Hi there! Remember me? My name is Halle. I teach 2nd Grade. AndIamsobusywhenwillsummerbeheresoIcanfinallycatchabreath? Seriously. I have been so absent. It’s mostly because we are house hunting. Still. Still! We found a house. It was the perfect house for us. The papers were printed. All we had to do was go to work, then come to sign the papers. I made sure to bring home my favorite work pen. Then we got outbid. And we couldn't bid any higher. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was tragic. That was almost 3 weeks ago and I still get sick if I really think about it. I know, I know everything happens for a reason, but the little house that almost was seemed like it was built just for us. Well, it was built before we were born, but that doesn’t count. It was still built with us in mind. Then a few days ago we thought we found a pretty decent runner-upper. Until we found out this morning that it’s under contract. This is hard people! What happened to the buyer’s market?!!!! We come home from work {which, as you know, is exhausting the last few weeks} and then we either go out looking at houses with our realtor, or I waste hours upon hours on Trulia and Zillow, then Trulia, then Zillow, then Trulia… I am so ready to find a house, and I hope it happens SOON, and that is the end of that story… Now, on to other important news. We have 15 days left. Yes 15. Our last day is on a Monday. I know, right?!?!? Luckily, this week should go by pretty quickly. We’re off today, and we have our field trip tomorrow {I know, poor planning on our part}. Last year, I was inspired by The Teacher Wife to do a balloon countdown the last week or so of school. We had such fun with it, that I am so excited to do it again this year,only bigger and better! Click the pictures to grab them if you’d like, or check out The Teacher Wife’s here. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but let me elaborate on a few, will you? For Lemonade Day, we’ll be doing activities from my friend Aimee’s packet. I am so excited to do the activities from this packet with my kiddos. Read all about the activities included in this unit here. For Bubble Day, we’ll be using a few activities from Abby’s packet: This looks so stinkin’ adorable. I might be more excited than my second graders will be. For Silly Seating Day the kids will be able to put their desks wherever they want in the room! I’m sure that will be very interesting and not at all a fire hazard. {I kid, I wouldn’t let that happen!} For RACK Day, we’ll be committing some “random acts of classroom kindness” which we did a lot of around Christmas. I plan on doing some baking and letting the kids write notes to various staff members and deliver our goodies. You know smiles and fuzzy feelings all around! I think you can figure out the rest. If you’re still in school like I am, I strongly suggest some sort of countdown. If not for the kids, for your own sanity. As much as I love my kiddos, these last few weeks can DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG. And now to my announcement: I am going to be hosting a weekly summer linky party!!! {I hope you weren’t expecting something more exciting…because I think this is pretty exciting!} I really, really…really, really… hope you’ll join up from week to week to share your favorite things! There’s really no rules, just let us know your favorite things in each category so we can all find new favorite things. Yay!!! I created a schedule of sorts for those of you who like to plan ahead: It starts NEXT Thursday! I hope to see you there! Enjoy your Memorial Day and remember to take time to thank those who defend our country and remember those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom. God Bless America! ~Halle