A Day She Won't Soon Forget

I went upstairs yesterday morning while the girls were getting ready for school.  I heard Shelby chanting, "Make way for Quentin's Queen.  Make way for Quentin's Queen."  Now if you have been following this blog for any length of time, you have heard about Quentin.  S and Q were in kindergarten and 1st grade together.  They did not get in the same 2nd or 3rd grade classes, but still see each other at lunch and the playground.  And this year I think their 2 classes do some things together.   Q is her favorite friend.  Q had earned a prize for good behavior.  He picked for his prize the chance to eat lunch with someone of his choosing.  Q is very shy so I was very surprised when she said that he chose, you guessed it - Shelby!  Q is getting brave!  She kept looking at herself in my full length mirror.  When I said something she squealed her delight just thinking about her lunch date.  Since they have to eat at tables assigned by classroom, I assumed she would eat with him at his table.  Boy was I wrong!  After school she told me they ate by themselves in his classroom.  She sat in the desk across from his.  She said she was in there before him.  His teacher was in the room but left for awhile.  They waited until they were sure she was gone.  Then they looked at each other and started laughing.  That is about all I got out of her.  The highlight of her year so far, for sure!
Here are a few pictures of the two of them from over the years.

2nd Grade Field Trip

Last Winter at ISU Basketball Game

Last Fall at the Haunted Trail

Last Day of 1st Grade

1st Grade Thanksgiving Program

Quentin and his family recently sold their house.  Shelby was not happy because he will most likely go to another school once they settle on a new house.  For now they are living with his grandparents so he still goes to Oakdale.  Quentin and his brother come with their mom to BSF on Monday nights.  So as long as they continue to participate in that, she will get to see him on a weekly basis even after he changes schools.  The house they sold was on the street behind the school.  After school on the day before they closed with the new owners, his mom took their picture in front of the house.  I asked her for a copy of it for this post, but she said she thinks her camera cord is packed away in storage.  Oh well, it was fun to dig up some of these oldies.  It's amazing how much they change even over just a few years.

School Pictures

 I saw Traci on Sunday.  She is my friend who has been giving me grief for my few and far between posts lately.  I figured I would do a simple post and get the girls school pictures on here.  The district worked with LifeTouch this year.  I think they turned out pretty good.  LifeTouch does our church directories so I was pretty familiar with them.  I haven't had the girls' annual pictures taken yet.  If LifeTouch sells a size big enough to fit my living room frames, I may just have to order these and call it good.

Shelby - my brown eyed girl

3rd Grade

Morgan - my blue-grey eyed girl

1st Grade

Shelby's hair looks to be a little darker than Morgan's.  Both have beautiful streaks of color that most people pay big bucks to have.  And in case you have wondered but never asked, I used to have hair that color.  That is the most frequent question I hear - where did they get their hair color?  And since the pictures were taken, Shelby's front tooth is FINALLY starting to come through!

So far both girls are enjoying their teachers and classes.  Shelby probably a little more than Morgan.  I think Morgan likes her teacher but has a few in her class that annoy her.  She seems to be liking 1st grade much more than K.  I think she was kind of bored in K and did not like the long day.  According to an email I got from her teacher, she is by far the best reader in her class.  Her teacher was afraid she wouldn't have anyone else to put in a reading group with her, but she came up with 2 other kids.  She is hoping Morgan being in their group will help them improve in their reading.  The first week of school I had her go through all of Shelby's 2nd grade sight words from last year.  She did pretty good with the first set of 3rd grade words Shelby brought home last week.  She plays teacher when she comes home and her class of course is made up of baby dolls.  She is supposed to read at least 15 minutes each day and do her word sort which is the new way of teaching spelling.
The only negative part of 1st grade has been the headaches.  Morgan first complained her head hurt the 3rd day of school.  1 week later when her head still hurt, I took her to visit the pediatrician.  He determined she probably is having migraines.  I kept track of her pain levels 3 times a day for 2 weeks and then we followed up with him.  He gave her some meds to help prevent the headaches.  On Monday, she had her first of 3 times a week visits with a chiropractor.  Due to the fact the girl has had so many falls in her 6 short years, I thought her headaches could be a result of a body out of alignment. The other possibility is a sinus infection.  Next week I am taking her to see her allergist that she hasn't seen since 2009.  He is going to do a full respiratory allergy test.  Hopefully one of these doctors can help her feel better!

The Great Pumpkin......Vine!

On the last day of school in May, Shelby's teacher gave each student in her class a pumpkin seed in a paper cup.  She had 1 left so she gave it to Morgan.  We put them in the window in the living room for a while before planting them outside.  Shelby's grew quite a bit in the cup but Morgan's was barely surviving the near drowning it experienced from her over watering it.  I eventually got them planted in the back yard.  I used paint stir sticks to mark them, so they were not mistaken for weeds.  Then when we had the fence installed, they were pretty upset because they didn't look so good after being stomped on for a day.  I'm not sure at what point they just took off but as you can see, we have a wild couple vines!  I'm not sure either 1 is going to produce a pumpkin even though there have been a lot of flowers.  Shelby's is the bigger one growing into the grass and Morgan's is growing towards the corner of the fence.  How do you like the new fence?  It looks so much better than the old one.  Speaking of looking better, the grass is green again!  I wasn't sure we would see that again before spring.  Maybe some of the rain we have been getting will help grow us a pumpkin.  I know 2 little people who would love that!

Perspective

Life's events have a way of putting all things in perspective.  Today I was reminded how important it is to remain calm, cool and collected in this role called parenting.  Every reaction I have to every situation is going to affect my kids in 1 way or another.  Positively or negatively.  This morning was my first early Bible Study Fellowship leader's meeting of the year.  On my way home, I heard a plug on the radio for a book called Unglued - Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions by Lysa Terkeurst.  I listened to a perfect illustration of what this looks like as I was driving.  I get home about 8 and finish helping get the girls ready for school.  And because rain has the worst timing, it started to pour just as we were heading out.   I didn't throw a fit but I am irritated because I can't find my umbrella.  I accused Morgan of taking mine (since she has the same one) because chances are she can't find hers since she isn't always interested in putting things away.  Nate went along to drop them off and he walked them down.  I decided to kiss them goodbye in the van (because I had no umbrella) and off they went.  Nate and I returned home and soon my phone rings.  The call is from the school reach call system and I find this odd as these calls usually come in the evening as a reminder of schedule changes, information from our school principal or that my hot lunch account needs more money.  I was surprised to hear a message from the Superintendent regarding the current lock down situation at Normal Community High School.  I was shocked to hear the details of the 14 year old boy who shot a gun at the ceiling in a classroom.  Thank God no one was hurt outside of scared out of their minds.  Bless the teacher who tackled him at just the right time to avoid potential tragedy.  All other schools in the district continued their day as usual.  As I waited to pick them up at 3:30, I heard an interview on the local radio station with a lady who works at Eastview Christian Church, neighbor to NCHS and their evacuation site. She gave some details about the situation after talking to the teacher who is now being called a hero.   It sounds like the boy had a rough upbringing.  It makes me think that he could have been at the bad end of someone coming Unglued one too many times.  Kudos to today's educators as their job title goes way beyond teaching.  They are counselors, correctors, teachers of not just reading, writing, math & science.  I have to add to that Social Studies & PE for my siblings.  They are teachers of life.  Because so many kids today walk into schools as K'ers and haven't been taught a thing (at least not much on the positive side) about life.  This is so evident among so many in the school the girls attend.  It challenges me to have a heart for these kids rather than disappointment or irritation.  It challenges me more to chill out and not sweat the small stuff with my own girls - especially in the hectic morning hours before school.  And to be willing to overcome anything to be what they need.  Because once they walk out that door, you just don't know, you just don't know....

My best college buddy Traci harassed me for the delay in my postings.  I realize this post isn't what she was looking for when she said she needed some laughs.  Sorry T as you see so much of "ugly" in the daily challenges your job offers.  I needed to type this out to summarize the emotions of the day.  It's just downright frightening at how quickly life can change, so you better be ready!