Swimmers...

 Well today we were invited to our neighbors pool and for the first time ever, both the kids were the first ones in and the last ones out.  Sara is the more adventurous, athletic of the two, and usually the swimmer.  Well today Evan was loving the pool too,  although it was way to chilly for me.   The air was around 78 and the pool 76. 

      I can't wait until our trip to Florida it should really give there swimming skills a great start.  When we return I have them signed up for 2 weeks of daily swim lessons.  I may change one of the weeks because I found out at church today there is Vacation Bible School from 10-12 for a week.  I'm not sure if I want 3 full weeks of daily activities.    Although having them in a safe familiar place for 2 hours a day would give me a bit of freedom for a week!  We also signed up for gymnastics once a week for the summer. 
     This week we have Sara's dance recital.  Sara is a great dancer for her first year.  She has the routine down and practices it along with the iPad.  We have been working on rag curls for the recital.  Her dance is "Splish Splash" and she is wearing a pink bathrobe and sequined shower cap($74.... don't ask!)  She is supposed to have two low curly ponytails.   I love her teacher it is my former student and she was also just hired to teach 2nd grade at Evan and Sara's school.  I am not pleased with the studio, the price of the costume was crazy, I had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours to get 5 tickets for the recital.  If I wanted more I had to return on a different day... thank goodness I can get by with 5!  This week we have an extra rehearsal on Tuesday, a rehearsal on stage Friday night, a full dress rehearsal on Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm the recital.  The nice part of the recital is that it is the 7 and under students only.  We were promised it is a one hour recital.  

     Yesterday we made a trip to the zoo.  I just renewed our membership, it takes about 25 minutes to get to the zoo and we stayed for 90 minutes.  The kids had a great time, we had not been since last summer.  Evan had his heart set on seeing the tigers, the were not out.  We found out they only show them in the afternoon.  There are a ton of new exhibits being built and remodeling going on.  So we did see the polar cubs and a baby gorilla.  The kids were happy to just have some freedom after the long winter.
    Sara and I have been busy planting a garden.  Marc has done all of the hard work and we are doing the fun work.  We planted a ton of strawberries and also planted peas, beans, peppers,  lettuce, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, and one lonely pumpkin.  We still need to plant some sunflowers and the cucumbers that Sara started in her class at Wegmans.  I started planting some annuals.  I have spent a fortune and still need to purchase a few more plants.  I love flowers and have four hanging baskets and a ton of pots. 
    Tonight my Mom walked up for dinner and Sara insisted on going home with her.  I love when we can easily wander back and forth to Grandma's house.  My mom only lives 6 house away, but on a different street.  So unfortunately the kids are not old enough to go back and forth on their own yet.  Someday I am sure they will be running away to Grandma's.  After such a cold winter and a chilly spring we are not used to being outside!

Love...

Each year Evan and Sara's school celebrates teacher appreciation week.  They end the week with a mass where one child says something about the each staff member and another presents her with a flower.  Unfortunately I could not attend this year, so luckily my Mom went.  I called my Mom yesterday morning (I was in interviews all day) and asked her how it went.  She said Sara (she is the youngest in the school of prek-8)went up to the podium on the alter, and she didn't say anything and then an older boy helped her.  I was waiting for her to say that Sara burst into tears, well she said Sara with her little voice said "I Love Mrs. Budny because she ii s beautiful!", I has asked her last week if she would like to say something about her teacher and that is what she instantly said, so I asked her a few times during the week and she repeated the same  phrase each time. 

My mom and a few friends from church said it was dead silence and then everyone had tears in their eyes.  Her teacher sent home a beautiful thank you note telling us that she never imagined 4 words could mean so much.  Sara really loves school and has excelled in it.  I am so glad that our cut off date in NY is December 1st, I can't imagine what a disservice it would have been to her to hold her back another year.  It is often a topic that comes up with other parents and in Sara's case she has had no issues with attending school early. The teacher I work most closely with actually has a December 19th Birthday and she was always the youngest in her grade.  Its interesting how the cut off changes from state to state.  My best friend from high school has a cutoff of June 1st. 

We have a four day Memorial Day weekend... hip hip hooray.  Sara woke me up at 5am by falling out of bed.  She has a rail on her bed but somehow kicked it out.  Marc left for bed at 5:30, and I haven't fallen back to sleep.  I have been reading a children's book, by Rush Limbaugh.  Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims, it is surprisingly good.  I have not had an observation this year (well honestly it been years since I had one) With the APPR that was implemented by NYS we are supposed to get one each year that correlates to a score of how effective we are as a teacher.  So nothing like the last possible moment.  I have been out of the classroom 4 of the past 5 days for class advisor, and interviewing students for the Academy of Finance.  Tuesday am, Evan has a student of the month breakfast, so I will escape for an hour to attend.  Thursday I have a pre-observation meeting and then my observation.  To top it off my final exam for the class is June 3rd... three class days after my observation.  The phrase lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine pops into my mind.  I thought I was getting lucky and avoiding one.  I know its part of my job, but really... 3 days before my final??

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Suddenly we are learning everything we can about snakes, lions, tigers, and bears.  Evan has been doing animal units at school and is asking a zillion questions about animals.  He asked if I would take him to the Disney nature Bears movie this weekend.  He has such terrible seasonal allergies that I try to keep him inside when its windy so I said yes.  Well first of all I am not an animal lover.  He checked out snake books from the library and we had to read them before bed.  I squirmed throughout the entire book.  My mom offered to join us for the movie and I laughed and said I was paying $8 for a nap.  I was wrong the movie was adorable.  Evan and I both loved it.  We will be renting more Disney Nature movies on Amazon.  The Dollar Tree had some National Geographic level 2 & 3 readers on Polar bears, reptiles, etc. that I picked up too.

     We participated in our first Home Depot children's class.  The kids made flower pot holders.  We had lots of fun making them and this week the kids are signed up for a Lowe's class.  This weekend we have to pick up tickets for Sara's
  recital.  The procedure is terrible.  We have to wait outside for the tickets to go on sale at 2pm.   Mothers from last year said to expect to be in line for a long time.  I plan on going around noon.  What a terrible waste of time!!  Marc is taking the kids to Tulip Festival.  The Festival has a great parade and midway.  Hopefully I can pick up my tickets and head out early enough to watch the kids go on a few rides.

Sara loves flowers and I allowed her to pick the first two that opened in our yard.  Last week I told her if she did really well with speech she could pick the first Tulip that bloomed.  Well the dandelions started blooming this week.  Sara asked us not to put that stuff on the grass anymore because she wants lots of flowers.  Marc and I didn't agree.  So we walked the neighborhood in search of Dandelions and she was a happy girl returning home with a small bouquet.