Awana, Here We Come!

We started Awana on Wednesday night. All three of us. Matthew is in Sparks this year, and Nathan finally gets to go to Cubbies. (Hallelujah, we have finally finished potty-training!) Both of the boys were excited about their first night. I'm helping out, since I figured it was time for me to get involved at church. Last year was really just a time for us to get our feet under us. Plus, our church looks for a lot of their volunteers before school starts, and we were really only here for about three weeks before school got going last year.

Sparks is going to be a lot more difficult for Matthew than Cubbies was last year. For his first week, he memorized the Sparks motto, My friend for Christ, the Pledge of Allegiance, and John 3:16. Now, most of us may think John 3:16 is really easy, but we've known it for so many years, we don't even realize how long it is. In working with Matthew, I discovered just how long it really is. For next week, we have to memorize the pledge to the Awana flag and the Sparks theme song. Both of those are fairly long too. I guess we won't be able to memorize his verses in the car on the way to church this year! Plus, he has to be more responsible this year about working his way through the book. The church has given us a plan for the year to help him finish the book by the end of March.

I had a great time looking at his book. I was in Sparks when I was in the second grade, and I found my old books not too long ago. My book and his book are not really all that different. They use a lot of the same verses and projects. I haven't shown it to Matthew yet, because I don't know if he'll quite get it. I do wish I had a picture of me in my old Sparks vest. He would get a kick out of that.

Nathan had a blast at his first night. Yesterday, he was already asking me when he goes back to Cubbies. He is in a different group than the one that I am helping with. That's a good thing, because the instant that he sees me during the large group Bible time, he immediately comes over to me. That was a little hard Wednesday night since I had another little boy sitting in my lap because he had hurt himself earlier. Of course, that meant that Nathan had to immediately come over and try to lay on me. Between the two boys flopped all over me, I was afraid I might never get up. We're still working on the whole separation anxiety thing with him. He's still having some trouble when Jeremy leaves him at school as well.

I enjoyed my group as well. We have 10 four year-olds in our group. Some of them are new this year, but there are a couple that are old hats at it. It was funny to watch. There are definitely some real leaders in the group. It's amazing to watch how this all works together. All of the groups move like well-oiled machines. As one group leaves a room, another one moves in to take it over. It is all completely necessary. Altogether, there are 770 people at Awana each Wednesday night. That includes both adults and kids. Then, when the Middle School kids get started next Wednesday, there will be almost 1500 people on campus every Wednesday night. No wonder we need a new building as soon as possible.

Trouble Already!

Well, it's the second day of school, and Matthew already got his first yellow light. His teacher uses green, yellow, and red stamps to show what kind of day he's had. He apparently hit another child who was teasing him, and so he had to sit in time out. I was NOT a happy camper with him. He and I had a "come to Jesus" meeting right there in my classroom at 3 pm this afternoon. We also discussed the serious consequences that might arise if he brought home another yellow light. Our school sells ice cream bars everyday to help pay for our lunch monitors, and I've told him he could buy ice cream on Fridays. However, I said another yellow light this week would mean no ice cream. So, of course, my little smart aleck pops off with, "Well, there are red lights, too." I informed him that he probably did not want to find out what would happen if he brought home a red light. We'll see how it goes. I can't believe it. The second day of school, and the teacher's kid is a delinquent. Aren't the teacher's kids always the worst ones? :)

First Day of School!

We are a family of school kids now! Matthew started his first day of kindergarten today. Here's a picture of him in his classroom.

Nathan started Pre - K as well. He's going to the same school that Matthew did last year. Here he is with his backpack that's almost as he is!

We had to start early this morning! I got Matthew up at about 6:30. He was sound asleep when I went into his room, but he got right up and got started. I'm sure in a month it won't be so easy! Nathan was a little harder to get up. I went into his room and called his name a few times. He cracked an eyelid at me, and I said, "Do you want to get up?" He takes one look at me and croaks, "No." I told him it was Pre - K day, since we've only been counting down to that since the first day of August, and he pulls the covers over his head and rolls over. He is definitely a night owl. If it was up to him, we'd all go to bed around midnight and wake up at 10 am. (Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea!) It must have sunk in though, because I heard him a couple of minutes later in the hallway singing, "It's Pre - K day today!"

They both had good days today. Matthew said he had fun, and he wants to go back tomorrow. He told me he had already made friends, though he was a little upset that he didn't get to go to the playground. We kept the kids in for the most part today since we were still near triple digits. It's 9:30 right now, and it's still 86 degrees outside. I told him once it cooled off a little he'd get to go outside for recess. Nathan said Pre - K was very fun. I asked him what he did today, and he said, "Played." I can imagine that was pretty fun! He also told me he had "nothing" for lunch, but since he was wearing most of it, I think it was spaghetti. He did take a nap, since he's still in his bed talking to himself. He always has a hard time falling asleep if he's slept at all during the day. Hopefully, he'll adjust soon.

My class was a little more interesting. I tell myself every year that I need to remember that the group I'm getting is a year behind the group that left me in May. This year, though, is even harder. They seem more immature than the class I had last year, and things that I expected them to know did not seem to come so easily. It's going to take a lot of work just to get them to learn the procedures and the ways I run my class. I'm especially careful this fall, since I want to make sure that the kids are confident in how I run a class before I hand it off to a sub for two months. Lots and lots of review over the next week!

The Last Day of Summer

Wednesday was our last day at the pool. Since I start work on Monday, and we had other things going on Thursday and Friday, Wednesday was our end of summer. We have a pool at Mountain Park that is about five minutes away from our house, and it has been wonderful this summer. I actually have a decent tan for the first time in a long time! The pool is set up for kids, and so the boys have had a blast. Unfortunately, there have been occasional maintenance issues, so we've had to go elsewhere. We heard about another really nice one at Bethesda Park that is about fifteen minutes away from us, and we've really liked going there to. That one is completely indoors, so we can go even when it's raining outside!

So Wednesday, when we headed to the pool we were once again faced with the dreaded "Outdoor Pool Closed" sign. This time, though, instead of going to Bethesda, I decided to head to one that's south of us at Lenora Park. I had a general idea of where it was at, but I wasn't completely sure. I knew the road it was on, but it was alot further away than I thought. It took us close to a half-hour to get there. On top of that, I was very disappointed when I got there. I've often complained about the lifeguards at Mountain Park being very strict about the rules. Technically, both boys are to always be within arm's reach, since they are both under six. That proves to be a little impossible when Matthew is ready to try anything, and Nathan prefers to try nothing. I keep them fairly close, though, and I've only had to have Matthew brought to me once. At this pool at Lenora Park, the lifeguards went the other way. There were kids who were probably 10 - 12 years old running and pushing in the one foot section of the pool, and the lifeguards didn't say anything. It was very frustrating, since I try not to get in "teacher" mode when I'm not actually teaching. The difference that I saw between the two pools was very simple. At Mountain Park, the lifeguards are either in the water or right along the side of the pool. At Lenora Park, the lifeguards were all sitting in lifeguard chairs with umbrellas above them. While I'm sure it was more comfortable, it separated them from the kids in the pool and made them a lot less inclined to get down and intervene. I told Jeremy when we got back that it was fun, but I don't think we'll be heading back there again. A half-hour is too long to drive for that.