Thursday, June 12, 2008

school's out for summer!



we wrapped up first grade this morning. we have a tradition of dedicating a song to jack on the radio for the final drive to school. XM Kids (channel 116) has a great way to "pre-quest" a song via email. you can tell them what time you'll be listening to the radio, and they are great about fitting in the requests during that time frame.

above, you can see jack thoroughly enjoying "Hard Core Wrestlers" by the Naked Brothers Band. kenny curtis, the DJ, gave him a great shout out, which makes this a fun way to start the day.

school has an end of year program, and this year's theme was "Around the World." i'll spare you a bunch of photos, because really, it's just not that exciting to have a bunch of blurry photos of your kid's tiny head poking out between four rows of *other* tiny kids' heads. but i will tell you that there was traditional Romanian and German dancing, and recorder playing, and (sorry in advance if this gets stuck in your head) a rousing rendition of "We are the World." yes. commence swaying of your upraised arms now. i loved you, summer of 1985.



a few weeks ago, on my friend carlo's blog (carlo? carlo?), i spied a very cute teacher gift: lots of fun teas in a basket with a cute note that said "thanks for being a great TEA-cher." totally fun. i put my own spin on that for this year, and this is what we came up with (jack's job was arranging the assortment of teas in the cups. my job, was, you know... everything else.)




i was having some heinous computer/printer issues at 6:15 this morning (that's right, i said this morning. i like to think i have perfected the *last minute mom* routine.) i ended up having to write the tags by hand, which i'm not thrilled about. but i LOVE my little teabag-look-alike tag, so there you go.





camp starts on monday! it's going to be a TEA-riffic summer!

22 comments:

Barb said...

Rock on! Great teacher gifts, and now summer stretches out ahead of you. I love the XM kids dedication, so cute.

Jill said...

That picture of Jack is hilarious. That's pretty cool about the song dedication.

Your teacher gifts are darling.

Kelly said...

Look how cute his hair has grown in! What a good idea, all of them, the song especially though because it required sending an email instead of hand lettering!

The tea bags are awesome too. Hello summer!

Serendipity said...

Your TEAcher gifts are great (the tea bag tag is especially clever)!

Have a wonderful summer...

Amie said...

I love the song dedication tip... my kids would LOVE that! What a cute tradition.

I love summer. I hope yours is off to a great start!

Becky said...

LOVE the picture of Jack--that's one too treasure for sure!

Your TEA-cher gifts look darling (handwriting and all!) and I am so impressed at the effort involved--we just picked up a vase of flowers at the supermarket for Sam's first grade teacher :).

Hope camp is fun for Jack!

Oh yeah--and thanks to you I now have Tim McGraw's song (previous post) AND "We Are the World" warring in my head!

Sarah said...

You are so funny! That picture of Jack is the best. How fun for him to hear a song dedicated to him. The TEA-cher gift is great. We have year round school in Las Vegas, and will probably pick something up last minute, but you have inspired me to be a bit more creative. We will see.

Lisa said...

Jack sure knows how to Rock!
LOL
Great teacher gifts too :)

Lucy said...

I wish I were as excited as that for school to be out. We're more of the ambivalent types around here. Both Seth and me are doing the "now what?" dance.

Cute picture of Jack. That is how I always felt as a student.

Doodle Bugs said...

I love the picture of Jack! i also love your version of Carlo's gift!

Linda said...

Could this kid of yours be any cuter...I don't think so!!

Congrats on the last day of school...you've now got a 2nd grader!

Great teacher gifts Lelly!

Amy said...

I love that first pic of your boy...I was a little stunned when I first glimpsed it. In the year and a half that I've been your blog friend, Jack has grown up SOOOOO much!

Such a great tradition to dedicate a song on the last day. And your teacher gifts are so creatively detailedly cute.

And, yes, I need to check in on the land of Carlo again...:)

Holly said...

Love the picture of your rockin' dude! What a neat idea about dedicating a song via email. I'm still stuck in the mindset that radio stations must be dialed, possibly on a rotary phone. I guess times have changed. :)

The teacher gifts were perfect. What a cute idea. Must remember.

patsy said...

wow the song dedication & tea gift... great ideas!!
HAPPY SUMMERTIME

Chris said...

Cute picture of Jack. I love the "tea"cher gifts I will have to remeber that one. I think the radio dedication is cute.

Price Cream Parlor said...

I had no idea about the XM radio dedications! SOOO awesome! I am so going to do this! - the photo of Jack is priceless! The computer problem is ok because your tags were still darling with your darling, darling writing! Cute gifts!

Alisa said...

I love your tradition of dedicating a song to your son. That is a fun memory he will have!

I loved your teabag card.

Amanda said...

What a sweet tradition to dedicate a song!

Those tea treats are super creative and cute!

Alisha said...

Fun post, full of great ideas. I'm going to have to use that one for a teacher gift next year. And the song dedication?! How fun is that?! Lucky Jack to have such a good mom.

carlo said...

oh what fun! cute pic too.

love to see the TEA-cher gift. fun version you came up with.

ps- i totally recommend the basket of tea and biscotti for a group gift. can't tell you how many comments I had on ours. it was such a hit and i hate to admit it was a very last minute idea but hey, if it is loved and appreciated, that is all that matters, right?

Totally cute tea bag tag idea.

michelle said...

That is a thoroughly cool tradition! Wow. I never would have thought of that. And your tea bag tag is adorable.

michelle allen said...

i wish i would have seen your great idea before i frantically searched for what to give! these are great. i'm sure the teachers loved these!