My Mom Said.......

Great Buckets of Wild Geese!!
Welcome back!

As I pulled into the parking lot with Littlest Little this morning, I was certain that after I got everything set up,
the sweeties would be walking in and the sounds of
 "Oh Miss Squirrels I missed you so much!"
or
"Oh Miss Squirrels, I am so happy to be back!"
or
"Oh Miss Squirrels, I don't ever want to be away from you for that long ever again!!"
would fill the room.

{{{{{ cue the Dream Sequence music}}}}}

I mean, everyone expects that, right?

It happens every year!!!

{{{{Record Scratch.....}}}}

Those are not the words that I heard.
At all.

Oh, now there were quite a few who hugged me a little tighter today. But I didn't have anyone profess their undying love to me or anything. Half of them couldn't wait to tell me what they got for Christmas. The other half wanted to know if we were gonna have homework!?!?!

They all looked so cute in their new Christmas clothes. Tutus were extra fluffy. Boots were extra sparkly.
Collars were extra pressed. Jeans were extra dark.
There were a ton of new hat/glove/scarf combo sets. I counted several kitty cats.
And a few new lunchboxes.

Everyone just looks so great right after the break!
But it kind of stresses me out~
Do you know what else I saw on these dapper little dudes and dudettes?
While it added to their new style for the new year, it made me cringe just a little. I knew for certain that it was going to lead to headache for me and heartache for them.
What could it be? What did I see? What was it that was making me so distraught?

Sneakers.
Brand New Sneakers.
Lots and lots of squeaky clean sneakers!

These sneakers lead to one of the most common phrases heard right after the holiday break....
Can you guess what it is?

(You may have heard it today. )

You got it!

"My mom said I can't get these dirty."

Really?
I had three friends CRYING today because we were going outside for recess.
"I'm gonna get in trouble!"

Our sweeties play on a playground that has rocks (pebbles) inside of the railroad ties- to soften the blow and avoid giant mud puddles.
These pebbles are local.
They come from the river.
Know what river?
The RED RIVER.
Know what makes it RED?
The clay.
The RED CLAY.
Know what that clay turns to when they pull the pebbles out?
Dust.
RED DUST.

So all that dust gets stirred and whirled around and sticks to anything that touches it.
I quit buying my children white shoes when Chickadee started that school in 2004!!!
It's not a secret.
We don't hide the dust. And when the rain falls and makes that pretty red mud, we don't hide that either.

I had a gang of children with baby wipes trying to get their shoes cleaned when we got back inside today.

When they weren't dreading the bus ride home because of dusty tennies, they were quite productive today.

We started out chart for OLW. Last year was my first year to do it. I wasn't going to do it this year- but it made quite an impact on several of my sweeties last year. One of them actually still carries her OLW card in her purse . Her word was "Confidence". Talking to her mom over the break, made me realize I needed to do it again.
I'll link last year's at the bottom of this post.

We talked about some goals for this new year to lead us into the process.

 Check out what they are planning on doing this year:

 This year I am going to look forward to be a great reader.

 This year i am going to learn to double knot my shoes.

 I love this guy!
This year I am going to eat healthy. No desserts. No cookies! No Brownies?
(Looks like he was questioning his decision there towards the end).

 This year I am going to practice how to be an artist so when I grow up I can be an artist.

 This year I am going to learn about animals. And young animals.

 This year I am going to PLAY the Wii!

These are some attainable goals. I am glad they are being realistic. (Except for "no brownie boy"- that's just not going to happen)
At least they didn't have a silly goal like:
Drink less coffee.
Eat more veggies.
Exercise.
Sleep better.
Read for fun.
Lose weight.
I mean, those are just ridonkulous- right???
(Please back me up on this one).


Before I go tonight- I have a few searches to share....hee hee...

Why, yes I am! How did you know???

 I don't know? Maybe I was planning on being a sleepy chick and forgot??
(I love that someone missed me):)

I started our bulletin board- but didn't finish before I left tonight- I will have to finish up in the morning:)
I think he needs a stache- whatcha think??

Have a Terrific Tuesday!!
Smooches!

Last year's OLW project