Ta-Da!!!!

My tree is finished!

I totally had to delegate the leaf making to my mom....I just had so many other things that I needed to work on to get ready for my kiddos.  I told her I wanted the leaves to be whimsical...but not like the palm tree from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  I purchased about 4 1/2 yards of two different shades of green felt and she brought her needle and thread and went to town.  The grass is just that "fake" grass carpet you can get at Home Depot.  I love it!  I think the kids are going to be totally pumped!  Here's a couple of close-up pictures:

Mom folded the felt in half so that we could cut two leaves at the same time.  
She then stitched "some texture" onto the fold.

The leaves were super easy to drape onto my funky branches.  She also made a leaf to fit around/on top of the trunk of the tree so it would look more realistic.

View from my door.

Gosh I love those limbs!

As I was cleaning and going through piles this week, I found a little STUFFED mouse that I thought would look cute on one of the branches.  I also found a caterpillar...he's in there somewhere too!

While mom was working on the tree, I was still organizing and labeling things.  Every time I turn around there's something else that needs a label!  I worked hard and consolidated my seven piles of piles into one pile!

One table of things to be laminated...

And one area full of storage containers...

Which reminds me...I went to the Family Dollar store and found these awesome wired baskets with handles FOR A DOLLAR!

I am totally in love with them!  I bought four white ones to store my cassette and CD players for the kiddos to use when they're listening to stories and I bought four red ones to store...well just about anything else!

I'd love to post pictures of the rest of my classroom but it's just not ready yet!  I'm aiming to have everything finished by Monday evening so that I can enjoy my last day of summer on Tuesday.  Our district and building staff days start on Wednesday!!!  Summer flew!  Oh!  And my final two principalship classes start on Wednesday too!  Busy week ahead!