Numana

This morning Madi, Riley and I went to church at 8am to help a group called Numana.  They provide food and water for the starving in Africa.  Our church had them bring a team to help lead us in packaging food.  We signed in and then got beautiful head covers to wear.  :)  I mean, hairnets :)

We were told to stand in a line and they waited for a minute until there were fourteen of us.  Then we went into the sanctuary.  There were many, many tables set up in factory lines.  We were sent to Table 1.  Everyone was given a certain job by the person in charge of our table.  It went like this:

Gather bag, scoop beans, scoop rice, scoop soy, add vitamin, weigh bag, set in container, seal bag, press items in bag flat and stack two high over 18 rectangles, package 36 bags into box and seal box - then yell and hoot and holler and cheer once box was ready to send!

The kids had to be on the end where we were pressing the bags flat and stacking them high.  Madi wasn't too happy about this at first and wanted to scoop the food.  She didn't want to press them or stack them.  I told her that every job was important and that no matter where they needed us, we were there to help get this food to the people who needed it.  Everything we did today was meaningful and purposeful and important.  She didn't complain after that for the rest of our time.

Madi got really into it after a few bags.  She was smiling and enjoying herself.  It was a little bit hard for Riley to press the tough soy down and the beans, but she did really well.  Madi got to help seal the bags for a while and then helped press the bags down and organize them on the chart on the table.

Each bag feeds six people.  Totally amazing because it is about the serving size Jeremy and I would eat just the two of us for dinner.  The goal was to serve 600,000 people and create 100,000 bags.  They had scheduled for it to take 4 hours, but they said we finished in record time in only 2 hours.

Ready to start!!

Organizing bags

Getting ready to flatten her bag

Small bag feeds six people for one meal

Kids were able to draw and write messages on the boxes

Madi is sealing the bag while the lady holding it is stretching
(so glad she can't see this picture - she wouldn't like me very much
for posting it -hahahha)

One of Riley's drawings on the box

The entire time we were packaging, there was worship music playing, someone explaining what exactly the meals do, talking about starvation in Africa and how Numana plays a part in helping.  There was a gong that was hit after we reached every 10,000 bags.  Sometimes we reached it by 20,000 bags so quickly that they just skipped some.

About halfway through, Madi said "I want to do this again next year!  I feel so good helping."  I told her we'd try to do it again if they had it and that she absolutely should feel good about helping - she was doing an awesome job!

At the end, I bought two tshirts.  She's really excited to be able to wear to school on Monday and share about her experience.  We talked tonight about what an awesome thing it was that we were able to use our time and do simple tasks that will help so many people.  Was a really great way to look outside ourselves.  And such a fun day!!

23 more days

School is almost over.  Amazing!  And that means one more daycare payment for two children and this is just a total miracle.  And one of the best feelings ever!!

Madi had a good week.  To be honest, I can't remember too much of it.  Riley was sick on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday with fever.  So she was home from school on Wed.  Madi had STAAR tests on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Said she feels like she did a great job (and I have no doubt that she did!!)

She got her report card and had all A's again!!!  She's doing fabulous!

Tomorrow Madi, Riley and I will be going to church from 8-12.  We'll be packaging food for a group called Numana.  They deliver food/water to starving people in Africa.  It's awesome that it's something that the girls can do with me.  Gives all of us a chance to give some of our time to give to others.  Great lesson for sure.  And should be a lot of fun!!

On Sunday, we'll be celebrating Riley's birthday.  Very low-key.  No birthday party with friends this year.  She'll bring donuts for her class on Wednesday which will be fun!  Instead we're basing the birthday on the book "Tea for Ruby."  Ruby is invited to have tea with the Queen.  The Queen sends her an invitation and then Ruby arrives to find that the Queen is Grandma!

So my mom sent her an invitation in the mail to the princesses (Riley and Madi) inviting them to tea with her.  The four of us will go down to the American Girl store to have lunch there.  And then Riley can pick out her first American Girl Doll.  She has no idea and it should be lots of fun!  (not to mention more economical than the parties we looked into at other places... yikes!)

Pajamarama!!

This weekend has been really great.  Madi spent Friday night with my parents and stayed up until 10pm watching Avatar and hanging out.  She went down to Jeremy's work all day Saturday with him and got to read and play games.  Today we went to church this morning, she played some WOW and played with the girls and I in the playroom.  Then we went back to church at 4:30 for Pajamarama!!!

We got matching pjs, slippers and necklaces for the event.  Very bright and themed to go with the party.

It was a "trip through Candyland."  There was literally candy everywhere!!  And tons and tons of it.  There were tons of stations as well where you could make your own bracelet, magnets, get your hair done with glitter, tinsel, into braids and colored streaks.  You could also take pictures in a photo booth, shoot hoops with a nurf gun, eat at the tables, get your nails painted.  And then the kids area was jamming with music videos from Camp KidJam and had hula hoops and jump ropes.

The food was awesome!!  There was a large area set up with finger sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, cookies and popcorn.  Then there was a large area in the middle of the foyer set up with a candy bar.  There were at least 15 different kinds of candies in open jars.  Everything from skittles to butterfingers to ring pops to bubble gum to m'ms to sour worms and all sorts of other things.

There were many door prizes.  I told Madi that I had yet to go to an event at church where I didn't win something.  Became a joke last year because I won something every time and the one time I chose not to take a raffle ticket, I ended up winning the most Bunkos for the entire group of 30-some women.  So there you have it...

Madi and I were a little nervous going in.  We weren't sure what everyone else was going to wear and we were in very bright clothes and slippers.  They had a devotion and worship time at the beginning.  Then told us to go have fun and that there would be people stationed around who were looking at all the pjs to see who should win the Pajammy Awards.  They'd already been scouting around and watching us as we entered.  There were tons of cute pjs and several moms who had dressed like their girls.  There was even another mom and daughter who wearing the same pjs we were which was funny.

The Pastor's wife, Rebecca, saw us and immediately motioned for us to come over and told us we were a Pajammy Finalist.  So after we did all the fun stuff, everyone came back into the sanctuary.  They had us all come onto the stage.  We had to walk across the stage and stand in line on the stage.  Then they told us that we had all won Pajammy Awards.  Madi and I won for the most matching.

Our Pajammy Award!!!

The award was a barbie in pjs with a pole up her back.  She is standing on a small boa that is on top of a gold trophy.  I was like "Hey Madi!  We won something!  That's awesome!"  She was like "Yea.  A Barbie.  On a trophy."  I'm like "No - it's a Pajammy!!"  She was like "Umm... yeah.  It's a barbie.  And she looks freaky."  (Which she totally does - have never seen a barbie quite like this one... hahahaha

But it was a lot of fun!  We got our nails done, got tattoos on our hands (the water ones), she got glitter and tinsel in her hair, we ate some candy and took a ton of candy home, made some magnets, and had plenty of fun!!

With her friend Skylar

The whole event lasted three hours.  So now to getting ready for bed and getting ready for Monday.  Madi has STAAR testing on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  Reading and Math.  I'm sure she'll do great!!!

Madison and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ever heard of the book "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?"  This little boy has all these things go wrong - the shoe store only has white shoes in his size and he wants blue with red stripes, he has to wear his railroad train pjs and he doesn't like them, he gets in trouble...
that sums up much of last night and today for Madi.

She's been WAY moody and hormonal and saying she hates all sorts of things (like my parents' white car - weird, telling her teacher in LEAP to take down a poster of the world off the wall because she hates it - talked to her about that one and understood the reason, but was completely, completely rude in how she said it to the teacher, and saying she hates all sorts of things that she has).  Has been very greedy and selfish this week.  Totally different Madi than last week.  Can we say "period has got to be coming soon???"  Typically two weeks of calm, one week of non-stop talking, negativity and ungratefulness.  This all followed by one week of tears and moodiness.  We're on the non-stop talking week and I'm so glad it is almost over.

Jeremy had a "come to Jesus" meeting with her this morning about her attitude, unthankfulness and behavior.  Thinking the message was very, very clear.  She needed it and heard it loud and clear.  You could see her thinking.

She went to school and did running club.  Came in my room crying and said that Gracie is not inviting her to the birthday party.  The last few days has been some girl drama - which I try to help Madi through by teaching her how to not get involved in it and ways to cope with it.  Gracie told Madi that she was invited to her party last week.  But she never gave her an invitation.  So Madi kept asking her for one and Gracie said she had to ask her mom.  She finally told her today that she couldn't invite her because she had already invited as many people as she was allowed.  Madi was upset.  I hugged her and prayed for her a second time.  Her morning was tough and we talked about how it was a very sad deal.  And that there is a lesson here in waiting for invitations to come in paper form, not just verbally.  And to not do the same to other friends on her end (not that she has because she hasn't).  Madi was rightfully sad.  Instead she'll have a sleepover at my Parent's house tomorrow.  She'll have a lot of fun with them, I'm sure!!

Around 9am, I receive an email from the LEAP teacher asking what is going on with Madi.  She said she was really defiant and refusing to do work and only doing what she wanted to do.  She said she was definitely not herself.  I explained all that had transpired this morning and asked if I needed to talk with her or hug her or take her out of class for a few minutes to get her on track.  She said that she was so sorry to hear about the rudeness of the invitation thing.  And that it helped explain her strange and wild behavior this morning.  She gave it a little longer.  I did go down to talk with the teacher and she was quite frustrated with her behavior.  Especially how rude she was with the poster and demanding it being taken down.  (She said she realized how far she was from you and didn't want to see it.  However, she did it very rudely instead of asking quietly and explaining how it made her feel.  Was not handled correctly and she was already set off and mad about the invite thing.)  Guessing the rest of the day went ok.

We had Riley's performance tonight.  Was super cute!  Should be a very fun weekend!  We got matching pjs and slippers and necklaces for Pajamarama on Sunday.

Shoreline Trail

Good day today overall.  Started out with running club before school.  Somewhat humorous story to that event.

Madi came into the music room at the end of the day and said "I'm going to be in the yearbook three times!  And I had my picture taken two times today."  They had called kids down to the cafeteria to take pictures of clubs.  So I asked which pictures she had taken.  "Running club and Art Club."  Ok - so art club totally makes sense.  Running club - not so much.  So I asked her "Why running club?"  She goes "Well, I used to go."  Literally, she went two times the entire year.    So we talked and come to find out, she really just wanted to see herself in the yearbook more.  Somewhat funny - and very vain at the same time.  Though totally something an eleven year old would do, but she was the only one in the school who did it.

So Jeremy and I talked.  And decided that since she really wanted the picture taken for the club, that she would participate in the club for the next few weeks and earn the right to be in the picture.  Wanting her to realize that you don't take credit for doing something if you haven't actually done it.  She participated today and had a great attitude about it.  I really think she'll enjoy it after doing it a few times.  Or at least, I hope she does.

After school, Madi and I changed into workout clothes and went for a walk to the shoreline trail.  It is a gravel/dirt path that is quite wide and goes along the Lewisville Lake.  It's about 7 miles long and is really quite pretty.  We saw a lot of butterflies and flowers and it was 81 degrees.  Perfect for being outside!  We went a little farther than half a mile and then turned around.  Mostly walked.  Madi is a great sprinter - has a really good length between when each foot hits the ground and she's able to go fast for very short distances.  Totally out of breath after running and has a hard time pacing and enduring for very long.  But she is definitely built for speed.  She'd do fabulous on a track team in the short distances!!  I asked her if she wanted to run in one section and she said "You're crazy Aunt Jess."  Ha!  I told her that I am not built for speed and am much better at pacing for long distance.  So we're kind of an odd running pair - her zooming by, stopping after however many ft., me jogging slow and catching up and then passing her for a bit, then walking with her and hanging out and walking some more and starting the cycle over.  Was really fun!!

We got to the car and started talking about bedtime.  Madi had early bedtime on Monday night because she couldn't get herself up for school on Monday morning at the right time.  We had to knock on the door to wake her up.  Same thing happened this morning - I had to knock on her door to wake her up.  She mentioned something about being glad she didn't have to have an earlier bedtime.  To which I said "Umm, I had to wake you up this morning."  She goes "No.  I was stretching in my bed with the light off."  (Morning routine means she has to be up and moving and light on to be 'awake' - nothing new.  always been the rule)  So we talked a little more about it.  She said she never heard me knock.  That she woke up to her alarm.  And repeated that she never heard me knock.  And I realized that maybe it was possible that she was stretching, was going to give her the benefit of the doubt this time and let her go to bed at 8pm instead of 7:30.  So I told her that since she was ready on time, that it's possible she didn't hear it.

She then says "When you knocked on my door, I was in a dream and I didn't know if it was your knocking I was hearing or just my dream."  Hmmm... so stretching and awake??  Not so much.  Story changed.  So I said "Hold up.  Back up a little.  When you heard the knock?  So you heard the knock?"  Madi says "I wasn't sure if it was a knock..."  So I let her know that her bedtime was definitely 7:30pm and that next time she needed to give the real story first and not try to get out of something with lying.  She was really mad to be caught and frustrated about the bedtime.  She is constantly working to get out of things.  I don't blog every single one.  But it is definitely a struggle for her to be totally honest and to admit what actually happens in life.

So tonight was another early bedtime.  Hoping she gets up on time tomorrow!  As I really did miss reading, chatting and hanging out with her tonight.

Pinterest...

So I've requested to join Pinterest.  Another total time sucker as it has the coolest ideas!!!  Here is one that I found on there that I'm hoping to refer to for the girls.  Thought it was awesome:

100 Ways to be kind to your child 
CreativeWithKids.com

Tell to your child:

1. I love you. 

2. I love you no matter what. 

3. I love you even when you are angry at me. 

4. I love you even when I am angry with you. 

5. My love for you can reach you wherever you are. 

6. If I could pick any 4 year old (5 year old...) in the whole wide world, I'd pick you. 

7. I love you to the moon and then around the stars and back again. 

8. Thank you.

9. I enjoyed playing with you today. 

10. Myfavoritepartofthedaywaswithyouwhenwe...

Tell them:

11. The story of their birth or adoption. 

12. About how you cuddled them when they were a baby. 

13. The story of how you chose their name. 

14. A story about yourself when you were their age. 

15. A story about how their grandparents met. 

16. What your favorite color is. 

17. That sometimes you struggle too. 

18. That when you're holding hands and you give three squeezes,it's a secret code that means,"Iloveyou". 

19. What the plan is. 

20. What you're doing right now.

Play:

21. Freeze Tag 

22. Uno 

23. Crazy 8s 

24. Gin Rummy 

25. Memory 

26. GoFish

27. I Spy- especially in the car feeingl snappish.

28. Catch

Pretend:

29. To catch their kiss and put it on your cheek. 

30. That their tickle tank is empty and you have to fill it. 

31. That their high five nearly knocks you over. 

32. That you are super ticklish. 

33. That you are explorers in the backyard.

34. That it's party day! Decorate for no reason!

Try:

35. To get enough sleep. 

36. To drink enough water. 

37. To eat decent food 

38. Wearing earrings or whatever makes you feel pretty. 

39. Calling friend the next time you feel like you are about to lose it with the kids. 

40. Giving a gentle touch to show approval. 

41. Dancing in the kitchen. 

42. To get your kids to bop to the music with you in the car. 

43. Showing your kids that you can do a somersault or handstand or a cartwheel 

44. Keeping that sigh to yourself. Just jump in and help clean up cheerfully. 

45. Using a kind voice, even if you have to fake it.

Read:

46. A book of silly poems. 

47. A book and then act it out. (Like "I'm going on a Bear Hunt") 

48. Your favorite childhood book to them . 

49. When the afternoon is starting to go astray. 

50. Outside under a tree. 

51. In the library kids corner. 

52. The comic book they love that you're not so hot on. 

53. About age appropriate behavior so you can keep your expectations realistic.

Listen:

54. To your child in the car. 

55. To that Lego description,and think how important it is to your child. 

56. For that question that indicates your child really needs your input. 

57. A second longer than you think you have patience for. 

58. For the feelings behind your child's words. when you’re tired 

Ask:
59: Why do you think that happens?

60. What do you think would happen if______? 
61. How shall we find out? 
62. What are you thinking about? 
63. What was your favorite part of the day?

64. What do you think this tastes like?

Show:

66. How to whistle with a blade of grass. 
67. How to shuffle cards-makeabridgeifyoucan! 
68. How to cut food. 
69. How to fold laundry. 
70. How to look up information when you don't know the answer. 
71. Affection to your spouse. 
72. That taking care of others as well as yourself is important.

TakeTime:

73. To watch construction sites. 
74. To look at the birds. 
75. To allow your child to help put ingredients in the bowl. 
76. To walk places together. 
77. To dig in the dirt together. 
78. To do a task at your child's pace. 
79. To just sit with you child while they play.

Trust:

80. That your child is capable. 
81. That you are the right parent for your child. 
82. That you are enough. 
83. That you can do what is right for your family.

Delight your child:

84. Clean your child's room as a surprise. 
85. Put chocolate chips in the pancakes. 
86. Put a love note in their lunch. 
87. Make their snack into a smile face shape. 
88. Make sounds effects while do som ething. 
89. Sit on the floor with them to play.

Let Go:

90. Of the guilt. 
91. Of how you thought it was going to be. 
92. Of your need to be right.

Give:

93. A look with Kind Eyes to your child. 
94. A smile when your child walks into the room . 
95. A kind touch back when your child touches you. 
96. The chance to connect before you correct so that your child can actually hear your words. 
97. Your child a chance to work out their frustrations before helping them . 
98. A bath when the day feels long. 
99. A hug. 


100. Your turn- how can you be kind to your child today?

Just keeps getting better!

Another fantastic week!  Madi has been doing amazing.  She's doing an awesome job getting ready in the mornings, doing her homework without having to ask more than one time and getting her planner filled and signed without being asked as well as getting her bag, water, and snack ready the night before school without being reminded.  She's doing SOOO good with organizing what she needs to get done for school.  So very proud of her!!

So many good things about that too.  One of which is she is finding that she has more time for games and fun activities she wants to do.

She has made it her goal to save her allowance money up for an iPad.  So she's trying to find some ways to make money.  We're planning to help her by baking cookies and making lemonade at our next neighborhood garage sale at both my parents house and at ours - for each of our neighborhood garage sales!  She'll earn all the profits from that portion.  And she's making some cute bracelets from her embroidery thread collection.  So far she has saved almost $50 in allowance money.  Which is great because she has been saving it for the last several weeks and has been reading a book about girls and money that she got from Elizabeth, her friend.  She is really excited about saving and wants to open a bank account so we can deposit the money and then she can write in the checkbook about it.  Hoping to do this soon!

Madi took a benchmark test this past week.  To be honest, I don't remember what it is on.  I think math??!!  As they've already taken their writing test.  Either Math or Reading.  Anyway, she got a 92% which is fantastic!!  Every question was worth 4% of the test so she only missed 2 questions.  Way to go Madi!!!

She also got invited to another friend's sleepover party for next Friday.  They're going to some kind of fun zone with putt putt golf and then going to the friend's house.  There will be six girls.  Sounds like tons of fun!!  The friend's name is Gracie.  She's super cute and spunky.

We signed the girls up for VBS tonight!  They have it from June 25-28 from 9am-12pm each day.  Madi chose to do the cooking classes for her choice activity.  Riley chose to do the art classes.  I'll be a counselor for the 5 year old group and Jules will go in the nursery.  Should be awesome!  It does mean that I need to call the LISD Aquatic Center and change their swim lessons to July so they don't miss any classes.  Won't be a problem.

We're all set to sign Madi up for Camp KidJam as well.  Registration is up and going right now.  So we'll do that within the next week.  Thinking it'll be a great summer!

Our pictures that were taken by my friend Jenny should be in this weekend.  Once I have them, I'll post them for you to see!  Should be some really beautiful shots of Madi!!

Another Day Off!

We loved another day off today.  The next holiday is on Memorial Day and at that point, we'll only have three more days left of school.  Amazing.

Madi played some WOW today and spent time on her iPod.  She also did her Fasttmath and her laundry - folded it and put it away.

We went to Old Navy and got her two pairs of shorts.  I had a coupon for "Spend $60 - get $30 off" so we got some great sale items and most of the things were only $3 after the coupon which was great!

She and I also had a talk about what it's like being a tween.  Madi was wanting to go down the slide in the playroom, run/crawl and stand on these cushion things made for little kids - bending them and being an 11 year old on a 3 year old toy.  I explained that since she's older/taller/bigger than Riley and Jules, there are just some things she can't do because she's at that age where she's too old/tall/big for them.

She got frustrated and said "I hate growing up."  So we talked about all the benefits of growing up:  more responsibility means doing cooler things, how she gets to go to camp, she can ride her bike, have sleepovers, run outside and play, more freedom than the other girls, iPod/WOW.  Then we talked about how the tween years are tough.  It's that time where you still feel like a kid, but you're outgrowing the child toys and things.  And then I shared that she'd be driving in four years with a permit and how she'll be doing some really awesome things in the next few years that younger kids can't do.  That seemed to help her.

Tomorrow is back to school and the usual routine.  Should be a good one!

Talia's Party

Madi had a really fun time at Talia's birthday party.  There were six girls there.  Pizza, swimming, two movies and a very, very, very late night!!  The girls were up and being really loud until 3am.  The mom finally came in and threatened to call parents because they were so very loud and wouldn't settle down.  Madi said she finally fell asleep at 4am and woke up around 9:30am.  Needless to say she was exhausted today!!!

She went down with Jeremy to his work again all day and played WOW.  I had the girls and got hooked on this awesome blog called iheartorganizing.blogspot.com.  Being that I love to organize and have spring fever, it was perfect timing.  My parents got Riley for three hours while Julia napped.  So I cleaned out a bunch of closets and pantry and things.  It's looking good and smelling good!  :)

Then when Julia woke up, I took her to my parents and the girls went on the tanning ledge of the pool to play.  Madi and Jeremy met us up there.  Madi got to dip her feet in (too cold to really swim still).  We had pizza and hung out talking and laughing.  Madi played on her iPod quite a bit and was very chill.  Super tired.

Got home and she went right to bed and crashed.  Hoping she sleeps well tonight!

More Easter Egg Hunting!

Today was another really great day.  Madi's been doing sooooo great!!!!!  She got invited to a sleepover birthday party tomorrow night from a girl in her class that she is in LEAP with.  The girl has a wonderful family that I have known for eight years and the girl is also super sweet.  There are two other girls in the class invited.  Madi was so excited about it!  She wasn't sure if we'd let her go since it was short notice and I told her that we'd be happy to let her go.  That it is great to see her making good friend choices and to see that others are responding to her friendliness.

It is also a swim party so we've talked about manners in the pool, considering others and using manners at the party.  We'll go out and get a gift card tomorrow.  We'll talk tomorrow about it a little bit more as I only touched on the manners and others for all of a minute.

As I was about to teach piano students, she got a call from Julia.  Julia invited her to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Five Star Complex tonight.  It's right down the street from us.  There are thousands of eggs hidden all over the place.  Inside many of the eggs are prizes and tickets for prizes that can be redeemed at the tent set up there.  There is also a petting zoo and some other things.  It was $5 and I told her that she could definitely go.  Again, focused on how she has made such great choices and that we want to make sure that she gets time with Julia as she's not here for a very long period of time.  They came and picked her up around 5:30 and she'll be home about 9:30 tonight.  I gave Madi a huge wicker basket to put eggs in so she didn't have to carry a Hello Kitty or Princess Ariel one :)

We are both so very proud of Madison.  She's doing so incredibly well.  And smiling constantly.  She has much to look forward to in the next few months and it's been awesome to see her doing so well.

Since the tornado day, the weather has been beautiful!!!  We're looking forward to a nice, calm weekend with as much downtime as possible... if possible!

Bad Weather

This morning was quite dark and there were some grey clouds.  Looked like rain was coming, but it has looked like that the past few mornings.  Had no idea the kind of weather that was coming in for the afternoon.

Madi had a great day.  About 2:00pm, in the middle of teaching second grade, the office started to call students' names over the intercom for the entire school (which they never do because it is so disruptive).  They said that it was quite rainy and that teachers should have students get their things together so that it would be easy to release them to parents.  Since I didn't have any of my kids things as they were back in the classroom, I took them down to their homeroom, had them gather their things and took them back to music.

I started with 22 kids and was down to 13 kids within the next ten minutes.  We could hear thunder and lots of rain, but since I have no windows in the classroom, we couldn't see what was going on.  In Madi's room, she noticed hail coming down and watched the rain and lightning.  Soon the office told everyone to hold their students and not let them leave.  We then heard the tornado sirens going off.  We were asked to "duck and cover."  Many of the classrooms hunkered down in the bathrooms and hallways.  In my room, we sat against the wall, covering our necks and keeping the kids calm.  I unplugged all the electronics nearby and moved objects away from them that had sharp ends (pencils, things that could 'fly').  Though it seems funny now to think of trying to place sharp things away from them - as the tornado could easily pick them up and throw them - I simply wanted to get anything away from them that I could.

The students were so incredibly good.  They asked lots of questions.  One girl asked if it was a drill.  The second graders stayed so calm the entire 45 minutes we were sitting there.  I had them start the telephone game where a person on the end whispers something and sends it down the line.  Then the person on the other end says what they heard and we compare if it's the same or not.  This kept them busy for several minutes and eased their fears.  When they asked if they were going to die or if there was a tornado, I simply would share that they were in one of the safest rooms in the school and that while they were scared, we were doing everything we needed to do to protect ourselves.  They were completely satisfied with that answer and it was great to see them all so calm.

Madi finally got to come to me around 3:30pm.  I didn't have her sent to my room because I knew it was safer for her to stay where she was rather than walking in hallways that are lined with windows and risking there being a tornado.  She told me that one of her first thoughts was that she was so young and she had many years to live.  She hadn't lived her full life yet and she wasn't ready to die.  She said she was very scared.  I told her that it's completely normal to have those thoughts and to be scared in a situation like that.  And that I agreed with how she felt.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly low-key.  She did her Fasttmath and then read for a while before dinner.  We ate together.  Then Jeremy put Riley down and I put Julia and Madi down.  Madi and I read the book of "Philemon."  She joked that we can hardly call it a book because it's only a page long :)  We're not far from finishing the New Testament.  Then she wants to start on books like Jonah, Esther, and things that are unlike Chronicles... He begat him begat him begat her begat him.  Though genealogy is a wonderful thing too!

Tomorrow is Zumba and Art for Madi.  Should be a great day!

Crank it up

Just getting myself psyched out about having a four day week.  So excited to be home with the girls for four days this weekend.

Madi had a good day today.  Finished her Fasttmath and spelling assignment as well as a short paper.  She's really been doing fabulous.  We did have a talk with her about friends and being the right kind of friend.   There was an incident in class today - while not huge, but definitely a teaching moment.  And since I was teaching the class, it made it easy to see a variety of perspectives including hers.  Was quite funny because I talked to her briefly at school and we talked about who she thought was the kindest person in her class.  Then we talked about looking to help others and thinking more about others instead of always about self.  I let Jeremy know what had happened (she wanted to work alone on a paper where they have to use music symbols to discover the word for an answer and a friend asked if she could join her and Madi told her that she could only come by herself - the rest of the group the girl was working with couldn't come over).  Turns out that Jer and I both gave her the same talk about being the right kind of friend and thinking of others... all without really talking about it.  We went more in detail about it and Madi took it well.  Gave her things to think about.

One thing was what Gaylan has often shared with Jeremy:  Marriage is about being the right person more than it is finding the right person.  He related it to friends and said finding friends is also about being the right friend.  We've seen such a huge growth in her friendships.  He told her that we're just trying to help her continue to grow so that she can continue to meet and make great friends.  

All in all, it was a really great day.  We talked about camps and summer.  I enrolled the girls in their swim class so that their spots are reserved. 

Snow Pics!