saying goodbye to another school year [almost]

I can honestly say I am pretty shocked to be saying goodbye to my sixth year of teaching

today was our last friday of the year, and we only have two and a half days more

[I really wish today was the last day - that last days of school are tricky]

with all that has been going on lately, I have neglected to share something awesome

this is the first year, ever, that I have not been laid off

craziness

and even better, I get to stay at my current school site 

[thank goodness, because my commute is about five minutes!]

last week I had a student leave school early to spend the summer in the middle east

and as he said goodbye, he said

"see you next year Mrs. Lewis"

now, that doesn't seem like much, but to know that I have students that I will get to see

me again is pretty amazing

I almost got emotional, almost

so the walls are bare

and stacks of paper are needed to be given back to students

[and a ton of grading too, but we will ignore that for the moment]

and so this year comes to a close

and it has been a weird one to say the least

never before have I left my class for half a year

but having a baby will do that to you

and I really struggled to find my passion in teaching

which was hard, because I really felt like last year I was on an awesome

teaching roll

so I say goodbye to the year, thankful for many things

ready to spend so many hours with my everly

and will do it all over again, next year

oh hey, I'm 29 weeks old

let's just say, these days I'm loving

giggles

kisses

turns out kisses on my belly and sides make me giggle

I love watching the sprinklers

and even though mom wears them every night, I just figured out

how much fun her glasses are

I can grab those things off her face mighty fast

and mom thinks it is pretty funny

until she has to hide them from me, and just go blind

in other news, I'm still wearing size one diapers

but I have my next check up in a week, so fingers crossed we are over 14 lbs

most of my outfits are actually 6 months

but I can still fit into a few smaller little numbers

and finally, mom found my first baby freckle

yup, one right on the side of my chin

it is very small, and mom played it off as dirt, or fuzz, or something

until it didn't go away

so it turns out, I might just look like my mom when I get bigger

after all

-Everly Mae

avocados, everly approved

we've been slowing introducing solid foods to everly

without much success

a few weeks ago I picked up a fresh food feeder that I had heard about

they were on clearance at the local grocery store - so I picked up a ClevaFeed for $1

I figured for a buck it was worth a shot

well, dollar well spent

everly has HATED any mushed baby food

but shove a little "real food" into the ClevaFeed and there you go

at first she was really into playing with the contraption

and seemed to feel a little tricked when she realized this toy

also had food in it

but thankfully, second round of banana went well

and everly's favorite food so far...avocado

go figure, it took me twenty years to try these green smushy things

but E is already really into them

 yes, sometimes she makes some serious faces while eating

and other times she starts eating the wrong end, but I guess this little 

thing works as a teether too sometimes

all in all, we are loving our everly feeding herself

she had two pretty good size chunks of avocado last night

so I'm going to consider this a food success

and I look forward to shoving lots of other "real foods" into this little thing

because, after all, it is everly approved

thank goodness for iphone pictures

with a baby on your hip

you don't always have the luxury of toting around the DSLR camera

so thank goodness for iphones

here's what my phone caught over the last week

happy saturday!

to new beginnings

a couple of weeks ago I had the chance to take some senior photos for my cousin carly

this past monday she graduated from high school

and I cannot believe that the youngest cousin is off to college next fall

I love this time of year, because let's face it

I'm a big sap for all rites of passage

and graduating high school is a biggie

I cannot believe that it has been eleven years since I have been in those shoes

it is such an exciting and scary time in life

so congratulations carly

you give me faith that girls today have a good head on their shoulders

have amazing values, morals, work ethic

and I love knowing that everly will have you as another amazing role model

in our family

keep rockin' it carly - happy graduation

oh hey, I'm 28 weeks old

well hello

life is good, no, understatement, life is awesome

I can now pretty much get anywhere I want

and I couldn't be happier

crawling is officially figured out by me

I also love pulling myself up on anything I can get my hands on

people, furniture, my luna, it all works

this week I am also back to talking up a storm

and I really like all "ggg" sounds

in other news I finally lost  that funny little patch 

of "old man hair" that I had on the back of my head

and overnight it seemed like I got a good amount of hair all over my head

now, I'm talking a good amount of hair for a blonde baby

because let's face it, I'm still pretty bald

hope you are enjoying the week as much as I am

-Everly Mae  

enjoy the weekend

today is the sixth day I've been feeling horribly sick

but thankfully I can tell I'm on the mend

too bad this ridiculous cough will probably be with me for another few weeks

anyways, so thankful for a day off

turns out I never needed a sick day before everly was born

I had the immune system of a champ

but since I have returned to work things have been pretty sketchy

now I get all the junk my kids bring into the classroom

and have NO sick days to actually "be sick"

thankfully, everly has been pretty rockin' through all of my illnesses

those boobie snacks are magical in so many ways!

now, if you are a part of the blogging community, I'm sure you are already aware

but I'm going to share one more thing making me happy this weekend

A Beautiful Mess just released their first app

and I'm loving it, along with a ton of other people

so check it out if you are an iPhone person

it is pretty cute, especially when used with a cute little baby

our giveaway winner with Retro Menagerie!

first off, thanks again to everyone who reads this little blog

I love this space and finding other great daily reads

and a huge thank you to Jaymee Srp of Retro Menagerie for 

participating in our first blog giveaway!

congratulations to our winner - Evie of As Time Goes By

I know you will love your art print as much as I love the ones

I have in my own home

speaking of love, Jaymee has added a few more items to her shop

check out some new obsessions of mine

^^^CHEVRON SCREENPRINT ON WOOD^^^

^^^FLORAL THANK YOU CARD SET OF 6^^^

^^^BEST DAD EVER CARD^^^

make sure to check out Retro Menagerie if you haven't done so already

I'm pretty smitten by it

if you prefer Etsy, Jaymee is still selling here

happy happy friday!

oh hey, I'm 27 weeks old

yes, I might have missed a week here

I was too busy having fun as an official six month old baby

and let's just say I've been shocking my parents all week long

first off, I'll start with my biggest news

I'm a crawler

officially

now sure, I have some perfecting of my skills still

but I can now get anywhere I want to

[mom will be baby proofing the house officially this weekend]

and turns out, paper really does the trick to getting me crawling

I just can't get enough of paper

[I might have even eaten a tiny bit a time or two]

the other thing I love crawling to is my luna, or my hoho's

besides crawling, I'm really showing how much I resemble gumby sometimes

going from sitting to crawling position can get a little tricky

and sometimes my mom says I look like I'm made of rubber

I really don't notice it however when I am on a mission to move

 this week I also experienced my first season of "So You Think You Can Dance"

I love the music, and the fact that dad dances with me for pretty much every song

so that's something fun to look forward to this summer

other things I'm looking forward to is mom feeling better

let's face it, she just isn't as much fun when she is super sick

finally, today daddy heard me really working on my words

so we will see when my mouth finally figures out what I'm trying to say

oh, and my mom wants to remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day to enter the 

giveaway with Retro Menagerie - go here to enter!

-Everly Mae

on our little ones

Yes, I have been gone for a bit.  Let's just say, if something was going to happen, it all happened in the last four days.  First off, our little fur baby Luna kept us up all night on Friday night getting sick.  No good, but we assumed she would get over it, so we kept our eyes on her a little closer, and hoped for the best.  I spent Mother's Day in bed sick, fever, the whole nine yards.  I was so sad that I was missing my first Mother's Day, it just wasn't how I planned it, but I tried to keep things in perspective.  Let's just say that Luna and I continued to be sick, I stayed home from work on Monday, and she went to the vet that same day [poor daddy had a sick kitty, sick mommy, and a busy baby all on his own].  When all was said and done, we finally got the green light on Tuesday that she was going to be fine, but man, we have never had anything happen to our first little baby, and it was scary.  I'm on the mend too, no voice still, so good thing this isn't a vlog.  And man, the existence of history documentaries has gotten me through the week.  I don't think my kids mind too much, and let's face it, the year is practically over, so let's just get through what we can.  But bottom line, you cannot teach without your voice, so I do what I can.

Way back in the beginning of January I took these photos of Everly and Luna, and meant to post them, oh, well, probably in the middle of January.  But, seeing as how it is the middle of May, I guess I didn't stick too close to that timetable.  But after our little scare with Luna, I am so glad that I have these photos now to post about our girls.

When the Mr. and I adopted Luna we had just recently been married, and had never had a pet since we had become "grown ups".  So, as many of you know, Luna was really our baby.  When we adopted her the tag at the SPCA said that she was not a good cat with other animals or children.  Well, the other pets wasn't a problem, and I guess I just had a good feeling about Luna, so we adopted her anyways.  And man, did we get lucky.  Luna has really been an amazing kitty.  She is so social and acts more like a dog than a cat sometimes.

 The whole time I was pregnant I could tell that Luna knew something was going on, she just couldn't quite figure it out.  Since we brought Everly home from the hospital Luna has been amazing, very curious at first, but soon she realized that she now had one more person to give her attention.  And man, does Everly love her fur sissy too.  She loves petting her, watching her walk around, and pretty much can't get enough of her.  In fact, the one time Everly threw a little tissy fit was when Luna wouldn't come and give her attention, she's that into her.  She even has a special voice she uses for Luna, I'm serious, when she talks with animals it is a whole different tone.  Love it.

So, with all of that, I am just saying I am so thankful for our little family, fur baby and all.  This scare also made us realize we need to give Luna even more loving these days, it can be so hard with Everly stealing the show sometimes!

-Remember, it is still not too late to enter the Giveaway with Retro Menagerie!  Head over to this post to enter today!-

ten on ten [may 2013]

ten pictures over ten hours on the tenth of each month

my ten hours were really spread over a very long friday

but hey, it's the weekend, and I'm alright with that

1. e sometimes helps me get ready for work in the morning  2. nothing better than a very clean classroom after open house last night  3. classroom color  4. so, yeah, nothing will keep my pencils in my classroom - I started with 65 pencils a week ago, this is what's left  5. my early mother's day present  6. succulents are doing well  7. decided I deserved an afternoon coffee frappuccino only to find out it was happy hour - double score  8. staff b.b.q. for teacher's appreciation this week [this place was kid heaven]  9. oh yeah, there were chickens there too, and a pony, you get the picture  10. beautiful night, and everly was quite the hit

happy ten on ten everyone