Follow Up

Conferences were exactly as I predicted. Miss D was generous with her compliments, and thoughtful in her responses, and a little frazzled at the abundance of paperwork that is required to log all of my children's grades. She was also gracious with Leila, who wanted so badly to show her something and sing her a song and tell her stories in gibberish. The kids were proud of their work and their little song and dance that represented what they learned in music, and all around it was good. I always laugh when it's over at how ridiculously I fret over these meetings. I think part of it is that I'm still learning how to do it all, so I am afraid I will try to take shortcuts and cut out something critical to their education. As a matter of fact I'm sure that happens, but I think it is just part of juggling this many lessons for this many children five days of the week for this many weeks; and I'm sure it's part of the learning process that *real* teachers go through too. So thank you for your condolences and support in my time of need.

Our celebration was minimal... we went to the library and got some books and then bought crickets for our lizard, and then after I contemplated going to McDonald's and Burger King and Taco Bell, I decided to take them home and feed them hot dogs that were already paid for and amounted to a much more economical meal than any of the three other options. I ruled out the park because even at 54 degrees it was too cold for me, and I ruled out Chuck E Cheese because I don't like to party to that extent unless Dale can party with us. And I ruled out the Donut Hut because honestly, I couldn't stomach the thought of a donut. I did, however, call a friend and ask if they could come out and play; they have a really cool park in their housing community and a covered picnic area to block the wind, but they were down with colds and couldn't come out. Unwilling to abandon the celebration altogether I thumbed through a cookbook and called out recipes that sounded good and asked who liked them, thinking I'd make something and we'd have a little party at home. But no one else wanted lemon bars or lemon chiffon pie or oatmeal muffins (I know! I couldn't believe it either!) so rather than eat an entire pan of delicious lemon bars on my own, I put the cookbook away and cleaned the bathrooms. Then I did some laundry. Then we did devotions with the kids and then Dale and I played with Max. Now he's gone to work out and I have a few minutes of quiet to sit on the couch and drink tea and think about stuff. And so it goes... another night with the Suttons. Thanks for coming.