May Madness - Memorial Day Weekend

So this extra-long blog will conclude our May Madness here at Foxwood Trail (and the post-date change cheating). :-)


Happy Anniversary Nanny and Pa!

After our class party ended, I sped off to join Bryan's family at the Terra Grill in Buckhead to celebrate Nanny and Pa's 60th wedding anniversary! As my last post may have hinted, this was not an easy task.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. I was functioning on 4 hours of sleep. I had stayed up Thursday night making a video yearbook for my munchkins.

2. I had been "Miss Boone" from 7:15 am - 8:45 pm when the last kid went home.

3. I was trying to drive somewhere new. In the dark. Anyone that knows me understands that this is just bad. This is why Bryan drives everywhere. Especially at night.

Obviously, I got lost. Very lost. In the dark. In a part of Atlanta I had never been before. My sweet fiance was trying very hard to get me un-lost, but my overtired brain became waaaay too emotional. There were lots of tears, and I am embarrassed to admit - a hang-up.

When I finally found my way to the restaurant (which was not in an obvious, easy-to-recognize location) I was in a terrible mood, pitched a parking-lot hissy fit and had to wait a few minutes and calm down before I went in. We took the picture you see below, and left.

The Spann Clan

I have to give Bryan BIG kudos. Knowing that I had not eaten yet (too busy with the kids), he took me to Cafe Intermezzo where we canoodled, snacked and made up. :-) Sweet boy.

Our weekend did not slow down!!

Leigh and Dave's Big Bash

Bryan's sister was married in December, but Leigh and Dave waited a few months to have an official reception and honeymoon. They had both started new jobs in Tampa, FL and needed to wait a little while before taking some time off.

So, we all convened in McDonough, GA at the Palm Beach restaurant for a fun beach-themed reception! Then Leigh and Dave headed to Boston and Martha's Vineyard for their official honeymoon!

The Newlyweds!

Soon-to-be Newlyweds!

Big Brother and Little Sister


On my way to becoming a Spann!

Wyatt and Emily hit the dance floor

Uncle James, Pa and Aunt Becky

One of the things I really enjoyed about Saturday was spending the night in McDonough at the Spann house. Leigh and Dave spent the night, as well as Nanny and Pa. We were able to get in some good family time and enjoyed a really yummy breakfast the next morning.

Tyler's 1st Birthday!

Our good friends Chris and Nikki had a birthday party for the cutest 1-year-old on the planet - Ty!! We celebrated on Sunday, May 25th - exactly one year! It was a really nice way to end the weekend - time to relax and enjoy being with our friends. We missed Michelle and Gavin, but they were partying it up in Charlotte cheering on Michelle's "other man" - Kasey Khane. :-)

NOT the birthday boy

Proud Papa and Big Boy Ty


Amber, William and his tongue

Note: William is fascinated with his tongue. If you give him a smooch, you just might get a surprise with it. For details, see Claudine.

A few highlights from the big boy's party:

Mama bringing out the cake...

What happens when you give a 1-year-old his own cake! :-)

Yummy Cupcake Cones!

I think he's finished!

Time to clean up in the pool!

What would a party be without a pirate?

A drum set from Daddy
- with the new drummer's initials on it! -

Winding down with all his loot. :-)

It was a very busy, hectic and fun weekend. I still have plenty of bloggable photos and material for June... stay tuned!

May Madness - School's Out!

I know, I'm cheating. I changed the post date. But I wanted to keep my May Madness theme going....


I tried something new this year for the end of the year. I invited my WHOLE CLASS to come over to my new house for our end-0f-the-year party. I can hear you - "Are you crazy?!" "Seriously? ALL of your students?" Indeed, I did.

And it was fabulous.

My brood.

I've actually wanted to do this for a long time, but didn't have the space to make something like this happen. With the help of my INCREDIBLE room mom, Kim, I fixed spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread. Kim brought two trays of brownies and one of my sweet girls brought a huge tray of homemade sopapillas. See, now you're jealous. You should be - they were awesome.

The kids had a great time. They chased my poor cats. Precious called it "cat-hunting." I immediately declared Buddy, Charlie, Herbie and Lady endangered species, and squelched all further attempts at cat-hunting.

Seriously, they had fun playing Bocce ball, drawing in the driveway (with sidewalk chalk), and playing Twister and Cat-in-the-Hat-opoly in the basement. Every single kid helped clean up and made sure that the house was not a disaster before they left. I was so proud of them! They even hung our Field Day banner in the basement.

Boone's Bulldogs 2008 Beware of the Bark AND the Bite!

Beautiful roses from Lesly

"We Love Ms. Boone"

It was a really fun way to end the year, and I will absolutely do it again. I wish I could say that was the end of my day...

Stay tuned for the rest of May Madness!!

May Madness - IRA Conference

While we are BIG fans of March Madness in our house, the term "May Madness" seems to eloquently describe what life at 3257 Foxwood Trail has been like lately. Prepare yourself, faithful readers, this could be a looooong post. :-) In the interest of time, I'm going to keep the updates to one event per post. You'll thank me later.

IRA Conference: International Reading Association Conference

I had started a post about a week prior to going to this conference, and it sounded a little bit like this:

"I am way past excited about my plans for next week. Beyond thrilled. It's bordering just a little bit on maniacal hysteria. I will be a complete nerd for telling you all about it, but you should be excited me for me - your favorite nerd."

Every year, the IRA puts on a conference for teachers, administrators, reading specialists and the like. I was fortunate enough to be one of three teachers selected by our school to attend the conference (we had to write a short essay on why we wanted to go) and I was doubly excitged when I found out my friend and teammate John Roper would be going as well!

While I loved going and learning new ways to bring literacy into my classroom, the highlights of my week involved meeting some of my authors and teaching heroes. Not a day went by that I didn't meet an author and get an autographed copy of a book my kids and I loved. It was fabulous.

Some of the highlights:

Jamie Lee Curtis: Opening Speaker

Jamie was hysterically funny, wonderfully real and she even read to us from her upcoming picture book: Big Words for Little People. What really struck me was the way she focused on herself as an author - not an actress. She spoke about her own struggles as a student and how, even for her, getting a foot into the publishing world was not very easy. It was a great way to kick off a fantastic week.

TEACHER PROM!!!

Ok, so there's no such thing as "Teacher Prom" at the IRA Conference, but there was a "Welcoming Gala at the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola." Fancy, right? This was one of the fun "extras" John and I were given by our school. It also happened to be the same night as my favorite springtime "holiday" - Cinco de Mayo!!!

Mr. Roper's first visit to the Aquarium!

My Teacher Prom date :-)

Afterwards, I met Bryan, Toni, Sherry and Jeremy at a very crowded Twisted Taco in Kennesaw for lots of.... water!! That's right - water. The Twisted Taco was so busy, we couldn't even order a drink from our waitress or the bartender (and you know we tried both). Somehow, we managed to get a round of waters in plastic Twisted Taco cups. Not quite the fun we thought we were going to have, but fun nonetheless.

Right now, Mama is thrilled that our cups only held water.

The next few days were a bit of a blur, but they included the following:

A dinner banquet featuring Christopher Paul Curtis,
author of The Watsons Go To Birmingham: 1963.

My students and I used his book as our end of the year read aloud. They were SO excited to hear that I got to meet him and get our books signed.

Listening to Alice Walker speak about the importance of literacy.

She also did readings from The Color Purple and several pieces of poetry.
Amazing.

Finally, the absolute pinnacle of the conference for me: Meeting RAFE ESQUITH.



I know most of you are probably thinking: "Who in the heck is Rafe Esquith?" He is, in short, my teaching hero. He lives and teaches in inner city Los Angeles at Hobart Elementary School. He has a 5th grade classroom that is absolutely amazing. His students are no different than mine - low income, ESOL, generally low-performing children. However, once they become a part of his classroom incredible things happen.

Every year, Rafe has some of the best test scores in the state from his fifth graders. They aren't super-genius wonder children. They simply have a teacher who makes a difference because he uses his own passions and interests to make learning fun. His students learn how to play baseball, play rock guitar, read novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men and Catcher in the Rye. Each year, his students learn and perform a different unabridged Shakespeare production. I really encourage you to visit their website. They are incredibly hard-working students and we really enjoyed the pieces of As You Like It they shared with us at the conference. (Rafe brought about 15 of his students to the conference.) John and I were both in tears during their performance and we had the opportunity to talk with them afterwards. Wonderfully fantastic kids.

I actually had time to talk to Rafe after his speech and he invited John and I to come visit his classroom! I don't know when I'll be able to make that happen, but you know I'll try!!

I'll close this post with a little piece of what we saw from Rafe's class. Make sure you visit the Hobart Shakespeareans... these are kids who know what they're doing! They certainly inspired me to give a little more of myself to my own classroom.

Things My Mama Taught Me

In honor of Mother's Day, a few lessons and words of wisdom from Mama Boone...

1. A hug is the best way to start or end your day. They can stop tears, induce laughter or relieve stress. Always.




2. Sisters are some of the most important people you'll ever have in your life. I have watched Mama with her sisters (she has 3 sisters and 2 brothers!) for a long time, and I know my sisters and I will always be able to maintain our love for one another because of the example they all set.

Boone girls


the Shook clan

3. Laughter is the best medicine. We all have a little silly in us. The best laughs in the Boone house usually involve snorting, tears and gasps for air. :-)


4. Some of Mama's best known phrases:

"I don't know why I buy nice things. (Sigh) I guess I'll just have to start buying everything at KMart."

"It could be worse... You could be in a burn unit."

"I'll be a suck-egg mule!"

"Well isn't that special?" (in her best Church Lady voice)

In the grocery store: "Do NOT let your hands leave that cart. I have my wooden spoon!"


Thank you, Mama for (almost) 29 years of absolutely wonderful memories. Thank you for being fun, silly, a good listener, the voice of reason and wisdom in my head, a nurse, a taxi cab driver, a chef, a playmate, a shopping buddy (the best kind, because you only let me buy what I need!), a role model, a prayer warrior, and most importantly a sister in Christ.

I love you -

AbbyLeeGail