A party and a baby

Friday was a festive day at school. It was the last school day before Valentine's so we celebrated that day. We are in the middle of TAKS season so we couldn't do a whole lot. As a kid, Valentine's Day was such a fun and memorable event at school that I couldn't deprive my students of its pleasures. When I was a kid, we decorated elaborate little mailboxes to store our valentines. I didn't let the kids decorate boxes but they did exchange valentines and make a valentine craft.

It's fun to be a teacher at Valentine's. I enjoy candy and the kids give me tons of it. Not a bad deal at all! Luckily I didn't get too many stuffed animals this year. It's always hard to know what to do with the stuffed animals I get. I would regift them to other kids in my class but I fear that the gift giver would get his or her feelings hurt. My favorite valentine was a Homies valentine. For those of you not familiar with the finer things in life, Homies are these miniature Mexican people figures that you can get for 50 cents from one of those machines that give you the clear plastic eggs. I am not sure who came up with these things but they are hilarious! It is funny because a lot of the parents at my school resemble these homies. You should google them. Anyway, they have homies valentines and I got one! Yay!

I ate so much candy on Friday. I have gotten into the habit of eating candy at school throughout the day as a mood booster. When cramming for the TAKS test, I need a little pick-me-up. I guess I need to start keeping fruit or something in the room or I will soon be 300 pounds. Our school sold balloons, pencils and little teddy bears. My kids bought a ton of it. The school accidentally bought some balloons with turtle cartoons on them implying that the turtles were getting it on. It was funny to see the vice principal trying to snatch the offending balloons out of the confused kids' hands.

After my sugar fest, I hung out with school friends and then went to my parents house for my first solo babysitting gig with my nephew, Samuel. My parents and Sam's parents went to a play. It was kind of reminiscent of all the babysitting I did in high school. Sam is only three months old and is a little high maintenence. He is fine as long as you are holding him and sometimes only if you are dancing around with him. He was good at the beginning of the night and let me dress him like a thug. I put a Nike onesie, hat and booties on him and had a little photo shoot. Unfortunately I don't have the pics to post because I used his parents' camera.

Later he would only sleep when I was holding him. He would wake up every time I laid him down. I spent the last hour of babysitting watching TV while Samuel slept in my arms. I can't wait until Samuel is old enough to appreciate me for more than my strong arms and dancing ability.