it's never dull with kids

I guess being a parent either makes you laugh along or hang your head in exasperation. Seems like some days I'm doing both. The person who thought of the phrase "never a dull moment" must have had a houseful of kids. We've been plowing our way through the first few weeks of school, open houses, and selection of musical instruments. I just couldn't resist telling the following two stories -- guess which one I hung my head over.

Wednesdays are Grace's show and tell day. This is serious business with the PreK set. Grace had about six items in her backpack to pick from for sharing. She said she'd decide at school which one to share so I went along with it. (Call me soft after having three children, but I've learned to pick my battles. As long as we get to school on time I'm good with almost anything.) That afternoon I pulled up in the carpool line to pick the girlie up. She hopped in and her teacher made a special trip out to the car to tell me how wonderfully Grace shared the story about her favorite animal. Mrs. Olivia said that her words were so descriptive and wonderful, her ability to speak and public was very mature. Apparently she had told about how long she had had the animal and how it was her favorite. I said thank you and then we pulled forward to let Grace buckle. I looked back in her hands and there was a bunny which I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE. So I start asking Grace about it and she insists that the bunny is her special toy that she's had for a long time. She's so convincing that I start to think that I could be wrong.

We get home and we rush to the bus stop to get William. Grace then tells someone there all about her favorite toy and how her friend "Madison" really wanted to take it from her today. She goes on and on about this toy. By the time we get William into the house I am convinced that she has taken an animal that was not hers. My thoughts wandered to things like, "Great, I'm raising a pathological liar." and "My goodness what is poor Madison doing tonight without her favorite bunny." The next day we returned it to the preschool with the full story. Grace finally conceded that afternoon that I might be right.

Hang my head.

On Thursday we have Jordan burst into the house from the bus stop. Her face is flushed with excitement and she can hardly wait to tell us all about band class and her new trumpet skills. Dave was working at home that day so we are both standing there listening to her joy and encourage her to play what she has learned. What unfolded was a 30 minute setup time. She carefully pulled out her trumpet. Cleaned it a bit. Put the right mouthpiece on and checked it over. She laid the trumpet down saying that she really needed to pull out her folding music stand to have the music in front of her. So out comes the stand and it takes a few moments to get set up. There was much adjustment of the musical notation on the stand. Finally, she gets ready to play. And then....

She blows ONE note four times. Basically one note per measure in 4/4 time.

She looks up elated and says, "That is what I learned today!"

Dave and I were encouraging and excited, but smiling inside. Grace then says, "Did they teach you any more notes?" and William chimes in, "Yeah, cause that was kind of boring." Jordan was so happy about her new skill that she didn't even hear them.

You just gotta laugh along sometimes.

first day of school 2008

Monday was the first day of school here in our county. Three kids in three different schools with three different departure times... mornings are b-u-s-y at our house. All three were full of things to say -- all good -- when they arrived at home. I had a difficult time getting a picture of all three since William had to be at the bus stop at 7:20; Grace at PreK (K4) at 7:55 by car; and Jordan's bus stop was at 8:51. You can be sure that the middle schooler did not want to be bothered to wake up early for a group photo. To her credit she has been extremely organized since starting the new schedule and we are praying this lasts. Here are the photos:

The confident first grader:


At the bus stop with his friend Robert. Notice William's hand splint? That's the 4 stitches I haven't blogged about yet.


The excited PreK student going to school from 8-2:30:


Showing off her backpack and tennis shoes:

The middle schooler:




At the bus stop with neighborhood girls...Jordan's parents were the only ones to hang out at the bus stop and take pictures. How embarrassing!