the paquettes

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all my teacher friends out there!  I’m not just saying this because I used to be a teacher (well maybe I am!), I believe being a teacher is the second hardest job in the world-second only to being a mother!  🙂  Imagine having a hard day as a mom with your kids.  Tough right?   But maybe you can just pop in a movie and close the play room door and tell them “mommy needs a break.”  Well teachers sometimes have a tough day times 10 (2 kids x 10), plus all the kids are the same age BUT with very different abilites on the way they learn and behave.  Then throw in paperwork such as turning in lesson plans, progress reports, report cards, individualized education plans for children with special needs, behavior plans, testing reports…   Don’t forget the pressure from parents, the principal, and the state to be at your best every day!

So to show our appreciation for Rilyn’s teacher, Ms. Kerley, we are inviting her over for dinner tonight!  Rilyn is over-the-moon excited!    We bought her favorite dessert, drink, and favorite flowers (thanks to the PTO who handed out papers with each teachers favorite things on them).  We love Ms. Kerley and I just really appreciate her organization, routine, gentle spirit, and love for her class.

Here I am at my first teaching job out of college!  Teaching 3 year olds at Carver Early Childhood Center in Bryan, Texas.  Can you tell I look exhausted?!?  (And those high waisted pants with short shirt combo wasn’t working for me!)  In this picture it is teacher appreciation week and each child brought me a flower that day!  You can see my beautiful bouquet in the middle!  That was a very hard year for me, but days like that make it all worth it!

May 2002

Rilyn’s kindergarten class picture!