You have to claim them all

Or so I have been told....


Seriously, he is hilarious:)

Help Me

Yesterday I was substituting in a small school, made up off about half Amish. I was substituting a kindergarten class.
Now, imagine for a minute that you have been raised Amish, speaking "Amish" and came to school 3 weeks ago. Wouldn't that be a big change? Wouldn't you feel some major disequilibrium, especially if you came in 2 months late and needed hearing aids on top of all of this?

There was a sweet, quiet and incredibly shy and timid girl in this class, the one that I am speaking of. We are going to call her Mary.
The day before yesterday I took her and the rest of the class to art. But as we were leaving class to go, she breaks down in sobs. I am not just talking a simple whimper, I am saying "sobbing." I ask her what is wrong and the other Amish girls tell me that she is afraid in art. I take the class outside,(art is in a trailer) and she breaks down again. Through whimpers and tears she quietly pleads, "help me."
I took this as helping her in art. I told her I would help her. The teachers always leave the class at the door. I decided to stay. Before we go in, the art teacher starts yelling at Mary to stop crying. She tells me in front of this girl that she is doing it all for attention. That Mary just wants someone in there doing all of her work for her. The art teacher tells me to leave her, that after she bawls for a while she starts doing her work. I told her I would stay with her, if only for support. This girl is still transitioning into school.
That's where it all started.
The next day, it was art again. Once again with tears in her eyes she pleads "help me." I said that I would.

The art teacher stops me at the the door and says that I am to leave this girl with her, that she will not allow me to come in today because this girl is just trying to get attention and I am "feeding into it." Mary is already bawling. There is fear in this girl's eyes. There is nothing "attention getting" from this situation except Mary is clearly confused and scared.

I told the art teacher that I would help make this transition easier for Mary. I would merely be in there for support, and help her with whatever she is struggling with in art class. This art teacher said no. There was no love in this teacher for this girl. Remember this girl has been in school 2 months late and only for 3 weeks, and came from an entirely different world.

I told the teacher that if I couldn't come in that I wasn't going to let Mary come in. The art teacher said that I wasn't allowed to make that decision. But I did. I wasn't going to hand over a girl into a situation that I felt uncomfortable about. We went on like this for a bit. I stood my ground.

Then I went into the principal. Here is a man that earlier in the day told the kindergartners that if they didn't do good at their Christmas program it would be like handing their mom a "dead mouse" for Christmas. That she would be coming, excited to see their performance, paralleled it to like unwrapping a Christmas gift, and if the performance was bad, it would compare to unwrapping this gift and having a dead mouse inside. This man yells at the kids. Yells like he is going to throw a punch. He is a bully.

The principal talks to this girl, Mary, like he is trying to make a business deal. He rattles on and on and she is looking at him the whole time in confusion. He looks up at me and I ask "does she even understand a word you're saying?" Then the secretary across the room says "she might not understand, I think she needs hearing aids." That's when I had had enough and said "So, here is an Amish girl 3 weeks into school that needs hearing aids, and is 2 months late to school and we aren't letting me into art class with her? This doesn't make sense to me? This is not attention seeking? This is pleading for help. I wouldn't want my child bawling hysterically at school!"

The principal ran through his speech with Mary and then said "we are taking you back to class." I gave him her hand and said "you are going to do it then, because I don't support this at all." He took her precious little hand, she starts bawling. He drops her hand she walks into me and he stands out in the hallway.

"You know Mrs. Allen, you are putting me in quite a jam here ya know!"
"I just wanted to be in art class with her, how is that putting you in a jam? The art teacher wouldn't let me in the door."
"Just take her back to the classroom."
"Can't I just take her back to art?"

I took her back to the classroom. She looked up at me a few times and meekly smiled. A song came into my head.
Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world they are..... Amish
The principal said that he needed to talk to the art teacher.
He came back in my room right before school got out and said he needed to talk with me. He should have said that he needed to talk at me.

I tried to explain, but as soon as I opened my mouth I could tell that wasn't what he wanted.
I told him that I hold myself at a high standard, if I feel uncomfortable about something, I need to make the best decision for my student. He told me that I had crossed the line, that they had everything worked out with "Mary." I asked him how was bawling hysterically because of art "all worked out?" He told me to leave, that I was not welcome, that he isn't going to call me back.
I said "well, since you won't be calling me back, let me mention something. Your little spiel downstairs about the dead mouse, that was disgusting."
"You have no idea what I was trying to say" he said
"and you're a sub-standard principal, I don't know how you made it here."
"Leave now." he said
"You say that as if I am going to mind leaving here." I said
Poor Mary, I pity her. If her parents knew that her homeroom teacher won't let the aid comfort her when she cries, because Mary is a "baby" or an "attention seeker" I think they would be sad. If they knew that the art teacher yells at her impatiently, not caring what is going through Mary's little brain, I think they would be sad. If they knew that the principal is actually the attention glutton that makes all the kids run like little robots and doesn't want the children comforted because he thinks that makes them "wimpy," I think they would be sad. He will yell in the face of a wee little Amish girl if she is not looking right at him when he is talking.
The list goes on...
The principal claims to be this great Christian man, even prayed over the Thanksgiving Feast, but is overlooking so much.
I bet I don't even have an inkling of how Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but in Mosiah 3:19 it says:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he... putteth off the natural man and...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him (i.e. like mean people), even as a child doth submit to the father."
Afterwards I came home, shed a few tears, and gave my kids a great big hug and kiss!
I feel for my kids, I hope the adults at school are kind to them. Don't you?

Thankful for Christmas!

I am terrible! I skipped the Thanksgiving pics and went straight to the cutting down the Christmas Tree pics! I guess I will work backwards! Today, as with tradition, we went and cut down a Christmas Tree! We aren't on the mountain somewhere in Utah, but we are on Mr. Palmer's property cutting down a farmed tree on his property.

Shylee shed a few tears, remembering all the fond memories of driving up on the mountain with Grandma and Grandpa and all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins and hot cocoa, and Lane shooting a tree down with his shotgun! Oh! The memories!!
She had her sweet friend, Jules to comfort her:)

The wonderful thing was that Santa knew we were there and dropped some candy down from his sleigh, while flying over to let the boys know they were on the "Nice" list and to keep up the good work:)
Lance Albern was our saw man and cut down our tree this year. He is quite an amazing young man and at 5' 10 1/2" and 160 pounds he is a young man!

Lonely Mom, Nice Boys, & Paper Friends

I have been substitute teaching to bring in some extra dough. I have been pretty darn busy the last few weeks, working more than I want to be, but Chris Cringles Closet must be stocked with a few important items, and we need help getting there:)

I get home anywhere from a few minutes to an hour after the boys get off of the bus, and Rider is home with Shylee (online school this year).

I was mentioning how I missed them and thought of them often during the day.

Fisher felt bad that I felt lonely and missed my kids during the day, so he made me a paper friend to take to school with me.

I keep it in my planner and look at it a few times during the day.

This morning as he was leaving for school he turned and asked me if I was going to miss him today. I told him~ "yes, I am going to miss you."

He told me "But mom, you don't have to miss me, you have your paper friend."

I was torn, I wanted to bawl and giggle at the same time.

Why are they so much more well adjusted than me?

I love my girl and boys. I love my paper friend:)

My Marionettes

Trapper~ "mom, why do you need a bra?"
Me~ "To keep them up."
Fisher~ "And if you pulled it (the bra) really tight it would pull them waaay up.....and if you took it(the bra) off they would go waaaay down."

I laugh for two reasons: First that he has noticed how a bra works (for me:), and second, that his statement is entirely true!!!

They go where I pull or let down, it's like having my own little puppets on a string, AKA: adjustable shoulder straps:)

Leaves Glorious Leaves!!!!

I have mentioned before the amount of leaves that have fallen here at our home. But to clarify, my children and husband have been raking for about 2 weeks and burning piles upon piles of leaves.

It smells delicious,the burning leaves, it's a fall smell...

I am so thankful for their hard work. Our yard is ready for winter. We won't be raking gooey leaves and pulling up half of our fresh grass this spring, because we didn't get around to it. That's what happened last year:)

I made quiche for them to come in and smell and eat. It was a perfect evening to end all their hard work. I am sure they will be back out there, but I have to say, it's worth it, to have all these glorious majestic trees in our yard. Don't you like how I said that? I, being the one that hasn't been raking! But someone has to cook and clean, and take all the pictures!!

Me~"I am mopping the floor, so don't come in unless you want to intentionally slip and crack your heads open." "...and if you fall down and crack your heads open I will still swat your bottom for not listening..."
Fisher~ "Mom, we wouldn't even be able to feel the swat on our bottom because we would be dead from our getting our heads cracked open."
Me~"Good point, Fisher."
Feeling extremely proud with his thoughtful comment and with a big smile on his face, happy as a ray of sunshine he says...."Thanks Mom!"

It's the little things in life!

The pics below are of "Nelson Cliffs." Which compared to the fact the Ohio is flat they are a grand site. They are very beautiful. Shylee is gaining my love for photography, so together I bet we took hundreds of pics! So, just be glad I didn't post all of them:) The waterfall pooled under this cliff. We could crawl way back under the rock, I was waiting to see some creature living under there. But it was just my little creatures playing under there!
Shylee had them take silly pics of throwing leaves in the air! It was hilarious!
We let the kids play at the park across the street and there are some pics from that. Enjoy...