Giggles, Snot, and Hats

I have a variety of hats I wear to keep my ears warm and the kids entertained. Today there was a hat war the students kept stealing my hats. All I could think of was the germ factor. So I brought my hats home for baths. I can't leave them at school that is for sure! I didn't have help today and the kids were pushing all the limits. I never know what they will get up to but I finally had to get cranky. They apologized for "disappointing" me! I was surprised they used that word but appreciated the sentiment.

Before Thanksgiving break we had some pretty funny happenings at school. We had an extraordinarily long and disorganized assembly. There was an attempt made by those putting it on to be very professional and make it exciting.  That didn't happen until it was over. The principal was standing in front of the entire school and was about to tell us to go on our merry way when my kindergartner jumped up and ran to her. I was thinking "Oh no what is he doing?"  Then the principal says "  Student has an announcement to make". He stands in front of the whole school and says " I am going to be an UNCLE!!!!"   Long, long, pause.....while we all do calculations in our head and try to remember the age of his oldest sibling. We all seemed to realize at the same time this was indeed possible and happening. We all applauded and he got many hoots and hollers from the High School students.  This announcement was a dangerous thing to begin... it opened the door wide for the rest of my class. One of my second graders jumps up and says " I have an announcement too"  " I get to ride my horse  A LOT."   I get a visual image of the never ending announcemnts so I quickly jump in and say  " What do we say to the people who had this assembly" All of my students yelled "Thank You." Then I immediately made them line up and start leaving the gym. I hear as we are walking out a High School student say " I have an announcement to make  I LIKE PIE"!  

The day before our break I decided to have pajama day. It just makes it a relaxed day before break. The kids are usually wired before a holiday so it seems to have a calming affect. So at lunch the principal says " so it is pajama day?".  One of my students says " YES, Ms. C declared it Pajama Day". I didn't know I had the power to make such declarations but I like it! I will declare it Pajama Day the day before Christmas Break as well.

Cold season has begun. What this means is constant demands for cough drops from students of all ages. It also means going through a massive amount of Kleenex. It also means snotty sneezes. It is the worst. The kids are gagging I am trying to pretend not to gag. UGGH!  It really is a disgusting time of year. It is Lysol Spray and handy wipe time. My colleagues kids are constantly bugging me after school. So I gave one of them the job of wiping down the desks. She had a great time.

The janitor came in after school and said she'd be gone next week so we'd have to empty our own trashes. I  barely contained my laugh. All of us at least one time a week empty our own trashes. If we don't my Kleenex filled trash bags just get emptied but the bags don't get changed. It gets seriously disgusting.  I refrained from making a remark and just said okay.

Tomorrow is the day we draw our Lamb Raffle winner. I am excited to see who the winner is.  Our secretary was gone again today. Our 76 year old bus driver was the sub. This means the phone rings off the hook A LOT! I don't know where he disappears to but he does. The ones he does answer and take a message for he ends up interrupting my class for a sales call or other ridiculousness. 

I believe my alternator went out on my car and yesterday I had it towed. Thank goodness for Triple AAA. I had it towed to town. However, the chain of gossip was very excited by this occurrence! I have been stopped and questions numerous times about the state of my car. I had no idea it would be so excited. This is how short on news we get around here!

On a sadder note. We lost one of the good ones from my hometown. He and his wife had been married since 1937. It is hard to imagine the level of commitment that took and all the struggles, hardships, etc. They made it through it all. I was able to go say hello to his wife and she says to me " I have barely gotten through being without you so I don't know HOW you've managed without me". I thought that was very sweet. It was like watching a ship without a rudder or a rudder without a ship. However you look at it half of the whole was missing. 

Overall it was a good trip home for Thanksgiving. I wish I'd had a little more time but I packed in as much as I could. I got to make a snowman with my cute little cousins and hang out with some fun people! It was a little startling to realize I was surprised when I went into the grocery store. I forgot what it was like to shop somewhere that had such a variety of options. I probably should go to the big city a little more often!  Well, I had best sign off.