You Don't Know What You Got...Until It's Gone

 

I’ve grown up hearing this phrase and through the ups and downs in life/teaching I know how true these words are. Sometimes you have a party when certain things/situations leave your life, but other times tears are shed. Or in my case, sweat flows like the Mississippi River. That’s right…sweat…you read it right. Over the weekend our air conditioning decided to poop out on us in the middle of the mess that moving/cleaning/packing creates. I’ve seriously never been more excited to get into my car and drive to work to air condition. I was actually early today (a task that hasn’t been accomplished in a really, really long time). I promised myself in the car on the drive to work that I would never take the cool air given by my air condition unit for granted again. Thankfully it wasn’t in the middle of the summer, but when it’s cooler outside than in your house…Houston we have a problem! A friend of ours does A.C. work so by the time I got home today order was restored and the packing continued. Moving is something that I will not miss when it leaves my life. 

 

As if packing up a house doesn’t add enough cray cray to my life… enter the end of the year's mad dash to the finish line. We officially have 8 days left in the school year. Today was the last "Muumuu Monday" of the 2012-2013 school year!

I can’t believe it’s flying by so fast and there’s still so much left to do. We just finished up all of the end of the year assessments that the kids had to take and I’m getting ready to pack the last few days we have together with fun of all sorts. The end of the year is always such a bittersweet time for me as I’m sure it is for every teacher out there. I’m so incredibly excited about having my summer off to be a house wife beach bum (let’s be honest there will be more tanning than cooking & cleaning combined), but there’s a certain sadness to this time of year that even the tastiest margarita can’t fix. It all boils down to that I’m not ready to let my babies go. I’m not ready to tear off their name tags, clean the tables with shaving cream and pass them on to the next teacher. They drive me all kinds of crazy and use up all of my energy and patience, but they’re my babies and like most of my loves that I spend my day with- -I don’t like sharing. Last year I cried like a baby when one of my favorites refused to let go of my leg at dismissal on the last day of school (yes my leg..yes an ugly cry before noon..no it wasn’t pretty). I still get teary eyed thinking about how emotional she was and how huge of a chunk of my heart left with her that day. They all still stop in to visit from time to time (some of them every morning), but the fact remains that they are now somebody else’s babies and growing up way too fast. I’m sure the last day of school will be the same this year- -just as ugly because I have yet to perfect a “pretty cry.” I’m preparing for the hot mess of goodbyes now because I sat down to fill in my end of the year “Warm & Fuzzy Awards” last night and had to pull myself together at more than one point during the process. What’s a Warm & Fuzzy Award? Well, at the end of each nine weeks we give awards for academic achievement (Wonderful Writer/Radical Reader/Magnificent Mathematician). In addition to these, I give out my “Warm and Fuzzy” awards (Curious George/Brightest Smile/Future Zoo-ologist/Class Diva). It’s just my way of acknowledging each kids’ unique traits that make me love them so much- -things that make them special- -things that make them…well… them. Here’s a shot of my stack of sweetness that led to my emotional breakdown last night. 

I created the awards on Publisher, printed/cut them out, and pasted them onto construction paper matting. Really simple process- -the only thing that would have made them easier is if somebody else made them for me. Which leads me to my point of this blog (besides revealing myself as the big cry baby that I am). My "Who's Who" Awards are now available on my TPT store ...just in time for your end of the year celebration (hopefully). There are 2 versions included within the file- -1 without clipart  and 1 with clipart. Super affordable solution if you don't have time/don't care to create your own awards. Unfortunately my computer smartness is drawing a blank on how to create editable text boxes within a PDF file so I've left lines for you to 1. Write the students' names, 2. Sign your name, and 3. Put a date on it...because if you like it you should always put a date on it! (Ok, now I've gone too far into crazy town twisting Beyonce's words..my apologies).

I really should be packing right now...like really, really, really have a lot left to pack before Friday's move...and dinner still needs to be cooked. So, with that I'll leave blog land for the night. Until next time...live, love, teach &&& think summer thoughts!