They forgot their mountains!

This is what my new classroom looked like at the beginning of this week:

Yuck.

This will be my third year in a row of switching classrooms, but not switching grade levels.  Thankfully, I am still in the best grade ever:  1st.  One good thing about changing rooms often is it sort of forces you to purge and I have a lot less junk than I did a few years ago.

My nieces came and helped me on Monday, and we knocked it out of the park!  We completely revamped my two classroom libraries, and it was a nice project to get done.

Little Dude came and helped me on Wednesday.  He prepped 75 parachutes (FOR SCIENCE) for the entire first grade team and did a few other miscellaneous jobs for me.  I paid him in Panda Express, which was absolutely worth it.

This is my room now:

Definitely not finished but looking more like a classroom.

This is my favorite part-

“Be kind, work hard, and know that you are loved.”

If fits really nicely above the window.  I will add each child’s first day of first grade picture to the blue colored cards once school starts.

The astute reader might remember that the boys are working for neighboring farmers and wonder how I managed to get LD to come help me in the classroom.

Reader.  There was an accident.  A terrifying accident.

On Tuesday, David called me to say LD’s foot was run over by the track of a skid steer and I needed to meet him and another worker at the urgent care.  David had no idea how bad it was, and I luckily remained calm while driving there and was just praying he wouldn’t need his foot amputated or something like that.

When I arrived at the clinic, they had already x-rayed him and determined nothing was broken and he only had a bad sprain.  He was in pain, but his foot looked pretty good considering what he had been through.

Here’s what I know:  LD was in the blind spot of the worker operating the skid steer.  His foot got ran over and he started screaming and was knocked down.  If he hadn’t screamed, HD says it would have been much worse.  The worker, who felt TERRIBLE, called David and then carried LD out of the field and drove him to the clinic.

Reader.  I do not know how he got so lucky, but I am so thankful he wasn’t hurt worse than he was.  It could have been really bad.

They gave him crutches and a boot.  The nurse was fitting the boot and asked him how it felt.

LD, who was COVERED in dirt, looked thoughtful and then said,

“Sparkly.”

The nurse and I looked at each other for a minute.

Me:  Dude.  Do you mean tingly?

LD:  Yeah.  Tingly/Sparkly.  Same thing.

So.  He is hanging out with me more.  And loving it.

“Ma.  What’s the food situation over here?”

Look at Niko.  Patiently waiting and hoping for LD to throw the ball.  Can you see the blue ball in the picture?  Can you?  Can you?

***

Kate has been travelling across the country with her boyfriend and his family as they travel to school.

She has finally arrived at her new state and sent me this picture-

Me:  They forgot their mountains!

She is supes excited and is moving into her dorm now.  I am excited to hear all about it-I never lived in a dorm or went away for college.  It all sounds so exciting!

The other night, I was helping Auntie Datenut shop at Costco and Kate called me, sobbing-

“Mom.  I cannot talk right now, but we just got in a car wreck.”

So, that was a fun phonecall to receive.  That was the day AFTER LD’s skid steer event.

She called me a bit later-everyone was fine.  Someone rear ended them.  The car was still drive-able.  Here’s something of note:  I have everyone on Life360-the app sensed she was in an accident and sent the police to them.

God was definitely looking after my kids this week.

***

Let’s talk about dogs.

Charlie likes to play fight with the puppy brothers.

When she has had enough, she plays “dead.”

Norman feels he MUST fetch any stick or ball thrown his way.  The poor guy just swims in place at the river when LD skips rocks (this was before the accident).

Norman.  Fetch player.  10/10 Stars.

The dogs always play hard at the river.  At night, they are extra snuggly in my lap as I read my book.

I love it.

Happy Friday!