Heart Broken

Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life.  One of the students that I work with when I sub at school passed away unexpectedly.  He was 16.  His poor little body had been through so much and just couldn't do it no more.  His mother is the high school secretary and so Thursday I was called in for her.  Friday morning I got called in again.  I didn't receive the news until I got to school.  By then I had students at my window and I didn't really get to process everything until I was on my way to pick up the kids from Grama's house.  I sobbed and sobbed while driving and trying to make phone calls.  Thank God I have such a great mom that will watch my kids at a drop of a hat for me to sub.  School asked me to stay on as a sub for the next week or two; possibly longer depending on the situation.  Between Grama, Papa Harry & Nonie, I am hoping we can make it through these next two weeks.  I don't know how I will manage home life, Ellaree's graduation, Ellaree's birthday party and working full-time again but with the good Lord's help I know I will get it all done. 

Please keep this precious family in your thoughts and prayers as they are going through a difficult time loosing him. 

Quote Of The Day

Quote of the day is when Ellaree got home yesterday from shopping with Aunt Jen..."I gave the lady all my money and she gave me 2 pennies back!"

We have been going nonstop since last week.

Wednesday morning I blew my tire belt.  So that meant I had to start driving Harry's truck since I had no other wheels.  Talk about nervous as I have not drove his manual for about 6 months and I have always drove with him with me.  Wed. evening I was meeting up with my sister at the school as there was a Tribute to our choir director as she is retiring and she has been at Kickapoo for 39 years.  So all the alumni were getting together for a tribute.  Yeah never drove Harry's truck by myself, let alone in the dark.  I was very nervous but we made it to school and back home safely. 

Thursday I started dropping kids off left and right.  Ellaree at school, Harry at Grama's house and Lorelai met Papa Harry & Nonie at the Viola Library.  Lorelai would be spending the night at the farm.  I picked Ellaree up at school and off the two of us went to LaCrosse to get our hair done by Aunt Laura.  Then a little shopping.  All this in Harry's truck.  I went the back roads to LaCrosse so I did not have to go downtown in it.  But on the way home I made myself drive through downtown at 445 in the afternoon just to prove to myself that I can drive a manual, I can drive without killing it during rush hour and I DID IT! 

Friday was Ellaree's 4K field trip.  She was so excited.  Grama was at our house bright and early and we headed to school.  The first fun activity was riding the bus to LaCrosse.  Since I drive Ellaree to school each day this was very exciting for her.  4K, Kindergarten & 1st grade all went on this field trip.  We had 3 buses in total.  It was lots of fun as we went to the LaCrosse Queen and then to Myric Park for a picnic and fun. 

Here is a picture of the LaCrosse Queen while we were waiting in line to get on.

All of Ellaree's friends at the back of the boat watching.

Friends ~ Anika, Alice, Ellaree & Neyla

I had the privilege of having a second child for the field trip.  Our good friend Alice's parents couldn't make it so Alice was my adopted kid for the day. 

Alice is just like one of mine as much as the girls are at each others houses. 

They are the "bestest of friends" Ellaree says. 

Ellaree, Mr. Harger and Alice

Can you tell they love their teacher!

And it is not a completed day until you have crashed on the way home.  I took Ellaree out of the truck and she still did not wake up.  I believe it was a full hour before she woke up.

Saturday was another busy day as we had 2 graduation parties and my cousins wedding reception.  My cousin Heidi got married in December in Michigan and had a reception in LaCrosse as many family members were unable to attend the wedding.  Before heading to LaCrosse I stopped into our local dealership and asked if I could test drive a suburban that I have been looking at for the weekend.  We have been looking and so I wanted to see how this one drove before buying it.  It was so nice having everyone separated so there was no touching, no fighting and there was just fun chatter.  Ellaree was so excited to be way in the back and have her own seat.  But that excitement over the new wheels did not last long as she found out very soon that she was going to Aunt Jen's overnight and going to Build A Bear for her birthday gift the next day.  She was ecstatic over this news.

Sunday while Ellaree was off having her own fun we went to Blue Mounds to visit with our friends Nick, Sam, Adi & baby on the way!  We had so much fun hanging out and watching the kids play.  Adi & Harry are two months & two days apart. 

The best part was going on rides on their ranger.  As you can see they are all ready to go...just waiting on Nick to drive them.  Lorelai got back from one ride and leaned over Nick and said very enthusiastically "that was fun!"

We picked Ellaree up at Aunt Jen's on the way back through.  Everyone was so tired from playing all day long that it was an early night.  Still today everyone is tired and so everyone is having naps right now.  :)

Kindergarten Visit

Growing up I always heard the phrase "end of school year is always so busy".  I am feeling it right now with everything that needs to be done before the final day.  So much to do, so little time.  This past week has been like that as I try to stay afloat. 

The big news this week was Ellaree going to her Kindergarten visit.  This meant that she would be attending school for the full day.  I always pick her up at 11.  Then the PM class comes at 12.  Afternoon classes get done at 320.  This meant she would be at school from 745 (or 8 when school starts) and would be there until 320. Wow that would be a long day for her.  The class would go to Kindergarten and would participate in everything that the kindergartners did...snack, rest time, recess, lunch, etc.  They were paired up with a buddy for the day.  Ellaree can't remember her buddies name but she did get to lay with Delaney for rest time, which was a treat for both girls.  It sounds like they had a blast for the day but Ellaree did fall asleep on the way home from school. She was wiped out!

While Ellaree was off learning what it was like to be a Kindergartner, Lil Harry was off having his own adventure.  He was having his first sleepover at the farm with Papa Harry & Nonie.  He did wonderful and had such a blast.  But we all were sure missing him.  Below is a picture of Harry helping Papa Harry plant beans in their garden.

Little Miss Lorelai got to hang out with Momma.  I had some moms over to help sort apparel from our recent sale so we could distribute to students.  So she had lots of new friends to play with and then we went to school early and went to all the different classrooms to drop off shirts & hats.  Then once that project was done Lorelai got to go outside for recess with Sis.  Oh how much fun she had.  All the kids were swarming her.  Wanting to help her, hold her hand and just be near her.  It was quite cute and fun for both girls. 

Since Ellaree's class was at school all day on Thursday for Kindergarten Visit. That meant that the PM class would be going on Friday for their visit.  Which meant no school on Friday for us!  We started off the morning with mommy hoping of sleeping in....that didn't happen!  Grama was up and ready to go rummage saling around 8, which we only found 2.  That was a poor morning  but we came back home and started in on transplanting hostas to our back porch area.  It turned out great!  At 11 Ellaree's friend Alice came along with her brother Sam & sister Emma.  I had six kids to watch this afternoon in ages 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 10 months....wow but was it ever fun.  Grama was a big help.  Then came Lisa to hang out with us also.  All in all we had tons of fun and got lots of transplanting of flowers done also.  I think everyone is going to be dropping into bed tonight. 

Odds & Ends

First off I want to give an update on Lorelai's potty training...even though it was a hard 1-2 weeks it has definately paid off.  We are pretty much potty trained with the occasional accidents due to forgetting since we are so busy playing.  I would recommned the cold-turkey method of no diapers or pull-ups.  Rookie mistake first time around.  Since Lorelai went cold-turkey at night also, so did Ellaree.  We had another rough 2 weeks at night but she is doing great. 
Lil Harry has gotten into the potty training mood also.  If the sisters are doing it...well then so should he.  Therefore we went out and bought him his own potty chair as well.  So now, funny as it is, they all can go potty at once if they would like too.  I have not braved cold-turkey with him yet.  I am hoping in a month or two I will.  But for the most part, he has been doing really good about telling me.

You might remember in an earlier post writing about working on the thresholds for the kitchen where the tile and wood floors come together.  Well here is Harry sanding yesterday. He also got a coat of stain on one of them yesterday.

Yesterday we also had Aunt Kassy's bridal shower.  It was a little chilly but that did not defer us from having a good time.

Here is she playing a game of how well she knows Jerod.  Every answer she got wrong she had to put a piece of bubble gum in her mouth.  She had quite the wad.

We are so excited about the upcoming wedding!

This coming week is Teacher Appreciation Week....do you have your gift ready to say thank you to your teachers? 

FOCUS has a surprise in store for the teachers...we sent home a note asking the students to bring their teachers a flower on Tuesday.  It could be real, fake, printed, drawn, colored, cut out - anything goes. 

Ellaree got right to work and each pedal says why she appreciates Mr. Harger! She has been super excited about giving this to him.

My sister gave me this idea.  You can find it on tipjunkie.com where there is free printables.  All I did was print this cute sign on cardstock, found an 8X10 frame in my totes downstairs and there you go!  A great and very inexpensive gift for Mr. Harger!