Schmarschmallows anyone?

Three little smiling faces stand before me with beams of excitement shining from their eyes.  My first thought?  Uh oh, what are they up to?   :)

Emma: Mom?  Can we set up our tent in the basement?

Me: Sure!

In unison: YES!!! [insert three fist pumps]

Emma: Um, do you think maybe it would be ok for Maddie and I to sleep down there tonight?

Me: Sure!

In unison: YES!! [insert happy hopping]

Three little ladies ran for the stairs; six little feet padding down to the basement in search of one pink princess tent.  It's barely big enough for all three to get inside at the same time but it doesn't matter one little bit.

Five minutes later, two feet bound up the stairs.  Uh oh, there's that look again.  

Emma: Could Avery sleep down there too?  We will watch her!  We promise!

Me: Hmmm...let's wait and see. [Is the three year old going to be down with sleeping in the basement? She was afraid of her closet yesterday, after all.]

Emma: Ok, but she will be really sad if she can't.

Me: Well, I'll take that into consideration. [laughing, I just can't help it]


We have no school today (don't hate!) and by 10:30 AM these three have already had breakfast, gotten dressed, gone outside for a bike riding session in the garage, set up the tent in the basement, and packed up their overnight bags.  [Why aren't they this quick and independent on school days?]

Based on the items I've being carried to the basement and the happy giggles that keep drifting up the stairs, it's going to be an epic camping trip.

Anyone else up for camping?  I hear they might be roasting schmarschmallows later!

Saturday Sounds

I have three daughters.

Yes, three.

Three girls who hold my heartstrings in their hands.

Three drama queens, each in their own special way.


Emma is the queen of all drama queens.  Everything about her everyday life is dramatic.  Everyday.

Maddie is mostly a quiet drama queen.  Except when she's not.  And when she's not, EVERYONE will know.  Because she doesn't cry.  She wails.  If something is wrong, the world will hear about it.

Avery is the youngest of the queens.  She is the law-making queen.  If she doesn't agree with you, she will tell you like it is.  And by the way, you are wrong and she is right.

To bring a small amount of balance to our castle, our three queens have a big brother.  It is he who holds my fourth heart string.  He is the king of all things boy. 

He is the opposite of loud.  He is the opposite of dramatic.  He is the opposite of in your face.  He is a master drama queen button pusher.  And a protective guard of the queens.

This royal court ranges in age from 11 (almost 12, he'd say) down to 3 (this many, she'd say, holding up three little fingers).

You can imagine the sounds I hear throughout the castle on a typical Saturday.  Playing, running, arguing, laughing, reminders...you name it, I hear it.

You can imagine the panic that raced through my mind on Saturday when the noises suddenly were absent.  The quiet in the castle was deafening.

I mentally ran through the list...

Matthew - downstairs on the xbox - check
Emma - ???
Maddie - ???
Avery - ???
Lucy - nose pressed to the kitchen door, barking at the neighbor dogs

I quickly walked to the room shared by the two oldest girls.  I peeked around the door.  I opened first one eye, then the other, dreading what I might find.

What I found was pure joy.  Pure Mama-is-so-relieved joy!  Here they were.  All three, side by side by side.  All three happily playing, happily enjoying a quiet moment, happily sharing the space.

I tiptoed down the hall and made a grab for the camera. 

You have to document this stuff, you know.  Who knows when this moment might come again!

Ugh...I hate data!

Frustration.

That's what I feel after looking at my teaching goals and the associated data for the year.

I know how hard I have worked with some of my students and all the extra work that my paraprofessional has put into interventions with some of my students. 

I have one child that is going to be retained.  His parents have the paperwork to sign as I type.  I have another child with some health issues that I would like to retain.  His health and lack of attendance (partly due to doctor appointments, partly not) combined with his progress basically stalling out in January doesn't bode well for first grade.  He is not meeting goals for kindergarten and will sink in first grade.  His parents have put off the meeting to determine a health plan and best placement for him for next year.  I am hoping to get it rescheduled by the end of the week.  I have another child that is finally, slowly making progress.  She's not meeting end of year goals but is making steady progress toward them.  Her parents, even after talking about the possibility of retention at our March conference, seem startled by the fact that we would like to meet with them to discuss next year's placement.  So, yes, that is a total of three possible retentions from my class of 18.

Of my other 15 kiddos...there are some very high students, some who are right at grade level.  I'm pretty happy with the progress of most.  However, there is a group of kids (about 5) that did not meet the end of year goal for writing.  Three of those five are only a half-point away on the rubric, which, in most cases, means that they either didn't have enough details or style and voice wasn't quite strong enough.  My readers were similar.  There were 7 that didn't meet the end of year goal.  6 of those 7 were one level below the goal.  All 7 of those students came to school without knowing more than a handful of letters (mostly just those in their name or less) and zero sounds and all but one made it to a level C.  I think that's pretty good, but it's not the end of year goal.

Sigh.

I understand we need goals for students to be sure they will learn everything they need to learn.  However, I also know that the kids that are struggling now, most likely, will be just fine by second grade.  They will take off in their reading once they get to levels with more interesting books.  They will take off in their writing also, once it becomes easier to hear the sounds and write them down rather than having to put so much thought into each and every letter they put onto the page.

I know these things.

I still don't feel great about my students not all meeting the end of year goals.  It's never happened.  Not once, in all my teaching years...oh my, 13 years.  Every year we come close, every year I feel disappointed because I know that "people" will look at the numbers and not know the child.  They will see that there are kids that didn't meet the goal but they will not know who's parents divorced during the school year, who had health problems, who's parents were involved at home and who's parents were not.  They don't know how hard my littlest peanut worked to pass the first text level this year.  They don't know that after working hard all year and being in intervention groups all year, he finally passed the first level on May 30th and we celebrated and gave him high fives.

They just don't know.

But I do. 

I have to remember the huge amounts of growth my students made this year even when they didn't meet the end of year goal.  I have to help them celebrate what they did and learned this year.

Because I know and I am proud of them!

Puppy Love

Well, spring break finally arrived (you would think after all the snow days I wouldn't have felt such a need for another break!) and with it came the new puppy!

The kids have been head over heels all week!  We picked her up on Friday evening, took her home and put together her new crate.  We fed her, cuddled her, played with her and generally enjoyed her company all evening.  The kids are so excited they haven't gotten too far away from her.  She's even doing a good job with the potty training!

We expected her to be a little sad being away from her mama and siblings.  We expected a little whining and crying.  We did NOT expect to have to hold her all night long!  It really is like having a new baby in the house again!

On the third night, I suggested putting her bed in the laundry basket and letting her sleep next to our bed.  She slept!  She only whined three times and only because she needed a potty break.  I've decided she either really hates her crate or she just wants to be near us.  I hope for the latter, for all our sakes.  :) 

Welcome home Lucy!

 

 It must be puppy love!

Day 30 - Science Fair Here We Come!

Today was a day full of science.  It's science fair week in my district so three of my children had project boards to complete today.  Sounds easy enough right?  The projects were all done, they just needed to be typed, cut and glued to the boards.  No problem.

My son's project was to see which type of apple rotted first: Red Delicious, Gala or Granny Smith.  In other words, we have had molding apple slices on our counter for the past month.  At least it wasn't warm enough outside to draw fruit flies!  He found out that Granny Smith apples took the longest to mold/rot.  We wondered if peeling the apples first would have changed the results?

My oldest daughter's project was to see which type of dishwashing soap made the most bubbles: Dawn Antibacterial dish soap, Palmolive Antibacterial dish soap, or Meijer brand dishwashing liquid with Extra Cleaning Strength.  Her project was pretty fun...we got to measure bubbles!  She found out that the Meijer brand (store brand) soap made the most bubbles with 12/16 of an inch of bubbles (the other two tied with 11/16 of an inch of bubbles).  The results were close, but I was lucky to get three new bottles of dish soap out of the deal!  :)  We wondered which soap's bubbles would last the longest?

My middle daughter's project was to see which color of Skittle is the most common.  She tested three bags to see which color was the winner.  Each bag actually had a different color winner!  We decided to add them all up and see which color had the highest total amount.  She found out that green is the most common color overall.  We wondered if the results would be the same if she used bigger bags of Skittles?

After almost 4 hours of creating project boards to display the projects and results, we are done!  Now I can start on my own school work...cutting out lamination!  Hurray!  ;)

Day 29 - Through The Years

I'm celebrating my family today.  These might not be my own words, but they fit.  Today, I own them.  I just wish I could figure out how to play the song in the background on the blog!  But, that's a challenge for another day.  Introducing...my loves!


"Through The Years"

I can't remember when you weren't there
When I didn't care for anyone but you
I swear we've been through everything there is
Can't imagine anything we've missed
Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do

 

My hubby!  And yes, she's really that sweet!  :)

 

Through the years

You've never let me down
You turned my life around
The sweetest days I've found
I've found with you
Through the years
I've never been afraid
I've loved the life we've made
And I'm so glad I stayed
Right here with you
Through the years

My little man...my first baby!

I can't remember what I used to do
Who I trusted, whom I listened to before
I swear you've taught me everything I know
Can't imagine needing someone so
But through the years it seems to me
I need you more and more 



My biggest girl and her biggest smile!

Through the years
Through all the good and bad
I knew how much we had
I've always been so glad
To be with you
Through the years
It's better everyday
You've kissed my tears away
As long as it's okay
I'll stay with you
Through the years

Cheese!  My middle sweetie!

 

Through the years

When everything went wrong
Together we were strong
I know that I belong
Right here with you
Through the years
I never had a doubt
We'd always work things out
I've learned what life's about
By loving you
Through the years



My littlest cutie pie, Miss Independent!



 

Through the years
You've never let me down
You turned my life around
The sweetest days I've found
I've found with you
Through the years
It's better everyday
You've kissed my tears away
As long as it's okay
I'll stay with you
Through the years

 



At the zoo in 2012

At the park in 2013

Oh my the grow so fast!  This July will be my 13th anniversary with my husband.  Tomorrow my oldest will turn 11.  My girls are 8, 5, and 2.  Where does the time go?  I love them to pieces and I'm so blessed to spend my years with them all.


"Through the Years" - written by Stephen Hartley Dorff  and Martin Panzer, 1982.

 

Day 26 - Future Slicer?

"Mom, you know what I've been wanting to write all day?"  Emma asked me.

"No, tell me." I replied (I might have even sounded a little giddy that she was bringing this up!)

"I want to write about getting a new puppy!"

"Then you should write about that!" I encouraged her.

"I'm going to!  I'm going to write about it right now in my notebook!  I just need to figure out where to start.  Should I start with 'hooray' or should I start with 'I'm so excited'?

"Hmm, you have a decision to make."  I purposely skirted around answering her question.  After all, it's not my story to write.

"I know," she said.  "It's really important.  [insert chin tapping thinking pause] I think I will start with 'hooray' because I think that's a good lead," she explained.  (At this point I wanted to pat her teacher on the back.)

"That sounds like a good plan.  Will you read it to me when you are done?" I asked.

"Sure, but it will take me a while because I am going to try hard to remember everything I need to do when I write at school."  she told me. (High five to all of Emma's former teachers!)

---

It's so exciting to hear my daughter, or any child, talk about wanting to write something so badly they have been thinking about it all day!  I find myself thinking this same way sometimes during the month of March, not every day, but at least a few times per week.  Some days my topic finds me.  The other days I still have to search it out. 

Yesterday I was having that exact conversation with a friend.  Sometimes it's easy to figure out what I'm writing about and sometimes it is still hard.  Not five minutes later, in the van on our way home, my daughter begins this conversation with me.  Not only did she have something to write about, but now I did too!  My topic found me today, no searching required.

I wonder if she will be a Slice of Life Challenge participant some day?

I hope so.

Day 16 - Puppy Preparations Begin

 

As it turns out, preparing a house for a new puppy is a lot like preparing for a new baby.  We have cleaned, rearranged and made room.  We have to purchase a bed and a cage (ok, that part is different).  We will have to purchase special food for this little lady, too. 

Today was a day of cleaning.  We cleaned the kid's bedrooms from top to bottom...and let me tell you, that is no small job!  We cleaned the living room, we cleaned the basement living area. 

Next up: a shopping trip to purchase all the "stuff" we will need.  But that's for another day.

Today...

The kids are tired.  The parents are tired.  But, we had the chance to visit the puppies again today and that made every bit of work worth it. 

 Sharing a few snuggles

And...an update!  We think we have settled on a name for this sweet little baby girl.  I threw out the name this morning and it was well received by all.  We think her name will be....

Lucy!

Day 15 - She Might Be a Hoarder

"Why do you want to keep the paper booklet that you made two years ago?" I said to my third grade daughter.

"I don't know.  I like it," she replied.

"We can throw away the bag of Valentine's now, right?" I asked.

"But I like them!" she squealed.

"You can't keep every scrap of paper you've ever made or been given sweetie," I tried to explain.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why do you need to keep the old birthday cards from last year?" I wondered.

"They are really pretty!" she answered.

I think my daughter is a hoarder.  She can't let go of anything!  On the other hand, I think she might just be a teacher one day.  She collects things that she might need or want to use someday. 

We are trying to do some cleaning, sorting, rearranging in preparation for the new puppy who will officially arrive in about three weeks.  We started in the kid's bedrooms.

I am of two minds when it comes to cleaning out toys...I can clean them up (the help from the kiddos) and then fight to keep them picked up off the floor so still nameless puppy won't chew on them OR I can let puppy chew on them in an attempt to thin out the Toys R Us explosion of toys that we have at our house. 

Some things I have been wondering:

Would the kids actually notice if I cleaned things out of their rooms and found them a new home?
If they did notice, would they actually care?
Is it wrong to want to take a trash bag into the bedrooms and just pitch some stuff?

I know someday I will miss the toys.  I will miss stepping on Legos and Barbie brushes.  I will miss trying to find a place for all the toys in our not big enough house.  Today...not so much.

Day 14 - Hair

Have you ever given much thought to your hair color?  Many of you probably have.  I used to, more than I do now.  I've heard my hair color described in several different ways: dark blond, light brown, dishwater blond (just what everyone wants to hear), etc.  The color used to bother me...maybe because of the dishwater comment.

When I was little, my hair was very light blond, almost white.  As I got older it continued to darken.  When I was in middle school and high school I used to lighten my hair during the summertime.  In college, I even tried dying it a strawberry blond.  More recently, I have thought about getting highlights.  However, it always seems like a lot of work to maintain and I just don't have time to put a lot of work into my hair.  Maybe, more likely, I don't make a lot of time to put into my hair.

Yesterday, my daughter was snuggled up on my lap as we read together and I was noticing that her hair is getting darker all the time.  She started out with very light blond hair and it's getting darker over time, just as mine did.  I began to notice that the underside of her hair was almost exactly the same color as mine.  I took a small section of her hair and wrapped it around my finger, and then took a small section of my own hair and wrapped it around the same finger.  I couldn't tell where her hair ended and mine began.

It started me thinking.  I have always thought that it was cool that my hair, if you look at it closely, is made up of a mix of several different colors.  If you look at it strand by strand, you will find my mom's very dark brown hair.  It even feels more course than the rest.  Of course, it's just a few strands here and there so it doesn't really stand out in my head of mostly fine hair.  Next, you will also find red hair.  There are more of these strands in there.  They are very fine and very red.  The red strands come from my dad.  His hair was very fine and very red.  Finally, there are different shades that fall somewhere in between.  There are very light blond, medium blond, and dark blond/light brown.  I have decided that the blond ones are mine alone.  These are the ones that didn't come from my mom or my dad, they are just me.

I think it's pretty amazing to look into my daughter's hair now and see similar colors.  There are the dark brown course strands from my mom, fine red strands from my dad, dark blond strands from me, and brown strands from my husband. 

As I sat running my daughter's hair through my fingers I began to wonder what she might see someday as she looks at her own child's hair.  Will she see my parent's color in there still?  Will it be frizzy like her other grandparent's hair?  Will she pick out her parent's colors in there like I do? 

Time will tell. 

   

Day 13 - A Little Minion Magic

 

 

My son is 10...for another 17 days.  I can't believe he is that old!  This week we completed our last Cub Cake for Cub Scouts.  Another milestone finished. 

 

Each year, our local Cub Scouts organization puts on a family activity evening.  There is a theme each year and each Scout is asked to bring a cake decorated according to the theme to be auctioned off in a silent auction to raise money for the group.  We have made several fun cakes over the years, but this one was probably the most enjoyable.  Maybe because it was our last one, maybe because we just had fun together in the kitchen.

 

The theme this year, was movies.  The cakes could be decorated any way we wanted, as long as they fit the movie theme in some way and as long as everything on the cake was edible.  Since I do most of the work for the cake, I told my son and husband to choose the movie but make it simple.  (I basically begged my husband to guide our son toward something simple as I knew I would be making this cake after a long evening of conferences!)

 

My son decided he wanted to make a minion from Despicable Me.  I googled minions to get some ideas and pictures to look at.  My son helped to measure and mix the cake ingredients.  He licked the beaters and loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.  He helped me measure and mix up the frosting.  We had a lot of fun together in the kitchen...something we don't do together very often, though I'm not sure why.

 

We decided on the cake idea together and began working.  He helped me mix the food coloring into the frosting to create the colors we needed.  We began working together to frost the cake.  I grew up watching my mom make and decorate cakes for birthdays, weddings, all kinds of celebrations.  I taught my son several of the things that I learned from watching my mom over the years.  He asked questions about why I did things certain ways and I often told him that I had no idea why but that was the way my mom did it so that was the way I did it too!  And now, it will be the way he does it too!

 

Matthew had a great idea for making the buttons on the cake...Hershey kisses, upside down and poked down into the cake.  He also had the brilliant idea of using the inside cream from Oreos to make the minion's teeth.  We think it turned out pretty great!  It sold at the Cub Cakes auction for $18.  Not too shabby for a $5 project, but the memories we made together are worth so much more.

 

What do you think?

 

 



Day 12 - I Said No

I said no over and over.  I was begged.  I had to endure so many pleas.  I still said no. 

I could not think of any possible way to make this happen.  My kids wanted it so badly.  My husband wanted to also, maybe even more than the kids.  My husband reassured me that we could handle it.

I said no.

We don't have any more room in our house, I said.

We don't have any more time to give, I said.

We are already spread so thin all the time with the four kids we have, I said.

I can't possibly handle another mouth to feed, I said.

More pleading.  More begging.

And then...this happened.

 



We went to visit the puppies.  We held the puppies.  We kissed and hugged the puppies.

I still said no.

But then, the more I thought about it...the more I could imagine it.  The more I thought about it, the sweeter the idea became.  The more I thought about how much the kids all fell in love with the puppies, the more I began to think maybe it would work.  The more I thought about how much I loved snuggling those little puppies, the more I knew I couldn't say no anymore.

And so, this little lady is going to join our family in a few weeks!  She's the baby of the litter, the only blondie, and the last one to open her eyes.  She is the one that my baby fell in love with.  She's the one that I fell in love with too. 

Now we are on the prowl for just the right name for this little cutie.  We have a running list but nothing chosen yet...and we are still accepting ideas!  (hint, hint!)

On the list right now: Lucy, Daisy, Sally, Lily, Pearl.

We have about 3-4 weeks to get ourselves ready.  We have about a million toys to find new homes for where little puppy teeth won't be able to get them.  We have three bedrooms to clean and purge, as well as a living room. 

We have a cage and a bed to buy, and water/food bowls, and and and...so many preparations to make.

But at least it's a puppy and not a baby!  :)

Day 8 - Frozen

I (finally) took my girls to watch Frozen today.  I know.  We are pretty late to the Frozen party, but better late than never, right?  I had seen the previews, my kids were interested in seeing it, but it just never really worked out.

Today I decided it was time. 

I just love taking them to movies and today was no different.  They are five and eight, so movies are still a big deal.  They were delighted to purchase the tickets, they could hardly contain themselves in the popcorn line and they skipped down the hall with their blond heads bouncing to theater #14.

It was a small theater room...I guess that's what you get when you wait so long.  There were maybe 20 others who were sharing the screen with us.  For a children's movie, it stayed pretty quiet too!  The popcorn was fairly disappointing.  It smelled better than it tasted and I'm pretty sure it was scraped from the bottom of the barrel.  The movie, however, was spectacular!

My girls were clearly enchanted.  From the moment the first scenes appeared on the screen, they were hooked.  They giggled, they smiled, they tapped their feet to the music, they frowned in all the right places and they fully enjoyed every minute. 

I fully enjoyed watching their faces.  The movie was amazing and the message it sent was fantastic.  Love conquers all, love makes things better, true love can thaw a frozen heart.  Yes, it was probably the best Disney movie I've seen in a very long time.  I'm sorry it took us so long to go see this movie, but there is a bright side.  It comes out on DVD in only 10 days! 

The girls were so in love with this movie that we had to stop at Target (oh, darn!) to see if they had any Frozen toys. 

"We will even buy them with our own money Mom!" they begged.

They can be pretty persuasive, and I do love Target.  Needless to say, we left target today with a lighter wallet, two Anna dolls, and happy hearts.

It doesn't get much better than that!

Day 3 - The Good Stuff

A few snippets from my day:

------

My husband's alarm goes off at 5:30 am.  This morning the bed was hardly cold when my eight-year-old whispered to me.

"Mom, can I lay down with you?"

A snuggle is a nice way to start a day.

------

My two-year-old wakes up a little groggy in the morning.  As my husband held her this morning, she was busy brushing her hair back out of her eyes.

"Hi Mommy," she said.

A few minutes and a fresh diaper later, she was asking to be picked up.  She wrapped her little arms around my neck, pressed her sweet little face into me and patted my back.

"I love you Mommy," she said into my neck.

A few sweet words said into your neck is a nice way to start a day.

------

My ten-year-old is a fairly normal fifth grade boy.  Each morning he calls goodbye to me as he walks off to wait for the bus.  Once in a while I get a lean-into-the-side-of-me hug on his way out, but only if he thinks no one else will see him.

Today, I was surprised to get an actual, full-on hug from my little man before he left for school.

"'Bye Mom," he said as he hugged me.

A real hug from a fifth grade son is a nice way to start a day.

------

My daughter is in my kindergarten class.  It's been nice to be able to watch her grow and change this year.  She has blossomed into a reader, a writer, and a thinker right in front of my eyes!  It's been a blessing to have her in my classroom.  The few days that I have had to be out of school this year have been a little harder on her than the other kids.  She not only misses the teacher but she misses mom too.  On those days she has been a little extra clingy as I tried to make my way to the door after dropping her off.  On those days she has been a little teary eyed as I made my exit.  She's fine after I leave, of course, but it's not easy on a mom.

Today I had to be gone.  I told her ahead of time that I wouldn't be at school today and tried to give her a little extra time to get used to it.  I guess I didn't need to worry today.  Today she was fine.

I said goodbye to her at her locker and she looked up at me with a big smile.

"Goodbye Mom!"  Then, she went back to reading her book.  Simple as that.

A smile and a happy, growing more independent everyday girl is a nice way to start a day.

------

Be sure to check out the Two Writing Teachers blog for more slice of life stories today and every day during the month of March.

A Cautionary Tale

Do you have teenagers in your house?  Have you been looking for just the right thing to teach teens to choose abstinence?  I've got just the thing for you.  Tell them my story.

The Backstory:  I have four children, ages 2-10.  We were excited about a long Thanksgiving weekend together and had plans to host family for dinner, get some Christmas shopping done, enjoy some down time together as a family.

And so, it begins.

Picture it: Thursday morning, Thanksgiving.  I'm standing at the kitchen sink up to my elbows in turkey preparations.  My 8 year old daughter trudges out from her bedroom looking pale and tired. 

"I don't feel good," she says.  Those words.  Those dreaded words.

"Go lay on the couch and watch TV for a little bit.  Maybe you just woke up too early," I told her.  Lovely.  I was grasping at straws, I know this, but I was cooking for 11 people.  This wasn't really happening, right?

Within an hour, she was (sorry, too much info) throwing up.

Flu: 1    Kids: 3

Picture it: Saturday afternoon.  I'm doing a little school work on the computer in the kitchen and look up just in time to see my 2 year old daughter, who is too young to tell me she doesn't feel well, throw up.  In the chair.  The BEIGE chair.  Lovely.

Flu: 2     Kids: 2

Picture it: Sunday evening.  I'm folding laundry, preparing things for school on Monday, taking part in the general "busy-busy" of Sunday evenings.  My 10 year old son comes upstairs from vegging out in front of a video game for a bit.

"I don't feel good," he says, rubbing his stomach. 

Lovely. 

"Here it comes," I couldn't help but think to myself.  Within an hour, he was throwing up.

Flu: 3     Kids: 1

Picture it: Monday, lunchtime.  I'm home from school with my son, letting him rest, and I think to myself (maybe my first mistake), "At least I haven't heard from the school today!"

Within an hour, my phone rings.  I glance at the caller id.  "School" it says.  Deep breath.

"Hello?"  (Oh, please don't let the 5 year old be sick!!!)

"I have your daughter in the office.  She just got sick in the classroom."

Lovely.  Another one bites the dust.

Flu: 4     Kids: 0

If you lost track...let me recap.

5 days.
4 vomiting children.

Lovely. 

Go away flu bug!

Please share this cautionary tale with those teens who need a good reminder.  Cleaning up vomit is no fun, especially when multiplied by 4.  I can't think of a better form of birth control, especially for people who don't handle vomit well.  (MEEEEE!!!!!) 

I know, that teenager you talk to will probably say, "That won't happen to me."

Yes, it will.  Some time, some day, it will come for you too.

What a Wonderful World

I see trees of green,
red roses too.

I see them bloom,
for me and you.

And I think to myself,
what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.

The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.

And I think to myself,

What a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow,
So pretty in the sky.

Are also on the faces,

Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands.

Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying,

"I love you."

I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,

They'll learn much more,
Than I'll ever know.

And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

 

Yes, I think to myself,

What a wonderful world.

Oh yeah.

For more Slice of Life stories, visit Two Writing Teachers.