School's Out for Summer!!l

Last days make me sad. I have always been this way. I get really sentimental and start to point out the last time we do each thing. Last recess, last cafeteria fake hamburger lunch with potato smiles, last pack-up to go, last hugs. I loved my class this year. Three of my kids are moving schools so I won't get to see them grow up to be 5th graders which is so fun. On the last day of school, all the graduating 5th graders walked through the school as we did a "Clap-Out". I got to see my first group of 3rd graders at my current school walk through as proud almost junior-highers. It was precious.

Anyways, today was the last day for teachers, yesterday the last day for students. And today I moved ALLLL my stuff I have accumulated over the past 3 years in room 32 and moved it to 2nd grade room 45. Next year I will be a 2nd grade teacher!!! Those sweet little former 1st graders who can't even play bingo will be mine!

But another thing about me is that once the last day is over....I'm ready for the next adventure! Bring on the summer and bring on 2nd grade!!

Giving it a try

Ok, so I'm giving Etsy a try. I put my diaper cake on Etsy. Wow, there are so many things listed on that site, it's crazy. I think I'll have to list it once a week just to keep it from going into the other 75 pages of Diaper cakes. Aparently, I'm not the first to think of this. Anyways...my listing is here. My username is elainelynndesign. This is my first try at Etsy so if you have any advice, I'd love it!

Adios Ikea

Little by little after we moved into our house last March, we have replaced hand-me-downs (and thank you for those by the way!) and Ikea furniture that we put together wrong with nicer furniture that ideally will last us a long time. It's our own and it is fun buying it together. One last thing that we have been wanting to replace is our bedroom furniture. It was from Ikea and it was lovely and served its purpose greatly in our little apartment but it is about to be moved to the guest room. Today, at a little seemingly hole-in-the-wall furniture place in Montrose called Color and Tailor, we bought a new bedroom set! It is adorable and fits the style of our home which I don't have a word for. We pick it up on Sunday and I can't wait!! Below is a picture of it. We are just getting the bed (not going to use the canopy part), nightstand and dresser.

So, thinking about all the free time I'm about to suddenly acquire, (it feels like a car hitting a brick wall), I am starting to plan some house projects that I want to do. One of them is curtains. We do not have one curtain in our house. Curtains are daunting to me. I just can't pick out a fabric.

Other projects include putting my name on Etsy for calligraphy and diaper cakes and other various crafts maybe. Also, finding other ways to get my name out to the world and let them know that I do calligraphy! Did you know I did that? Soon I will have a post solely dedicated to that. For now though, I'm going to enjoy my Sunday afternoon and rest up for the LAST full week of school for this year!!!!

Weekend In Review

I don't usually do this, but today I will give you a rundown of our weekend. Minute-by-minute with pictures to illustrate. It was one of those crazy-no-down-time-weekends that are great fun but not restful. I like them every once in a while.

Friday night was the annual AR Lock-In for students who met their reading goals. Actually it only lasted until 7pm (just enough time to get stuck in the torrential downpour) so I'm really not quite sure why its called a Lock-In. Anyways, Ben in his sweetness came and we were supposed to be assigned to kickball. Well the rain took care of that so our station turned into Bingo. First graders are not very good at Bingo. But they are oh-so-cute trying to play it.

Saturday morning, because we missed our Friday night date, Ben and I went to IHOP for a breakfast date (the best kind in my opinion). Did you know they actually have a "healthy" menu at IHOP? It's still IHOP but health-IER none the less. Wheat bread, turkey bacon and such. Saturday lunch we went to a Blueprints Crawfish boil which was delicious and yet painful for the spicy-ness wimps such as I. I ate about 6 of the suckers and then gave up. Corn and potatoes was my meal.

Then (and yes we're still on Saturday!), I went to a baby shower for Amanda. She's the one I made the diaper cake below for to be the centerpiece of her school shower. It was fun with games galore and yummy treats.

Today, we went to church, ate lunch at 5 Guys (chosen by others over El Rey - a tragedy!), and went to see Iron Man 2. Good movie, although I did some sleeping in the middle. If you know me though, this probably doesn't surprise you. Now I sitting here blogging, about to heat up some spaghetti and go to the grocery store. And that's a wrap.

BCE 3rd grade team
Tuesday's school baby shower for Amanda. It all turned out adorable and delicious!

Me, Erica, and Amanda

Amanda's other Shower. I'm going to miss these girls next year when I move to 2nd grade!!!!

Baby Shower Fun

So, tomorrow afternoon after school, the other 3rd grade teachers and I are throwing a baby shower for our sweet Amanda, who is the other bilingual teacher with me in 3rd grade. I love throwing showers. I love making things special and preparing the food and being creative. So, I decided that it would be fun to attempt a diaper cake. A friend of mine made one recently and said it was pretty easy so I thought I could give it a try. I researched it on the Internet, read many how-to's, and even watched a how-to video on You Tube. It was fun to make and pretty easy. Here's how it turned out:

With a little monkey bottle as the cake topper!

Warrior Dash!!

Warrior Dash was CRAZY! Now, I know a week has passed since Warrior Dash but I left my memory card in Arlington and this post would be just sad without pictures. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. But in case you don't know what Warrior Dash is....a little synopsis. It was an approximately 3 mile course with 14 obstacles such as wading through the river, sliding down a muddy hill, a fire pit, and a mud pit, to name a few. Along with the craziness of the course was a costume contest. We saw smurfs, men in kilts, men in dresses, men in suits (yes they ran), tutus, and various other warrior-esque costumes and yes they all ran in their costumes. Fun, crazy, and entertaining.

Before the race. Clean and Fierce!

Warrior Wives...supporting our warriors.

Go Ben!


Last obstacle, crawling under barbed wire, in the mud pit - he's the one with the red sweatband

We're all muddy and we don't care!!!

April in Review

Since high school, historically, April has been my busiest month of the year weekend-wise. Somehow it seems that every April weekend fills up. In high school and college, it was retreats and dances and other celebrations, now its showers and 5K's. So, even though each of these events deserves their own post in detail, there's just not blogging time for that. So, here's April in review in pictures....

First weekend in April was Easter. The Coopers x2 came down to celebrate with us. Here, we are eating frozen yogurt, one of my favorite things with two of my favorite ladies - Cherish and Pat. We also went the Shell Houston Open that Sunday and watched Anthony Kim win.

Two weekends later, my sweet high school friends (left to right) Lauren, Katie, me, and Jamie celebrated Lauren and her upcoming June wedding. Friday night was the tasteful with just the right amount of raciness Lingerie shower and then Saturday, the 3 of us and others threw her a wedding shower. So fun to reconnect with old friends!

The next weekend (this past Saturday) was the Aid Sudan 5K. Ben and I are getting into running. This time, my goal was to run the entire 3.1 miles and I did it! Ben also ran it and under 30 minutes. My next goal will be to actually care about my time and run faster. I wish those were my shoes - I need new running shoes because mine are ugly.

And finally we are caught up. This week was the TAKS, of which the preparation over the last month has kept my tired and worn out throughout the week both physically and emotionally. Today was math, and tomorrow reading. Please pray!

And to come....WARRIOR DASH! Ben (NOT ME) will be participating in this manly event on Saturday. It involves a 3-mile obstacle course and the guys are supposed to dress up as warriors. It shall be entertaining. It's been great catching up with you. Hope to come back more often.