School Christmas Party Eve

This is my last week on maternity leave (insert tears!) I was supposed to go back after Thanksgiving Break but with Lincoln in the NICU for the first half of my maternity leave I chose to take an additional 3 weeks to keep my out until after Christmas Break. I am very thankful that I chose to take the few extra weeks but I have missed a few things from being out so long. One thing I have majorly missed has been my 3rd grade team. These third ladies have made a great impact on my teaching careers, not sure I could have made it this far without them. We are not just a group of teachers that got randomly selected to teach together but we are friends. We share our exciting news from home and grieve when one of us is hurting. These ladies have let me "forget" about my kiddos (really you never forget about your students when you are a teacher that is whole other stories) and let me focus on Lincoln. They have "fought" off parents, encouraged my kiddos, disciplined my kiddos (many of them needed this), helped teach my lesson plans that I put together when I was 9 months pregnant and losing my mind, and pretty much keep the fire going at school when I was learning to be a new mom. I could not have made it the last few months without these ladies and their continuing words of encouragement, tears of sadness in the beginning, and cheers of joy when I brought my boy home. I miss my daily hall chats, venting at lunch, and working together to get "that one kid" to get it. I have made some wonderful friends at FBE that I have truly missed.
That being said, I am not real happy about returning to work but I will save that sob post for later. But I will be missing out on one "fun" day tomorrow....Holiday Party!
If you are not a teacher or never stepped foot in a classroom on a party day since you were 8, then you will never understand the sigh of relief that is heard after the final bell rings on the last day of school. Class parties are fun but they are exhausting for the teacher. 18 kids high on sugar and excitement contained in a small classroom filled with cupcakes, cookies, cokes, and candy with one tired adult is not a party in my book. But teachers put on a happy face and dream of 3:10 (our final bell time) and dance in the hallway in all the kids have rushed out of school. So if you are a parent of an elementary child, be kind to the teacher and maybe get a Starbucks card on the way to pick up your kid tomorrow and PLEASE be on time!

Back to my wonderful team at FBE, we held our own potluck Christmas party last weekend. We had a wonderful meal of Italian food and played washers while the children scurried about. It was a great time to spend with my teacher friends.

Best picture of the whole night....pretty exciting game of washers!
The 3rd grade team

And with our "add on".....since 3rd grade seems to be the place where all the pregnant ladies seem to teach we have an extra, Ms. Phillips who is our long-term sub and has been dealing with my class. I am thankful that she keeps coming back!

So for all you teachers out there, I will praying for your sanity tomorrow. You can make it ONE more day!