Busy, busy, busy...

I am realizing that I am neglecting my blog. It just seems like there is always something to do or someplace to be! This is such a busy time of year as a teacher because everything is coming to a close. However, there is a lot to be done before we can come to a close! Everything starts to go so fast. I am excited about summer coming. I am really excited about getting to be just mommy next school year. I will miss teaching, and I will miss the interaction with the teachers, but I am ready to be just a mommy again for a bit. I can't believe Savannah only has one more year before she goes to Kindergarten! Boy has the time flown by. It is funny because I can remember thinking that some of those lovely stages she went through were never going to end, and now, here we are, and they seem like they were so long ago. Of course, we are now in new stages that are not always pretty, but, in just a little bit of time, I will be looking back at this time thinking how quickly it went by.

So, an update on our lives since Monday. Brian and I are playing in the orchestra at church this weekend, so that means practicing. We only had one practice, so that was not so bad. I am do glad that I am able to play every once and a while. It is a major stress reliever for me. I got a guitar for Christmas but have not been working much on learning how to play it. I need to really concentrate on that because I think it would give me something to help relieve stress. Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation at our preschool. I have to say, we were spoiled this year! The head room mom was a hair stylist and worked at a local salon. She had a bunch of her old colleagues come in and give us manicures and massages. I have never had a massage before. Boy was it nice! Although, it was funny to have someone touching me :) Each teacher and assistant got a gift basket from their class. We got wrap around towels, body lotion, body cream, shower gel, nail polish, a candle, tea, a bunch of manicure and pedicure stuff, a $20 gift card to the spa the ladies worked at and a $20 gift card from some jewelry place. Wow! Lots of fun stuff. It was nice to be able to leave the classroom for an hour and relax. One thing I love about working at the preschool is how well they treat you. I will miss that! Brian did not have practice on Thursday so we got to hang out as a family. That was nice.

Savannah and I were really busy the second half of the week. She started learning the j sound at speech, which she cannot do at all! This one will take a while. On Thursday, after speech we went to the gym, then meet some friends at the pool and then, after a brief rest at home, we meet a new friend at the park! Goodness! Savannah's new friend is so much like her. They really get along well. It is neat to watch them play together because they approach things the same way. She is the first child I have meet who is so like Savannah. They played together today for almost six hours and could have kept going! I don't think she has been able to do that with any child before :)

Savannah started something new at the beginning of the week. Every night during dinner we normally sing "Daddy's blessing". She calls it this because when it was taught to her, she was told it was the one daddy did when he was little. Well, about three days ago, she counts for us (she always counts to 5 before we sing) and then she lays her head down and she starts to pray (instead of singing). Brian and I just looked at each other. It was really quite exciting. I am not sure where she learned to do this at dinner because we always sing. She is really cute and says the sweetest things. She has various things she thanks God for but she always thanks God for mommy and daddy :) It that doesn't put a smile on your face, what will? Also, on the dinner note, Savannah is doing so much better at dinner. This is another knew thing for this week. She sits and talks a lot, but she sits the whole time! We have started a piggy bank reward system. Any time we see her doing something we make a big deal out of it and give her penny (or whatever coin we have available). Once the bank is full, she gets to go buy some candy. The one thing we are doing is not bribing her with it, meaning, we do not say "if you want to earn a penny, you need to do this". It is more of a "I noticed that you did this well, here is a penny". She seems to really respond well to this. One more thing she started about two days ago is cleaning her room! She enjoys making the bed. I am really enjoying getting to see these big girl moments. It is nice to be able to recognize the positive and to enjoy these moments.