A Bittersweet Symphony

Well, I'm done at Sycamore! :( Back in January, I NEVER though this day would come, and now it's came and went waayyy too fast!!! I couldn't ask for a better day! I was COMPLETELY overwhelmed by flowers, jewelry, candy, cards, balloons, gifts, and soooooooo many sweet words and hugs from my kids and teachers! Everybody at Sycamore is incredible and I'm gonna miss them so much! I think I ran out of tears towards the end of the day because I cried so much... wait, no I was still crying when I put my stuff in the car.. just not as much. My next school is gonna have some high expectations to meet! Here are some pictures from my last day...

Steph! LOVE HER!!

Dr. B! The most AMAZING principal ever!!

Cha-Cha Chimps! The book they dedicated to me in the Sycamore Library!

Just a few of the sweet flowers and gifts from my favorite kiddos and teachers! I already miss them thinking about it!

On a happier and more exciting note, my mom is coming in today to help us drive a car back home! Never thought this day would come either... :)

I'm baaaack!!

The last few weeks have been crazily busy!!

It all started when I got sick and had flu-like symptoms and chest pains. I went to the doctor and he called it anxiety. I've never been that crazy, overly worried about everything, hyper ventilating kind of person, but from what my doctor and Aaron tell me, stress and anxiety come in different ways.. so apparantly, I was anxious/stressed... Then, I started having pain in my neck, so my doctor ordered an MRI for me, had that done, and turns out I have a little arthritis in my neck. What?!? So anyway, 3 weeks later, all is well in my body and I'm back to normal! Spring Break and a week off of work definitely help the situation!!

After all the hospital/doctor's office visits, I had to catch up with stuff at work. I've been getting my classroom packed up and organizing paperwork for the teacher who is taking over my place and in the middle of all that, my assistant principals have been in my room for evaluations. So, there's been a lot of action and commotion going on in my room over the past few weeks.

Other than that, everything's moving right along up here. Aaron and I make the big move back home in 12 days! We are so excited and can't wait to get back home closer to friends and family! Next week is my last week with my kids. I had a talk with them last week about me moving. I had to get on their level and explain that I'm moving because my husband has a job over there and it's a good thing because I'll get to see my mom and dad every day like they see their mom every day. Can you imagine the responses I got from 20 four year olds!?!! "But Mrs. Downs, I don't want a new teacher, I want you to be my teacher." "Mrs. Downs, if you leave, who's gonna be our teacher?" "Why are you going to Texas?" "What's Texas like?" "Are you gonna come visit us in Kindergarten?" Haha! I'm gonna miss my babies! So we'll see how next week goes...

Chloe got a summer haircut! Here's the before and after of the new, freshly cut Chloe!! She looks like a whole new puppy dog! :)

Our First Valentines

My Valentine's Day was A-mazing! Aaron turned Valentine's Day into a Valentine's Weekend! I was sooo impressed with Aaron's romantic skills!

(I think they've gotten better since we've been married!!)

Originally, we decided we were gonna just grill some steaks, light some candles, and just have a romantic dinner at home. We weren't gonna fight the Saturday night resturant crowds PLUS Valentine crowds, which was completely fine with me! Meanwhile, Aaron had other plans in store! :) AND he kept it a surprise, which is sooo great because he hardly ever does them and I absolutely LOVE surprises!! Not like Aaron #1.

So, I came home from work Friday to find a dozen beautiful roses on our dining room table! Wow! Not like Aaron #2. Then, I got closer and saw that Aaron had rented a romantic movie!!! AARON.. RENT A ROMANTIC MOVIE.. did you get all that??? Not like Aaron #3. Usually, I have to talk him into watching a chick flick, and most of the time I loose that battle, but he did this all on his own! I was VERY impressed.. almost speechless even.

So we went to TGIFridays to get something to eat. After all this romantic-ness, Aaron fills me in on yet ANOTHER secret.. not like Aaron #4! We have dinner reservations for Valentines night at Grill 83, one of the fanciest resturants in downtown Memphis! WHOA!!!! What's even MORE impressive is that Aaron made these reservations 3 weeks ago! Now, all this planning and surprising may not be anything special to you, but this is coming from Aaron John Downs! This IS a big deal. But anyway, I'm LOVING this! So, after Fridays, we came home, cuddled o the couch, and watched Nights in Rodanthe. So fun!

So, Saturday night, we headed downtown. Grill 83 is located in the Madison Hotel. We got there a little early for our reservations, so we went to the rooftop of the Madison. It was gorgeous! It overlooked downtown and the Mississippi River. For a second or two, Memphis was a beautiful place and I had forgotten about the high miserable factor of the city (If you haven't heard, Forbes Magazine gave Memphis the award for the 2nd most miserable place to live in country). Only a second, maybe two. I totally didn't feel like we were in Memphis! We headed downstairs to Grill 83 and everythin about this place was incredible!! I highly recommend it! We had an AMAZING salad, a filet, and some chocolate stuff that resembled jello. It was pretty much the BEST steak I'd ever eaten! Seriously! Sooo good!! On the way out of the resturant, the host gave me a rose! We spent a good 3-4 hours downtown, hanging out and doing the fine dining thing. What a perfect way to end a fabulous weekend with my valentine!

Grill 83

So needless to say, Aaron did an INCREDIBLE job with Valentines this year! I love my bebs!!!

Birthday Party.. Filipino Style!

Tonight I went one of my prek-ers birthday party! She was turning a ripe old age of 5! I really wasn't too excited about going.. one of those "feel like I have to do" kinda things. So I went. Let me just say it was an eye opener! I stayed for about 30 minutes, and those 30 minutes reinforced my opinion that Americans are SOOO incredibly superficial!

I pulled up to this amazing home and rang the doorbell. I was immediately welcomed by the parents of my student. Expecting to come into a house filled with balloons, decorations, a huge cake, tons of presents wrapped in colorful birthday paper and big bows, and some sort of hot dog/hamburger combination to eat. Boy was I ever wrong! I walked into this home full of around 30-40 Filipino people. There were no balloons, no decorations, the cake was hidden away, there were a few presents out on a dining room coffee table stuffed in bags or left in the box. What was out for show was TONS of food, buffet style, including a huge turkey, a side of a cow, seriously!, oh and a roasted pig, head and everything! And did I mention this food was all homemade?? The mom told me, her and her husband had been cooking since early this morning. All this for her 5 year old daughter's birthday party! Wow!

So here I am, a young, white girl surrounded by these loving, beautiful people celebrating the birth of this young girl in a completely different way that I had ever seen growing up! I was so speechless. And of course, if you're a teacher you know that when one of your students see you outside of school, you're like a movie star! They can't believe it! Kids really do think you live at school. My little birthday girl friend immediately took my hand and wanted me to meet her family. "Hey so and so, meet Mrs. Downs." "Hey so and so, meet Mrs. Downs." She never took me to see her cake, her presents, nothing! The only way I knew the cake was there was because I had walked to the trash can and her cake was hidden away in the box away from the party. Crazy! So selfless. I know when I was young, the cake and presents and balloons were the center of the party! The food and family time was just a bonus, side thing, not here. Family time and fellowship was the center of the gathering. I love that! Her party was about celebrating her birth and her life, in a way that truly exemplified that!

So on my 20 minute drive back to the apartment, I couldn't help but think how superficial and selfish Americans really are! It's amazing how 30 minutes at a 5 year old birthday party will open your eyes to such a big idea! Just another thing to jot down on my "how to raise our kids" list...


And by the way, Aaron took his last test of Anesthesia school!!! Only boards left to go! WOOOO HOOOO!!!

Found it!

I found a new bathing suit! Here it is...

Isn't it soooooooo cute!?!?!?!! I gotta have it!! But I'm soooooo B-R-O-K-E right now, so I'm gonna have to hold off another month of 2, crossing my fingers that it's still available!