Safety first

Jacob's school bus

Emily's been practicing for the "baptism song" for Alayna

Tara was reccomended to be a "safety" this year. She is doing a great job of getting all 4 of us out the door at 5 minutes to 7am so that she is ON TIME everyday. She's stays after school until 3:10 too. She told me on Thursday ,"being a safety is really important to me." She's doing great AND keeping up with her school work so far.
The girls started cross country. After a long conversation and a promise not to quit no matter how hard it gets....Emily and Tara both joined. This means running alot after school for an hour on Mon. and Thurs. and then meets on Tues. nights.
The first day Tara said, " I thought I was going to die"....oh, I said, "Like you were going to throw up? or your sides and legs hurt?" NO! she proclaimed. "I really thought I was going to die!" Emily took a drink, walked around a bit, stood in front of the fan at home and then got in the shower. After all that trying to cool down...an hour later she said ...."LOOK, my poor red face is still glowing...it won't stop." It definately will be an adjustment but, after the second practice they both said it was easier ...and a "little" fun.
Jacob and Daddy spent Saturday morning at Lowe's building this school bus with a chalkboard top....he loves building!

first day of school

Oh, this week has flown by! Of course last weeks'inservice days helped us by getting up just a little bit earlier and slowly make the adjustment to early mornings. I am working again in the special ed pre-k class part time. It looks like it should be a fun year with a relaxed environment and sweet kids. The first day we had 3 (staggering starting days)...after about 20 min of crying one kid threw up about 5 times....cried and cried. I had to clean him up since our teacher is 5 mo. pregnant and was getting nauseous by the smell. GREAT! Welcome back to preschool.
T, E and J all love their classes. I've met all the teachers and we are ready for some fun and some learning and maybe a dash of stress and throw in a bunch of extracirriulars...and we are off!
I feel really blessed to be a stone's throw away from the kids for 1/2 a day. I'll be doing REFLECTIONS this year for PTA...so far I have avoided signing up for class parent in any class. I will participate where needed but am keeping away from the "head" job. I'll be volunteering in the library on Weds. and the girls are going to start cross country tomorrow. T is now a safety.... a special priviledge given to students recommended by their teachers to help around the school before and after school. Her morning post is in the 1st grade hallway and afternoon 2nd grade hallway. She gets to tell the kids to stop running and direct those poor little lost souls whose parents have dropped them off and they can't remember where to go. In other words, she feels like she now "rules the school"....well, maybe not rules but "helps control".
I was also called as a primary teacher for the 8-9 yr. olds. this week. Kids are great. As I asked what they would ask for if they could have anything from the Lord, one said...."I want a SR-17 Blackbird," another said "I want a chainsaw" another said "I want my own mall." Good lesson to refer to Solomon's answer of wisdom.

A quick trip to Nashville

Heidi Tyler and kids were traveling through Tennessee....so, we went to visit. Jacob and Gene stayed home , so, it was just a "girl's weekend" and a fun slumber party. We had dinner, a swim and "pass the pigs" game. Then slept as much as we could, breakfast, swim again and lunch at Ruby Tuesdays...and then said good bye 'til next time (hopefully next summer). Tara and Danya are good buddies and Danya encouraged Tara to jump into the pool from the side (and the DEEP end)-only 5 ft. but still!
She did great. It's so good to find friends that encourage you to do "hard things".
Thanks Danya! Emily is always happy to be in the presence of another Emily. The funniest part was Caleb (age7) after spending hours with us...at breakfast said "oh, are you the guys who had those screaming balloons and the fireworks? I remember you!" It's fun to see those lightbulbs go on. We love the Tyler family and wish you were closer!

Braces

Well, call it a little crazy if you must...but, I think it's great.
All three kids got braces on today. Tara's teeth are just plain crooked.
Emily has a large gap due to an abnormal frehnum (that will need to be cut)...and jacob has a tongue thrust which is pushing all front teeth forward and his speech isn't getting better because he doesn't have that barrier.
So, we decided to get all of them done at the same time.
They were smiling this morning, but we will see how that changes by tonight.

The Bagpipes

Gene has been taking lessons for the bagpipes since last September. He has been playing on the chanter....and he just received his "real" pipes this month.
They have quite the sound.....it's amazing. I think it takes several hours to break in the reeds...and then he can uncork the drones. Very exciting.