Friday Night Lights and More!

        Join us on Tuesdays with the Two Writing Teachers and others who post. 

 

         Like others, I travel to see one of my children and the rest of that family. And like last year, I had the pleasure of going to a Friday Night Lights game to see my grandson Carter's marching band, and the football game, of course! This time, I want to give a shout out to how wonderful teens are, and the parents who support them! We traveled about three hours to Abilene, an 'away' game, and yes, parents came too, with the trailer and the grill to feed them first! They do this every game, home and away, and I am in awe of their work and dedication. I didn't get a picture of the kids sitting and eating and having fun before the game because I was serving, too. But each time I offered a plate, with a tortilla ready for soft tacos, each one smiled and said 'thank you'! Everyone should spend time around high schoolers at least once in a while. They're enthusiastic, hard-working, and make me happy to see them. We also went to the South Plains Fair to see Carter's photo in the entries from his school, and to eat funnel cakes! The fair was just as you imagine it: entries to amaze, crowds of excited kids, deep-fried everything, the knife salesman and the animals! I haven't been to a fair in a long time, and it was fun!

          Here are some pics from my trip, all too quickly in the past, but filling me up with good memories! 

Barb and Nathan, parents extraordinaire!

Barb and another parent prepping!

Nathan preparing the meat!

#SOL16 - 17/31 Special Family Time

SOLC #17/31 

      I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Seventeen of Thirty-One of the Slice of Life Challenge in March.  Thank you Stacey, Tara, Anna, Betsy, Dana, Kathleen, Beth, and Deb.  
        It's been both a whirl of a week and a pleasure too. My son and daughter-in-law, and sweet Bernese Mountain Dog Truman have been here since Monday. Grandson Carter is with his high school band at Disney World for spring break. I miss him, but he is having a great time.

       Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with shopping and conversation, eating and conversation, so much fun. Ingrid and Imogene got to come after school until their parents Sarah and Dave joined us for dinner, hence the pictures. Uncle Nathan and Ingrid share a snack while Aunt Barb and Imogene are a conversation with the house animals. Truman stays near, of course, in on the action as well as he can be.

        Everyone but me is skiing today, a final time together before these visitors return home. Big snow has been falling in the mountains! I'm off to the book store! 

                                                         

For always:  "Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing."

                                                                                                                 Donna Hedges

For Today:                                   HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

         "May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most.

Celebrating Each Moment

       As my daughter-in-law said, why does the time go so fast!  Thanks to Ruth Ayres at Discover, Play, Build  I'm sharing my week of good times.

            At my school we don't take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, but have a half day of celebration, named "Grandpeople's Day". Although some students are absent, on their way to family celebrations far away on this holiday, others have their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close neighbors come to visit, take a tour of the school, attend an assembly of different classes sharing, and finally visit classrooms. For this visit, I've already had students complete what is called the "Thanksgiving Visitor", where they choose any three people, past or present, to invite to their table. The guests this year ranged from Michelangelo, a grandmother never known, an unknown soldier who died in the Civil War, and on. The guests are always as diverse as the students. We gather in a group to share, and after student sharing, invite the visitors to tell us who they might invite, and why. It's a contemplative exercise, inviting our visitors into the classroom again for this brief time, always satisfying. I celebrate the students who were thoughtful, and the visitors willing to add their own ideas.

Changing Slices

Time for Tuesday's Slice of Life Sharing at Two Writing Teachers
       Thanks to all of you who gather this community (Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna and Beth) and to you who participate. I love reading what's going on in your lives.
       My life has changed because Saturday my daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters moved in with me while renovations are being done. This also includes a dog and two cats. By now, all are relatively used to their new lives, except one cat. Rose May, a beauty of a black and white cat, but shy, elusive, and now hiding out in the "parents" bedroom. Imogene, the almost three year old granddaughter is having more trouble sleeping. She's at the stage of transitioning out of a crib anyway, so she is lately spending time climbing in and out of the pac 'n play, lying in the bed with her sister, trying out my bed, and so on. If you've raised children, you know this hard, hard stage. How does one keep them down in the bed when in the crib, it was so easy?  And Ingrid is busy with EVERYTHING, painting, making pla-dough, playing in the sprinklers, reading books. Then she collapses in bed at night. Sorry, wish I had a pic of Imogene, too! She walked to get the mail with me today, (a half block), and literally jumped all the way!