Did I Make It?

I don't think I have written about my day in a while, but Friday was just one of "those" days!  One of those that I feel merits a blog post.  I needed to be at school early to help out with morning duty, that's a tough one for me, and it didn't help that I didn't hear my alarm for about 20 minutes.  So, I was prepared to have to skip something, and of course that ended up being breakfast.  But I made it there...about on time-ish.  Morning duty went fairly smoothly, though the kids were quite excited.  It was Friday for one, then it was Amerathon day, and fifth grade was having their International Celebration day.  I went to my friend Cathy's room to ask or tell her something and mentioned how I had no breakfast that morning, so she gave me her cucumbers that she had for her lunch and a Granny Smith apple (the only kind of apple I will even eat, which she knew:).  As I was walking out of her room, the cutest little bug, named Ava was in the hallway and I had to say hello.  She looked at me with that sweet little face and asked me what I was eating, but I had just finished the cucumbers, but still had the apple.  I asked her if she wanted a bite and she did.  Then she gave it back so I could eat some, then she wanted another bite, and then I got another couple of bites in before I gave over to the extreme cuteness and let her have the rest.  I was enjoying talking to mom and watching her chomp on this big apple.  We were talking a little about missing our sweet friend Angie.  Last week for some reason was a really hard one for missing her.  I talked to about 4 or 5 people who were also really missing her.  As I was in the hallway, mom and dad's pastor, Pastor Jason came in and had my CD that I forgot to get from the church after mom's funeral, and then he had some old pictures from church which had my parents in them.  So, of course that brought on more emotions, but it was so nice to get them.  We finally got our day started with seatwork and trying to get a subject in before the day went into crazy mode.  When it was time, we went down to the auditorium to hear and learn about the countries the fifth graders had chosen to study, learn, and talk about.  It was a bit emotional because Karen, the teacher asked me to sit in the back to be a reference point for the kids (she had to ask me, because Angie did that for her and the kids every year).  So I sat in the reserved DAL chair, which stood for the Designated Angie Larson.  It definitely made me miss her more.  Some of the Jr. High and High School came in to watch, and Gabby, Angie's daughter sat next to me.  When things were just getting ready to get started Gabby jumped a little and Karen was looking toward the door asking my friend Cathy if everything was OK.  Cathy just smiled and nodded, but Gabby informed me that something fell from the ceiling right by Cathy as she was standing there.  I thought that was pretty crazy, but didn't think much else of it, because I was trying to focus on being a good, helpful, smiling reference point for the fifth grade kids.  It wasn't until their speaking parts were over that Cathy informed us that it wasn't just "something" that fell from the ceiling, but a mouse!!  It fell right in front of her and she asked someone to get paper towels for her so she could pick it up and get rid of it.  As she went to pick it up, it started moving, so it wasn't dead, as she thought it might have been.  So she was running down the hall saying "Oh my, it's still alive!"  She went to a door and chucked it as hard as she could far from the school.  After that excitement, we went to the other side of the room to visit the tables that the kids had set up with pictures and different things from that country and some food to try.  We enjoyed that for a bit, then went back to the room for a few minutes, got in a little bit of learning before I sent the kids down to the restroom to change for the Amerathon walk.
As the students were lining up to go, one of my boys was a bit excited and started throwing his shorts up in the air and was trying to catch them.  As I was telling him to get in line properly, he threw them up again, and they got stuck on one of the pipes.  He looks at me to see what I am going to do, and I simply tell him that it is too bad that he will not have shorts to wear outside for the walk.  He goes into "solve the problem" mode and starts moving a chair, and then a desk over to where the shorts are and I tell him that in no way is he allowed to try any of those means to get them down.  He went down to the restroom disappointed, but I wanted him to learn a good lesson.  A bit later I went back to take a picture of them, but they had fallen down somehow.  So I gave in and just gave them to him to put on.  So, I tried throwing them back up so I could get my picture, but it wasn't working, so I had to climb on a desk to put them back up.  By that point some of the kids had caught me, but were willing accomplices to help me and closed the door so the others wouldn't see.  I got my picture, and by the time this little boy came back they were still up there.  I told the class to go wait in the hallway to walk down, and I made him go as well.  He was pretty bummed because he thought I was going to get them for him.  I hit them so they slid off again, and when I met the other kids in the hallway, I told this little boy he could go back and see if they had fallen off and if they had he could go put them on.  So, needless to say, he was excited to find out that they had "fallen" down and he could wear them after all.  They went out and ran/walked their 25 laps and then we came back in and it was time to go to lunch.
At lunch my class had won a pizza party for the most class participation for bringing their Amerathon mailers in.  So they were very excited about that.  As we go into the lunchroom, my same little gem of a boy walks into the kitchen area, and yells out to my friend and her husband (who had been working hard all day with the Amerathon, making sure there was water outside, and oranges were cut up for the kids, and granola bars out for them to have, and counting out rubber bands for each child to have 25, and then running to go get the pizzas for school lunch and then for our pizza party) "So when are we gonna have our pizza party?"  Or something to that affect.  That also did not sit well with me and I told him to go sit down at the lunch table and wait quietly.  A little later I saw him coming out of the kitchen area again.  I asked if he had the nerve to ask them again about when they were going to be getting the pizza....and yes, he did.  Then as my friend was passing out slices to everyone, I asked her to withhold his.  He of course couldn't figure out why he hadn't gotten any pizza or soda.  I made him wait about a good 10 minutes or so.  As I called him over to me to give him his pizza and let him know the reason he didn't get it right away, I see him putting something under the table as if trying to hand something to someone across the table.  When I asked, he said one of the other boys had given him a couple of chips since he didn't have anything to eat.  Oh my!  So, I made him wait longer.  When I finally gave it to him, the other kids were on their seconds and just about done.  As I explained it to him, I think...I hope he got the message.  Before he could even think about seconds I told him he needed to apologize to my friend and her husband!  He did so, and was able to eat a little more before it was time to head to recess.  It killed me to have recess when they had just been out for a while running for the Amerathon, but we did have some recess time.  We did get a little work in, in the mean time.  In the afternoon I just put on the rest of our Treasures of the Snow movie, which was a good way to end the day.  After school I left quickly to head home to take out the pup.  Gave her some time outside, brought her back in and gave her her dinner, then a snack and headed back to Newington to get to the Sports Picnic.  Of course it's Friday night traffic, so it was a bit stressful and I was trying to get back to be on time for helping to hand out the cheer leading awards.  When I got there, they had already started with the cheer leading awards and I got up there just in time to give out one of the awards, though I felt a bit discombobulated at the time.  But made it through.  Watched the other awards given out and kept getting emotional about certain awards.  Then came the award that I had already thankfully been given a heads up on, or that would have been worse for me.  But the school has been giving a Falcon award to people who have been such a great help during the sports seasons in many different ways.  Well, they decided to change the name of the award now, it's no longer the Falcon award, but the Angie Larson Memorial Award.  Coach Eric talked about why he wanted to change it, and tried not to choke up as he shared his heart.  I was trying so hard not to just lose it and sob, that I just ended up giving myself a headache, oh my!  It was special and my friend Brenda was blessed to be the recipient this year.  She was very touched, and it was a special moment at the picnic.

I got to spend a little time afterward talking to friends which was nice.  Then headed home back to Bella.  It's  often tough coming home from something like that and not having anyone to share it with.  But it was good to just veg for a little bit before I went to bed.  Definitely a long, emotional, busy day, but ending it with my sweet girl by my side made me happy!  So thankful for her!

Lord, these days are tough...and I have been having a few of those lately.  I need You and Your help everyday, but on days like this even more so.  Help me to remember on days like this that You haven't left me, You are always there...there with me, there helping me...there to give me peace if I keep my mind stayed on You!  Thank you for that!  Help me as I sometimes struggle to remember that.  Thank You for being patient with me!