Hello....is anyone there?

So, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. A few things have crossed my mind that I wanted to share, but the timing was never right (feeding Luke - takes all my attention these days, taking a nap, vegging in front of the TV, ya know, busy things). I did spend some quality time with friends last week for "girls' night". After fantastic food and conversation at the local Chili's...until 11 P.M., we headed home. The conversation continued in three different driveways until nearly 4 A.M. Needless to say, while I was completely rejuvenated socially, I was wiped out otherwise. I got up at 7 A.M. to teach school. YEA for Fridays...not much to do, mostly rotations and fun stuff! I enjoyed an exciting Jazz game that night, too. (I zonked for about 1o hours Friday night.) I don't have any great pics to share because I've been a little bit lazy in my memory-catching efforts lately.

I had quite a memorable experience yesterday at school: While beginning a fun lesson about germs (!), the fire alarm went off. I took my class and part of another out to our place on the field. It was chilly in a sweatshirt and I was wearing a short-sleeved knit shirt. Most of the children were NOT dressed for cool weather and the wind was blowing a bone-chilling breeze the entire time. As this was not a drill (Kindergarten teachers are usually warned first), we tried to keep our children calm, occupied, and thinking warm thoughts. After about 40 minutes, one teacher per grade was allowed to get coats from classrooms...by this time we had a few blankets from various volunteers' vehicles wrapped strategically around the kids to block the wind. Shortly after it was time to dismiss AM Kindergarten for the day, the "all-clear" was given to return to the building. While nothing serious happened and no one was hurt (alarm malfunction????) I was a little shaken. I knew that no one would be hurt and that there wasn't smoke coming out or hoses going in, but I had never had the weight of responsibility hit me until then. I had 18 children to take care of until they could be dismissed to parents or go inside. I found this translated to my own little boy...I am entirely (and Dad) responsible for the well-being of him! Wow. That was a lot to take in. When school commenced this morning, I only had one student ask about the fire alarm and why it went off yesterday. We took a few minutes to have a class discussion and I told my kids how brave they were and how proud I was that they listened so well and did their jobs perfectly!! We also talked about being scared and how it's okay to be scared...I was, too (seeing the fire trucks arrive struck a chord in me. I was caught off guard and got a little misty - thank heaven for dark glasses and a big "teacher" smile!!).

I think that's enough for now...I'll work on my consistency...and pics.