Gotta love the teacher....

Jadon's first grade teacher sent home a letter that covered many things about how she runs the classroom, what they are learning, her expectations, etc....So, I'm reading it and decided I love this woman. This is what she included at the end of her letter:

"A note of advice--please keep in mind that your child is 4, 5, 6 or 7 years old, and that everything that they come home and tell you about school or Mrs. B may not be totally true. And I promise to do the same for you, because I do hear some pretty tremendous stories. If, at any time, yo would like to talk about these stories, please call me and I will be happy to discuss the story with you. Many problems can arise from miscommunication."

Thank goodness! Now if Jadon tells Mrs. B. that Mom hit him in the head with a wooden spoon last night I will be able to tell her the whole story: I grabbed a wooden spoon from the drawer to mix brownie batter, but on the way to the counter I slipped on a puddle of water that was left there after Jadon dropped his bowl of icky paintbrush water. While falling, Jadon had come running into the room and I clunk him on the head with the wooden spoon as I'm swinging my arm trying to keep balance, but still end up falling on my butt. So, yes, Mrs. B., I DID hit him with a wooden spoon, but it certainly wasn't on purpose! **

If she wouldn't have put in that little paragraph I would forever be worried that my children would make it sound like I ruthlessly abuse them.

**Just for clarification, I never hit Jadon on the head with a wooden spoon, by accident or on purpose. The story related above is purely fictional.

First Day of School

I set my alarm for 6 a.m. I told the kids I'd start waking them at 7, which would give us plenty of time to get out the door by 7:40.

I had programmed the coffeemaker last night to brew at 6 a.m., so I woke up to the wonderful aroma of coffee. Mmmmmm.... I grabbed my Bible and journal, anticipating that I will be able to do some reading after I get pancakes going. Well, that didn't happen.

As soon as I got the blackberries out of the fridge, Rachel showed up by the stove. "I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I figured, 'What's the use!'" She shrugs her shoulders and has a huge grin on her face. She is tickled pink that she is going to school--"going" being the key word. She understands "going"---to her that means, "not here, at home where it is SOOOO boring." She understands "school"---that would be defined as "work". But I don't believe she understands "going TO school" means that she will be doing SCHOOL AT SCHOOL. She'll fathom that concept soon enough.

Jadon was equally exuberant--he just woke up a bit later. Eli and Solomon did what they had to do to get ready. I looked everybody over to make sure they would give adequate first impressions to the teachers and other kids. I don't care for any of my kids to be slaves to fashion, but I don't want them to look like they got dressed from the dirty laundry basket either. I had them take a Vitamin C and brush their teeth. After they passed inspection I told them we'd be leaving in about ten minutes.

That was all it took for some of them to run out to the vehicle. Here they are, waiting for me.

Solomon waited for me---Cortney took this picture:

After dropping them off and getting them settled into their areas, I took another couple pictures of Jadon. (I spared the other kids the embarrassment.)

Isn't he just adorable?