Schaalgazing: Matthew at the "States Fair"

What a fun night we had lastnight! Well, Mike and August had to go to August's soccer game, but lastnight was the grand finale to a large project that the 5th graders have to do. Each student gets assigned a state, and Matthew wanted California, but it got snagged up before he could claim it, so he picked South Carolina, thinking that S.C. is where Aunt Jaime lives, so we have ties there. He was slightly bummed when I let him know that Aunt J is actually in North Carolina, but still very excited to do the project. Matthew and I had a great time researching and assembling the project, and we were even the first ones to turn it in. His teacher was highly impressed:-)
So, lastnight the school went all out to decorate outside the 5th grade portables (very nicely, I might add), and the kids were to bring a food that is eaten or tied in with their state. It was a large potluck, with lots of food. There were also many games with prizes, and various other activities, like one portable was playing the movie "State Fair" (or something like that). One room was full of board games. They had a cotton candy and popcorn machine. The idea was to make it like a fair. Well, I was highly impressed with our school! They sure have this event down, and work very hard to make it fun for not just the kids, but the families as well. And as for Matthew's teacher, I am so happy with her!! What a wonderful lady. She is so dedicated to our kids, and it just makes my heart warm and happy! Case in point: She sent an e-mail out a few weeks ago saying that she loves going to her students events, if they would like for her to go. She asks that we send the dates, and she will make the ones she can.....how cool is that!? She is so supportive. LOVE HER:-))
So, back to lastnight, we brought a Hoguenut torte and some brownies as back-up, and just because, and came into a schmorgesboarg of food...Matthew, the girls and I filtered through the line and piled onto our plates what we could, then Matthew lead us back to his classroom to sit and eat. There were many different places where you could eat, but he really wanted to sit in his classroom near his teacher:-) So we went in there and came into a very relaxed atmosphere where everyone was eating and chatting. Afterward, we went into the next portable where all the floats were set up, where we were able to vote on our favorite. I was biased and of course, voted for ours, but there were some AMAZING floats there...I had no idea how crazy people can get (how elaborate) with these projects. Very cool, and I loved that Matthew was so interested in seeing them... so much so that we ended up going back a second time at the end of the night to look at them again, when there were fewer people in the room.
The games were fun, eating was fun, and we were there the full two hours. Matthew had a great time, and so did we!