Leprechauns

We didn't catch any of the tricksters, but boy oh boy....did they have fun! The traps left by my kids were turned into one giant structure with their "bait" hidden inside! Our classroom was quite a mess (mixed up calendar, knocked over/stacked chairs, spilled caddies, etc.) and they left us notes throughout the morning which eventually led us to some edible gold coins! Funny, I have never had a group of kids so convinced they were really here.....loved it! They were looking at things all day with a different eye and seeing things (that have been there all along) but never noticed....which of course meant the leprechauns did it! This is my favorite day of all with my kids.  And this year topped them all. oxo

little boot prints

Believe it or not...I teared up a little telling my kids how happy I was they were there to help me clean. I think it only added to their excitement and how real it must be!!

New structure courtesy of Hubby

Some of the traps as of Thursday after school...

Leprechauns like shiny objects...we used gold coins and treasure tub pieces as bait.

Those Funny Feelings....

I was struck with a bout of sadness the other night.  Guess I felt sorry for myself.  I know it is normal and probably is to be expected.  Seeing pictures of my good friend who was just in front of me in her pregnancy has been hard.  I had tears last night for a commercial for a credit card (I think!) where the lady finds out she is having triplets. I think I will be happier once my friend's baby is born.  As much as I miss her since she now lives out of state, I am secretly glad I won't be able to make it to her shower and instead can just send my gift.  It's funny because as happy as I am about our son in Korea, I am still surprised at my (sometimes) jealous feelings and sadness about what could have been.  I think its getting better.  It just still stinks.

I am excited about tomorrow morning in my classroom....the leprechauns paid a visit over the weekend and the traps my kids set up on Thursday (we had a work day) on Friday have been transformed by my terrific Hubby into a grand structure with their bait hidden inside.  Green bootprints and gold glitter all around and a pot of gold coins to be found later on in the morning.  I'll have to add pictures later since I left my phone at home while we were at school today.  Our celebration will be a little less than normal because our days at school are so squished for time, but I am looking forward to seeing my kids' faces in the morning. 

In other news, I do believe my body is back to normal.  For months, I have not experienced my normal PMS symptoms and last month I did. Sore, busty boobs and cramping a week plus before AF's appearance.  So I am happy things are back to "normal"...took long enough. 

I posted a new post about our wonderful trip to Arizona to our placing agency.  If you are interested, check it out here, if you aren't following along yet.

Hope you all had a great weekend! I am off to try to catch up some more on your worlds. 

Wonderful

Waking up in a hotel room and not being able to fall asleep is a perfect excuse to do a mini post. I am on my phone so this will be short and sweet. This weekend has been wonderful so far and I wish we could stay one more day (and had a rental car!) to explore AZ more. Today was more emotional than I had expected.  I wish this agency was closer so we could stay in "better" contact with some of the people we met today. Saw a very dear old friend way back from kindergarten and will see a college friend tomorrow before we return home. Hoping my pills work their magic again on the flight back and trying not to think about it too much. I'll fill you in about our trip soon.

Long Overdue

Yikes.  I have been really bad about this blog lately.  My life has taken an interesting turn and I am enjoying it but my life seems a bit busier than ever. More on that in a moment.

In adoption news, we received our first update on our son and all looks well. The best part was receiving 5 new photos!! I posted a few over on the adoption blog.  Scroll down for the link if you are interested in checking it out.  I am still so very grateful we received our referral so quickly.  We are flying to Arizona early Friday morning because our placing agency has a mandatory orientation meeting. California families have one on Friday...Saturday is for everyone.  Please send good thoughts my way......I am a terrible flyer.  But I am trying to look at this trip as good flying practice for Korea!!!  I am thrilled to finally meet the director at the agency and I am looking forward to connecting with some other adoptive families as well. I'll be sure to do a post about it next week.

My newest turn in life is my attempt to help bring in some extra income, on top of the after school tutoring I am already doing.  I signed up to be a consultant with a well know candle company called Par.tyL.ite in January.  We had an amazing fundraiser and I can already see how this can help us in just my first month. I wanted to help with some costs, especially our trip to Korea this summer, which we are still planning on taking.  I have a great leader and I am enjoying everything so far! I work full time but this allows me to help but with my own schedule and I can do as little or as much as I want, and it's different. I figured it couldn't hurt just to see what happens.  So far so good and I am committed to doing whatever I can do to help.  In fact, I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers last night at our unit meeting for having the highest sales in February.....go me!!   We all know how expensive our family building attempts are and since I have the time and the energy (for the most part!) I wanted to do more. And since I love their candles and their products...why not?! If you are interested in checking out their awesome-sauce candles (or ever earning free product...online party anyone?!?!)  just let me know in the comments section and I will send you the link to my page. =0)

School is good. I "lost" a student a few weeks ago to his ED (Emotionally Disturbed) placement out of district.  I have never cried so hard saying goodbye to a student. Saddest thing ever for me, I could hardly talk at one point saying goodbye, I was so choked up.  I know he is where he needs to be and it took a lot to get him there, but I miss him in many ways.  One of those kids where his family betrayed him in so many ways.  Beyond maddening and it makes me sick. He was the hardest student I have ever had in my class and I miss him the most, even though some days my work day was a living hell because of him.

I have been trying to read and catch up on your blogs...usually on my phone which is not ideal. Thinking of you ladies. Have a great weekend!!!!