My Sweet Class

Yet another class full of adorable first graders. I don't think I'll ever tire of this job! Today we had our snow party. I made them all the scarves in these pix. We went ice skating on paper and had a snowball fight (crumpled up our skates to make the snowballs). They totally ganged up on me with the snowballs (sniff sniff...)! I think you could hear us from a mile around. We then had hot chocolate w/ marshmallows and watched a bit of the book we are reading, The Trumpet of the Swan. This is my favorite children's book. E.B. White was a great writer!

And wouldn't you know my principal (who was supposed to be at a meeting all day) came for a visit while the kids were watching the movie and I was checking my e-mail? Perfect! (never fails...) I think it was the first time I'd sat down all day! Hopefully I won't get in trouble. They are so weird about watching movies now. I do understand it to a point, but this really was the first I've shown all year, and it goes with the book we're reading, so I feel justified in showing it!

An exciting thing at work... a brand spankin new computer with a HUGE monitor (flat screen). I am in heaven! This was the silver lining to all the school flooding. The computer lab will now have our old computers and we get the new!

7th Grade Basketball

This year Jonathan can finally play school-sports (7th grade is the earliest you can do this in our district). He tried out for basketball and made Varsity, but wanted to be on JV. His friends were on JV (mostly) and he felt like he was the worst player on Varsity.

I have decided, after years of worrying a bit too much about which teams he gets on, that life is just too short to get all worked up about youth sports! I JUST want him to have the opportunity to play, have fun, and to build relationships with his peers.

So... I e-mailed the coach and asked if he could please drop down to JV. Luckily, he said OK, so Jonathan played JV this year.

He's a good player, but still lacks the fire and aggression you need to compete in basketball. It's good that he is so kind and conscientious about listening to the coaches, but sometimes I just want him to go for it!!! If the coach tells the kids to "go easy" on a team (as he does when they are creaming them), Jonathan listens and takes it to heart, while the majority of the other boys just go for it and don't listen at all. It's hard to teach him when it's OK to bend the rules a little bit. I want him to be obedient and good mind you, but he often takes what adults say too literally/ seriously. Parenting is hard.

The only bad thing about school sports has been that the middle school gets out way earlier than my elementary school. I have had to really book-it to pick him up on time. Also, his games started at 3:45 and I can't even leave work until 4:00. So... I missed all the away games because they would have been over by the time I could get there. My mom went to a few. They take a bus luckily. Then for the home games, I'd miss the first quarter, which was always just ending when I'd arrive. He usually played in the first qtr., so I'd get there and he'd just be leaving the game. I'd see him again in the 3rd quarter, though, so that was good. Had he played Varsity, the timing would have been perfect (4:30ish). Oh well! He had a great season, so that's all that counts.

I only took these 2 crummy pix all seaon. Too hard to get a good shot from up high in the bleachers in a gym. He's the blond one in the white jersey.

Great News!

My mom, Jayden, and I spent the day at Children's Hospital in Seattle yesterday. I hadn't ever been before (thankfully). One of my all time favorite students Davis Carlson spent almost a year in and out of there before dying of cancer in 2005. It was heart breaking. I had wanted to go visit him, but had a newborn (Jayden) at the time so couldn't go. I was sooo impressed with their organization and efficiency. We did the hour and a half CF test, and Jayden was a champ! The only part she didn't appreciate was when we had to rip the tape off of the patches. The test measures the sodium chloride content of your sweat. If it's too high (40 or above), it is an indicator of Cystic Fibrosis. We left w/o results and had to wait until 4pm to hear anything. I'm not kidding about how scared I was. As it got closer and closer to 3:30 (when results were done at the hospital), every minute waiting for my doctor's office to call was excruciating. I thought I was going to vomit. And then, the call... I cried when she said her sodium chloride level was 15 (well below 40) and she does NOT have CF. It was such an incredible relief. Thank you Lord! I grabbed ahold of Jayden and squeezed and kissed her harder than ever before. I'll never forget that moment. She didn't understand and asked, "Why are you sad, mama?"- little did she know... Anyway, if you've been praying for her, it worked! Thank you!

Scared

I am scared- to death. On Tuesday I have to take Jayden to Children's Hospital in Seattle to be tested for Cystic Fibrosis. Wouldn't I know if she were sickly? Wouldn't there be signs? There's a big part of me that thinks she's fine and that this is just a test- to rule it out. I will have myself convinced of this- but then I look at her sweet little face and worry "What if..."

When I googled it, I felt worse. And- I used to teach with a girl who lost 3 siblings to CF. I know modern medicines are good, but...

Here's the background... At the end of December I rushed her to the clinic one evening because (well- you don't really want to know...) Anyway, she was diagnosed with rectal prolapse. I assumed it was from chronic constipation (sorry for the details), but I guess it can also be a sign of CF. I remember the Physician's Assistant at the clinic kind of mentioning (w/o urgency) that Jayden would need a test- and I thought she had said for Cerebal Paulsy. I wasn't worried at all, as she said she thinks Jayden is fine, and I have never noticed any gross or fine motor issues.

After I took her to her 4 year check-up on January 12th, the doctor called me the next day to tell me that she needed to get tested for Cystic Fibrosis- and my heart sank when I heard the name of the disease. The only reason I even knew about it was because of my friend Kathleen (mentioned above). He sounded very serious- but then he's not Mr. Personality either (nice enough, but...) so I am trying not to read too much into his tone.

So if you're reading this post, please say a little- OK maybe a BIG- prayer for Jayden. I want her to be healthy soooo badly. This year is supposed to get better for us, so I am trying to stay positive and to convince myself she's fine- even as I type. I will know the results on Tuesday evening. It could be the best day ever- or the worst. It will be the best- right??? Will keep you posted.

Jake's Gingerbread House

Since school got cancelled for 3 days the week before Christmas break this year (or should I say LAST...), Jake's second grade class FINALLY got to make their gingerbread houses on Friday (1/16). He was soooo excited to show it to me after school and had put a lot of detail into it. He is so creative. He said Miss Burgner told the kids they couldn't eat the candies because of the type of icing she made. Hmmm- sounds a bit suspicious to me!!!

By the way, the band-aid on his forehead is from Thursday when he did a face plant outside at recess. He didn't even cry or ask to go to the nurse. The substitute teacher noticed it and sent him to the office for ice. It was a pretty bad cut/ bruise. He is really tough when he gets hurt. It's like he thinks it's a weakness to cry or something... of course this does not apply to when Jonathan lays a finger on him... Ugh!

Tent

Jake and Jayden wanted to set up the little bumble bee tent in their room. The good news is that now it actually fits! We snuggled together and watched National Treasure- or most of it anyway, until Jake fell asleep. I threw the tent away a few days later, as it smelled pretty badly.

Games

The kids are enjoying finally having space to actually play with all their toys! Jayden likes Hungry Hippos and Jake likes the Piranha Panic game he got from Santa this past Christmas.