Star Student

In 2nd grade at my kids' school, each student spends one week during the school year being the Star Student.  There are different activities planned each day of the week specifically for the Star Student.  It's a special time that your child gets to enjoy all this extra attention from their teacher and fellow classmates.

At the end of the week, the Star Student gets to take home a beautifully decorated, spiral bound, laminated notebook.  It is filled with a page from each student in their class and the teacher.   The classmates draw a picture and each write several sentences about what makes that Star Student special.

Sam was Star Student right after Spring Break.  When she came home with her notebook, I was blown away by what Sam's fellow students wrote about her.  Apparently, one boy thanked her for standing up to a bully he was having a problem with.  (Huh?  Just let that last sentence sink in for minute.)   And another student called her "courageous".  A few students said she was very funny and loved that she kept them laughing all day long.  Another boy described her pretty like a rainbow and said she is queen.  It was very amusing to see how these kids view Sam.  All of the comments were incredibly cute, amusing and so endearing.

Reading the pages in this notebook had me thinking two thoughts:  1. Wow, what an awesome little girl Sam is.  And 2., Why can't we get more of this version of her at home?

Heard and Observed #57

Something happened a few weeks ago that I desperately wish I had kept my big mouth shut until I got my camera and took a picture.  But nooooooooooooooooooo, I had to say something and ruin a perfectly good Kodak moment.  One of those pictures that you would look back on for years and still get a good chuckle.

Here's what I missed out taking a picture of and can only describe to the best of my ability:  During a recent Saturday morning, we were getting ready to go to services at our synagogue. Ian came downstairs wearing his dress shirt inside-out.  Now, he regularly puts on his t-shirts backwards and doesn't realize it.  We are used to this and for some reason, it happens more than not.  But this particular shirt Ian put on inside-out was an amazing act of indifference and obliviousness on his part.  Why?  Because he somehow managed to button all the buttons going down the front of the shirt!  Crazy, right?  This is where a picture would be worth a 1,000 words. 

How in the world was he able to button his shirt like that??   Jeff and I each first saw Ian dressed at the same time. Jeff immediately went over to Ian to help fix his collar, which was all tucked in.  I instantly looked at Ian and made a comment questioning why the strip of material that has the buttons down the front wasn't laying flat.  Once we realized what Ian had done, we burst out laughing.  I tried to get to my camera, but wasn't fast enough before Ian ran back up stairs to correct his shirt.

It was the most bizarre looking thing you'd ever seen.  Next time (I'm sure there will be one!  Ian is only 10 years old), I will have learned my lesson and go for the camera first.

Writing

It's been a while since I've written this blog with any kind of regularity. It's strange how something that has taken up so much of my time in the past is now on the back burner.  Each day has become more of a passing thought on what I should write about.  Keeping this blog going was a great outlet for me and allowed me to express myself in a way that I needed.  When I was frustrated, mad, happy, proud, excited, and sad, I could write it all down and move on, so to speak.  I love having a journal of our adventures, experiences, and even every day moments recorded.  Life easily becomes a blur of activity and I appreciate the ability to look back and see what we were experiencing when.  There is an awesome feature on Facebook that shows you what posts from past years that you posted on this exact day.  It's amazing to see how far we've come (the potty training saga!!) or how little has changed (sleep issues!!).   This blog serves a very similar capacity as the "On this day..." posts.

These past few months have been non-stop action.  Between the food preparation I do on Sundays to get me thru the week, working out consistently every morning (either my boot camp class or running), working my 3 jobs, keeping up with the kid's activities and being a mom/wife/friend/daughter/sister is exhausting. Getting a healthy, well-rounded, home-cooked dinner on the table each night should be considered a full time job in itself!  Please understand, I am not complaining; not in the least.  I am truly blessed to have the life I have and love that I can do what I do for Jeff and the kids.  It's all good things that has me going, going, going.  I guess if something has to make room for the other stuff to happen, it's writing this that will be the sacrifice.

There is still so much I have to say, but unfortunately I don't see myself writing a new entry every other day like I had been.  Maybe there will be a point in the future when I can go back to writing more, but for the time being, it isn't today, or tomorrow, or next week. That's just got to be ok.