The LION KING!!!

Last night was FINALLY the night for the Lion King. The school has been working on the production for quite some time. A couple months ago I found out that the Pre-Ks were going to be in it, and I think I've been more excited about it than they have been! Here are some pictures from last night. They all did such great job!

When I heard that they needed people to help with the set, I rounded up a few Summit folks and we helped! We made 4 awesome trees (that didn't get used!! :( ) And then Leanne and Chris made this - the elephant grave yard. Is this amazing or what!? I knew Leanne could paint, by my goodness, I didn't know she was this good!

Circle of Life ("and it moves us all...")

Just Can't Wait to Be King ("... if this is where the monarchy is headed, count me out!" - Zazu)

Just Can't Wait to Be King

Curtain Call! :)

Memorial Day Weekend!

This has been an incredible weekend, and I do NOT want it to end! I am now 100% officially ready for summer to begin. Well, not so much summer (I HATE the weather) but Summer BREAK! 8 more days with my kids, and a few more teacher workdays and I'm done! Two whole months off - I can't wait! This weekend I got to spend some time outdoors, and I'm more ready than ever to have some time off to enjoy the great outdoors. So... this weekend...

Friday night I got to use my brand new dishes when I cooked dinner for a few friends. I recently found a dish pattern that I absolutely love. It took me 2 years to find one, but I finally did. Hooray! So on Friday night I had a few friends over. I SO wish I'd taken a picture. Imagine these plates with bright orange placemats, dark blue napkins (yes, the cloth kind) and light green cups. I was kinda proud of myself. We even used salad forks AND dinner forks. I was pretty excited. I also cooked a meal I'd never made before - Tequilla Chicken - and it was very well received. Yippee!!

Saturday was another fun day. Oxford Manor, then a wedding, and then friends came over after the wedding Good times...

Sunday it keeps on getting better. We had one combined service at Cole Mill and then had a cookout afterwards. That was really fun... getting to see my church all out there having a good time together. At one point during the sermon, I found myself thinking, "man, I love this church." I mean really, I LOVE it! I have found such a wonderful home here, and I am so thankful for it. After the cookout, a few of us went to Frankie's for some Putt-Putt. I got a bit of a sunburn, but it was worth it. :) To make it even better, a guy from church that I've tried for MONTHS to talk to and had no luck (he's SUPER shy) actually came with us! After THAT, my friend Jason called and invited us to got play some Disc Golf with him. So off we went to play some disc golf. Wow. THAT was fun. I'm so bad at it (I've even played before with my brothers and Dad, but I'm just not good). But it was still a great time. I'm looking forward to the summer so that I can do more fun things outside like this.

Today was a bit more calm than yesterday, but still fun. :) This morning I went to the gym for an hour and half and then came home to hang out with Leanne while Chris went mountain biking with Jason and Clayton. (FYI: I work with Jason at Sylvan, and Clayton is a rock climbing friend of Jason's.) After they finished, Leanne and I joined them for a cookout at Claytons. Jason made shish-ka-bobs! I made homemade ice cream for the first time this year. Fun was had by all.

Now I'm sitting at home NOT wanting to go back to school tomorrow. At least I have the Lion King to look forward to! Yep, this is the big week! I guess I'd better be getting to bed if I'm going to start this week right. :) Thanks for checking in on me!

ZUMBA!

So I KNOW I have been slack about this blog for the past few weeks - sorry! But the last few weeks of school for a teacher are about the craziest. And add to that that my assistant has been out sick (for real this time) since Tuesday afternoon. School is crazy. My kids are SO done with Pre-K it's crazy. They're done with each other. They're done with the centers in the classroom. They're just done, and their behavior shows it! School is exhausting! I have to go early to get the kids off the bus (which usually my assistant does) and then I have to stay late to do paperwork that I didn't get to do during the day. Phew! I'm tired.

One positive note - I kind of had a challenge last weekend to start getting up and going to the gym BEFORE school. So... Monday morning I was up at the crack of dawn and I did it! And it felt GREAT! Also, while I was there, I noticed a big sign for a new class called ZUMBA! It's a Latin dance-based aerobics class. I went last night with a friend from church and GOOD GOLLY! It kicked my butt. I loved it! :)

Sorry that's all I have time for now... I'll try to write more as soon as I get more than 5 minutes to myself!

400th post

Wow, according to blogger, this is my 400th post! Crazy, isn't it? I started this blog somewhere around October of 2003... almost FIVE years ago!! Insanity, I tell ya! I should have something amazing to say in my 400th post, but really, I can't think of anything. I know I should have posted before this (it's been a long 2 weeks - sorry Amanda!). But now that I actually have a moment to write... nothing is coming to mind. So I'll just write a few snippets as they come to mind...

-As of now I am sitting in my warm living room waiting on the a/c guy to come and see what's wrong (this time) with my air conditioner. It's no surprise that the thing is broken again. I think it breaks once a year at least. I have a home warranty, so I really want it to be dead so I can get them to replace it with a brand new one! Wouldn't that just be lovely?


-My kids are going to be in the Lion King! I found this out about a month ago now, but I've never written about it. For those who don't know, I teach Pre-K at an elementary arts integrated magnet school. My Pre-Ks haven't gotten to be involved in any of the "specials" this year (art, music, dance, gym). It's quite sad really, because I kinda think I have the best kids in the whole school. (I'm not biased, am I? hehe) Honestly though, I have a small class and they really are strangely well behaved. Teachers often see us in the hallway and ask their kids why they can't act like the Pre-Ks. Hooray! Well, a few weeks ago, during our nap time, the music teacher came and told us that the drama teacher wanted us to come practice with the kindergarteners! I got those kids up in a flash, and before they knew what was going on, we were dancing and singing with the best of them. Lucky for my kids, I learned the dances with them, so we practice (not once a week like the rest of the kids) but every day! The rest of the school has been working on this all year, but my kids have had a month, and this past Monday, the dance teacher kept commenting on how great the Pre-Ks were doing. I'm so proud of them! And it's really exciting to finally get to do something with the rest of the school. I'll make sure to post some pictures when I get a chance. :)

Singing & dancing is nothing new for these Pre-Ks!! :)
This was back in December.

-This week I had a revelation. For the first time in my adult-job history, I am in a job that I 100% want to come back to next year. Wow. THAT is a great feeling. I have been slowly getting to know the teachers at RN Harris though this year, and I love the atmosphere there. I am the only Pre-K teacher, so it is a challenge to feel connected, but I've really made an effort to at least get to know the Kindergarten teachers this year (I'll work on 1st grade next year - hehe). For the first time, I look forward to seeing some of my Pre-Ks in Kindergarten next year. Since RN Harris is a magnet school, none of my kids were districted to attend, but many of them applied, and I may have up to 5 out of 9 returning next year! I'll finally get to see how well I did at preparing them for Kindergarten.

Gosh, I really can't think of anything else right now... Life has been pretty amazing. A great friend gave me a piece of wonderful advice a few weeks ago. He basically said I needed to stop trying so hard to figure out the future that I don't enjoy the present. He was right, and I've been taking that advice to heart and doing my best to enjoy the day God has given me. After all, I'm not guaranteed even tomorrow, right!? Thank God for good, Godly friends who aren't afraid to give the right advice, even when it isn't fun at the time.

Hopefully the a/c guy will be here soon... Here's hoping for a completely busted a/c unit! hehe