Ode to Second Grade

Today was the last day of my teaching career. It was a great two years and I learned a ton of things that will definitely help me as I prepare to teach my own children. It's hard to believe that all the work I put in to getting my education and doing well in school has finally come to an end. I will always be grateful for the time I had as a certified teacher in a public school. One of the things that I treasure the most about this experience is how much I have changed and grown as a person.

Wednesday the 28th was field day for my kids. We spent almost the entire time outside (I have a lovely farmers tan to show for it). Here we are at our first rotation waiting for the game to be set up. I asked the kids to give me a normal picture and then we would take a goofy one. (Notice the one in the back middle who forgot the type of picture we were taking)

Now for the goofy one...

We had to play the human knot at one of the stations. At the beginning of the year, we played this to try to work on our communication. It's funny how the kids completely forget what they learned earlier in the year because they acted as if they had never played the game before....it could have been the candy they had just gotten from the last rotation though.

This was probably my favorite rotation of the day. The kids had to use teamwork to get the water balloon from one towel to the next with the end purpose to see if I could catch it. Let's just say that they were not very good at this. But the cool thing is that after they finished, the lady who was doing this station had them come sit down and talk about what they learned through the experience about teamwork.

A part of me will miss teaching but I am so grateful that I get to stay home with Gabbie this next year. Thank you, Kyle for letting us think about and eventually make the decision for me to stay home.

Smart Girl

After I get home from work during the week, I have a ton of things to get done around the house. Lately, Gabs has wanted to be held the entire time or at least have me in her sight (not a lot gets done because of that). One day I just had to do something and couldn't sit and hold her while she ate. She knows how to hold her bottle all by herself but sometimes she will refuse to do it. Hoping that she would cooperate, I put her in her chair, gave her the bottle and went in the kitchen to take care of stuff. When she was unusually quiet, I walked in the living room to make sure everything was okay.

This is what I found...

She is such a smart girl. Instead of holding the bottle up with her hands and letting them get tired, she propped the bottle on her arm and curled her hands together to hold it in place. We sure are proud of our girlie.

New Toy

Kyle's sister Natalie came to visit a few weeks ago. Gabbie loves her Aunt Nan because she is so much fun and plays with her. We were all sitting at the kitchen table discussing an upcoming dance and Gabbie saw the red plastic cups we use (no dishwasher so we buy the plastic throw away stuff) for drinks. Whenever she has tasted anything really yummy, other than her baby food which she loves, it has come from a red cup. Now when she sees one, she kind of freaks out and has to see what is inside it.

We had left an empty cup on the table and she kept leaning over to try to pick it up so Nan just gave it to her and let her play.

"Mom, what are you doing with that camera? Can't a girl play in peace without any pictures?"

Then she caught sight of the cat, Lucy, sitting on the windowsill and was temporarily distracted. However, she wanted to get that cup in her mouth so bad so Lucy was soon forgotten.

Almost there...

So close...she started to get really frustrated.

Oh!!! Finally all that hard work paid off. Too bad there was nothing in there to drink, just another toy to chew on.

Favorite Position

Gabbie has a favorite position that she likes to get herself in when we are sitting on the couch. We will be sitting up together and then she will literally fling herself backwards so she can lay down with her head upside down and look at the tv or anything else on the other side of the room.

Kyle was watching tv or reading a book and Gabbie decided that she didn't like the seating arrangement so she came up with one of her own. Pretty interesting I'd say.

Gabs loves to be sitting in between our legs with her head resting on our legs. For some reason, it has become her favorite spot and is really comfy. So nice in fact that she regularly falls asleep in that position. She definitely surprises us every day with the things she comes up with.

It's hard to believe she will be six months in a week. Time has really gone by quickly.