Looking forward to a speech summer break…

Today is the last day of speech for both girls..not forever..just for the semester…but they still have the ‘last day of school’ type feeling.  Maybe it’s because it’s their therapists last day?  But either way, we put together a small basket for their therapists.  A small version of the ‘teacher summer survival kit’.

We do appreciate everything they do for our girls. 

Bryleigh’s speech blows us away.  She has come so far in the 1 ½ yrs they’ve been working w/her.  Yes she still needs to attend, but the fact that strangers can understand her is all that matters to me.  I did NOT want to have to worry that there was an emergency and someone trying to help her had no idea what she was saying!

Cadence still has to work extremely hard for her grades, but the therapy she receives at BG…I can’t even place a value on that.  It’s out of this world.  Even now, I get choked up thinking about her 1^st grade teacher telling me how Cadence was always going to be behind and since starting 3^rd grade at her new school, with the help of her last school and this one and BG, she is kicking butt and taking names! 

It’s hard for me to watch her try so hard and sometimes just not get it.  And frustrating too, b/c what is being said makes sense, but not to her.  I always have to step back and take a couple breaths and realize she’s not going to get it like other kids, there are different ways to teach her.

 

BG has been detrimental to both of my girls.  My main concern of Bryleigh’s speech has taken a backseat to my concern for Cadence’s learning disabilities.  Thankfully, we have great communication with the students they work with and the instructors overseeing the therapy.   But, not matter how great therapy is, the girls need a break.  It’s hard for them when they’ve went to school all day, get picked up after and drive straight down for 1 hr of therapy.  And usually it’s on a Friday – so they’re pretty burnt out by then.  But, we truck on and they do it with minimal complaining.

To thank the therapists this semester, we put together a ‘Summer Survival Kit’.

It includes sunblock, lip balm, hair ties, lemonaid packets & a water bottle to put it in, and chewy candy all in a cute little basket.

‘Thank you for a Speech-tacular Semester’  to thank you for your work, please enjoy your Summer Survival Kit'
I scoured the interenet for a cute saying for Speech therapists and found nothing..so when left to my own devices I come up with things like...Speech-Tacular...haha
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher Birthday

Previously, I may have mentioned I do not have any creativity…HOWEVER, it appears I may have a little, tiny bit.
When Cadence said to me, ‘Mom, I’m so sad, I didn’t give Mrs. W a b/day gift or card’, I replied w/’ohhh..when was her b/day?’.  She informs me, ‘Oh – it’s tomorrow.’
This was at 9 pm.  Grrrr…I didn’t know what to get her, I had used all the quick and easy stuff on teacher appreciation week.
We went to Walmart the next morning at 7 am, walking the craft aisles, easy gift aisles, etc looking for something quick and easy.
Then I saw the small wooden letters…since blue is her favorite, I quickly found the blue paint…and some cute ribbon…and next to the ribbon were adorable buttons..
I took it to work to get it done on my lunch.  First I spray painted the W blue.  Then I took an old pencil and put white polka-dots on it…I attached the cute ribbon after it was all dry – super glued the adorable daisy buttons and the end result:


The best part – I can say this was alll me!! 

Teacher Appreciation Week - Thursday

When I found this one on Pinterest, I loved it b/c it was simple and cute..turns out the class was having rootbeer floats on Fri as a treat after their zoo trip...so guess my gift choice was meant to be! And since giving a 6 pk of mini-pop would be weird, I added a bag of m&m's.

Mrs. W, thanks for being an 'AW'some teacher! Love, Cadence

 

 

Bryleigh only attends school 4 days a week, for less then 3 hrs a day.  I still appreciate all she does, ESPECIALLY since she's working w/a class of special needs kids.  I wanted to get her something, so Bryleigh gave her a basket of goodies on 1 day.  4 bags of candy, an insulated cup & the basket it came in..

Mrs. L, Thanks for being so sweet!  Love, Bryleigh

Teacher Appreciation Week - Wednesday

What goes better w/soup then crackers?  Personally, I'm diggin the purple bow from the Dollar Tree.

Mrs. W, you're o'fish'ally the best!  Love, Cadence

Teacher Appreciation Week - Tuesday

This is my favorite gift of the week!  I just think it's so cute...I really wish this was something I had come up with on my own - but again..not that creative!

Mrs. W, Thanks for being 'SOUP'er!  Love, Cadence

Teacher Appreciation Week - Monday

I wish I were more creative and could think of amazing & awesome ideas on my own..

Thankfully, since I cannot, I can turn to Pinterest!  I swear, what did un-creative...increative (?) people do before the internet?

My open letter to Pinterest would go like this:

Dear Pinterest, thank you for making me look awesome!  Sincerely, a mom with no creativity



Mrs. W, Thank you for helping me bloom... Love, Cadence

 

Crayon Letter - teacher gift

Cadence was feeling particularly crafty this weekend and wanted to make something for her teacher. So, as a supportive mommy, I looked up easy crafts for her to do. I found this link for a easy teacher gifts..

First, it wasn't as cheap as this link says - but 2nd, it wasn't easy. Cutting those crayons is actually quite a task. Cadence definitely couldn't do it on her own. She lined up the crayons and took the paper off, but that was all she could really do. It was a mom/kid craft and you can tell..but overall, it was fun to work on w/her!

And her manipulating the crayon layout was a great exercise for her. Both for creativity and to use her fingers.

While I enjoyed making this with her, I know this is a craft I won't ever do in the future.

Until next time.... MSD

Raise your hand if you know a 1st grader!

{insert picture of me raising my hand}
I cannot BELIEVE that my princess has finished kindergarten & will be starting 1st grade in the fall!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Cadence is very excited to be a 1st grader…I’m excited for her – but can’t believe how quickly she’s growing up. I mean, I was just seeing her get on the bus for the 1st time to go to kindergarten & now she’s done there & moving on.

This year has been A LOT of hard work for her. Her screening last March was rough – mostly centering around her speech (or lack of) & if she wasn’t already 5, they would have suggested a interim Kind year.
I was worried & she did receive a lot of extra help. It makes me so thankful to be in this school district. Her speech phobias are practically non-existent (she still has it sometimes) thanks to a lot of therapy (and a wonderful therapist). Cadence flew through the year eager to learn all they had to teach her.

I was and am so thankful for her teacher. What an amazing woman!! I’m so happy to see my daughter move on to 1st grade, but sooo bummed she has to leave her teacher behind.

Ugh…

There were no words to thank her teacher for doing such a great job with Cai. I did what I could by gifting things to her…

We went to Office Max & picked up envelopes, tablets of paper, construction paper, pens, pencils, white out, staples, push pins & paper clips.
We went to Hobby Lobby for a sheet of scrapbook paper with ribbon to match.
We picked up gum at the grocery store, wrote a letter of gratitude, ordered a “Helper Bag” (the helper bag is a bag she sends home w/a different student each week - they get to bring in something to talk about in class)  from Thirty-One, bought a 1 hr massage from Alan, we put together a “Sweetie Bar” jar, bought 2 pretty flowers & put them in a flower pot and finally put it all in a cute basket from the Dollar Store.

With the scrapbook paper, we opened all the pens & cut them to fit – so her pens aren’t boring. We tied them with the ribbon…Cadence insisted on opening the envelopes & pencils as well & tying those with ribbon.
A picture frame, stickers &a small pack of note cards w/F on the front (her last name)were also part of the gifts.

gifts

letter of appreciation

all together

Sweetie in a Jar ingredients

Sweetie in a Jar

Her flowers for her teacher...

Her music, reading interventionist & librarian all rec'd one of these..

The flower for her bus driver, Ms. Mary

the flowers w/their pictures & a note on them saying "thanks for helping me grow"

the gift certificate for her teacher's "Helper Bag"

I was pretty pleased with how the basket turned out & her teacher seemed pretty happy as well!

Cadence is excited to be a 1st grader - I'm just hoping the excitement lasts once school actually begins! She's enjoying her summer for sure. She's doing lots of swimming and having a ton of sleep-overs. The rest of the summer looks to be the same & maybe even some camping!