4.25.10

I'm not even going to try to go back and re-create this entire week. David and I got home late almost every night because one of us was at the hospital or with his dad or at his mom's house. Barb is still unconscious and on life support. She has pneumonia in both lungs as well as MRSA. It's been a rough week. She weighs heavily on my mind at all times and I am very tired. I do have a few pictures to share and I will try to get back into the groove of posting daily tomorrow.

All of the seventh graders at my school participate in this big event called This I Believe. It's based off of the program on NPR. We listened to and read lots of personal essays and then each student wrote their own essay based on a personal belief. Some of the essays are funny, most are touching and honest. We post each essay on black construction paper and ask the kids to come up with 3 words that sort of sum up their essays. They can present those in any way they like and we photograph it. That photo is added to the bottom of their essay. Then we hang them all in this central area of my school called The Pit. It's a very powerful thing to see 400+ essays hanging in the center of the school.

This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the school year. Many times, the kids who act out the most in class are the ones who write the most meaningful essays. It allows me to see my students in a different light.

Yesterday, we took a big step and took Maggie's crib down. No, she wasn't still sleeping in a crib but she was sleeping in the toddler bed. I don't have any pictures of her new room for some reason so I'll take those tomorrow. She now sleeps in the brass bed that was mine when I was a little girl. I took her to Target last night and let her look at the quilts and she selected one in shades of purple, lavender and pink. It looks really cute. Her room looks like a little girl's room now and not a baby's. She is SO proud of her big girl bed! I took a nap with her on it yesterday and I must say, it sleeps quite comfortably in its new location.

Guess who did not like her new soccer uniform. This is my new favorite picture of Maggie. I do not think she will be pursuing a career in soccer. Last Saturday, she laid in our bed and cried for 30 minutes about going to practice. I was not happy with her. I am going to sign her up for cheerleading in the fall. I know that's what she really wants to do. She's just not old enough yet.

I took Maggie to the 9th circle of hell today for a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. OMG. It is SO LOUD in there. I have no idea how those people work there. I think I would lose my mind. She was scared of Chuck E. but she was okay with waving at him from my lap. Her favorite game was this Spongebob one where she dropped tokens on this moving sidewalk thing to try to win tickets. We waited in line to cash in our tickets for FOREVER. We were behind these really cool guys who had two huge bags of tickets to count. They were probably all about 25 years old. WTH. Anyway, Maggie picked out some stick on earrings and a ring to get with her tickets--she had 37. I didn't take the camera today either!

Well, I guess that's it. Please continue to pray for Barb and David's dad, Rege. Thanks, y'all.