The Last Day of First Grade

As cliche as it sounds, it seems like yesterday that we were loading up this little one for his first day of first grade!  Yesterday ended a first place year in first grade and we rang in summer in style.

The PCP was barraged by silly string as he exited the school bus and Mr. R  bellowed “Haaaaaaave a grrrrrrrrreat summer!!! See y’all next yeeeeeeeeear!”

It was a big year for John and, just like in Kindergarten, he kicked of summer by making his way through his very own “walk of fame!”  I picked his top ten accomplishments for the year and staked them right in the yard on a path leading from the bus stop to the porch.  (Please excuse the painters in the background.)

He paused at every single one, to read and remember.  I could literally see his smile grow and his chest puff with a sense of accomplishment as he made his way through. 

 

And after the “promoted to 2nd grade” sign, he crashed through a Welcome to Summer banner!

A simple snack awaited on the porch.

 

  

And I heard all about how his last day of first grade ever started with a fire drill and ended with puzzles and popcorn.

And the cherry on top?  After a loooong last day of school nap on the sofa, our pool season kicked off with an ice cream party!!!!

Summer is finally here, y’all!

xoxo

 

See the rest of my school posts here!

 

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Sugar Bee Crafts, Elizabeth and Co, Rain on a Tin Roof, Coastal Charm, Uncommon Designs, Mop It Up Monday, The Tablescaper, A Lived In Home

High Fives Teacher Gift

Inspired by this darling idea, the PCP’s class presented Mrs. B with a book of High Fives for her end-of-year class gift at the Author’s Tea. 



 
It’s essentially a note pad of sweet thoughts from her students (aka “high fives”) with crisp $5 bills in between. 







I sent home letters and sent out emails a few weeks back with questions for the kids.  I asked parents to write down exactly what their student said – not worrying too much if it made sense or sounded silly.  I wanted the memories to be in the voice of Mrs. B’s first graders!  The answers that came back were just as sweet as can be and the love that these kids had for their teacher showed in every single one.  I knew she was outstanding, but it was completely moving to read what twenty-five seven year olds had to say.  Here are some favorites…



As she spends her bills, she will be reminded of all of the reasons she’s loved and will never be forgotten.  And once they are all peeled out and gone, she will be left with a little book of memories from a class that loved her to pieces.

Now, as far as how to make the book, here’s the gist:
1. Collect quotes.  Send out letters and emails with your questions for the kids.  Here is my list:

• The thing I will miss most about Mrs. B is
• Mrs. B loves me because
• I love Mrs. B because
• This year Mrs. B taught me
• This year, I taught Mrs. B
• One thing I will never forget about Mrs. B is
• Mrs. B lives
• Mrs. B loves

2. Collect money.  This was obviously optional and the amount was totally up the parents.  Some parents wanted to do their own gift, contribute less and do both, or chose not to contribute at all, WHICH IS FINE!  I still asked that they send back the answers to the questions.  I had originally intended to do 100 Reasons Why We Love Mrs. B with $1 bills and was completely blown away when the money started coming in and totaled $300!!!!

3. Exchange your wads of old crumpled cash and checks for new bills or “clean” bills.  Here’s where things went south…I thought I could just go in the bank and get a bunch of nice looking bills, or at least request them for a later date.  No can do.  My bank acted like I was completely nuts (which was not entirely unfounded) – at all three branches I went to in person.  No luck over the phone either.  Enter Sister’s Mister who saves the day!  He has connections at the Delta Community Credit Union through his line of work and they were happy to bring in my sixty new $5 bills on an armored truck.  I kid you not.  Honey went with a metal padded briefcase to pick them up at the appointed time (okay, he didn’t bring a brief case but I totally thought he should have.)  I read all the comments on the original blog about this project and it seemed like it was pretty easy to pull off for others that have done this or something similar. 

4. Make your notepad.  I measured my bills and printed and cut sixty of the collected quotes on vellum.  I mistakenly thought I could pop in Michael’s and pick up this “padding compound” but was yet again met with a dead end.  Apparently this stuff is hard to find outside of the internet and I had to turn the book around in two days.  So, I took my stack of money to Kinkos and they did it for $1.59. I fretted the entire 24 hours that it was out of my possession but the store manager said he had everything on camera should it come to that.  If I were ever to do this again, I would prefer to get the padding compound and do it myself so as to save myself a lot of worrying, pacing and fretting.  I would also put on an extra cover and a few extra pages at the end and then tear them off before giving it as a gift because the padding compound looked a little messy on the top and bottom pages.

The art mom for the class also coordinated this sweet and colorful owl canvas from the kids fingerprints.  Such a darling idea!



I do not exaggerate when I say there was not a dry eye in the room.  Mrs. B is truly one of a kind and we were SO SO blessed to have her this year.



We all have a teacher that we adored, that believed in us, challenged us and made us feel special.  Mine was Mrs. Coleman and I was lucky enough to have her for 2nd AND 3rd grades.  I know that this lady is that person to many, many children – mine included!
xoxo

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Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Sugar Bee Crafts, Elizabeth and Co, Rain on a Tin Roof, Coastal Charm, Uncommon Designs, Mop It Up Monday, The Tablescaper, A Lived In Home

Musings

The PCP had his Author’s Tea at school earlier in the week.  The kids serve punch and cookies and present to their parents the research projects they’ve been working on so very hard on these last few weeks.  He wrote all about cougars (I know…I giggled at that too) and it just knocked my socks off.  He authored a real little book – with illustrations and facts and opinions and even an “about the author” on the last page.  This, my friends, is going straight on the living room bookshelf.

 
Speaking of tea, I WON this darling tea towel by Hang Tight Studio from Kelly at Coastal Cottage Dreams!!  I never win anything… so exciting!!




Honey and I celebrated eleven years last weekend.  Daddy-O watched the boys so that we could enjoy a lovely night out.  I feel like we never get a good picture of just the two of us so we made a point to do it while we were all cleaned up.  He’s a catch, that Honey.

 
I organized a class gift for the PCP’s teacher but also wanted to do a little something special from our family.  Tricia at HKL Designs did this darling bag for me!!
 





The first graders had Economics Day last week and spent the month prior earning “money” to spend at the event.  As I’ve mentioned before, the PCP is exceedingly motivated by money.  It’s our most effective tool for both rewards and punishments.  Anyhoo…I got a kick out of this letter that his sweet teacher sent home for me to see.  “Write me a note back ok.”  Ah, I remember those days.  And the little signature in cursive.  I taught him how a couple of months back and still can’t stand the preciousness of seeing it in pen and paper.





Now, all is not roses and unicorns at the school all the time.  The PCP brought home his third “straight face” of the school year this month.  We take these things very, very seriously.  If he brings home anything less than a full week worth of smiley faces, there is no allowance, no buying lunch on Friday and, thus, no special ice cream treat that the class is allowed to buy on Friday.  When asked do describe this “gooving off”, he said he was singing and dancing in the bathroom.  Sooooooooooooo…. we couldn’t help but make him perform this routine for the family after supper that night.  It took every ounce of decorum to keep a straight face during the episode.



I am deathly afraid of roaches.  It all stems from a childhood incident that I won’t go into now, but let it suffice to say that they are paralyzing to me.  I absolutely cannot stand this Orkin ad that has them crawling across my computer screen – I literally jump out of my skin every time I check my darned email.  It looks like a real roach right on my computer.  UGH.  And I can’t figure out why it pops up for me everywhere.  I assure you I don’t sit around googling the nasty things. 

I’ve been toying with new furniture arrangements in my den.  The kid table that previously occupied part of the room lost a leg and had to go.  I sent a few pics to my parents and was snickering at an email reply from Daddy-O…

John: Why are you crying?
Me: I’m not.  I’m laughing at an email from Ampa.  It says the open floor space in front of the window “looks like a great spot for a wrestling arena and someone will probably end up falling straight out the window.”  But I know that won’t happen because y’all are too good.
Whit: We not good.  We bery bad. Ampa knows that.

*this is a work in progress – it has since changed approximately a dozen times*



Last but not least, don’t forget to enter my Grits Bits giveaway!!  I polished off the last few for lunch yesterday.



Happy hump day, y’all!
xoxo

Oklahoma

It seems too often these days that the people of our great country are struck by unimaginable devastation and unspeakable loss.  My heart is heavy with grief for all of those suffering and lost in Moore, Oklahoma, especially those mommies and daddies that sent their precious children off to school never to have them return back home.  One of the greatest fears of all parents.



In the aftermath of the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, I shared a Mister Rogers quote with John:  “Look for the helpers.  You will always find the people who are helping.”



And last night as we gently shared a sliver of what happened in Moore, Oklahoma, he bravely and wisely said “Mommy, I’ll look for the helpers and soon I’ll be old enough and strong enough to be a helper too.”

xoxo

Don't forget to enter my Grits Bits giveaway!!!

Our Rockie Rookie + Team Snack

While my baseball prowess may be less than stellar (I just might have called home plate fourth base last week and can’t seem to remember to call them runs rather than points), one thing I can contribute is a festive team snack.  My originally assigned game was a rain out so I was happy to squeeze in the reschedule late last week.  Since the game wrapped up right about supper time, our little Rockie Rookies dined on hot dogs, purple grapes and Cracker Jacks (which was really Crunch n Munch, but the legit Cracker Jacks can be quite elusive). 
 
  
The baby played an awesome game!  He was 3 for 3 on coach pitch hits!



Our very last game of the season and trophy ceremony were this weekend.  The kids rotate through the positions and we don’t keep score at this age.  That being said, the baby made a solid play at pitcher to get an out at first base.  It’s incredible to me how much more he knows about the game at this age compared to his big brother :-)  I suppose three years of sitting at the ball field have sunk in.

Coach J said such nice things about each little player at the trophy ceremony.  The baby was positively thrilled to receive his very first trophy.  He slept with it at the end of his bed the past two nights.  Sweet doll.


Things are wrapping up left and right and the countdown to summer is officially on!
xoxo

See more baseball here!

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