Boo Fest

Pajamas

I can always tell my kids are growing by their pajamas. Tara walked by me last night and I thought to myself, “those PJ’s used to be below your knees, now they almost look like a long shirt.” All Lily’s PJ’s used to have Dora and Boots on them, now she wears PJ’s that have the Disney Princesses on them.

We tried something a little different this school year; we took a break from some of our after school activities like gymnastics and swimming lessons. Both of the girls are now participating in Girl Scouts. It is fun to see them involved in their community; fund raisers, food drives, learning about safety from Officer Sarah and there is also a field trip planned to the Fire Department next month. Recently they participated in fund raising for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk to Cure Diabetes and fund raising for their school. Both girls are supporting Lily’s Kindergarten teacher (which is Tara’s former Kindergarten teacher too) in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk. On a smaller scale they enjoy collecting Box Tops and soup labels for their school and pop tabs for Phoenix Children’s Hospital/Ronald McDonald houses.

Every morning when I drop Lily off for Kindergarten I see a friend of mine and her now 10 month old daughter. Her daughter is getting so big; Julie use to carry her baby in an infant carrier, then a stroller, now she is carrying her on her hip. Every morning I see them, I get a little sad and I miss my babies so much. But I look at my babies who are now 5 and 7 and I love watching them grow. I love watching them participate in new activities and being involved in their community. They are gaining a variety of experiences that I know will last a lifetime.

Oh by the way; consider yourself warned. Girl Scout cookie sales begin in January.

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at school.

Compassion

The other day I was working at school and I was helping in Mrs. M’s classroom. She has 3 students with severe disabilities and all 3 are in wheelchairs. It was an emotional and rewarding experience to work with these children.

After school I was walking to the car with Tara and Lily. They were asking me about my day and I told them I worked in Mrs. M’s class. Lily asked who Mrs. M was and Tara went on to answer that question. But before Tara could answer, I held my breath for a moment thinking I was going to hear an inappropriate explanation or that I was going to have to use this as an opportunity to teach my children about kindness and empathy. Instead; Tara answered Lily’s question by naming each of the 3 students. I was completely stunned and asked Tara how she knew their names. She went on to explain how when she was in the First Grade if students had completed all their assignments they were allowed to go to Mrs. M.’s class and read to the children. She told us how she loved going over there and reading to them. She even told us something cute about each child.

I was rather disappointed in myself for thinking the worse about what Tara might say; but more importantly I was touched by her compassion. I believe compassion is something you learn, not something I can teach. I am so proud of Tara and her willingness to show kindness and to share something with the children. I was also surprised Tara never shared that information with me. No real surprise, all I get is a “good” whenever I ask how school was that day.