oink...

C's class had a field trip to the local high school's FFA program. This pig was the friendliest, craziest pig I've ever seen...not that I've seen a ton. The little gal kept stepping on her stable-mate. The two of them kept poking their heads through the grates wanting some serious attention.

gerbers...

Saw these gerber daisies, and they just made me happy!

minis....

Threw these bad boys together this evening in between book orders, yearbook creating, editing photos, and being obsessed with Facebook. E's end of the year picnic is tomorrow, and lame-o me signed up for cupcakes. I got smart, though. I decided to make mini cupcakes because I figure they'll have enough other food there to pick through. I ended up making 50 chocolate-frosted minis and about 16 powdered sugar ones. How do I do it, you ask? Well, let's see...between the hours of 4:45 and 6pm, I managed to down a can of Dr. Pepper, a small iced vanilla latte, and a 32 ounce Coke. The magic of caffeine. Now I get why crack addicts are the way they are.

colors....

Now that testing is over, we have a little more wiggle room to get creative in class. A while back, I had taught my students how to draw several underwater things...fish, some plants, etc. I decided to revisit this lesson, adding another element. This time, we outlined our drawings in crayon and used watercolors. I'll post a link to some of my students' examples later...when I get them done. I was really impressed by the work they did.

painted glasses...

Mission accomplished! For tomorrow night's school fundraiser, each class does some type of art project that is auctioned off. I volunteered for this year's project. Since our community is a bunch of wine drinkers (how can you not be with so many wineries surrounding us?), I teamed up the kids in C's class and had them paint wine glasses. I let them chat out their plan, and then execute with glass paints. One they were complete, I let them set for a day, then popped them in the oven. These little first graders impressed me. I thought they did a fantastic job! The glasses are now off in new hands waiting their time to be spotlighted, hopefully purchased for an exorbitant amount of money, to help our school!

sectional...

Things are starting to get crazy busy with the end of the year coming, and all the projects coming together (which I why you're not seeing too many posts lately). Hopefully, I'll be back on track once summer vacation arrives.

I found this really great blog that has all these ideas for packing bento-style box lunches. I'm trying to steer away from using so many ziploc baggies. I've even made some cloth snack sacks, which turned into E's personal cosmetic pouches. One of the ideas is to use the silicon cupcake holders to section off trays. Since I don't have them yet, I thought it would be okay to use paper cupcake wrappers in the meantime. I mean, come on...it's only a tree, right?

Needless to say, this change in the way lunch looks is exciting for the kids are they are actually eating the variety of things I can pack them. Maybe I'll get around to ordering them the $40 bento lunch boxes I've seen, so until then...this will have to do.

mama's day...

Today has been such an awesome day. For starters, it's Mother's Day. So, Happy Mother's Day to all you fantastic mommies out there. You know who you are, and if you doubt your mommy skills...trust me, you're worth every ounce of pampering you yet today. I've got give a shout-out to the hubby. As someone mentioned earlier, it is the daddies who teach the children to treat their mommies well on this day. Too bad, we can't be treated this well the other 364 days of the year. I shouldn't complain. It's been fantastic. I was woken up by a super excited C to have me open his card and bracelet he made in school. He had been hiding this behind his headboard for the past couple of days. Next, I had this huge bouquet of flowers and ginormous flower balloon brought to my room...all with instructions not to get out of bed. Then, came breakfast in bed. ham and cheddar scramble, toast, O.J., and 2 Scooby snacks. Yes, Scooby Doo is that important in this house. Next came more home made cards, then came with the big yellow bag with my new HP notebook in it. Needless to say, I've been in bed all day playing on my new notebook, while the hubby has been working around the house non-stop...even taking a break to run to Chili's to get lunch to-go. I'm spoiled and relaxed...the best mommy's day ever!

pincushion...

I received this from E for mommy's day. Her school had a cute little party to celebrate mother's day complete with chocolate covered marshmallows, watermelon, rice-crispy treats, and lemonade. The kids were so excited to have their mommy's (& few mr. moms) there.

testing has begun...

Testing has officially begun at school, and so far, the kids are doing great. Our Principal got us very cute shirts (I'll post another day) along with these dog tags. Anything to motivate not only the kids, but the teachers, too. It was a nice gesture, and I think it did its job. Everyone's been pretty motivated.

glass art...

I pulled out the old glass paints this evening for an art project I'm doing in C's class tomorrow. This project is for our school's spring fundraising dinner, which will up for auction. I don't want to give away the surprise quite yet, but I'm hoping they turn out.

Well, after I pulled the paints, I found that they were all gooey and drying up. The thinner didn't help much, so 15 minutes before the craft store closed, T happened to come home. Unbeknown to him, he was turning right back around driving as fast as he could to head south on the freeway 2 towns away to re-purchase some new glass paints for yours truly. The project has now cost me $70, and I can only pray that these things sell for more at the school's silent auction. Keep your fingers crossed, peeps!

bock, bock, bock, bock.....

Today was the 1st day of standardized testing for my 4th graders, so we did what we usually do to wind the day down... we drew. Today, I showed them a few different types of birds. These are my samples, but I really need to start snapping some pics of the kids' work. I've got some talented kids out there.

do you like me?...

I received from my boy as an early Mother's Day card. At least that's what he told me. I loved how he left space for me to fill in. The other side was too cute. He drew lines for me to respond back to him. It was funny to see the expression on his face when he saw me first circle yes, then cross it out and circle no. Then, he read the rest and he stared beaming. Next, he laughed and said, "You tried to trick me." I'm so glad he's starting to get my sarcasm and sense of humor.