wow. december 16th, you have arrived and for that, i thank you.

it always seems like this day will never arrive! and when it does, it seems like it will never draw to an end-busy, busy, busy. as i was having the students do some letter-writing, i was checking last-minute books (i shouldn't have accepted them because they were due tuesday, but i really wanted as many to finish as possible...81 out of 87-not bad!) some of those students were finished, but forgot their packets at home. i also had to find time to whip up 3 'cards' for our principal, vice principal and office manager...in the midst of getting several people to write up some sweet notes and bind them together for gigi.

yes, it was a bitter-sweet day. gigi's last day at cabell. boo. she is moving west! while we're excited for her, we're bummed for us. yes, there is a great gal replacing her (don't know her very well yet, but she is on the ball), but still it's not the same.plus, she was my taste-tester whenever i had something new or was drying something fun...

gigi, we will certainly miss your sassy self!

gigi, did you know that you are part of the reason i decided to go ahead and try this blogging thing? i remember mentioning that i was thinking about it and you said, "i'd read it!" so i wrote. smile.

at the end of the day we had our party and to be perfectly honest, parties with students are not a lot of fun. it takes everything in me to not watch them eat (chewing and talking with their mouths full, etc)...ew. 

this is only a small portion of what was offered to me, i didn't eat any of it, i just made it look like i was happy to get it and saving it for later-teachers get good at that sort of thing..shoot, if i'd have eaten all i was offered, i would have gone into a diabetic coma.

i got this great little pine tree from ms. johnson today. and i thought, this is the perfect size for my apt.

then i saw that it grows from 40 to 80 feet!

i wonder if i could keep it growing for a bit and then secretly sneak it somewhere where it will grow big and tall?! it's in the apt. now, and chaco and bruno were so excited about it. "mama! now we're going to breathe better! more oxygen!!" 

there were lots of fun little gifts from the students...please let me share one tonight (as if you have a choice in what i do or don't do). one of the gals got me some bling....only i'm not a 'large jewelry' kind of a gal.

you must have just the right outfit for these accessories...

chaco tried it on, but people already just assume he's a girl because he's so little, so i made him take them off.

the students have such great hearts.

before i actually came home, i had a lot of loose ends to tie up before i could leave..like 'securing my computer'(sheet over the top), getting the book kits together to send off and a little cleaning up. when i was on my way out the door, one of the other teachers invited me to join a few others for happy hour, but me...i came home and had my own little shot.

cough syrup

two nights ago i was coughing so badly i couldn't sleep-it hit me at 1 in the morning and lasted about 30 minutes before i was finally able to start dreaming again. bruno was muttering something unintelligible. so i've been drinking cough syrup shots and chasing them with york peppermint patties. (? i don't know, i heard it was a new thing)

and they're off!
julie