Photos

Luke and his new friend Gwen. She came over for a while today while her mom went to the hospital to have her baby. Turns out she didn't have him, but the kids had fun together for a while at the park and having a picnic.



This is Mia's new game. She runs to her room to get changed, then hides from us behind her crib. She's so silly!

Luke helping Mia take her shoes and socks off... He gets so annoyed with her sometimes for messing with his things, but then he turns around and is so sweet to her!

TGIF!!

What a long, tiring week. My allergies have been the worst they have been in a very long time, and I think I'm working on a sinus infection on top of that. I haven't really eaten in about a week either. I have woken up every morning this week saying "Is today Friday?" and so glad today really was. My plans for this weekend were to go to dream dinners tomorrow morning and do nothing much else all day but start reading a new book. Now, though, I'm on call for babysitting. My friend, and our third grade aide, is pregnant and due in a month, but started labor today after school. As much as some people wouldn't want baby to come early, this little guy has no more room to grow and is ready to come. Plus, her husband is army and is being sent Tuesday to CA for a month and isn't allowed to come home when baby gets here, so we're all hoping he comes before daddy is shipped off! My job is to babysit the 4 year old daughter to help them out. Thankfully we had her baby shower this past Wednesday already!

I have some photos to post, but it's not happening tonight. Mia has a new game - going to her room like she's excited to get changed, but then runs and hides behind her crib!

Luke got his first progress report this week and is doing great! He still loves getting up every morning and going to school to see his friends and learn. The best part of having him in my friend's class is that every day I get to hear a little story of something he did, while other parents don't get that same joy! 

Off to bed. Not sure if I'll get a babysitting call at 3am, so I'd better get sleep while I can!

School Pics

Luke's teacher sent me some photos she's taken of Luke. I feel like most of my photos on here are of Mia, so I'm giving Luke his own blog entry of school photos!

The boy to the left of Luke, grinning widely, is his new best buddy Nicholas. His brother is also in my class.


This is from the freedom march on 9-11. Notice he is right by Nicholas - they are never far apart!

No more #23

Well, what a day I have had! I thought I should update what happened with my new Ike child. First, he was pretty excited about the football, so I thought the day would go well. I will give the quick summary of how it went instead!
*He refused to do any work
*When asked to participate, he layed on my floor under my table and wouldn't get up or talk to me
*When I went to find someone (administration, counselor) to help us out, he broke a pencil and was acting like he was going to hurt someone with the broken part
*When an AP came back with me, I had to clear out my class and spent the next 40 minutes trying to get him off the floor!
*He left with the AP and I was a bit upset still. After lunch, he was sent back, before I was ready to take him back.
*5 minutes into our first lesson after lunch, he started mocking me behind my back, then in front of my face.
*When I said something to him, he laughed and continued on.
*He was "smoking" a piece of paper. I took it from him, and he started "smoking" a pencil. When I took that, he laughed again and smoked with his fingers and said "What are you going to do, cut off my fingers?" Then he said "I'm flying high, high as a kite" while smoking.
*I called and told the AP to come right away. She took him, and I never saw him after that.
*Found out once he was in the office, he said/wrote the most obscene, vulgar things about everyone and was going to get suspended, but his dad withdrew him instead.

Wow, how does a 9 year old get to be like that? So he's gone, and it really is a good thing. I tried to be positive, but he obviously has some issues besides a hurricane. So thanks for the nice thoughts. And by the way, the football was left in my room when he took off, so so much for that nice gesture!

#23

Well, I got student #23 today. Our limit is 22, and 3 of us now have 23 kids in third grade. Now we just have to wait a month and keep our numbers that high to get another teacher, which probably won't happen. Let me tell you about #23 though. He is coming to us from Alvin, TX because of Ike. We got 17 kids enrolled today that are staying at the boys and girls club near my school. I found out my new one is dyslexic and was in an anger management program. So now I have two very angry boys, and this one has even more reason to be angry since he's homeless. I think he may only be staying a week or two, but you never know what they'll find when they try to return home. Even with all his problems, I have to remember that he's still just a 9 year old boy who left everything and is staying in a strange city with strange people. He told me he's scared this his dogs are dead since they left them behind in their home. I asked what he missed the most and he said his football, so Luke and I made a stop on the way home and picked him up a new one. He's going to really struggle in my room, since I have so many kids and it's way above his learning level. But I will do the best I can just to try to keep him somewhat happy and not too angry. Keep everyone in your thoughts. Some of these kids came crying so hard, and some parents didn't want to leave their kids behind and were just so embarassed that they didn't have nice clothes to wear.

Greetings!

My kids are growing up way too fast these past few weeks. Luke is doing so well as school today, and one of the kinder aides told me at lunch how cute he is, and how smart he is. She had to test him today, and said he did great, and had a conversation with her. What an improvement from last year! So proud! He continues to love his teacher and his new best buddy Nicholas.

Mia goes a mile a minute lately. She's really started to repeat everything we say and seems to have a new word each day. It's great when we know what she wants, but this morning when she woke at 5:30 and just kept crying "me me me" forever and we had no idea what she wanted, it got a bit frustrating! Today's word is "bubbles!" She now says "please, bye bye, more" very well, but I do miss the frantic rubbing of her belly to say "please" in sign language. And thanks to aunt Brenda, she can say "again" in sign too. She's so determined too. She will go to the fridge and yell and hang from the handle until someone opens it to get her string cheese.

Her favorite things to do now are wearing other people's shoes and getting her own snack and bowl from her cupboard and bringing them to us.

To update from the past days, we all had a great visit at the Elliotts, despite a few bumps and bruises. Luke somehow landed face first at the bottom of the steps in the trim around the door and had nice black and blue lines on his face. Then not long after, we found him bleeding on Carsyn's top bunk, saying he'd accidentally been hit in the nose with the ladder. Good times. We stayed longer than planned on Sunday just so we could relax and play. Thanks for the house guys!

My class is going well. I am at capacity again, but tomorrow a kid or two may be moved out. And for those that volunteered to be temporary homes to Pippi, be warned that the Pippi's are coming! I hope to get them mailed the next day or two. And some others of you may be getting contacted if I need a few more willing babysitters!!

Cheese!!!!!

Can I have a snack please? I got my own food and bowl!

These were some of the most frightening ducks I've ever seen, because they were so huge! Before I was even out of the car, they were marching up to us ready to attack!

While Brenda and I were unpacking in her upstairs room, the bigger kids kept busy with instruments while Mia was wearing a giant plastic flower on her head.


Another of Mia's favorite things - reading! She will sit in her chair and turn pages while making noises. I'm getting her ready for that 3rd grade reading TAKS test early!


Where's Mia? There she is! (And she'll say "there she is!" if you ask where she is!)