Laura the Angel

A few weeks ago, I picked up Laura from school and she immediately began telling me what had just transpired at school: They received their parts for the upcoming Christmas program. From her tone, it was clear that this was not good news in her book, and I soon knew why: She drew the role of shepherd. She no sooner got out those words than she dissolved into tears. For an hour.  I endured countless variations of "I don't want to be a shepherd!" and "I'm not going!" and, as you may imagine, soon lost my sympathetic ear. Basically, I told her that I understood she was disappointed, but that this is how life works, and that yes, she would be going to the program. Eventually, after sobbing in her room for a while, she stopped, and we didn't discuss it for the remainder of the evening. The next morning, however, as we prepared to head to school, she started up again. Finally, as we were pulling up to school, I told her, "OK, here's the deal. If you can do so very politely, you may ask Miss Debbie if there is any way you might be an angel rather than a shepherd - Mary is already taken, but they might be able to use another angel. If they say no, then you say 'thank you' and carry on with your day." She seemed to absorb this information, but didn't really respond, and as she got out of the car I figured that was the end of that. Until an hour later, when I received an email from Miss Debbie informing me that Laura had asked to speak with her, revealed that she did not want to be a shepherd, and that of course she could be an angel instead! Laura 1, show business 0.

And lo, the angel was a happy being for the duration of practices, sang her heart out, and earned her post-show Christmas cookie! 

P.S. As mentioned in a previous post, here is Laura's Christmas list. The "MLP" is short of My Little Pony, because Mommy's patience for dictation only runs so long.

Tree Time!

The entire family was looking forward to putting up our tree this weekend. Much of that was due to the festive nature of the event, but I think we were all excited for some family time, too. And the opportunity to wear seasonal garb, of course.

You know the kids are getting older when the ladder becomes a frequent tool for them.

All three kids maintained a steady, positive focus on the task at hand, and the results are quite lovely! One of my favorite moments came when we were finished. Laura requested that we join hands around the tree and sing Christmas carols, which we gladly did. Seems everyone is in the spirit!

Season of Thankfulness

Another blessed Thanksgiving has come and gone. First the first time in recent memory, we kicked off Thanksgiving with a beautiful mass at CTK. With so many blessings, it felt really nice to begin the day this way - and saw lots of friendly faces there, too.

We enjoyed gorgeous weather, both on Thanksgiving itself and for most of the days of Grammy and Grampy's visit. This enabled plenty of activity, from Grampy taking Danny and Matthew (via MARTA!) to the College Football Hall of Fame, to Black Friday shopping, seeing the lights at the Botanical Gardens without freezing, and more.

It was a terrific beginning to the most wonderful time of the year!

Pilgrim Laura

As alluring as the schedule (and joint drop-off with Danny) of kindergarten is, I must admit that preschool presents some pretty cute moments. The Thanksgiving feast was certainly one of them!

I am very thankful for Pilgrim Laura!

Clare's First Debate

One of the many things that attracted us to Marist School was the large range of activities available to the students. Among these is the debate team, which is quite competitive on the high school level (top 10% in the nation!), and fabulously low-key for the 7th and 8th graders. They meet during activity period, which is once a week during the school day. So far, only five students have chosen to participate, but from what Clare reports, it's a blast!

Their first debate was on the subject of parental surveillance of electronics. Fortunately, Clare was on the affirmative side! (Not that she got to choose this.) Her primary role was to give her team's opening argument, which was also the first part of the program. There was quite an audience, between teachers, administrators, and high school students likely earning extra points for attendance. I thought she did quite well! 

Between public speaking, research skills, and learning to work well within a group, there a lot of reasons to promote participation in debate. Hopefully Clare will maintain her enthusiasm for it for a long time, but either way it's been a great experience to enhance her start at Marist.

Good (School) Sports

As the school year rolls on, both Danny and Clare are now engaged in sports teams for their schools. Clare finished cross country at Marist and has moved on to swimming, which of course is near and dear to her heart. The first meet was really fun for all, as it was fueled by school spirit that really elevated it to a true team sport.

Meanwhile, Danny has finally reached the age where playing basketball means playing against other schools. Better still, his dad is his team's coach - fulfulling a dream for them both, I would say.

Game face!

Tim was relieved and happy to win their first game handily, as the boys came together in ways not previously seen at practice...

One of my favorite things about games between Catholic schools: the pre-game Hail Mary shared by both teams.

Let's go War Eagles, and let's go Lions!

Laura's First Letter

Today I filed Laura's application for kindergarten online. In many ways, it feels like eons ago that I was doing so for Danny, much less Clare, but that's partially because it wasn't online back then! Mostly, though, time has flown and it's somewhat hard to believe that she'll be headed off to big kid school next year.

I didn't mention this paperwork to her, as I figured it would primarily go over her head, but also might lead to confusion about when, exactly, she would start kindergarten. No thanks. Still, I think it's interesting that she chose the same afternoon, actually the very same hour, to write her first letter. Over the past couple of weeks, she has dictated sweet notes to Danny or Clare, but she seemed reluctant to attempt the writing herself. Today, though, when the "I need help with something" became a letter to Daddy, she evidently made the turn. I suspect she will be full speed ahead from here, too! Next time she might even be willing to write the final two words, which would have been "your Thanksgiving," had she not run out of space (and possibly interest). (The note reads "Dear Daddy, I love your heart. I hope you enjoy...")

Stay tuned for her Christmas list!