If you recall from the last video on our socials, we forgot to add lemonade to our dramatic play restaurant corner – a travesty! 🙀How this went completely over our heads beats me. (Which also reminds me to do something about those non-lemony aprons ASAP!)
Backstory: Sometime in January, a group of my girls from Šentjur pointed out we were missing menus for our dramatic play sessions. They nagged and bugged until I caved. While it was group effort on their part with menu offerings, at their insistence my only job was to pencil the calligraphy framework for poshness and presentation, while the colouring in and decorating was entirely their doing.
And we got good mileage out of those menus, we did!
But with each play session, it never occurred to any of us to order a glass of lemonade – what with being surrounded by lemons and what-nots, right up until the end of our last play date in June!
Perhaps it was summer’s heat that bubbled it to the surface, because what’s summer without a cool glass of lemonade, right?
Right! So after racking my brains as to what to do with the 1st batch of campers next week, I figured we’d just go all out and build the entire lemonade stand, goddamit! Why not go for the whole damned building🤷🏽♀️Time to play for real, no more drama!
I had thoughts of even Nara Smithing it and heading out to the woods armed with chainsaws and axes to chop down the tree which we would’ve planted only 5-7 business days prior of course, for wood to construct the wooden crates, but HA! jokes on us, as we already did that last year…💁🏽♀️*yawn*
After having grouped kids according to age for this year’s camp, best getting the younger ones out of the way for starters, it brings with it a whole new challenge as to keeping them engaged, because the thought of dragging 3rd & 4th graders tu pa tam doesn’t necessarily make me want to do cartwheels. It makes all the sense to keep them busy with hands-on projects, and this one in particular, being a fun way to help them practice social and entrepreneurial skills , only this time for real. From set-up all the way to execution, they can learn teamwork, decision-making on how to design the stand, not to mention entrepreneurship and hard work making and selling the lemonade, and responsibility in cleaning up afterwards.
Plus, it’ll be a perfect addition to our classroom dramatic play corner🤗
Attempting to bring this creative vision to life has been no mean feat. Had me running from one home depot to the other all week, searching for the right -sized crates, poles and securing solutions (because ain’t nobody power drilling or hammering down nothing🙅🏽♀️) that will enable us put away and reuse with ease. Then bits and bobs to make it all come together.
It didn’t help that my yellow OCD went into overdrive at the sight of a pack of ridiculously expensive yellow brushes. Even the store assistants advised me to go to Tedi to find cheaper ones, but that’s exactly the kind of negativity I don’t need in my life sis.
💛💛💛💛💛
Today, I concluded that, Slovenia would have had a much higher chance of winning the Euro cup than finding a packet of yellow balloons. I mean, every other colour under the sun existed in Tedi, Kik and Mueller except for a pack of plain yellow balloons. Is there even a God?
Hence, settled for multicoloured ones that’ll have us fishing out the yellows and banishing the rest into some unknown clear plastic container for future use. Win-win, I guess.
Yesterday had me working out the right triangle sizes for banners to cut down on prep time when the kids get into it, after which I punched in holes and strung them up to see how they’d hold up against the wind. 3 holes did the trick.
I know I could probably find and print out some pre-made ones on Pinterest, but why make it so easy for them when we could Nara Smith it from scratch.
It even afforded me the opportunity to practice my free hand lemons, which I might add is not looking too bad. Tisa would be so proud🤗
As I was checking out of Impus with my crates the other day, out of the corner of my wandering eye, these babies stopped me DEAD in my tracks 🫢🍋🍋🍋
HELLO LOVER 😍🍋🍋🍋🍋
Bear in mind that, my 6th graders gifted me with a gorgeous one just 2 weeks ago ( the umpteenth one because I swear at this point, I’ve lost count of how many dispensers I own. ) BUT none of them are plastered in lemons like these, come on!!!! I wish you’d stop judging me. The universe clearly placed them right in my path and meant for them to sit perfectly pretty on our lemony lemon lemonade stand! Can you see it all coming together? Oh, can you?🤗
I have a love-hate relationship with spigot drink dispensers. It’s a clear cut case of getting what you pay for. Of all the drink dispensers I own, the most expensive glass one is the only one that has stood the test of time, but the cheap plastic ones will drip, drippity drip, drip into oblivion … every. single.time. But I believe the camp gods are with me on these ones🤞🏾
Finished the day strong putting together a lemony box to store our earnings.
The plan being to have parents, wards, passers-by, anyone really, come to our stand on the last day to purchase and make us a killing- half the proceeds of which we will donate to an animal shelter or charity of sorts. The other half, the kids and I will split equally amongst ourselves💁🏽♀️ easy peasy, lemon squeezy😎
So, if you’ll be in our neck of the woods next Friday the 12th, do stop by between 12 noon to 4 pm and be a sport! It’d be an absolute refreshing delight!
Looking forward to our fresh start on Monday morning🤗
Alas! The season we’ve all been waiting for is finally upon us! School’s out, the sun- along with the occasional torrential downpour continues to blaze brighter and hotter than ever. The heady intoxicating scent and sizzle of neighbourhood barbecues permeates the senses, and the mosquitoes which belong in hell continue to live freely amongst us and assault our persons. And as such, life goes on. Whether it’s life’s great big bovver boot doing you dirty, or you’re perched on an exotic beach downing dirty martinis, it’s still charging ahead full gung ho!
No better timing than the present to wax philosophical by musing that regardless of life’s curveballs like the weather, ill health, the moon, dire straits, or your idiot ex, everyday the sun is shinning on your face and not on your grave is by far, the most wonderful day that ever was.
For this, gratitude is an absolute must, and libation must be poured (though I prefer to drink every last drop of mine) to whatever deity one subscribes to: Jesus, Allah, Mother Nature, Tito, Mary mother of God, one must always be thankful. *inhales deeply* AMEN🙏🏽*sips* CHEERS 🥂
And now, *proceeds to rant*…
OMFG! The past few days have just been absolute meh! And no matter what I tried to get out of the slump, nothing seemed to be working up until sitting down to pen this post.
It finally reached a climax yesterday after staying up way past my bedtime (This old birdie likes to turn in by no later than 9) to watch the Slovenia-Portugal football match. Never in my life, had I been so emotionally invested in a football game like I was with this one. It had my heart racing, had me cursing like a truck driver, in tears even, and the next morning, cranky as one of those bitches that work in the tujici section of uprava enota.
I then spent the next day- today, as useless as the leader of the free world: A straight up two and a half hours of my life watching TikTok videos 😢(I feel like I’ll need to see the Holy Father and do penance for that one. I’m disgusted at myself🙇🏽♀️) then fell asleep on one of the bean bags in the classroom after 2 cups of strong, black coffee. The second cup took me right TF out. It was brutal. Then I woke up feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, and tried to do some spadework in preparation for summer camp but realised I was fooling no-one , so went home to cook and wolf down an entire small pot of jollof rice and pen this post.
I miss the kids😩our spontaneous mini-dance sessions, most of all were just what the doctor ordered for whatever woe-is-me emotions that tried would try seep through the cracks, rendering me indefatigable for hours on end, and now I have to chase that high by dancing alone in the kitchen🙄and I can’t believe I’m writing this myself either, but the hustle and bustle of running around like a headless chicken, constantly worrying about lesson preps, the sound of printing paper, the daily soul-snatching plight of what to have for dinner, and coming home exhausted to my eyeballs and passing out on the weekends, I miss it all!😭I guess I’ve reached that sweet spot in middle life of just not knowing how to switch off and be present. It’s an old-time classic story: During the school year, bitch, complain and yearn for idle days like these, then when they finally arrive, I want to blow my brains out.
But then, I’ll be reminded of an esoteric teaching or two from some long dead ascended master of spirituality from the far flung east about one’s TRUE SELF and inner peace and lotus flowers and shit like that (mostly Bruce Lee quotes, really) and then all will be well again and sanity restored.
Other times, I’ll take a hot shower, don my silkiest, fanciest robe, a tiara (no, seriously a tiara, yes👑), sit on my terrace and very slowly and intently have a cigarette. Just the one. Try it. (No, not you kids, please!) Works a treat, but not lately.
Flowers always win. If the kids aren’t bringing me some, then I’m buying myself a bunch and it’s an instant pick-me-up!
I visited my friend yesterday, and she cut me these from her garden😍
Božansko or what?! 😍
Going through my phone and looking back on pictures from the last week before school let out for the summer, and all the stuff we got up to, warmed my heart immensely.
Summer plans and buckets lists were the order of the entire month!
Not to mention the tests. Remember the overly dramatic reversed teacher role-playing l mentioned in this post, which I let them indulge in come June? Well, they had a field day shoving test papers in my face, breathing down my neck and happily flunking me at it- the highlight of their entire school year.
Somehow, I couldn’t spell a simple 4-letter word ‘Vlak ‘(Slovenian word for train)😩I will never live that down.
But it was all tempered by the utterly zesty end of year gifts they bestowed me with🥰
Ajla, bless her heart, went and raided her closet and absolutely insisted to her mom that I must have this blouse🫢🥰🍋
My heart, exploding into a tiny million pieces💥💛
Another darling addition to my lemon totes collection.. with a a key holder pouch to match🤗🍋🍋 had me in a zesty spell!
Ulalaaaa came through with pancakes and they were warm, and finger-licking good, and hit the spot , just like they do every.single.time.
Bless this child!🫶🏽
And just this Friday gone, she invited me over to hers for even more pancakes! After which she and her sister presented me these lovely lemon plates with lemon body care to boot. I was over the moon to say the least!
This here teacher is eternally grateful, and I miss my space but most of all, the kids, sorely.
Prep work for summer camp is well under way and it’ll be all systems GO the next 3 weeks during which I’ll be pinning for my bed and idle days again, so ramping up on the summer self care, and soaking up the sun as much as I can.
Haven’t registered your child yet? You can still do so here, as there’s still a handful of slots still available! Summer camps are the best way to embark on adventurous activities- the tried and true tested form of self-care available for kids before September rears it’s big head and they go on to become adults and realise adulthood is a scam😅
For unforgettable memories this summer, I await your young ones with eager anticipation🤗
Do the damned thing and have yourself a wonderful summer!
Fresh off the heels of July camp, tucking right into August camp was a breeze… sort of.
In between, there was an ample 2 weeks to recharge and refocus:
Morning runs chasing that elusive sun like what I’ve come to accept is my spirit animal- the lizard.. (I’ve normally up until this point claimed the leopard but… look I concede defeat. OK? 🙌🏽☀️It’s definitely the lizard🙄😅)
Mnnnnnn.. paše…..👌🏽☀️
Quality time with friends spent relishing 3 of my favourite pastimes: Food, wine, and even more breath-taking views🫶🏽
punishing up-hill hikes and the like…
and before one knew it, it was time to do it all over again.
Somewhere in-between, I’d received sudden heart-wrenching news I had to evacuate the classroom by month’s end before the pre-agreed time of December, so that put a damper on things, which left me sour and agitated with worry, but which honestly, looking back in retrospect, came as a blessing in disguise as I can’t possibly have fathomed moving classrooms in the frigid winter, mid-school year.
So, back in the swing of things we went, and being a firm believer of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” decided to stick with what worked with camp July.
Eye patches at the ready, the campers started off day 1 taking their best shots with the cannon balls
It was a rare honour and privilege to host returnees which gave me the needed confidence boost that I was doing something right. So I tried my best to give the kids the best possible experience even if it meant going out of pocket.
Routining it with breakfast, tidy-up and heading out came easy.. and I’d even broken the news to them that it was our last time together in that space, so we tried coming up with names for whatever new space lay in the horizon, speculating it was time to go big, complete with proper branding, as going back home just wasn’t an option.
Dragi starší, you know your kids don’t look this amused doing dishes at home! You know this! 😅 Send them to me!
Off to the playground we sauntered, with a neighbourhood or two kids tagging along on the way
Hey flier photo, 👋🏽heeey😃
The floor is lava for the win,
hot! hot! hot!
so back round the corner to Gostilna Špulcer for Dobble on steroids on soft cool grass in the shade… a relief!
Picikato, because what was I supposed to do? Cook for them?😳
After which, Špulcer let us earn some cool-down drinks by feeding their cows
Ice-cream finishers,
And next thing you know, it was time to head home
Day 2 brought back Alja, (another returnee from July camp) from the sea-side with a game she showed everyone how to play but no mercy in winning. (The kid is a gifted Slovenian National Chess prodigy at only 7 years old, so… naturally to be expected🙄)
Breakfast, clean-up, and you know how the rest of this story goes….
After which, the kids went absolutely nutters for donuts and a game of…
Off to the woods where we caught up with Nik to prep for the next day’s activity- making bows and arrows..
I don’t know what that tree did to Naj, but it sure got the death it deserved
and if you’re sitting there, judging me, wondering why I’m letting kids run rampant with machetes unsupervised, let me just assure you by letting you know that Nik is the last surviving breed of country boys born with said machete in hand, cruising around in a tractor and/ or performing death-defying helmetless bicycle stunts straight out of the womb. I trust Nik with my life more than with any able-bodied adult and proud to have him as one of my students.
PLUS, he always brings me flowers… so your arguments are falling on deaf ears my friend 🤫
Quick goofy game of fill your pants that wore them right out with giggles
And right back to Špulcer’s to wolf down Picikato because, surely… you didn’t think I was going to cook for them🤨did you?
Half- way through lunch, horses were spotted, so of course the kids had to go A- petting🤗
Scouts honour, I made them wash their hands before heading back to lunch!
And then on the way back to the classroom, a pony was spotted! And whaddya know? We had to go pet some more 🙄
Back in the classroom, Naj and Rok were feeling confident they could take on Alja again, but she destroyed them …every.single.time…and so they conceded to playing each other- under her tutelage of course!
and then finished the day strong with a game of giant Sequence on the parking lot
Kicked off day 3 with a fast and furious memory work game, Grabolo to jump-start their brains for the long day ahead.
A fantastic multi-whammy game that hits colour and shape recognition, not to mention observational and dexterity skills.
Meanwhile, Rok and Naj preferred to get a head-start on inflating the giant burritos for throwing.
A feat we couldn’t even accomplish at July camp with Alex’s even more sophisticated pump
But Rok was unfazed
He huffed
and puffed
and blew that burrito right up😭with Naj tinkering away at the other burrito
in the end, success my friends👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK💪🏽
I was so moved by their relentlessness and determination, I told them they could have whatever they wanted for breakfast, and in perfect unison, they cried out for pancakes!
Well, pancakes they had!
Thankfully, I lived just next door , so tinkering and puttering up and down the stairs I went,
and in less than half an hour, the kids were showing off their flipping skills
and then some…
I too, toss and turn at night at the mere fact that our aprons are not lemon-printed 🙀😿An outright abomination!
and then we tucked right in!
and then off we went, to burrito battle!
But first, a breather….A.K.A any opportunity for the kids to play in my hair😝
That, and there were still those pesky bows and arrows to complete, so the battle had to wait.
More weapons of mass destruction later, and we managed to fell the tree we’d been working on the day before. Not taking all the credit, as nature had assisted us days before with a violent storm that uprooted it half-way. We just came along and finished the job .
then we got down to the business of clipping and sawing and shaving and stringing and what-nots
You betcha’ the girls wanted colourful arrows with glitter and studs and all that jazz🥰 and they had quite literally a field day at it!
Meanwhile, it was all systems go on the other side!
Naj on quality control check,
and Rok was just about ready to steal from the rich and give to the poor
but before you could say Robin Hood, the clock struck noon and we were famished, so off to Špulcer we trotted.
On the way back, the never-ending itch to burrito-battle overcame these two, and they went at it all the way uphill😳
Upon arrival, Špulcer was so gracious to let the girls feed their fish
While the boys absolutely insisted it was battle or nothing.
By the time things had gotten ridiculously out of hands, with the boys realising it was way more fun to kick the burritos around like footballs instead of using as intended, lunch showed up in the nick of time and I could heave a sigh of relief.
Ice cream finishers, and we called it a day- a well spent one🤗
The next day took us out on an early morning hike while the weather was still cool and bearable.
Sometimes, Iva will just about have it with my shenanigans, and she’ll never fail to let me know😅 Alja’s always a trooper!
Don’t we just look like poster kids for the cult classic: Children of the corn ? 😅
En route, the kids spotted an immobile bird and their poor, concerned selves absolutely refused to budge until they were sure it could fly again.
Quick-thinkingDr. Rok insisted it came with us on the hike, lest some predatory animal finished it off
A few minutes later, it took flight, and we were back on our merry way.
We soaked up some more of the gorgeous scenery atop hill, cutting through the woods,
and right back out, by which time, we were parched, exhausted and ravenous.
Absolutely determined not to give Picikato any more of my hard earned money, I marched them right to my home and made them club sandwiches.
May the camp gods be praised🙏🏽nobody died, or ended up in the E.R. or got the shits😳
Seeing that nobody died, or ended up in urgenca or got the shits, I decided to celebrate this fine occasion by letting the kids take a plunger to cool down.
Relax germaphobes and theorists of conspiratorial nature 👋🏽 I had my son re-fill and chlorinate the water hours before we trooped in 😙nobody got bacterial meningitis and had to have a limb amputated
A quick soak in the sun, and then the real water fun began
…and even more water fun💦
Next thing you know, they were hungry again! Jebela cesta, eh!🤯
So, I had to fork out… 😤
I’m starting to think, maybe I should cook this year🤔Ker mislim da to je purely unsustainable, wtf 😳
and then we finished strong with ice cream😋
Come day 5, we were absolutely knackered! We all struggled. Iva came in really late.. so late, she missed out on breakfast. Her mom said she struggled to get out of bed. Rok didn’t even make it out and skipped the last day altogether😅
Plans were to go back to the playground to finish up our archery but the kids just wanted to go back to my place and chill.
So we did just that- grabbed a few games and went off to bake cupcakes and donate some more money to Picikato.
And thus, ended August camp on the sweetest of notes 🥰
And I can’t wait to do it allll over again this year! 🤗
Komaj čakam da se šola konča…I know! I know! I went on and on about it in the previous post and running the risk of sounding like a broken record, AMPAK just four long, dreary but exciting weeks to go, and we can get into the summer groove. No worksheets, no lesson preps at ungodly hours (I in fact ban them from coming in with school bags or notebooks) just days of soaking up the sun, board games galore, and even role-playing games!
Long and dreary because a watched pot never did boil🙄 but super exciting because June is the one month all lessons cease at The Lemon Tree and I give my students the opportunity to finally get their own back at me. Roles become heavily reversed and they get to boss me around playing teacher, trooping in shoving tests and worksheets they’ve painstakingly prepped at home in my face- in Slovene of course! Plus, I get a kick out of watching them go power crazy wielding their preferred weapon of choice- The elusive Red Pen (if they’re lucky enough to find one- no bags, no pencil cases 😈 ) It’s the sweetest thing, really 😇With the second and third graders, I’ll sometimes put down wrong answers and flunk woefully just so they can wear that smirk on their faces.
Even more nostalgic as the month closes in, my little lemons troop in with the most heart-warming end -of-school-year treats that make me bawl my eyes out 😩
If Nik isn’t bringing me flowers, he’s definitely packing a tasty treat!
Ulalaaaa brought a whole picnic basket of pancakes she made at home- by herself! 😱I often wonder what noble deed I did in my previous life to deserve such delights😇
AND a lemon tote to boot!
🍋🍋🍋🍋
Not the first time she’s brought pancakes either, bless her 🥰
Nor the second…
Her sister, Jona will often bring in bits and bobs she’s crafted in art class💚
And dainty little jewellery she knows I adore
The hand- crafted ones particularly hold a special place in my heart
Vid. G. my personal interior decorator, responsible for constantly getting me to move around classroom furniture and sending me links to purchase even more classroom decor , instead of turning in homework.
and on the classroom walls
Sitting pretty 🍋🍋
The most darling would have to be from first fruit and resident artist, Tisa.S, all of whose artwork deserves very special recognition☺️
on the wall … and in my heart 💛
She’s older now and will absolutely go ballistic at her spelling mistakes when she sees this😅
Four years, she’s been scribbling darling little keepsakes
That, and who do you think has been responsible for all those perfect little four-cornered lemons on board?
She, of course!
Now I get all flustered when I don’t see the lemons and will scream blue murder🤬 if a student accidentally wipes them off.
I couldn’t draw one this perfect to save my life!😩 She’s since stopped attending classes after 4 years with me, but she’ll pop in every now and then to say hi with her friends who still attend- just to paint in fresh ones 🫶🏽🍋💛
Flowers are the way to my heart, and my little lemons know this, and exploit this knowledge with reckless abandon, especially in lieu of the dog eating their homework. On my instastories, there’s and entire album dedicated to those cherubic-manipulative -flower-totting faces… arrrghh!! how can one not love them?! The second I spot them through the window, I’m click-click ready📸
On this fine winter’s day in February, after we’d picked some while out for a walk, Nina came back the very next day with another handful😍
Truth be told, engaging with children and creating a magical childhood full of wonder is the noblest mission there is, and I wouldn’t change it for the entire world!
AND now I have to eat my own hat by admitting my that mother was right🙄just this once ( But that’s a story for another post 🙃)
Whoever coined ‘March Madness’ had not an inkling what they were going on about, because ask any teacher, student or parent and they’ll tell you the month of May definitely takes the cake!
Every year like clockwork, come May’s end, students are just doggone tired, parents have had it up to their eyeballs with their second shifts moonlighting as Uber drivers, and teachers, well… I’ll just speak for myself and tell you worksheets hound me in my dreams, the sound of my printer has become nothing short of irritating, I’m surviving on coffee and a prayer, and for the life of me, cannot seem to find a single pen!
(Fun tip: If you’re ever stumped about what to gift a teacher, allow me to speak for all of us when I tell you we just need stationery- mostly pens; red, black and /or blue) No need to break the bank. Anything that won’t fade into oblivion after a few scribbles will do nicely. (Now pencils that just refuse to sharpen is a story for another post. Is it the pencil? Is it the sharpener? Why? Who killed JFK? Was Osama really buried at sea? Why would anyone make erasers that either just won’t erase? Or that will soot up your notes, or just plain rip out the sheet? Questions that continue to hound. Another post my friends)
It’s a real *Kovačeva Kobilasituation in these streets!
WARNING🚨🚨‼️ I might do that…A LOT‼️Swerve completely off-topic and weave Slovenščina into my posts- a necessary side effect of having lived here for 15 years. Specific English words tend to evade me, and coming up with the Slovene equivalent has become a mainstay reflex, causing me to develop my own unique-speak I like to call Slovenglish.
I’ll even go through the trouble of foot-noting the translations – figured it’d be a fun way for you, Dear Non-Slovenian-Reader, to pick up on a few Slovenian words and phrases😌you’re welcome!)
After slogging through worksheets prepping older kids for next week’s final school tests, I was just about wired by the time the 3rd graders trooped in today, and I knew I’d rather gorge my eyes out with a spoon than open another textbook. Were it not for the bi-polar weather we’ve been having lately, I’d have marched them right into the woods for a breather, but it poured- and then some.
Sure enough, I could’ve cracked open any one of their favourite games, but I wanted something different, entertaining, interactive and educational, tailored to their age group. That, and feelings of nostalgia since taking up writing again, took me back to days of yore, when initiative and a shoe-string budget had me coming up with my own games….waaay before I even purchased the first board game.
Enter this life-sized one I spent an entire Sunday afternoon devising.
Huge hit with my first graders , circa 2019😃
A quintuple whammy that tackles shapes, colours, numbers, auxiliary verb question forms and contracted answer forms.
First thing we did was move back the furniture to make ample space, then set the children about the task of laying out the game.
Half-way through, common sense prevailed, and I handed out strips of double-sided tape to secure the cardboard pieces in place, lest one of them slips, falls and cracks their skull open on the cold hard wood floor.
In the meantime, J and I set about pumping the inflatable die.
A right headache that took forever as we soon discovered a hole on the side😩
It did pack a bounce, and the games could actually begin…
for all of some 30 seconds before we had to pause the game and get pumping again🙄
Not forgetting visual cues for question phrases and *kratki odgovors (I did it again. It just sounds better… to me. See footnotes if you will. I’m in this for the long haul😂)
After a while, we just plain switched to good ol’ regular die, ‘cos ain’t nobody got time for that💁🏽♀️
Was all in all good fun and a great photo-op when they all landed on the same spot📸
Serendipity💫✨🌟🍋
The minute class is over and I turn my back for a split second☺️
🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽💛
A great finisher for a long, maddening day.
Even better right after, I got to destroy a group of high schoolers in a game of Dabble😈
…and that’s all folks!
Marching right out of the month of May, may your June shine brighter, come what may!
