternoon. Nikos came home from daycare, going on and on about playing "Hungry Hungry Hippos" with his buddies at Bonnie's house. I repeat: duh!!! Of course he would love that game. And do we own it? Nope. So when Nikos suggested we go to the store (nothing unusual for him), I actually said yes! We zipped over there, bought the game, and zipped back. And despite a few issues early on (Maya was cheating, according to Nikos), they were both playing it together as happy as can be before bed tonight. They love their new hippos!

Scruffy No More

Our guy has made it clear over the years that he does not (repeat: NOT) like having his hair cut. While we took him many times to actual salons, thinking each time that he might have grown out of his hatred for them, he simply screamed louder each time. Doh! Finally, we were frustrated. Getting him in to the salon was a pain to begin with, and he fought us tooth and nail every step of the way. So, we buzzed his head at home. And he screamed and cried and threw a fit, but it was over quickly. Plus, since his hair was so short, we figured it would buy us some time before having to do it again.

Anyway, that was a few months ago, and he has recently become quite scruffy. The hair growing over his ears was driving me particularly crazy. So, it was time. Last night, we did it again. And wouldn't you know it-- the little booger hardly complained at all! I let him hold the pumice stone in our shower, which made him happy (ha ha!). He was also thrilled at the prospect of taking his bath in "Mommy and Daddy's bathtub." At any rate, he did SO well! Which also meant that he got a better haircut, because he wasn't fighting so much. Check out our handsome little man!


Eek! He looks SO much better! Hooray!!!

Escrow!

So... We're in escrow! I didn't want to say anything until now, but we received an offer last Thursday evening. We were pretty sure it was coming, given that the same person had already viewed our home twice. But we really had no idea what it would be like. As it turned out, though, she REALLY loves our house and came in with a very serious, very reasonable offer. We were shocked, to say the least! We went back to her with an equally-reasonable counter-offer, which she accepted on Saturday. And, as of this morning, escrow has been opened!

The good news is that this particular buyer (a younger woman, probably around our age) wants a long escrow. She asked for a closing date of May 30th, which is just perfect! In our counter-offer, we reserved the right to rent back from her until June 14th, if we so choose, so that we will be here for the remainder of the school year. At that point, we will move all our stuff out, send it to storage, and temporarily move in with my parents-- provided we haven't already closed on the house in Massachusetts. Then, once it's time to head east, the kids and I will give Gus a two-week head start to drive across the country with both cars (and Corky!), do some quick things to the house (like have the carpets cleaned), and then be there when the moving truck arrives to direct the unloading. That way, when the kids and I finally get there, they will have beds and whatnot to sleep in.

However, I am getting ahead of myself!! While we are very excited, we have a lot of hurdles to jump over in the next few months. We have the pest inspection, which should be alright. There will be a home inspection, which we are thinking shouldn't turn up anything major, but you never know! Then there is the appraisal, which worries me. The accepted offer is pretty high for this area right now, and it could be close. I have a feeling it will end up being somewhat based on who the appraiser is and what sort of mood he/she is in on that particular day. Scary! Meanwhile, our buyer is trying to sell her condo, which is a pretty huge contingency. However... her loan on the condo is assumable as of May 30th, and her aunt is willing to take over the payments, so it's not necessarily an issue. Really, though, it means she can find a way out of the contract at almost any time. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

At any rate... fingers crossed for everything going smoothly! Most of the inspections won't take place until next month, anyway, so we can relax for a bit... and start cleaning out some of our junk! Time for a garage sale!

Saturday Morning

We're getting ready to head out for the day, but I wanted to share this quick one from this morning. During the week, the kids don't eat a "real" breakfast at home, because they get fed at daycare. So weekends are really the only days that we eat at home, and we usually eat it in the living room (unlike all other meals, which we eat at the dining room table). This morning, Maya's highchair had too many crumbs in it, and I didn't feel like getting the vacuum out. So I carried out the kid table from Nikos' room, and the two of them were positively delighted to sit at it and eat their breakfast! I love these kids! :)

Yesterday and Tomorrow

It's funny how, at Nikos' age, "yesterday" can refer to anything that has already happened, while "tomorrow" refers to any future event. Lately, the big question is, "Are we gonna go to Massachusetts tomorrow?" The answer, of course, is no, but clearly we have mentioned it enough times that he is just itching to go there. This question usually leads to a slew of others, including: "Are we gonna live in that red house tomorrow? The one with the red, yellow, and blue bike just like mine? And go bobsledding in the snow? And you can stay home with us and we don't go to daycare anymore?"

Ack, it just kills me! I don't want to get his hopes up, in case things don't work out, but I also want him to be excited and prepared for what appears to be the most likely situation. So, I'm caught in the middle. And I am erring on the side of "getting hopes up," because it's fun to talk about our upcoming adventure and my hopes are already most definitely up!

In the same vein, we were talking about friends tonight. Nikos is excited to see his friend Brady tomorrow afternoon, and was talking about how he and Brady would play together in Massachusetts. I told him that Massachusetts was really far away, and that he would make lots of new friends. He instantly got his sad/shy look on his face, and said that he "really didn't want to talk to lots of new kids." Poor, sweet boy! He really is shy, and is becoming more self-aware. I am eager to get him into a good preschool program when we move, if for no other reason than for him to make some buddies! He's not shy at all once the novelty of a situation wears off, which is funny. It's getting to that point which is the hard part!

Anyway, there are my thoughts for the evening. It's Friday night, and the whole weekend is stretching out ahead of us, complete with visits to both sets of grandparents and a playdate with some good friends. It should be a busy one!

Where I'd rather be...

Sigh... Honestly, I NEVER saw myself wanting to me a stay-at-home mom. I enjoyed working, found it fulfilling, and was SO thankful to have a job at a great school in an amazing school district. And I am definitely still thankful! But I guess it goes to show how much having kids can change you. Because, ever since Nikos was born, and even more so since Maya was born, I feel like my heart breaks a little bit every day when I drop them off at daycare. I never really let myself think about it too much, though, because the cost of living where we do is so ridiculously high-- we both NEEDED to work. But now that there is a very high likelihood that I am going to become a stay-at-home mom in the next 4-6 months, well... I am pretty darn excited! I have such huge plans for this new lifestyle (and yes, I know what they say about best-laid plans, but still!). I can't wait to start this new chapter of my life!

Anyway, this afternoon was a great example of the sort of day I love spending with my kids. Maya was looking cute in her new outfit, so I set up a mini photo shoot in the kitchen. I mostly wanted to experiment with some equipment, but I had two willing subjects. And gosh, they were sweet!


After that, I put everything away and we headed out back to enjoy the mild weather. As usual, they absolutely attacked the play equipment! Within seconds, Nikos was pulling on his bike helmet and rushing to his tricycle, while Maya immediately climbed into the swing and started swinging and laughing. They played basketball, they pretended to be pirates, they went down the slide, they sent toys down the slide, etc. They don't need me to guide their play anymore-- they play together so well, and really feed off of each other's energy and enthusiasm. It's tiring to watch, but hilarious! Anyway, they were so cute that I had to run back inside and grab my camera for a few more pics...


I can only imagine what fun adventures we will have together when we aren't limited to afternoons and weekends!

Lunch Lady Flowers

Since I am so lucky to have a great student teacher right now, and since I wanted to give her some solo time with the kids, I wandered over to the office today to chat with my friends there. As I stood there, these two bud-vases were dropped off. And this one, with three beautiful red roses, was for me! At first I thought they might be from Gus, but I couldn't think of any reason why. Not that you NEED a reason to send flowers, per se, but that would be highly unusual. At any rate, I opened enclosed card to discover that they were from the lunch ladies at my school! Are they not the sweetest???

Anyway, I didn't mention this on here before, because I feel kind of embarrassed by it, but I'm the Teacher of the Year at my school! My fellow teachers voted on it a few weeks ago, and I found out the last day before our February break. It's a great honor, and I am glad to have it, but it still feels SO awkward and I can't help but joke about it when I know that I teach with so many incredible people. And, truthfully, out of all the years I have taught, this has been the hardest for so many reasons (class size, individual student issues, and my own personal motivation, to name a few!). So I haven't made a big deal out of it or anything, and my students don't know. Which is why it REALLY confused them when I returned to the room with these flowers, and told them they were from the lunch ladies. I can only imagine what kinds of fun explanations they will conjure up, haha!

Still, I love my lunch lady flowers. :) (and, for the record, the other bud vase was for the non-teacher employee of the year... gotta love those sweet lunch ladies!)