Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

This weekend several of my friends got together and had our annual yard sale. My friend Beth lives on a very busy street that leads to the river access, so we have always had great success with our yard sales there. Thank goodness she was selling her decorative instruments, the kids had a great time playing "music" for all of our shoppers! :)
Thought I would add a picture of "Auntie" Shannon. Anna considers her part of our family as when naming off family members, Auntie Shannon is right up there with Mommy and Daddy!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of our cutie before we left for church this morning! She wanted to make sure everyone got a good look at her boo boo's from yesterday! We will have to start working on sitting ladylike!


Today we went back to our friends Beth and Kevin's house. The recently purchased a pontoon boat and invited us over for a ride. Today was a great day as it was sunny and 80 degrees. Yeah! It was fun to get together with friends we haven't seen in a while and enjoy a nice boat ride.

Only 4 days and two hours left of school! YEAH!! Hopefully my entries won't be so few and far between in the future.

Cute stories

Yesterday Anna decided that it was time for her to go potty all by herself. She has been potty trained for several months now, but we usually are there to assist her with clothes, etc. Well, me being the great mom that I am, decided that she needs to be more independent and let her run off to the potty on her own. Well, she was back there for quite a while singing and having herself a grand ol' time. She came running back out, told me she had accomplished her task and proceeded to run outside to play on her swing set. A few minutes later she was back inside stating that she had to "go potty." This, of course threw up the red flags for me, and I proceeded back to the bathroom. There I found an empty roll of toilet paper and a brand new roll in little Miss Independents hands. The incredibly intelligent mother that I am forgot how exciting toilet paper can be for a two year old! :) She made sure she got it all in the toilet though! :) Luckily, the mess wasn't too bad and she was able to take care of all of her business "by herself!" :)

I also forgot to mention in my last posting about a card I received from one of my students. He arrived Friday morning with a card he made at home for me. His card said,
" Mrs. Starkey Happy Mothers Day! Mrs. Starkey ses Ana codl not make a card for mothers day I wanen to make a card Mrs. Starkey your grate love David.

Can you even stand it?? I read his card and stood there crying. He is a child that came to me speaking very very little english (no english at home) and now is one of the top kids in my class. I wish I could have 30 Davids! This is why I teach!

Hope you are having a good week! Only 12 day of school left! YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!! :)

I'm Baaaack!

As you can see while I was preparing for my trip to Atlanta, Anna thought that she should be packed up in my suitcase. She even added a few pieces of her "coffee set." It was very hard to leave her as she is starting to realize what is going on when the suitcases come out. I really enjoyed my time in Atlanta though! The weather was gorgeous and the conference wasn't too bad either. :) I really started to get homesick on Wednesday and was more than ready to come home on Thursday.

My mom and step-dad Dave recently moved to Franklin, NC which happens to be located 2 short hours from Atlanta. They were kind enough to drive down for dinner on Monday night. It was great to visit with them as I haven't seen them since last July. We have already booked our tickets to fly out to see their new house in July.

Anna and I did lots of Mommy and me activities for Mother's Day today! She helped me with the laundry (as you can see we built a laundry train to make it more fun.) She also helped me make some cookies (she really liked the M & M's we added!) I love being a mom! :)

Life at Maximum speed

As you can see, Anna is enjoying life at maximum speed. This is her friend Ben. He is the son of my friend Pam who takes care of Anna on Thursdays and Fridays. Ben and Anna are two peas in a pod, they act like they are brother and sister. Ben just can't wait for Anna to arrive on Thursday's and begs me everytime for her to stay longer. I am soooo thankful for Pam! She is so wonderful to Anna and just loves her so much. We have been fortunate to have such great child care this year. God sure has been good!
Well, I was home again for two days this week with a sick Anna. She was up several times on Monday night with a fever, so I called the sub service at 2am to tell them I wouldn't be in to work on Tuesday (Substitutes are so scarce, I wanted to make sure I was at the top of the list to get one.) She continued a 101 fever on Tuesday so I took her to see the doctor. The doctor saw lots of puss pockets on the back of her really red throat, she was sure it was strep, but the test came back negative. She put her on an antibiotic just to be sure. By early Wednesday morning her fever broke and she was feeling much better. She was still up a lot in the night on Wednesday so Mommy was super tired for work on Thursday. :$

I am leaving for Atlanta tomorrow afternoon. I will be attending the International Reading Conference. Several other teachers from my district will be attending as well. I am looking forward to getting away from school for a few days, although getting ready for a substitute for several days is NOT fun! Maybe Dave will post a few pictures of he and Anna having tons of fun without me! :)