Paigey girl

Paige has rebounded nicely from the flu and has had some good times lately. Her artwork was chosen for the District Art Show and displayed at the District Office. It was fun to go by and see it. A district art's teacher was walking by at the time and made her feel like quite the celebrity.

Paige and I also had a fun date together recently. We grabbed some dinner at Panera and then headed to the production of Madagascar by the local elementary school. Our buddy Ryder was a lemur and we were excited to support him. We both loved the performance, especially my theatrical girl who thought the set changes and music were stellar.

Note my zebra scarf in solidarity with the Madagascar theme

Finally, Paige is working hard at practicing for her play at the end of March. She is claiming her roles as hyena and wildebeest with gusto. We definitely have some songs stuck in our heads and we're excited for her performance.

Sister love

Sometimes you have times like last night where your children continue to argue with each other despite many interventions and then everybody ends up in their rooms early for the night either crying or mad. It's not a fun way to end the day and for me, quickly makes me forget the loving moments they do share.

That's when I need a little reminder that my girls really do love each other. Recently the girls dismantled a little project they had been working on for the last couple of months. I should preface this with my children are cardboard crazy. I often find them digging through the recycling bin or my closet for spare boxes. Christmas time was a prime source for new material. They came across several large boxes and it was over.

The Sister Club House became a work in progress, but I never realized all they had put into until it was taken apart. Inside I found pictures of the two of them, artwork and sweet sayings. Despite tiffs between the two of them, it seems there is real live evidence that they do actually love each other!

Always love your sistor

Unicorns are real.

Badge wall

Also for public record, they are actually quite creative with their cardboard. They've made several doll items including a horse drawn sled and car. It's a win-win...free entertainment and creativity all in one!

And we're back...mostly.

The flu brought us down this week. For five days the girls laid on the couch, moving only to go to the bathroom or go back to bed. They went through hours of cartoons including almost every Barbie movie and an entire 6 seasons of some spin off of How to Train Your Dragon. Actually, I think they were kinda proud of their first Netflix binge. I kept them medicated and hydrated, feeding them whenever they felt like it. Our recycling bin is full of the carnage-empty juice containers, boxes of jello, Campbell soup cans and Motrin bottles.

Thankfully fevers broke and they got through the terrible headache stage. We are currently in the stuffy nose and coughing stage so I kept them home one more day to be sure they were good to go. We actually managed to get off the couch today and did some homework and work on the dollhouse. It's going to be super cute when we're finished! More details to come later.

Sarcastic face = feeling better

Anna had enough energy to participate in her first run club, sponsored by her awesome dad. It wiped her out, but I think she was glad to get some fresh air. I even took Paige so she could soak up the natural oxygen outside of the house. Maybe it will help them sleep well.

They'll return to school tomorrow, where I hear several kids have been absent in their classes this week and now the stomach bug is going around. If they get the stomach bug, you can pick me up off the side of the road because I am running away. Seriously.

In any event, we've survived. Patrick and I haven't gotten it. We've managed to keep up with work which included grading 120 mock interviews and facilitating a teacher Q & A involving Betsy Devos in Florence (I'll let you figure out who did what). The poor girls agree the flu is no fun and now see the importance of the flu shot, which I again remind you, we got this year.

In brighter news, Anna received some awesome mail today...her first monetary prize for racing! She got a $25 check in the mail and was thrilled.

Highs and Lows

You wouldn't think so much could be packed into a couple of days, but it has been a weekend of highs and lows around here.

First up, we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa into town for a long weekend. Gary and Anna were excited to get started on a project they had been drumming up. Anna made plans to build a dollhouse and Gary was kind enough to work through them with her so she could do the math and learn about building something. They've been planning for a couple of months now so everybody was excited to get started.

Paige attended her practice for the Lion King Jr. and was excited to learn she would have another part in the play. Besides being a hyena, she would be "umm, I think it's like a pack mule." What? Pack mule in Africa? After talking more we discovered it was actually a wildebeest and she is still equally thrilled with the new dances and songs she is learning.

We celebrated Gary's birthday which was a couple of weeks ago. Nothing like having some yummy chocolate cake for breakfast to get the day started off on the right foot!

Then came the lows...Paige became very ill on Saturday with a fever of over 103. I texted her teacher to see if strep had been going around. Nope. Instead 7 kid in her class were absent on Friday with the flu. Ugh! We got the flu shot this year, but I guess this was a different strain. She was laid up on the couch all of Sunday and we all avoided church to make sure we weren't passing anything on.

I noticed Anna start tanking on Sunday morning. She pretended to be well so she could participate in the building of the doll house, but it was finally too much for her and she bit the dust. We're medicating and hydrating both girls who are pretty puny.

With people dropping like flies at our place, it was best to send grandparents on their way with the hopes they wouldn't contract anything and to give us some space to mend. It was certainly a bummer that their trip was cut short.

So we're laid up at home. The girls are binge watching How to Watch a Dragon which is making them happy. Fortunately they and Patrick had the day off and I canceled my classes to help at home. Patrick and I are well for the time being and praying it stays that way. That's just life for ya!

Student Led Conferences

On Friday we had the most amazing time hearing what the girls have been up to at school. I absolutely LOVE the way they do assessment at their school because they teach and train the kids to assess themselves and then set goals for future learning. Starting as kindergartners, the kids will gather artifacts and provide evidence of their learning achievements. Then in the spring, they invite us parents to come to school and THEY present to us as well as their teacher. It's not a traditional teacher conference for sure!

I have loved seeing the girls figure out that at the beginning the year their handwriting was messy or their spelling was off or their math fluency was less. Then by February, they have grown and can show us using the work they have done throughout the year. Each year, they are helped less and less by their teachers and by the end, they are able to accurately and thoughtfully reflect on their learning progress. On top of that they create learning goals they would like to continue to work on for the rest of the year. Now if only I could get my college kids to do this!

Anna's conference was done via an online presentation

From the beginning, Patrick and I have always written personal notes to each of the girls to let them know what we are proud of and have seen in them the past year. We also have some encouragements to give. Their teachers also share things they have seen and areas they would love to see growth. It's such a well-rounded process and makes everybody feel like they are on the same team.

I have managed to shed just a few tears over the years when reading their letters to them out loud. I was prepared that this year would be especially bad since it was Anna's last conference. However, I managed to hold it together and read the whole thing to her without even a sniff. Afterward, I got up and did a mic drop because I think all of us were surprised!

It was a special time for sure and while Anna may not have formalized conferences in the future, I hope we will be able to continue this valuable skill of self-assessment. What a wonderful foundation they have received!

So proud!

Last week Patrick was asked to testify at an education committee hearing at our State House. They are trying to pass a new bill regarding education that has lots of big issues. This typically happens when teachers aren't invited to the table to help solve problems. Fortunately, our state legislators held the committee hearing at a time when teachers could attend and they allowed for anybody to speak who wanted to as long as it was under 5 minutes. At least they were willing to listen! Because of this the turnout was amazing, with two overflow rooms full of teachers who were there to share their concerns.

Patrick was one of the first speakers and received a round of applause after his testimony. Some of his thoughts were shared on the local news, NPR, US News and World Report, as well as front page of the State Newspaper. It's amazing to see his passion for advocating for teachers. He is always well spoken and people listen to him because of his thoughtful comments and experience.

Right after the hearing, he had to book it to the Richland 2 School Board meeting where he was recognized for receiving his re-certification for National Boards. He continues to strive for excellence in his field and helps others to be excellent too. On top of that, his students adore him! All that to say, we're pretty proud of him and love watching him do his thing.

PS The only way we found out about Patrick's notority was through the girls' school. Paige's class reads the paper every day and they notices Paige's dad on the front page! Also, a couple of the teachers told the girls they heard him on the radio. Too funny.

Paige the hyena

A lot of posts lately have covered the happenings of Anna. Not only has she been busy in sports, but she also just finished her middle school interview which she proclaimed went really well. We'll find out in March whether she got into the school she wants to attend.

In any event, Paige has also been a busy bee. She and I took a little Mommy/Paige trip to my parent's house in order to pick up some tools we need. Anna will be going with her Bible study group in March so I thought this was the perfect way to treat Paige. (Who will hopefully remember this when March comes around!) We got to ride on Mom and Dad's new boat, a tritoon, which had just gotten delivered the day before. Let's just say it's pretty snazzy! We also slept in the bunk room together to have a little sleepover. And she visited with our good family friends, the Riley's while there. It was a quick overnight stay, but we had a good time. I'm also happy to report the new car did great on the trip.

Earlier in the week, Paige auditioned for The Lion King Jr. at the Columbia Children's Theater. I'm excited to get her doing something that she has a natural talent for, although she needs to develop some skills. Perfect opportunity! She was excited for the audition, but when I picked her up she had a long fact. In turns out learning a dance number was a little more difficult than she anticipated and she felt she hadn't done well. We had a great discussion about learning new skills and this being her first time doing it. She slowly came around to the idea that we don't have to be perfect right out of the gate, something I know we will be talking about a lot as she grows up!

We found out at the end of the week that she had been cast as a hyena and she's excited about her role even if it's not a major part. She wants to do well so they will notice her for future roles and that's the exact attitude that will develop perseverance and risk taking. We're all anxious to see her performance at the end of March. For the next couple of months she will have rehearsals which is the perfect activity for her.

I will leave you with the many faces of this dramatic girl, entitled "Selfies by Paige."

And this is why she will not be getting a phone for a LONG time!

Basketball Girl

We finished our last basketball game for the season last year. There were supposed to be some playoff games, but the other teams backed out and only one agreed to play a pick-up game with us. That was a bummer, but I'm also kind of glad the late nights are over.

The game was fun and intense! Anna was pumped and right before the 2nd half came over to declare she was "leaving nothing off the court" and "it was going down." I think she gets a little overly excited when big events happen! I had to tell her it wasn't good to trash talk in front of the entire bench section.

She played a good defensive game, pushing players to the left of the court because they can't dribble on that side. She was also posting picks left and right, but we had to tell her to stay still because she was quite aggressive in shoving her tiny body on opponents. Fortunately, that got better.

Anyway, they won the game and had a good time. It's been a good season and the cross training has been good for Anna's running. We'll have her banquet in a couple of weeks.