PTA Teacher Appreciation Week

I've been our PTA secretary for the last two years and have really enjoyed it. We host several events during the year, although this year hasn't been normal due to Covid. One event that we were able to do this year was Teacher Appreciation Week. This is a nationwide thing and is the first full week of May. The PTA provides meals and snacks each day of the week for the teachers and staff and we also pick a theme for the week and try to do decorations as much as possible. This year we chose and Olympics theme since the summer Olympics will be held this year. I love our theme and love how we decorated! This is the teacher's lounge where we set up all our food for the week. One lady on our PTA board is an artist and she drew the eagle (because we are the Horace Mann Elementary Eagles) in the picture at the bottom. I'm so impressed with her talent! 

One thing we thought was really funny....If you notice in the first picture below there's boxes that say 2, 1, 3. These are supposed to be podiums you would stand on when getting your medal at Olympic  medal ceremonies. We provided breakfast items in the picture below and we placed some Pop-Tarts on the #1 podium, muffins on the #2 podium, and little chocolate and powdered donuts on the #3 podium...as if to say the Pop-Tarts win the gold medal! We just thought that was too funny and had some funny comments about it, too! I really enjoy my work with PTA and look forward to being the PRESIDENT for the next two years!!!  

May Day!

Larry and Wanda came to visit the weekend of May 1-2 to celebrate Lucy and Ross' birthday. The came on May 1, which is May Day and Wanda brought us May Day flowers and yummy cookies! It was such a nice treat and everything looked so good. I remember bringing May Day baskets to our neighbors when I was a little girl and always enjoyed that. I've meant to do that with my kids, but it always seems to sneak up on me. Maybe next year! 

House Renovations!

Ross is so handy! I've written about this before and now have more of his handy work to share! A few weeks ago we saw a small clip from a home improvement show that had a wall similar to our fireplace wall. On the show they put shiplap on the wall all the way up to the ceiling above the mantle. I really liked the way it looked and told Ross we should do the same. He agreed and started looking into it. He found the boards were fairly inexpensive and realized it would be pretty easy to do, so he did it! 

He bought the shiplap boards, measured, cut, nailed the to the wall and just like that we had an updated family room wall! I think it looks so nice! It updates our family room and lightens it up a bit, too. We've had these walls painted this brown color ever since a few months after we moved in and really like the color. It is a little dark, so the white going up the wall really helps it. Ross plans to redo the tile around the fireplace to update it. I can't wait for this to be done because it really looks dated now! Good job, Ross! I'm really proud of your work! 

New Job!

Ross has a new job!! As of May 3, he is now a Rate and Fuels Analyst for City Utilities here in Springfield. He was at his previous job at KPM CPAs and Accountants working as an Auditor for 3 1/2 years. He did like his job at KPM, but wasn't fond of the travel and lack of benefits, and has been wanting to find another job for over a year. He has heard very good things about City Utilities and watched and watched their website for job postings that would fit his skill set. In March he saw the Rates and Fuels Analyst position was posted and applied for it right away. He has a few friends who work at City Utilities and they put in a good reference for him. He had an interview on April 2 and then got the call on April 12 that they wanted to hire him! He was beyond excited and of course said yes!

Ross' coworkers took him to lunch on his last day there and also surprised him with some treats and two giant cookie cakes! He really appreciated that! Ross did a fantastic job finishing up his work at KPM and was told by their HR manager and a few people in his department that he would always be welcome back at KPM. I think that speaks wonders to his character and work ethic! Ross is such a good employee. He does a good job and always get the work done, no matter what. I'm so very excited for him and this new position! 

First day at KPM, October 9, 2017.

Last day at KPM, April 20, 2021. 

First day at City Utilities, May 3, 2021. 

Mother's Day 2021

I had a very, very nice Mother's Day! It was filled with lots of special surprise presents and my family definitely made me feel special! Molly made a flower pot present for me at school and I just love it so much! She came home with it on Thursday and wanted me to open it right away instead of waiting until Sunday! The girls and Ross gave me one of my favorite drinks, flowers, and a garden gnome and bunny! I love the gnomes and am excited to add it to the other gnome my Gramma gave me! The church gave each child a little flower bouquet to give to their mom that Sunday and the flowers I received were so very pretty! My parents came to church with us and then over for breakfast and we took some pictures before they left. My dad also made me a robin birdhouse (which I don't have a picture of, but will soon) and I look forward to putting it up on our tree outside. 

In the afternoon while I took a nap, Lucy worked on a special present for me! She made me a drawing on her canvas frame and also made a book saying all the reasons why she loved me. It was such a special gift! I love the details she put into it. It was just the best Mother's Day!