The morning began with Pastries with Parents in the gym before school. Basically everyone (parents) comes to have donuts and fruit in the gym with their kids. Teachers are expected to make an appearance, so I popped in and wandered until I found the teacher table. The line was super long to get food, so I just drank my tea and chatted.
We exchanged Valentine's treats at snack time. I was pleasantly surprised that a few kids brought me special valentines. One brought a huge solid chocolate kiss, another gave me a chocolate rose, another gave me a gift bag that feels heavy (haven't looked in it yet), and then a bunch of random candy. The funniest thing was a nose pencil sharpener with a card that says, "I'll always pick you Valentine." Hilarious.
Parachutes for PE again. Mrs. M's class likes to complain, but they actually did pretty well with today's game. We played a game where everyone uses the parachute to launch a ball at targets on the gym floor. To lower the complaining, I let them earn class points for every target they hit. It turned into a cooperative learning game... they had to work together to get the ball to even get off the parachute! Then they tried to aim it! They earned five points. I'm curious how many the other class will earn. My guess is more than five; they seem to be better at working together.
Mrs. M and her husband came to talk to the class after lunch recess. The kids were so excited, they all immediately gave her a hug. She thought she was going to cry, but she did really well and was able to answer all their questions, show them pictures, and even showed a few videos while keeping it together. I had told the class not to ask her when she would be coming back, but when she didn't hear the question, at the very end she said, "Is someone going to ask the question I'm sure you're all wondering about?" The whole class looked at me, nonverbally asking me permission. I said yes. Mrs. M's answer, "I'm not sure when I'll be coming back. I might seem like I'm doing fine now, but grief is a process. Some days are better than others. And right now I'm having more bad days than good days. So, I'd like to wait to come back to school until I'm having more good days consistently. That might be in two weeks, or maybe a month. I don't know." Her answer seemed to satisfy the class.
We went straight from the talk into the Valentine's Day party. It was completely chaotic. I was going to say "a bit chaotic", but Valentine's Day is sugary enough I won't sugarcoat it more. Mr. N's class came to our room. We moved all the desks out of the way (although we could've left them in place). Parents sent snacks to school (cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, fruit kebabs, popcorn, juice pouches) and another parent led BINGO and cookie decorating. I thought we might need more filler, like a movie or extra recess outside, but the kids enjoyed BINGO until the end of the school day. We cleaned up and then I sent them home. Whew! I am pooped.
Tonight's agenda: Ash Wednesday service and a Lenten meal beforehand.
The best exciting news of the day is that the buyers' closing this morning went off without a hitch! G and I are officially down to just one mortgage! Since it happened in New Ulm, the lawyer's office has to bring the check to Mankato for us, which won't happen until tomorrow. So, we wait one more day to get the funds from the sale in the bank. Praise the Lord for getting us through this process smoothly!
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