Roller Coaster of Emotions

Today my emotions were up, down and all around.  Carter and I had a good morning with Auntie Ang, she spent the night after her dress fitting yesterday.  We actually had a little too much fun and I ended up being 2 minutes late to work, oops!  Knowing how close we are to summer I keep daydreaming throughout the day about what Carter and I could be doing at that time if we were together.  But knowing how close we are to summer is also making me sappy and attached to my students.

Carter loved looking in the mirrors during Ang's dress fitting.

 

Today was a prime example.  We had a librarian from the public library visit to get the kids excited about the summer reading program.  I kept thinking about how much fun Carter and I had doing the summer reading program last year.  We went to story time, checked out new books weekly, had time to stroll through the library looking at books rather than hurriedly choosing books.  It made me yearn for summer and days home with Carter.  Today was "S Day" for our End of the Year ABC Countdown and was Stand Up Comedian Day.  Apparently I have quite a few of them in my room.  One little girl brought a fake jar of nuts and brought it to me asking me to help open it (something I'm very familiar with being a 1st/2nd grade teacher) when I did something popped out.  The entire class erupted in laughter and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.  My favorite jokes from the day were:

Why did the elephant take toilet paper to the party?
Because it was a party pooper!

What do you call a camel with no humps?
Humphrey

I love goofy, corny kid jokes.  They are the best!  So today was a blast.  Kids shared jokes at a couple times during the day.  Then as they were leaving the room at the end of the day most of them stopped to tell me one more joke.  It was a great day.  To top that off I was stopped by a parent whose child is now in 4th grade.  She said she just had to tell me I was still her daughter's favorite teacher.  I teared up.  Teaching really is my passion.  It's what I feel like I was meant to spend my life doing (with a little hiatus raising my babies).  And I love what I do with all my heart and love almost every moment of every day in the classroom.  Because let's be honest, every teacher has those moments where he/she wants to bang his/her head repeatedly against the wall in frustration.

After picking Carter up I was off to my alterations fitting for my bridesmaid dress.  I was a little bit nervous taking Carter with me, but I couldn't stand to spend more time than necessary away from him, especially given that we were having a Meet and Greet at school from 6:00-7:00.  I grabbed Carter's toy phone, a book, and a stuffed horse toy.  He sat down in the corner with a book and was so good the entire time!

Reading in the corner while my dress was prepped to be hemmed.

Carter and I had fun when we got home, but I was still feeling all emotional.  I had set up a Meet and Greet with my current students and parents, myself, my co-teacher, and my replacement so parents and students could meet the teacher taking over for me.  In a way it felt like a good bye to me because it would most likely be the last time I would see most of the parents.  As excited as I am to be home with Carter, I'm just not ready to say good bye to all my sweet students and their parents.  But when will I ever be?  Talking to Ty before I left for the Meet and Greet I got all teared up, but seeing and talking to the parents and students who showed up, I felt much better.  The kids are all excited for me to come visit with Carter and to Skype next year.

Pulling Carter on his tractor using the genius set-up my dad created.

Lately Carter and I have been blasting Zac Brown Band on Pandora while we play.  Their music is the epitomy of beach music to me.  The last few years I've jammed out to them while packing up my classroom and it's become a precurser to summer.  Listening to the sound of Zac Brown's voice waft out of speakers makes me want to slip on flip flops, pour a cold drink, bust out a lawn chair, and soak up the sun while Carter runs around the backyard and splashes in the pool or water table.  With that picture in mind, just 7 days of school left!