May Happenings

 Hard to believe that another school year is coming to a close.

We had our annual spring concert last night.

My kids (all 37 of them) did the Toody Ta Dance and we also did a dance with scarves to "The World is a Rainbow."

They did a great job if I must say so yself.

It was a fun night as it always is.  I love to show off my kids.

During the concert, right in front of a whole gym full of people, the principal called me, my aid, and our day care director up to the front.

At that point, Cooper gave each of us a beautiful bouquet of flowers to say "Thank you" for his four years with us.

He is the only Preschooler that I have had for four years and I am going to miss him and his whole family as he goes off to another school for kindergarten next year.

 This is Cooper when he first started preschool with me just after he turned two.  That is his sister in the background.

He came to me as a toddler hardly able to talk and he is leaving as a five year old ready to read and take on the world.

I will always remember him and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him.

There were days he drove me crazy with his know it all attitude, but when I say good bye to him tomorrow on our last day, I will only have happy memories.

Good bye Cooper, I will be watching for the great things you will do one day and I will know it is because you spent four years with me. 

 This is another one of my students.

I only had him for a year, but I will miss him all the same.

The flowers were the ones from Cooper and I wanted to document what I wore this year.

 This is the whole group of us sitting and waiting to perform.  I still amaze myself when I see all these kids sitting still and being good.

 Today, May 23, I remember my dad who would have been 85 today.  It is hard to believe that he was only two years older than me when he died.

We miss him, but never wish him back.  He is where we all want to be one day.  I know he is having the birthday of his life up there with all his buddies.

 And, finally, John and I will leave on Saturday for our annual bike ride in Two Rivers and Point Beach State Park.

It is supposed to be chilly, but that is okay, it has been chilly before.

 As you can see, it has also been very nice and warm.

 And here is a year where I was really bundled up.

I am excited for the ride, it is always so much fun to see the beautiful park and Lake Michigan.

I leave you with a recent picture of Cooper.

Happy Memorial Day and Happy end of May to all of you.

Mother's Day in Bloomington

 We celebrated Mother's Day in Bloomington this past weekend.

It may have been a day late (actually a week late) but definitely not a dollar short.

Alissa and Nathan met us at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington.

We all enjoyed a picnic lunch in the 85 degree sunny weather and then tried our hand or should I say hips at hula hooping.

It was a fun way to start our day.

 I found this sweet little Soli sized hula hoop and she loved it.

 Here is my family posing for a nice Mother's Day picture.

 After lunch and hooping we went into the zoo.

It is a very nice small zoo with some very interesting animals.

We started with Cheddah taking Tiz and Soli on the merry go round.

 We came upon this zoo keeper with a snake.  I high tailed it out of there due to my dislike of snakes, but Soli enjoyed touching the thing!

Notice her little purse, she had purchased it at a rummage sale that morning and she would not put it down, best 50 cents ever spent.

 Posing by a tiger statue.

 Uncle Cheddah took Tiz in the hurricane wind machine.

 There is a splash pad park there, too, so Tiz enjoyed some time in the water.

It was such a hot day that it felt good to get all wet.

 Soli and her papa checking out the playground.

 Courtney' s sweet family.

 After the zoo we all went out for Chicago style pizza at the same place where Lis and Nathan had their rehearsal dinner.

Here are the ladies.

After dinner, Courtney, Paul, Lis, and Nathan went out while John and I babysat.

We took the girls to the Toys R Us which was across the street from our Quality Inn.

We spent two hours walking around and looking at all the cool stuff.

In the end, Tiz ended up with a cute little doll and Soli got a Dora flashlight, camera and binoculars.

We had such a fun night with them.

By the time we got back to the motel, we watch a little TV and then all four of us went to bed.

 On Sunday morning, we found a near by park and played for awhile.

 

 

 Soli and I relaxed in the butterfly garden.

 The sisters had fun on the playground equipment and

 Tiz learned to do a flip over the bar.

It was a successful fun morning all the way around.

We had lunch at Meatheads and then took a tour of the IWU campus.

Tiz also got to spend some time with Cheddah, Lissa and the dogs. 

We got home around five on Sunday, tired but so happy from another great weekend.

The Post where I mention Gymtastics, Hula Hoops, Cube Steak, and Mother's Day

 Yesterday, my Preschoolers took our annual trip to Gymtastics.

Still the best field trip ever.

Kids have so much fun, Gymnastics employees take over my kids, and parents help.

I could leave and not even be missed, but I don't do that.  I just travel around and take pictures of all the fun.

 This trip is bittersweet because it means that the end of the school year is very near.

It means that I will be saying good bye to many of my students as they go on to other classrooms, some at our school and some scattered around the city.

The little boy making the big jump in the above photo has been in my class since he was just two.  I have been his teacher for four years and I am going to miss him.

Yesterday we sat together on the bus and talked about how different it will be when we are not together in a classroom.

The sweet part is that the year is coming to an end and that means summer is ahead.

A summer full of time spent with Tiz and Soli.

For that, I cannot wait.

 I am childless this Mother's Day.

We celebrated last weekend and will celebrate again next weekend, so I am not complaining.

John and I had wanted to go on a bike ride, but the weather is not very cooperative today, very, very windy and cool.

Instead I did some cooking and baking while John cut the lawn for the first time.

I bought myself the best Mother's Day gifts ever.

First I bought the cool hoop pictured.

Since I learned to hula hoop, I cannot get enough of it so this hot pink and gold hoop will serve me well.

 I also bought two new shirts for zumba and biking.

Since I am going to be working out, I figure I should look good while doing it.

 These are my badly needed PJ's.

 And finally, a new pair of shoes.

With these cute shoes how could working out not be fun!

 Now to the cooking/baking part.

Thanks to two over ripe bananas and a recipe on pinterest, I made these banana/applesauce muffins.

 Then I made this not potato salad that one of my friends posted on FB.

It has cauliflower in it instead of potatoes.

Looks really good, I am anxious to try it after it cools a bit.

 Finally I have cube steaks and gravy in the crock pot.

I have never made cube steaks before, but they are a comfort food I remember from my childhood.  Looking forward to them for dinner tonight.

Picked out this gerber daisy (my favorite, in case you didn't know) in a light up pot last night for myself, too.

 

I think I was really good to myself with gifts this year.

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom my girls ever had,

ME!

Our early Mother's Day Celebration

Charlie, my trusty weatherman, predicted a weekend of cool temps and rain.

Not a great prediction for my early Mother's Day weekend which I hoped would include a trip to Ebert's among other outside activities.

Courtney and Paul would still have Sitota and Delson with them, too, and I wasn't sure how four kids would be able to be housebound in our little house if the weather was bad, but

Charlie was wrong.

We had the best weather ever this weekend, sunny and warm on both Saturday and Sunday and we ended up having a perfect celebration.

Courtney, Lis and I started the weekend with a girls night out on Friday.

Paul and John held a movie night for all the kids so we could go out.

It was so nice to sit with my girls, drink beers, and just chat.

I loved it.

Saturday started out cool and cloudy.

I had a few activities to keep the kids busy.  We made shaker bottles, playdough, and watercolored.

The ladies (Courtney, Alissa, Soli, Tiz, Sitota, my mom, and I) went out for a ladies lunch.  We went to Applebees and had such a nice time.

Again, Paul and John entertained Delson.

By the time we had finished our lunch, the sun was shining and weather was warming up.

We headed to Ebert's.

 

 After purchasing some beautiful flowers at Eberts and just enjoying the scenery and together time, we came home.

We noticed many prom goers down at the park, so Courtney, Sitota and I walked down and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful dresses.  Sitota just loved it, I don't think she had ever seen so many pretty dresses in one place before.

John had made brats for dinner and we all enjoyed those.

It was another movie night for the kids and men while the ladies visited.  Mallory came over too, so it was nice to have her in the mix, also.

We all went to bed early.

 

On Sunday Courtney, Paul, Sitota, and Delson headed out early to get them home to thier parents who were returning from Haiti.

John, me, the little girls, and my mom left for church in Oshkosh where Tizita was singing and doing a flower ceremony for all the older people in the congregation.

It was a wonderful service, loved hearing Tiz sing.

We had a picnic lunch and took Soli and Tiz to their zoo and park.

It was a perfect grandparent day.

 

I loved everything about the weekend.

And here are the two reasons that I celebrate Mother's Day!