Best Christmas Commercial ever/Back to school

This is the best Christmas Commercial.



This is TOTALLY going to happen to us one of these years. Those cookies sure are good.....

Yesterday was our first day back from Thanksgiving break. It was hard for all of us to get up early and get on our way. But it was nice to get back. December is a busy month and I expect it will go by fast and before we know it, Christmas will be here!

Yesterday was completely nuts at work for me, of course. I saw about 50 kids - none of them were ready to come off holiday. We even had 20 kids absent! I guess 4 days of vacation isn't enough time. Most kids were just really excited about Christmas coming and wanted to tell me all about their Thanksgiving break. One kid came in and said to me, "I have the worst thing ever! I have a very, very, bad cold". "Aw, poor baby", I say. "What can I do for you?" "Nothing. I just wanted you to know". Alrighty then......

The kids are all doing great. Sunday we went to church, and we were asked to light the advent wreath next Sunday. We were really pleased to be asked to do this - especially being new to the church. So we will do that next week. We are also making Christmas cookies for our after church social for next week - Arlington is excited about that! The weather was really terrible on Sunday, so we didn't go anywhere. It was rainy/slushy with a few snow flurries! Not enough to stick to the ground, which disappointed Arlington. We have yet to have a real snow. I am FINE with that - plenty of time for that!

Today Finley had her second eye doctor appointment. This time with a doctor that actually sees kids! And guess what - not a thing is wrong with her eyes. Well, not really. She does have some thinning to her muscle around her eye (they took some pictures) that the doctor said they see in preemies and kids who have oxygen deprivation during pregnancy (the cord was around her neck for awhile). But that doesn't affect her vision much at this time. She will just be near sighted sooner than later. But for now - she is good. The doctor sees that she is tall for her age, and that may be why she is so clumsy, and the reason she looks at books the way she does is just how she is processing right now. Basically - she is goofy. We already knew that! But we are happy that there is nothing wrong with her sight.

Arlington and I are reading this book together: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I think I mentioned it a few blogs ago.

Anyway, we are really enjoying it - it is a good book. A little hard, but she is getting is so well - I am proud of her! She is really into it. Anyway, there is a section of the book we are reading right now that I wanted to share:
"I like to imagine the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason."
Isn't that so true....we ALL have purpose in this world. We all have meaning. People make the world go around - just like the parts of a machine. EVERYONE is important. No one should ever think they are less important than anyone else, and no one should ever be TREATED like they are less important than everyone else. Everyone matters.

So I missed a piece of work today to take her to the doctor and my supervising nurse covered for me. She got a chance to see what my day is like and how many frequent fliers I actually have. That was a good insight for her, I think! I had to print out my statistics from November for her today, so here are the numbers. Are you ready??? Remember - there were only 14 1/2 school days in November. And the number of students in the whole school: 266.

Number of visits by kids to the office (for whatever illness/aliment): 544
Number of screenings (height/weight, hearing, vision) : 200
Blood sugar checks (with my one and only diabetic) : 38
Calls to parents: 220
Conferences (with kids/parents): 46
Meetings (with other adults): 6
Charting (in the computer and files): 646 items
Physicals checked in/put in computer: 39
Medications checked in(new medications to office): 20
Referrals to doctors: (for kids to go and see them): 21

Unbelieveable right?? My supervising nurse thought so too! I guess she sees about 20 kids on average a day at her school (of the same size as mine). But, of course, I am new. AND - I have trouble being mean. AND I have trouble saying no. But starting in January, I am going to get tougher. (yeah right). I think the number of kids I saw in those 14 1/2 days in pretty unreal, since my population is, like I said, 266 kids TOTAL.

My principal came in today, and said she needed medical attention. She was kidding, but she said it was because she had just walked into the cafeteria where the 1st and 2nd graders were having lunch. The person on cafeteria duty was making an announcement to the kids and it went like this:
"boys and girls I have an announcement. The cafeteria staff wanted me to tell you that if you don't stop throwing away your silverware, you are going to have to start to bring your own because we will no longer be supplying silverware if you throw it all away."
My principal's heart stops. Threw her mind runs - "I am going to get 100 phone calls from parents saying 'did you tell Johnny 2nd grader to bring knives and forks to school because you aren't going to be supplying them any more?" Then the principal thought of me and all the stabbing injuries I am going to be seeing with kids who bring their own silverware. PLUS - to top it off, a parent was in the cafeteria having lunch with her kid. I don't have to tell those of you who live in small towns what happens when one mommy gets information like this. So tomorrow should be interesting.

I didn't take many pictures this week. I wanted to share with you my favorite part of each of my kids. :) for Arlington, it is her cute little mouth
This girl has the smallest facial features, and her little mouth is just the cutest. Although, she does suffer from "verbal diarrhea" 24 hours a day, it is a cute mouth.For Finley, it is her stunning blue eyes. These are the first thing everyone notices on her when they see her. "Oh those eyes" they say. She is lucky to have those peepers.

For Cainan it is his hands. This boy has the smallest, cutest little baby hands. Finley and Arlington have long, thin fingers, but Cainan has this tiny little hands that are just so sweet. I also love Cainan's little mouth, but that is because of how amazing it looks since it is repaired!So that is all for now. Oh! I have to share - gas is $1.69/gallon!!!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am! When we first showed up in Connecticut in May gas was $4.60. I NEVER thought we would see $3.00/gallon let alone back into the $1.00 arena. I did a little happy dance when I saw that today.

So here are just three little pictures to share. Two are of the babies playing and one is of Arlington in her Daisy Scouts uniform. See you Saturday!