Day 181 things that make me smile - A Day Off

Today I had a busy day off - slept in, read a book, ordered new glasses, took a nap and bought a new vehicle.  Yep, bought a new vehicle - this needed day off made me smile tonight. (More about vehicle soon)

Day 180 Things that make me smile - Ely Patriotic Choir Concert

My mom has performed with Ely's Patriotic Choir each Fourth of July season for the past few years.  Today was their concert and Margrette and I drove up to surprise her and go to their concert. They did a awesome job - it was a beautiful concert.

It was a fun day - spending time with my sister talking, laughing and singing in the car - seeing the concert - going out to dinner with my mom and sister - it all made me smile today.

Ely Patriotic Choir

Movie my mom made as a pre-show.

Coming in to perform

Day 179 Things that make me smile - Watching Josie March

Josie plays trumpet for the Virginia Marching Blues. Today they marched and took 3rd place in the Granite City Parade in St. Cloud.  It was the first time I got to see her march - I was a proud auntie and she made me smile.

Josie on a water break

Anna and Emma waiting for Jo

Day 178 Things that make me smile - Hanging with Megan

Day off and spent part if it with Katie, Erin and Megan.  While Erin played in the Ridgedale play area I got to hang out with Megan (and ok Katie too).  She is a doll and that smile is infectious, made me smile for sure today:)

Day 177 Things that make me smile - Water

I never thought I would say this, but after a few months minus Diet Pepsi, water has become my drink of choice - nice tall glass of cold water makes me smile tonight.

Day 176 Things that make me smile - Panther Foundation Golf Tourament

I didn't golf, but I got to volunteer:). Today was the Panther Foundation Golf Tournament - with 154 people golfing, lots of money was raised for a great cause and today that made me smile.

Day 175 Things that make me smile - Sugar Free Blueberry Pie

Blueberries were on sale at Bob's Produce so I decided to bake a sugar free blueberry pie.  I made it last night, but had first slice tonight.  I am not a baker, but I must say it was really good - that made me smile tonight.

Day 174 Things that make me smile - Marla's Retirement party

Today was the retirement party for Marla Davenport, Co-Director of Technology and Learning at TIES.  From the educational videos she "starred" in from the 80's, to the house band rocking songs about Marla, to stories, it was a fun event honoring this special person and that made me smile today.

Day 173 Things that make me smile - Playing with a Jelly Roll

It's been a while since I have taken out fabric and a sewing machine.  Last week when I was at Grubers, I bought a Jelly Roll of fabric.  Tonight I spent time playing with color placement with hopes of sewing this week - and that makes me smile.

Day 172 Things that make me smile - Parade Pictures

Today was Josie's first parade as a Virginia Marching Blue. I wish I could have been there to cheer her on, but at around 8 am this morning I got the next best thing - a text message with picture of her in full uniform and one of her in the parade - that made me smile today. Love you, Josie!

Day 171 Things that make me smile - Ghost with Marsha

New musical tonight - Ghost. It was good, really liked the special effects!  Good show and good company made me smile tonight.

Day 170 Things that make me smile - Advanced Rush Tickets

Those who follow me know that I go to a lot of plays/musicals through rush tickets.   Typical rush tickets you go 2 hours prior to the performance and get your tickets.  This week Ghost is in town, instead of rush they have advanced rush - meaning you can go ahead of time to pick up the tickets.  Today I went to pick up tickets for tomorrow nights performance - main floor row F, $25 - that makes me smile tonight.

Day 169 Things that make me smile - Jerome's Lacrosse Game

I have only been to a few lacrosse games in my life.  Tonight Jerome played in Shoreview, close - so I went to watch. While I don't really understand lacrosse, I enjoyed watching Jerome play and that makes me smile tonight.

Day 168 Things that make me smile - Summer Reading

Each summer the district leadership team is giving a few books and articles to read preparing us for the new year.  I love learning and reading, tonight I started reading one of the two books we are reading this summer - new learning makes me smile tonight!

Day 167 Things that make me smile - Benjamin John

Seventeen years ago I became "Auntie" thanks to Ben entering the world.  From the little guy who loved to do arts and crafts to preparing for his last year in high school, it has been fun watching him grow up to be a great young man. Love you lots Ben - tonight you make me smile.

Day 166 Things that make me smile - My dad

Today is Father's Day. While I miss my dad everyday, it is these special days that are the hardest.  But, spent some time going through some photo albums and looking back at special times together - tonight that made me smile. Love you, dad!

Day 165 Things that make me smile - Caroline, Jenny and Marsha

Fourteen school years ago I started working in Spring Lake Park.  I was assigned to work at Woodcrest Elementary and Kenneth Hall Elementary Schools.  Working with teachers in the computer labs with technology, I was so fortunate to be teamed with the media staff.  These women quickly helped me adjust to a new school district and became great friends.  We created lessons together, worked with children, spent time troubleshooting computer problems, created websites and so much more.  But more than the "work" stuff,  they were my friends - reminding me a coat is needed in the winter (no I didn't listen), hooking me into new books, sharing their family stories, going to shows,  etc.  Today I got together with Marsha, Jenny and Caroline for lunch - it was so good to catch up on their lives, especially Caroline who I haven't seen in over a year.  Getting together with these wonderful women made me smile today.

 

Day 164 Things that make me smile - Emma's Summer Theater Camp Performance Scooby Doo

There wasn't a Mystery Machine, but there were plenty of Scoobys.  Emma performed in GREAT Theater Summer Camp Performance of Scooby Doo.  The 5 & 6 year olds rapped, recited lines and sand the theme song from Sccoby Doo.  Emma had a big smile on her face the whole time, that made me smile.

Day 163 Things that make me smile - New Routines

Ella is very loved.  Auntie Margrette bought her some chicken treats a few months ago - they have become her new bedtime snack.  Only Ella doesn't eat it at night, she buries it in the blankets/pillows to save for the next day.  Most mornings she will eat it when she gets up, but recently she has saved it for the next night.  About 8 o'clock at night she will go into the bedroom, stand by the bed and bark until I come and help her onto the bed.  She will then spend time finding a new place to "hide" it - after a couple different hiding places she will finally settle in and eat it.  It is a crazy routine, but it makes me smile.

Got my treat

First hiding place 

Looking for a new spot

Maybe here...

Day 162 Things that make me smile - DLT Retreat

End of the school year brings closure for some, but at our District Leadership Team meeting not only did we taken time to reflect on the past but we worked on the District Operational Plan projects for summer and the 2014-15 School Year.  This, along with learning made for a great day and that made me smile today!

Day 161 Things that make me smile - Reading on the Couch with my Buddy

Summer brings a different pace and I have been working on my Kindle library.  There is nothing better than snuggling on the couch with my buddy and a good book - that makes me smile tonight.

Day 160 Things that make me smile - Supporting the Spotlight Program

Tonight I went to the second night of the Spotlight Showcase.  Again a great night!  Right before intermission, they talked about supporting the program financially. I decided that this is a program worth supporting and signed up during intermission.  It was easy to do and it is a great program that needs to continue and it made me smile again tonight.  You can donate too by going to the link in the picture.

Day 159 Things that make me smile - 2014 Spotlight Showcase

Musical Theater + talented students = an awesome evening.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow night brings!!  So fun to see all of the different musicals in one place - that made me smile tonight!

Day 158 Things that make me smile - Down the Aisle

Every wedding brings different opportunities- this wedding brought the opportunity of using my teacher skills to herd people to get the wedding started on time.  I should have guessed that the wedding party would be late after being a half hour late for rehearsal - they were an hour late with parents showing up only 30 minutes prior to the wedding.  

There was no one seated with 10 minutes to the ceremony, but we got the 30 or so people who were there seated, found the groom and the father of the bride and got everyone down the aisle only a few minutes late and that made me smile.  Side note - started the wedding with about 30 guests, by the end of the wedding the church was pretty full - there was a steady stream of guests coming in throughout the ceremony right up until the end.

Day 157 Things that make me smile - Almost There

Today was HS iPad collection - last period on the last day of school.  A bunch of us stayed to sort through all of the devices, but at 5 pm we still had a way to go and we decided to come back in the morning.  Thank you to the team that worked together to get as far as we did, you make me smile!

Day 156 Things that make me smile - Day off of iPad collection

After four days of iPad collection, today was a day off.   Tomorrow it will all resume with our final collection, but today we had a break and that makes me smile.

Day 155 Things that make me smile - Middle School Devices Sorted

As you can see by my posts, we are deep in iPad collection. Yesterday we collected the iPads from the middle schoolers, today we sorted them into ABC order for ease in handing them out.  Teamwork of several people made the sorting go smoothly and that made me smile today.

Day 154 Things that make me smile - Middle School Devices Collected

Collection continues!  Today all of the Middle School Devices were collected, we will go through them in the morning.  We kept getting reviews about how much better it went this year - and that makes me smile!

Day 153 Things that make me smile - Grade 5 iPads Collected

Day two of iPad collection is complete and all of grade 5 iPads collected.  Everything went smoothly, that makes me smile tonight!

Thanks to all that helped to make it go well.

Day 152 Things that make me smile - iPad Collection Bags Complete

Last Friday started the collection of all of IPads from the students.  Part of this process is having labeled bags for students.  Thousands of bags are labeled and organized (thanks to my mom for doing a majority of this this weekend while she was here) ready to go for grades 5-11 and that makes me smile.