SATURDAY SHOWCASE....TB's little masterpiece for a special teacher.

Aren't y'all excited....you haven't seen a SATURDAY SHOWCASE in a while. I get side-tracked, a lot, in life. My brain only functions at it's optimal level, occasionally.....the rest of the time it's just in survival mode.

So, here are some photos that were taken back at the end of May. In fact, just mere days before the accident of Broken Leg Boy, which sent our summer into a whirlwind, and made me lose all sight of what pictures I had taken for cute little SATURDAY SHOWCASE posts.

School is gearing up again, although I'd like to protest and picket the campus and demand they wait to open the halls of education until after Labor Day....I feel as though my requests would go unheard. In fact, I know they would, because I've mentioned it before, to a board member even, and nobody has changed the dates yet. We are still encouraged to bring our children and report for school while it's still August. Ugh.

So, while it has been on my mind all summer, I have yet to make this post. Maybe in the back of my head, I didn't make the post on purpose, because I feared that it would make it more real. And it is in fact real. A sad reality. A tragedy of sorts. But I'm going to talk about it, and in the words of Dr. Seuss, "today is the day".

TB painted that beautiful fish to give her teacher at the end of school. I think it is an actual toothbrush holder, but TB thought it would work great on her teacher's desk as a pen and pencil holder. And we always like to leave them with something they can remember...a special something to bring back all the great memories. It was a wonderful year. We had one of the best teachers on this planet. We've had her before. Three times, in fact. It's a first for our family, for each child to have had the same teacher at a certain grade level. And it was remarkable. A blessing for all.

Every one of my kids would rate her very highly....maybe even all three would say she was "the best". Although, more often than not, they really can't decide, as they begin to speak their "favorite", it turns out more as a list instead of just one name. Which, I think, is a wonderful way to think of their educators. I love that they have a list instead of a name. It gives me hope in the education system, in the ones that I allow to help in molding our children for the future.



Okay, so maybe that photo isn't a great representation of "molding the minds". But she sure looks like she's a fun teacher, right? Oh, she is. The kicker, not only is she fun, but she makes learning seem fun....IMAGINE that. Who knew learning could be fun? Remember the time I told y'all about TB spending all her free time at home, in the car, wherever -- hand writing 32 pages, front and back, of multiplication tables....for fun. That's because of this teacher. She challenged my kids, and they rose to the challenge, every time. And were better for it, every time.

Once, and this is a BIG deal at our house, she even wore an AUBURN shirt for my kid. It was several years ago, and she had our oldest child in her class. That year was our first experience with her, and where we realized we hoped and prayed our other children would have her as well. Rivers had been reading really well, in the top readers group, and was trying to meet a big goal at the end of the year on reading a certain number of books. He was just a few books shy of breaking the 100 mark, and she really encouraged him to try hard. She pulled out all the stops. Setting her ALABAMA allegiance aside, she gave this final boost he needed in this one challenge: "If you make it to 100, I will wear an AUBURN t-shirt to school, all day."

He was 7....He loves AUBURN....that was all the incentive he needed. She had joked with him all year long every morning he would come to school wearing anything orange and blue, or his AU shirts, (which was about 3-4 times weekly as my boys practically LIVE in Auburn shirts daily) that it gave her a headache to see it. She had a lot of headaches that year.

I think he actually read over 100 books....and she did in fact wear an AUBURN shirt, all day. We even made her stickers on the computer that said things like "I LOVE AU"..."WAR EAGLE" "TIGERS #1"....etc. to add to her shirt. She even smiled in the photo I took of her with Rivers in her AUBURN shirt.

Now I don't know about you folks who don't understand the SEC, especially the AUBURN/ALABAMA rivalry, but that was a big sacrifice folks. That is a remarkable teacher. That is a special teacher. That is a blessing.

So, to this very special teacher, who makes a difference in the lives of so many, and to others all around who reach out to the youth in an effort to inspire, challenge and truly teach, I say THANKS.


TB loves just about everybody. Sure she's sassy at times, but she has a sweet, tender heart, and aims to please. And as I've said before, all my kids had this same teacher. They all love her, as she does them. However, this little brown-eyed girl really took up a spot in her heart. It was a year I hated to end. I begged and pleaded with Father Time to slow down....why the rush? But as you know, once again, nobody listens to me, not even Father Time.

TB did say she wouldn't have minded staying around with this teacher another year. We had this discussion one day in the car this summer. She informed me that she could have made it happen. Although she did add, that she would have had to not do her work and fail, so we would have probably been upset, so instead, she forged ahead, passed with flying colors, and brought us to a close in this chapter of life. Like coming to the end of a good book. A great book. It was a super-fantastic, terrifically-wonderful read and you absolutely hate for it to end.

The end means that I have no other children to offer this teacher. At the end of this year, she jokingly sent me an email requesting I have more kids so they could be in her class. Oh, if only I could. Or if only I could bottle her up and tote her from grade to grade, with each child, every year. Except I guess she'd be pretty tired at the end of a school day if I did that. But I bet she'd give it a try, if I could figure out a way....maybe I'll put in a call to my board member and see what he can do about that. :)

But I guess I won't upset the apple cart just yet...it seems as though we are blessed with some awesome teachers again this year. TB will probably do a lot of "visiting" to see her sweet teachers of the past....she is our socialite. And she LOVES her teachers. She just flat out LOVES school.

So there you have it. A few months late, but the story was told all the same. Do you have any favorite teachers? Ones that stick out in your mind from your childhood? Again, this was only one on the list of my kids favorites, but she's a keeper, rest assured of that. I have several I remember from the "good ol' days" myself. Wasn't Elementary School fun?

Summer is leaving....I hate it. But I embrace the new school year ahead and all that it will offer. Just don't get me started on the whole I have a child starting High School thing. I'm avoiding that topic all together. I'd like to have kept him in 2nd grade for the rest of his life. Of course with all this recent activity with all the chest hair he might have started looking funny in a child desk, eventually.

SATURDAY SHOWCASE......it's a Walt Update.

Because I have lots to say, here’s a list for your reading pleasure:

• Walt is having a field day with the DVR. Funniest thing is, he uses it mainly to rewind COMMERCIALS. Normally, people use it to skip forward to avoid those! Ha. He cracks me up.

• Upon arriving home, I couldn't find a bell for him to ring for me . So instead, I made the rookie mistake of improvising with his sister's plastic, yellow flute. I've been in the kitchen on several occasions and have heard it's varying non-melodious sounds. I have since hidden the flute. He can yell if he needs me....it's a broke leg, not a voicebox.

• He’s doing better with getting up for restroom and lunch breaks. While usually for breakfast and sometimes supper, I serve him in bed, I make him come to the table in his wheelchair for lunch . And then we usually stay at the table to play a round of CLUE or look at Family Fun magazine for ideas for the summer.

• It's been a week since his surgery, 8 days since his accident, and 9 days since he shampooed his hair. I am happy to report, that hair predicament has been rectified. We did another round in the tub using the stools....and this time we turned the water on. Works better that way, with the water on. You can actually do things, like, shampoo. :)

• Had school still been in session, his surgeon had orders that he was not to attend PE for 3 months. Wow. 3 months. That’s a long time with no recess, folks. It looks as though he will still have to miss the first month of PE once school resumes. This road to recovery appears to be several miles long. We are in hopes that he will be walking fairly well by the time the first day of school rolls around in August.

• However, that’s a few doctors appointments and therapy visits away. So, for now, he is still confined, for the most part, to the bed. But each day we are adding in more time up in the wheelchair. The problem is finding enough things to occupy his time. He has DVR’d all the episodes of “Unwrapped” from Food Network, and he has several new books, plenty of new art supplies, and other various toys, games, etc. that we keep in a basket close by. However, we are open to any fun ideas you can give us.

• We did take him outside one day to get some fresh air. His siblings thought it would be fun to draw off a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk. Yep it was fun alright. Right up until they remembered he couldn’t play. And he couldn’t sit on the driveway to draw art with the chalk either…..

• Normal summer activities are not so normal anymore. As soon as my brain kicks back in, I’m going to tell it to start thinking outside the proverbial summer activity box. But just in case that takes too long…..I thought I’d solicit (or beg) a few ideas from you fine folks.

• And while you’re at it…..go ahead and send in suggestions for this other current dilemma as well: a picky eater with a broken femur who has already lost 4 pounds since his accident. And he did not even have 4 ounces to lose from his skinny frame.