Eureka!

To the untrained eye I am sure those two boxes look like absolutely nothing of any significance whatsoever. But to me - they are like gold. Look closely- can you read the labels? The one on the left says "Resource Books and Old Lesson Plans". The one on the right says "Teacher Files - Monthly and Thematic". What these boxes contain is simply irreplaceable.

Those "Old Lesson Plan Books"? That my friends is year and years of my own unique twist on various curriculums. My ideas on how to teach certain concepts. My ideas for extending a lesson beyond the teacher's guide. And they are filled with memories as well. Audrey and I had so much fun looking through the plan book from the year I was pregnant with her. All the mentions of doctor appts. The surprise baby shower. The references to "Baby Albert". She loved looking at the fact that I had read out loud to my class some of the same books I have now read out loud to her.
The "Teacher Files - Monthly and Thematic" - those are years of accumulated black line masters related to so many teaching topics. Things I copied from resource books that were on loan to me or belonged to the school. Copies I got from other teachers. Years of sample craft activities. Years of worksheets and writing paper and book ideas created mostly by me. I even found my football and football helmet stencils, my rules for the Football Math Game I made up and all the story papers that went with my football theme. Because yes, I was the teacher who had kids pick sides and make posters for TX-OU in October and for the UT vs A&M game at Thanksgiving and did an entire week of football related lessons the week leading up to the super bowl. Some of the papers in those files are even my mom's. The folder tabs that are written in red? That's her writing!

I have been searching for these files, papers, books for years! Seriously - I have been looking for them since Audrey was a baby!!! They were moved from my classroom to the house on Avenue F and stashed somewhere where I never could find them. Then they were moved again to the house on Antigua and again buried somewhere. When we moved here I thought for sure they would surface! I was here the day the truck was unloaded giving directions to where everything should go and yet somehow, they ended up in the garage buried under boxes and boxes of David's stuff. (although Allison was only 17 days old that day and David wasn't here to help, so yeah, I was a little sleep deprived and frazzled) David has been diligently clearing out things out of the garage and after 7 boxes were gone he found my two boxes. They had been in the center of a tower of larger boxes and had stuff piled on top of them as well. I am THRILLED to no end to have them back within reach! I can't wait to use some of the things in here for our little "Home-School-Summer-School" and I know they will come in handy again as I lead the 1st grade AHG squad. So, so happy to have them ... so happy .....