School's out for-ever!

Ok - well...not forever...but at least for summer! The picture on the left is a huge canvas that all the children at our school made together during our art's experience day...the theme was "Peace begins with you". I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the colors are all of the children's hand prints! It turned out beautifully! Oh, and on the right is my crazy class - minus a couple...on to second grade they go and down to Kindergarten I will go. This week has been busy closing this past year and planning with a new team for next year. I think summer is a thing of the past because I will be working a lot to get ready for the upcoming school year over the next few months.

baseball players and storytellers

It seems this is the week for field trips with first grade. Yesterday we went to see a baseball game (our minor league team - The Lookouts). The children loved it! As we were singing "Take me out to the ballgame" - after the part - "buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks..." one of our little friends yelled, "and NACHOS!" Hilarious!
Then today we went to this AWESOME storytelling festival at Coolidge Park called Tale Spin (click on the Chattanooga link under Fav Web Sites to see more). The children were on the edge of their seats the whole time. This was most definitely one of the year's highlights for me. The storytellers were so captivating! I came home and asked Mal if we could go tomorrow night for our date night. Summer is almost here! Nightfall is about to start, Riverbend is right around the corner, and the Chattanooga Market is open again! I just love living in Chattanooga!

Weekends

Weekends around here are so busy...we pack in as much as possible and then some. I have had several church activities lately. Last weekend we had the privilege of having the Lookabills in town visiting. They gave a wonderful presentation during Sunday School last week as a fund raising tool for their missions trip to Japan. Did you know they grow square watermelons over there? It's true! They grow them in crates. We had fun catching up with them and having their baby meet our baby!

Then...this past weekend we had the annual Women's Banquet at church. This year the "young people" were asked to organize and execute the banquet. So we spent Thurs. night, Fri. night, and ALL day Sat. working to get ready for the main event! It was fun working with friends and bonding over this new experience. I must say it was quite a success! I think we did such a fine job we have been commissioned to do it again next year. As Joc said, "I don't think I have ever cooked so much rice at one time before in my life!"

The hard working team!

4 months old!

Time really flies by with a baby! Jonas is now four months old. He is such a joy! We can't believe how easily he has fit into our lives. He has enriched every aspect of our family and we just love him so much! He is such a little charmer...he loves to laugh and smile, he sings when music is playing, he has discovered his toes and loves to hold on to them when he is getting his diaper changed, he is trying to sit up, he is much more aware of his surroundings, and he is starting to scoot while lying on his back.

Happy Earth Day!

Ok...so...since today is Earth day and I am a teacher we have been talking about all the usuals - recycling, not polluting, conserving energy and water, cleaning up pollution...yada, yada, yada. I even had to read a book about Mother Earth to the children. The book is called Dear Children of the Earth and (don't get me wrong) I am all about taking care of the earth and I even thought the concept was cute - a letter from the earth asking everyone to help take care of her (Mother Earth). However, this book brought up many interesting discussion questions in the minds of my little first graders. The book said that all the animals are our brothers and sisters..."Mrs. Dean, do you believe that?" "Hmm...um...(hem and haw some more)I believe that we have a responsibility to take care of the earth and all the creatures God (yep, I said the G word in the public school - and it wasn't in vain either)has put on the earth." Next question..."Mrs. Dean, if God is our Father and Jesus is the Son, is Mother Earth Jesus' mom? Did God marry Mother Earth?" Whoa! Hold on now - can we please go back to talking about whether or not the Easter bunny is real? I was really impressed with the little minds of my six and seven year olds and I wish I could have told them what I really thought. I decided to tell them that Mother Earth is sort of a made up character to help us try to understand how we need to take care of the earth like our mom's take care of us - the earth gives us shade from the sun, water to drink, soil to grow food...all the things we need. I asked them who made the earth? They decided God made the earth. Yikes! What a scary opportunity to share Christ?!?!
So, I have been thinking...what is earth day? why do we "celebrate" earth day? is it just a day for children to become more educated about being responsible for our earth? is it a day for tree huggers and granolas to unite?
The trend of the moment is to "go green" or organic. So, is this something that is important to me? I think it is important. But I don't want to be trendy...so...how important is it to me? important enough to make sacrifices and changes in my life? hmmm? Going organic seems like something that needs to be a lifestyle - but it seems like it is the newest diet. There have been a thousand diet trends that have come and gone. I have always thought that being healthy is about a lifestyle not about a diet. Diets come and go. I am rambling...
My earth day resolution is to try to buy more organic fruits and vegetables - but not from a grocery store. I would like to buy from a produce stand or a fresh fruit and veggie market. If you know me - that will be new for me - ask me how it is going from time to time. The accountability will be good for me. Who knows...maybe next year I will add another earth day resolution. Until then, I will keep thinking "green" thoughts!

a haircut, art, and the sniffles

We had a great weekend! Sarah came over on Sat. and we cut Colin's hair. He was so good - he stayed still and let us clip away at his baby locks. He looks like such a big boy now! Then we took off to the 4 Bridges Arts Festival. It was our first time going and it was so much fun. There were about 150 artists featured. There were a lot of Chattanooga and Tennessee folks - however, there were also several from Utah, Wyoming, Minnesota and lots of other places around our great nation. The art was varied and amazing! There were all types of mediums and it was so inspiring. I am already looking forward to next year. Jonas and Colin were troopers - even though Jonas has the sinus sniffles and weepy eyes. Poor baby!

Left: Jonas watches his big cousin get his first haircut and dreams of the day he has enough hair to get his hair cut.
Right: Colin takes a picture of his mommy.

Newest member of the band

Here is Colin rockin' out! He is a natural!