1) To clean our new house. My mom always had a clean house but when you move furniture and see baseboards, everything could use a little love. Our moms were a huge help and even our dads pitched in. We cleaned the whole house (baseboards, fans, bathrooms, etc) and then tackled the basement. I was amazed how good the basement looks and of course, realized after the fact I should have taken before and after pictures. But believe me, it looks great :)
2) The elementary school I attended, Terrace Park Elementary, is being torn down for a bigger and more advanced school. Although there is something very special about a building that has been there since 1913, it is time for something more up to date. An addition was put on in the 1950s which never seemed to flow with the old brick building so it will be nice the new elementary will all look like it belongs.
The girls were excited to see the school where I went, my mom went, and my Great Grandma taught. My 6th grade teacher, Mr. Fleckenstein (not surprising, we called him Mr. F), is retiring so it was great to see him. I was his first 6th grade class there and what was the first thing he ask me? How old am I. When I said I was 32 he said that did make him feel old :) He was probably my favorite teacher of all the teachers I had, and I feel very blessed that he loved his job so much.
I also used this time to take pictures of the school before it is torn down. I ran into classmates of mine who I hadn't seen since high school graduation. We have fun reminiscing about our elementary years. What is very unusual about our school district is you go to school with most of the same people Kindergarten through your Senior year; families rarely move away. So we have lots of blackmail if needed :) Being back home is just plain comfortable. No, I don't know many people there anymore, but I know it is going to be a perfect move for us.
Here is the elementary school.
It is very picturesque--kids ride their bikes to school and at lunch time, you often see Moms & Dads having picnics with their kids.
Although blurry, Mr. F and myself.
Gosh, he was a GREAT teacher!
I didn't want to put this on here other than to make you chuckle.
See that hottie in the neon pink shirt, poofy hair (somebody needed a flat iron) on the top right?
Yep, that's me.
The year is 1990. Wow!
Our lockers outside the 6th grade classroom
Ella sitting at my desk in Mr. F's room.
You can see the character of the building in this picture:
The old desks, the large windows, huge baseboards, real hardwood floors (creaking and all)
At my old desk (and based on its appearance it probably is the exact same desk....lol)
As the new elementary school goes up, classes will all be moved to trailers.
I have to say, I was shocked that the trailers were so nice.
Although I know the kids would rather be in a building, for the next year they will be in a series of trailers. If you haven't seen one of these "trailer parks", they are really cool. I thought each trailer would be separate and kids were just "stuck" in one all day unless they went outside. But there is a hallway that connects all of the trailers and even one larger trailer for the cafeteria.
Stan and Dean walking Laney to the playground
She wasn't so into this school stuff
The building in the background is the "newer part" of the school (and my third grade classroom)
This was my music room.
Now it is a 5th grade room.
My Kindergarten room
It is still a kindergarten room but it has been split into two different K rooms.
Our desks were in rows in Kindergarten but now the kids sit at circular tables.
I have so many memories in this room (using these huge headphones to listen to books on tape, learning to write my name, looking out the huge windows, seeing Sarah E pee on the floor by the door...yeah, those are what I remember).
Although I didn't take any pictures of our new place or my parents' new place, I got a few from their deck (thanks mom for loaning me your camera for the weekend):
Through the trees you can see Grandpa Mike & his side kick following (Matthew)
Laney & Grandpa Mike looking for fish.
Although we are exhausted we got a lot accomplished.
Thanks again to our parents who helped us!
2 comments:
What a neat building! It's too bad they have to knock it down, but I understand that they need something more modern. The building reminds me a little of the school I went to- St. Lawrence. It was built in the 40s I think and seemed ancient when I was in school! :) We had old desks, too, but not quite as old as those. We even have a desk because when they replaced the old ones they gave them away.
I did my student teaching in a portable and I loved it! We didn't have a hallway, but we felt like we were in our own little world. We could be as loud as we wanted to be. It was fun!
I'm glad you got stuff done at your new house. I know how exhausting it can be to do a deep clean! I try to clean baseboards and under furniture once a year but I'm sure if we were to move there would still be cleaning to do. It must feel nice to get that done!
I know you are anxious to move, but I hope the time doesn't go too fast. I'm sure when you look back these next few months will seem like they flew by! Hopefully we can get together a few more times before the big move! :)
great blog posting!
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