Important Things

Spending a few hours with 30 of my favorite second graders today. Milk & cookies with Santa & my time couldn't have been better spent.  I feel lucky to get time with these kids. It doesn't take much to break up the monotony & make them happy.

Pilgrims, Indians & Piglets!

I think I still smell like turkey & if I don't then cooking another one will ensure that I do. Yesterday second grade had their Thanksgiving Feast. Who made turkey for 28 kids??? Your looking at her! (Kinda) I was sort of glad to do a pre-Thanksgiving run thru though. The kids put on a play. Pilgrims, Indians, etc.

So cute.

How much did they eat? Holy hell! An 18 pound turkey, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, 5 containers of stuffing, 4 pounds of corn, 34 pies...a gazillion juice boxes & milks- THEN they went to LUNCH!  Seriously amazing amount of food was gone in under an hour. I KNOW that when I help in the class I'm exhausted when done but yesterday was WORK. Constantly a kid at my arm, one in front of me talking & two more arguing and asking me to settle the spat. There were 3 of us on duty and all three of us were in THAT EXACT BOAT the whole time. I finally turned to my friend Jen and said, "OMG this is harder than a marathon today!" and she totally agreed.

So worth it though. So of my best days (still, cuz I've been saying this exact thing for years) are spent with these kids.

Just not feelin it

This morning was the school Halloween Parade. Let me restate, it was the school's last EVER Halloween Parade as our school will close its doors in June. Of course it was raining & of course that did not matter. We walked the 8 blocks anyway, police escort & all. I walked with B's class. That was interesting. Her teacher was out sick. The teachers aide was out sick. One of the other moms that was supposed to be there was out sick. None of us knew each other & in the end I was the only one that knew the kids! And the days planned agenda. And how the teacher normally does thinks. Totally not feeling it & I was the go to person for lots. I didn't forget my camera. I just was too busy to take pics. I got a few on my cell because I thought fast but other than that...zilcho.

Why am I not feeling it? No clue. I just know I went to bed last night with a feeling of dread & the running thought was that I just need to make it til noon today. Why noon? Don't know. I came home to eat, kids are at lunch & then dismissed at 1. I think I'm anxious to not have to be anywhere for a few days which is kind of a joke since there is Halloween stuff all weekend!

Don't know. Just not feelin it. I'll leave you with old Halloween Pics:

(Or maybe I won't. Blogger won't let me add pics right now...I'll do it later)

Jammie Day

Ok, maybe for once they aren't lying & this storm is NOT going to miss us or magically shift direction. I say that & feel it's safe to say it now that the snow has been falling for hours. Yes, I believe it now that I see it. They predict 25 hours of straight snow and from what I'm seeing, I think it could happen. School was canceled last night & I wonder if we'll have any tomorrow. We only have school til 11am & I'm supposed to be there as homeroom mom at 10 for the Valentine's Day party. So THAT is my biggest dilemma of today: Do I need to bake 50 cupcakes or not in time for tomorrow?! I'm armed with my Valentine's Day Funfetti cake, heart sprinkles & Valentine's Day M&M's to decorate- but do I NEED to??

I had two teacher confrences yesterday & they went wonderfully. First up was Em. I've mentioned her tough, drill sargeant teacher. Mrs. C is older & piles on the homework. I have talked to her at the door on various occassions & have come to really like her. I get it, she yells to get control of her class. She pushes them because they really do their best then. She loves the kids & Emmy has thrived with her. Emmy was ready to be pushed this year. She wanted it & in return she gets great marks. Straight B+'s because as her teacher claims, in the 2nd quarter, they don't deserve A's yet. They haven't mastered 2nd grade. So she gets mostly 100's & is reading at just under a 4th grade level. I asked what area to help her in & Mrs. C said, "Honestly, she works hard & she needs help with nothing. Just do whatever you are doing because she is amazing & a joy to have.".( We also discussed next year & how I'd like her to have Bri. B is a fab student now, much better than Em was last year so I think B would do great with her as well. She told me she'll check the school's policy about requesting & put a request in for B next year.) Music to my ears.

Then I went on to see Tracey, Bri's teacher. You know, the one whose class I constantly visit?? I love Tracey to pieces. She's a year younger than me & has 4 kids of her own, the oldest being 8. She is in the trenches with me & gets it. And she loves her class. OMG you walk in & just feel it. The kids loves her just as much. So I walk in & up on the projector/smartboard is a huge pic of B from the Pumpkin Patch. She had just slide down one of the slides built into the mountain, popped out the opening & Tracey got the absolute joy on her face. I looked at it & my heart melted. She told me she had to show it to me & will FB it over to me as well. We commiserated on how B is the sweetest thing ever. The first thing she said is, "She is always happy, like, EVERYDAY happy. I love her so much & I'm so glad I have time with her." I'm so glad that people see her as I do because I always say, B is a rainbow. I'm glad she is like that with everyone. Her confrence was a breeze. A string of tests, reviews, Vocab assessments, etc. that were 100's or 95's. No more than one wrong on anything. Her report card is a string of A's. We wrapped up with me coming in next week to do a solar system project. I get to introduce it to them because then it's their next science chapter. Have NO idea what I'll do but I get to spend time with them :)

It's 10am and I think Valentine pancakes are calling.

Cupcakes

I have to admit, I'm glad my kids were sick this week & not next. We're on a long weekend, no school Monday. Then it all gets crazy. Tuesday-Thursday school is out at 11am because of teacher confrences. Friday & the following Monday, no school. Next Thursday morning is their Valentine's Day parties & being a homeroom mom means I'm in B's class all morning. I'm bringing a cupcake tower so I'vebeen collecting cupcake ideas all week. I'm going to do the Valentine's Day Funfetti cake (Red Velvet for the batch that stays home) & I want to decorate them all differently.

Some ideas:

Fleeting Thoughts

My kids are sick with the same creeping crud that every other kid in B's first grade class seems to have. Cough, sore throat, sinus headache. The weather isn't helping here at all. 20 degrees one day, 52 degrees today. It might be rain it might be black ice, who knows?! But they felt like crap today & I suspect they'll be home tomorrow. I figure its better to give them tomorrow rather than send them to school only to be called halfway thru about fevers. They missed my best friends' sons' (got that?) birthday pool party today. I was bummed for them & bummed for myself because I wanted to go.

That's another thing, the birthday parties! There have been SIX in the last 2.5 weeks of January!! WTH?? I told the girls we had to pick & choose. 6 is a bit much don't you think?

Another BFF has reconnected with her firstlove. I mean, they dated at 15 and haven't seen each other in 20 years. Until last night when he was at her house to reconnect & yes, there were sparks! Thank Facebook.

I am trying to stop replaying the crushdriver stuff in my head. Trying. I'm supposed to see him Tuesday so... we'll see what happens.

I have to play Homeroom mom twice in the next 2 weeks. On the hundreth day of school there is always a big celebration. B needs a 100 of something project done & then I'm in her class half the day to help out. Also in there on the 5th because it's Miss Ruby day. I need to come up with a Valentine's Day craft to do with them. I'm thinking I'm going to do cupcakes for them. A tower of cupcakes but all decorated differently for Happy Heart Day. The project has me stumped though. I guess I need to go wander around Michael's until it clicks.

B's artwork today:

Bug-ology

So the new school year is off to a flying start. My oldest is doing okay. My seven year old seems to have retained every bit of everything she learned last year and is spitting it out into this years work with ease. My little one, Miss B. started first grade this year. She is now being introduced to all day schedules, vocabulary words, spelling tests and reading out loud on a daily basis. In other words, the tough stuff! REAL school! I requested to be a homeroom mother for Miss B's class. I thought it would help her with the big changes and I really wanted to do something extra for her. Last year was filled with struggle for her sisters. One struggled with school while the other battled a six month illness that disrupted out lives on a daily basis. Both of these situations required extra attention and all the while, Miss B was thriving. I figure fair is fair, now it's her turn for something extra.

So I waited. Crossed fingers. Wondered who I'd have to bribe or knock off to get a coveted homeroom mother spot. I WANT to be in that classroom. I WANT to positively influence these kids. That should count for something and ultimately, it did. I nabbed a spot. I attended Back To School night and signed up for what is known as Friday Families- or something like that. In a nutshell, a different parent comes into the classroom on the first Friday of each month to do something. An art project, storytime, whatever. Entertain them, bring a snack and your a godess. I signed up for February. Why February? My girls love Valentine's Day so I knew Miss B would want me there to do something special for that holiday.

A few days after Back to school Night I asked Miss B's teacher if she wanted me to come in sooner. I realized not many appeared to be signing up so I figured I could help out before February, right?! As luck would have it she does need someone, for October. She asked me to think it over and think I did. Okay, I can do something for Halloween. Read a Halloween story, make cool cupcakes. Easy. Miss B will be happy, her teacher will not have to wait until November for a parent to show up and I'll be comfortable with this group of kids early in the year. Good plan.

The next day as I'm picking up Miss B I tell her teacher I'm in. She was thrilled. Thrilled. So was I until this sentence fell out of her mouth:

Great! We are studying bugs and that is the last full day before our Bug Hunt field trip so if you can do something on bugs it would be great!

Oh. Kay. Bugs. Bugs?! I have three girls and for the most part we are in agreement, bugs are for "smelly boys" (a phrase coined early on by Miss B). I walked away from the school thinking, "Oh crap!! Bugs!! Yuck! I can't..." Knowing all the while that I have to pull this off because I can not let Miss B or her teacher down. The snack is easy. Dirt cups. Pudding cups with crushed Oreos and a gummy worm on top. As for the activity or story, I'm still at a loss. Google, Barnes and Noble and Borders all will be my best pals until I figure it out and boy do I need to figure it out soon! I have five days to put something together to throw down the first grade parental gauntlet. More importantly, I need to help make 20 six year old kids glad that they came to school that day.

I'm studying my "Bug-ology" as Miss B calls it, reminding myself that help is doing what is requested, not just doing what you THINK is a good idea!