The week that slowly went downhill. Then came back up.

Wednesday at work, things started to get crazy. And then so crazy, that it started to be a little bit funny. Because it was so unreal.

First of all, I probably saw 70 kids in my office on Wednesday. Hump day is really hard for kids in the school system, apparently. They came in for everything. I didn't eat lunch on Wednesday and it wasn't until I was on my way home that I realized that I hadn't. I was trying to figure out why I felt so hungry, and as I was recounting my day, I realized that lunch had not been part of it.

Besides the incredible amount of visits, my diabetic had a really awful day. Really awful. It started with him having the lowest blood sugar he has had in the 1+ years that I have been caring for him. I know numbers for that kind of thing don't mean much to most of you, so I won't bore you with them. But at 10am, his teacher called me and told me he was feeling "yucky" and seemed to be having trouble concentrating on a question she was asking him. I went down and he was shaky and pale and really couldn't focus on me. It took me almost 1 hour to get him into a normal blood sugar range and for him to come around. So I had to stay with him the whole time.

During that time, I did get to learn about "rounding up" in fourth grade math. Very enlightening.

Also during that time, the office calls me. They say that a teacher was looking for me because a student had noticed another student had "bugs". Oh great, I think. I know where this is going, and I let out a small whimper.

When my diabetic was in a better place (after 2 juice boxes, and a bag of pretzels), I went to find said student and took them to my office. Yep. Do you want me to tell you? Lice. Of course!! It is school after all. After that student was sent home to "remedy" the situation, I had to type up a letter, and go down and check the whole class. So fun. And kids are not dumb - they can put two and two together.

But the fun doesn't end there friends. No way. I get a call from ANOTHER classroom. "Hello, Mrs. Pletcher? So and So has a rash on his stomach that he keeps stratching. Can I send the student down?" "NO!!!!" I want to scream into the phone. But, of course......I don't.

The students rash turns out to be chicken pox. Yep. Why not? The day has been incredibly awesome so far, so I actually chuckle while I call his mom. He has been vaccinated, but I had a case last year, so some kids just don't ever get immune with the vaccine.

SO......the student has exposed the whole class over the last week. So a letter has to be sent home to the families in the class letting them know. By now I am thinking...."boy, I am going to get a lot of phone calls tomorrow."

The child goes home, my office becomes a circus of students coming in and out. I get a phone call from a parent during the busy time. She is calling to tell me that she just had her child at the doctor and the doctor declared that her child had the flu. The "we don't speak about it because the news will go crazy" flu.

It is at this point I put my head on my desk. Maybe pound it on the desk several times. Really? Is this really happening all in one day? Another letter. Interesting faces from the staff when I tell them.

We are not closing school. That doesn't happen any more. Thank goodness. The hardest part is - the child was JUST in school for a half day the day before. So the child had exposed the class. Yepper.

Still - I was not done with the funtastic day. I got a call during my lunch hour from the music teacher that a child had a diarrhea accident all over her new carpeted floor - and himself. That mess took a half an hour to wash that kiddo down and get him home. I felt bad for that little kid. He was so sad and his friends were not pleased.

In the afternoon, my diabetic was not doing much better. But now instead of him having low blood sugar, it was extremely high!! Why not? So we spent some time having the student run around the gym and play basketball to bring the number back down into the normal range (and he also had insulin, of course). But I had to stay him, and well....more time. More time that I really didn't have on this day.

Did I mention that SOMEHOW, I saw 70 kids as well? Yeah.

Thursday was not better. Repeat scene with my diabetic, unfortuantely (the low part, not the high part this time). He stayed low the whole day. I spent a large part of my day with him.

But he wasn't my only issue. I had a SECOND case of chicken pox. Second!! Not in the same class. Or even in the same grade. Another letter. Another child who was vaccinated. But what I didn't tell you yet is......I have three children in the school who are NOT vaccinated. Against anything. So I always have to call their parents as well. All parents are very nice, however, one was actually surprised to learn that her child was the MINORITY that wasn't vaccinated. Really? This is public school.

To top off my Thursday was a 2nd grader who broke his elbow at recess. The student fell off the monkey bars and landed on his arm. It was pretty easy to tell that 1)he wasn't faking being hurt and 2) it was more than just hurt. So his mom came and got him, he got an x-ray, and sure enough....broken. Poor fella.

Friday proved to be a much better day. No one had any major rashs, bugs, low blood sugars, broken anything......it went well. I was so relieved because I was starting to think I was cursed. Plus, it was Friday, and the weekend was near, so that made it even better.

Arlington got to play with her friend "B" after school today. She gets off the bus at this little boys house, so until the weather turns bad, "B's" mom and I wanted to give the kids a chance to play together after school. She rides his bus on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. This is one of my mommy friends, so it gives us a chance to catch up as well and just chat. On Friday the kids rode bikes together, played basketball (B tried to teach Arlington a few tricks - it was really cute), and just enjoyed running around.

Today turned into a pretty good day as well. Arlington had soccer practice this morning, and I took my camera. I only took a few pictures because she was kind of far away from where I was sitting. It was FREEZING this morning at soccer.

It was around 47 degrees at the start of practice, and we were so cold watching the kids. It was sunny, so that is all that saved us.

After soccer, Mat and Arlington ran errands and I came home to be with Finley and Cainan. Everytime Arlington finishes a book, she gets a little something for her fish. Something that costs just a few dollars, but it was a great incentive over the summer to get her to read. But today she got a special treat because yesterday, for the first time since she started reading chapter books on her own, she read a whole book in 1 hour! We were really shocked. Not that she can't do it, it is more that she won't. She gets preoccupied with other things and doesn't want to sit and read. But, without any prompting, or intervention from us at all, she sat down at the kitchen table Friday and read the book from beginning to end in 1 hour. Granted it was only 70 pages, but we were so happy!

So, as a treat she got to pick another book. She has about 1 million chapter books, but Mat wanted her to pick the next book we would read after "Savvy". She picked "The Magician's Elephant".

This is the exact book I was thinking for her. It is by the same author who wrote "Tale of Despeuraux". She started reading it right away and got pretty far in it already. When she wants to.......

We decided to go to the movies this afternoon and we saw "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". It is the newest kids movie. It was a kids book and they turned it into a movie. It was really cute. We took all three kids and all three were perfect angels. I was so glad! Cainan ate a whole tub of popcorn basically all by himself, and then in the car on the ride home he said "I'm hungry". What a weirdo. I am glad we decided to go.

We were supposed to have dinner tonight with another family who adopted a little boy from China, but the husband is sick and so we rescheduled for later in the month. We are anxious to meet them. We have a lot of friends in our adoption community, but they almost all adopted girls. So this will be nice.

Anyway, Finley wore this cute shirt this week to school.

It says "I like chocolate candy and marshmallows." So true.

Arlington had a cute outfit on - I love the knee high socks!!

Cainan is doing well. He had two days in the row no accidents at school. So that was a plus.

Finley has been in underwear at school all week and has done great! I am so glad that the pull-ups days will soon be behind us.

The kids had good weeks at school. This was Arlington's first week of homework. I can't believe I have a kid old enough to do homework.

This past week was also my mom's birthday. I am deliquent in getting her a birthday present. But the kids made her cards, so she better be grateful she at least got that. I won't dare tell you her real age because I need her to help care for her grandchildren and clean my house.

My sister in law, Tricia's birthday is Monday. We wish her a very happy birthday and remind her that her giant pack of pictures and stories from the kids should be there soon!

Today we also made chocolate chip cookies together. From scratch. Yes - my family who knows me - I said from scratch. I used my Grammy's recipe. All the kids got to help.

Arlington

Finley

Cainan

We had a great time making them together. This is the first time the girls got to help make cookies. We were celebrating being able to make desserts with eggs and their ability to help.

So, that is all. Tonight Mat and I will be watching "Confessions of a Shopaholic". We have been watching serious drama's lately, and I am in need of a little fluff. I read this book and it was pretty funny, so I am hoping the movie is slightly entertaining.

See you Tuesday!