End of summer party...

We had our official "End of Summer" party today, with home made ice cream and EVERYTHING. People at my new school do not know how wonderful they have it. We had parents sign up to bring all the supplies to make "Ice cream in a bag" and to come and help with the party, and they were worried today when I said I had 3 parents sign up to help that 3 wouldn't be enough!

Now perhaps when you've been showered with parent volunteers your whole life 3 is a small number, but when you've taught in the ghetto 3 is like hitting the JACKPOT! I didn't think I would have enough JOBS to entertain 3 parents! I was thrilled!

PLUS I only had to buy salt (and that's because I forgot to put it on the list of items we needed. I ended up borrowing some, so it all worked out!)

As we were making "Ice cream in a bag" volunteers (teacher's aids...GASP I know...we have them... LOTS of them) kept checking to make sure everything was alright, and checked to make sure I didn't need more help. I love how friendly everyone is, and I felt terrible turning them away, but really! When you're used to field trips and parties COMPLETELY on your own, you figure out how to run things like a well oiled machine. I didn't know what to do with myself with all the help!

I told my kids that in honor of the end of summer, they could dress like they were going to the beach, minus swimsuits (it is Colorado after all..) and I thought I would get into the spirit myself and dress for a day at the beach.

Well apparently I need to do it more often :) I got more compliments on my outfit today than I do any other day when I dress "normal" (or so I think). I was wearing a black shirt and a sarong as a skirt (over some black knee-length shorts) and got told by 5 different people during the day how much they liked my skirt. This says one of two things:

a. I did not make it obvious enough to everyone that I was dressing up for a day at the beach, they felt sorry for the way that I dressed myself, caught themselves staring at me thinking I had decided to wrap a sheet around my legs for a skirt, and didn't want to embarrass themselves for staring so they said I looked good (you know you've done it..)

b. I should wrap more sheets around my legs as skirts if I want to be complimented. Forget shopping malls! Martha Stuart living section here I come!

Note to self: Next year I need to be a LITTLE more over the top so people don't look at me and assume I don't own a mirror.

I forget how exciting days like today are for little kids. I've just been dreading it. Dreading the mess, dreading the chaos and dreading trying to teach reading to kids who are excited about "Ice cream in a bag." I told the kids we would be making the ice cream after lunch recess, and when I went to open the door to let them in after their recess, one of my little kids said:

"Mrs. Ward, I was praying that recess would go by faster than normal, and it DID!"

How sweet and innocent :)

Aloha :)