March Fave Fives #2

 It's Friday!!

Actually, it's Thursday evening which is the only time I have, to do this meme.  So...I am posting early.  But by the time most of you read this and/or participate in Susanne's weekly fun, it will be Friday :)

THANK YOU, SUSANNE for hosting this each week (and a personal thank you for your friendly emails to me this past week!!)

 

These M&M Easter Eggs.

I fill a little pink dish every spring, 

with little treats for the girls to nibble on

while doing homework after school.

Usually they grab some crackers or fruit/yogurt

but in the spring, I like to surprise them with little goodies

to add to their after school snacks.

Amazingly, this bag has lasted more than 5 days!

These little green shoots from one of my tulips poking up through the ground!  I first noticed these on Tuesday afternoon when it got up to about 54 degrees here with a cloudless blue sky and a warm, full sun!  Halleluia....Spring has sprung here in the Capital Region of NYS!   Tulips are my favorite flowers after lilacs so  I am thrilled that some of the bulbs made it through the winter (last year I lost several to the rabbit who lives under our deck!).

It wouldn't be a Fave Five if I didn't mention at least one food I've enjoyed during the last week!

I just discovered these delightful, baked crackers. They happened to be on sale at Target this week PLUS I had a coupon!  Love when that happens....especially for a new item.....I like them because they are a better choice than some other snack foods like corn chips, coconut M&M's or ice cream that I tend to indulge in from time to time.  And these are super-tasty! I bought the Four Cheese Italian Herb ones.  The cheeses are 4 of my faves:  Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and Cheddar! There are no preservatives in them and only 3 grams of sugar!  I have enjoyed them this week as a light, late lunch with fruit and cheese and also as a late night snack while watching my television show (Law & Order:SVU).  And at $3.49 for a box (not the sale price), you can't go wrong for this much healthier choice of snack food!

This Ethiopian Bunna (coffee, in Amharic, the language spoken there) and card.  This surprise package arrived in the mail from missionary friends of ours.  We first met them at our  church and got to know each other through Facebook as they are now living in another area of the East Coast, waiting to go back to serving in Ethiopia!  Lynda happened to learn that my husband and I love coffee....GOOD QUALITY coffee...and she saw some comment on Facebook that my husband had posted about needing more coffee.  So she surprised us with this treat!  As soon as I opened the bag, I was hooked!  The aroma is strong but once I ground some of the beans, and brewed the coffee, I realized that, although the aroma is strong, the taste is actually rather more mild and smooth than what we normally drink.  I don't need much added skim milk to it nor do I need extra sugar.  It is a delightful coffee!  So...many thanks to Lynda and Tom for the bunna!!

My last favorite moment I want to share with you is one in which I cannot show you a picture (due to confidentiality laws) but one in which I want to tell you about because it is truly a favorite moment!

For the last 3 years, I have been teaching in an Inclusion Kindergarten in my daughters' public school district.  I am in a different elementary school from my youngest and because Claire is a 5th grader, she has met this little boy on the last 2 "take your daughter" to work days.  His name is Drew and he is the first Down Syndrome child that she has met.  Well, 2 years ago, when I first met Drew, he was a 5 year old and non-verbal.  His motor skills were adequate and his receptive vocabulary was near age level.  An Inclusion Kindergarten is made up of some special needs students and the rest are typically developing at age level or above.  Well, Drew, over the last year or so, has become a bit more verbal with lots of help from speech therapy and equipment that is computer generated.  This past week, while we were all saying the Pledge of Allegiance, he very clearly said "America"!!  This is HUGE, friends, because typically, he has only been able to say one syllable words.  Sometimes he can say words with 2 syllables.  So....YAY for Drew!  We are all proud of him and his friends are so happy he is talking more!  This is his last year with us, as 3 years is max plus he just turned 7 so.....hopefully during the rest of this school year, he will add even more words to his expressive vocabulary!

That's it for me.....I have a fun weekend ahead.  My husband is chaperoning the junior high retreat and my daughters and I have special "girl stuff" planned.

Whatever you have planned for the upcoming weekend, enjoy and relax!

God bless you!!