I know they're yours, but they feel like mine too.

We have less than a month left together and it's a strange feeling. Sure, I enjoy time to recharge, connect with friends and family and get some work done around my home in the summer, but I love my students and will miss them very much.  

Sometimes after school, I have to rush and get somewhere else. Groceries, appointments, you name it, I'm just like you...the to-do list never ends.  

But other days, like today, I can stick around the room for a while, savor the silence and get some chores of my own done.  If you're really quiet, you can almost hear their voices and the buzzing of activity and giggles.  

When I look around this classroom, I realize what a family we have become. I realize that this room really is just like our home away from home.  

We have a kitchen. 

We have a family room.

We have toys and games and lots of food.  

We have a MASSIVE backyard.  

We have lovely plants, a fridge and as of today, an iron, because well, you just never know.

And like all families, we have our own little inside jokes. We apologize when we make mistakes and we have a sense of humor when our technology is refusing to behave. We have chores to do and routines to follow. We celebrate and eat together. We laugh together and we get quiet together when we're thinking hard about sad things.  We share stories and take care of each other, and we get that some days just stink and we do our best to plug through and try again tomorrow.  

I will miss this little group very much.  I started off saying that I know they are yours, but they really do feel like mine too.  

It's time to go home now; to my other home, so to speak, but I'll be smiling the whole way. And when I tell Mr. M my "happy thing" from today over dinner, as always, it will start with, "Paul, they're just such nice kids."