Me, tired is a unifying theme

 Friday night I was dead tired.  School had been a wild ride.  At one point my students started chanting, "CANDY CANDY CANDY."

It was 9:00 a.m.

One boy brought Hostess cupcakes because his birthday is during Christmas vacation.  One girl brought marshmallow filled Santas, "everyone gets two."  The room mother sent zingers.  It was more treats than anyone needed.  I said, "You can put some of it in your backpack to eat later," and "You may get a tummy ache if you eat it all right now."  

One boy said, mouth full, "I like tummy aches."

Another boy asked, "Is that all the treats we get?"

Saturday morning we went to the Hale Theater for The Christmas Carol.  After the show, two elementary school children had climbed a tree outside.  I told my kids, "They probably are still riding high from their Christmas party at school yesterday."

Some of my students gifted me with sweet gifts.  One little girl said she didn't have a gift but she wanted to give me a hug.  I told her that was a fabulous gifts.  So she gave me about five hugs.

I gave each of my students a book.  It was tricky to figure out books that would interest each of them but would also be on their reading level.  Some of them were instant successes.  There were squeals of joy and some students immediately began reading.  They weren't all a hit though.  One boy said he didn't like his. 

I said, "Well, you don't have to keep it."

He shrugged and said OK and handed it back.  It was nothing personal though.  He wanted a big hug at the end of the day and said, "I'll miss you!"

After school Mark came to help me take down my Christmas decorations.  I was finishing up and he got a soccer ball out of the playground equipment bin and my wheeled desk chair and started zipping around the room on the chair, kicking the ball in front of him.  He does it every time he's in my classroom.  I keep telling him to stop and he smiles at me and keeps doing it.

It's a lot of fun.

Another teacher was walking by my room and I asked her if she wanted an 18 year old boy.  She didn't.

Later when Mark had carried all my stuff to my car, I thanked him for his help and told him I was sorry I tried to give him away.  I said, "Emily is very nice though."

He said, "No one would be as nice as my mama."

If he thinks that means he can continue to zip around my classroom kicking a soccer ball, he's probably right.

As mentioned we went to the theater Saturday morning.  It was just me and the kids because Adam was nose to the grindstone preparing for church.  I didn't ugly cry like I usually do but I did cry a little.  I love the way the Hale Theater version reminds me that Scrooge was able to change and we are all able to change because of Jesus Christ.

Adam met us and we all went to lunch in Provo then the college kids went to their homes and we went record shopping for a record for Mark.  It was part of his birthday present.  Partway through, I went to the Provo library where they were having a used book sale.

Mark didn't find anything but I got ten books for $5 so I was happy.  Mark went to work for the rest of the day and evening and Adam and I came home.  It was nice not to have to cram all the chores and errands into Saturday.

A package arrived for Adam.  It was filled with fancy goodies with upscale packaging.  

I also took a picture of the 8 ounce Martinelli's that all the teachers got for a Christmas present.  Because, you know, it was pretty fancy too....

Adam and I went to the store and bought 21 pineapple to deliver to our neighbors.  We also bought a gift for our children that I can't write about yet in case one of them gets a wild hair and reads this.  Its purchase made me love Adam more.

We came home and I built the Christmas Carol Lego set we got a few weeks ago.  I told Adam I wanted to build it so we had to do it when no one else was around.  Adam stepped in at key points when I did things wrong.  I am bad at following directions.  For example, I wanted a herringbone pattern and the Lego instructions said no.

Also, I got very sleepy while we were building and ran out of steam.  Emma was on her way home, to stay through the break.  I was too tired to wait up for her.

Before I went to sleep, I told Adam, "Tell Emma I'm sorry to be a lame mother."

He said, "Do you mean tonight, or all the years?"

I said, "I meant tonight, but go ahead and apologize for all the years too."