School's out for summer!

Did you think I disappeared?! This has been a whirlwind week for me! School ended on Friday, but I still need to go in for our teacher work day tomorrow. Freedom is thisclose!! We technically are supposed to work Monday and Tuesday, but we have an unofficial rule that as long as everything is taken care of on Monday, then we don't have to go back Tuesday. Added bonus, Tuesday is my birthday, so I don't want to work on my birthday if I don't have to! It's extra motivation!

This week included field day, a field trip, awards day, and graduation. Then yesterday I went to a winery with friends for a mini birthday celebration. It was a blast! Although I got a little too much sun. Thank goodness for aloe vera!

Sorry there was no Successful Saturday post yesterday. There was bit of a debacle in the form of my cell phone going swimming thanks to a bouquet of flowers! While swimming is fun for Nemo, it is not so fun for an iPhone. I tried the bag of rice trick, but my phone keeps turning itself on and my screensaver looks like an ocean scene thanks to the water still inside. A very nice parent insisted I take home a bouquet of flowers from the graduation decorations before they just got thrown away. I took them and then at some point driving home in the dark, they fell over and filled my cup holder with water...that just so happened to be where my cell phone was sitting. My phone and I discovered it does not have gills and wasn't meant for swimming!

Sorry no pictures today, they are on the swimming cell phone that somehow works in many ways, but I'm afraid it will zap my computer if I plug it in with water in it!

My classroom is 99% cleared out of my personal belongings. I was tempted to finish on Friday, but I was already the last teacher on campus and we had a very important get together at the bowling alley to get to! All of the teachers went bowling and brought significant others and babies to celebrate the end of a school year. It was baby mania at our school this year! We have 3 babies that are almost exactly the same age, plus a bun in the oven for another teacher.

There are 7 or 8 of us leaving on new adventures next year, so the Head of School is buying the staff lunch tomorrow. Yum! My goal is to be done in my classroom by the time we leave for lunch at noon!

I had to say goodbye to my students and their families on Friday. They are so sweet! The kids got giant hugs from me, and so did the amazing parents I had this year. I'm working with at least one, probably 2 of my kids this summer just because I want to, not because I really need the money. My parents spoiled me rotten!! I got the biggest gift I've ever received as a teacher! It's a gift certificate to one of the nicest spas in San Francisco! There is one near me, and one in the big city, so I can take my pick of locations. I about had a heart attack when I opened the envelope and read the amount! Those parents and their kids are amazing! I honestly don't know if I've ever had a group of parents as amazing as this bunch!!

Is your year over? What's the best end of the year gift you've ever gotten? And I don't mean dollars necessarily, one year I had a parent make me a big coffee mug with all of my students' pictures on it and I used it every morning!