6 year old thoughts

Our Bible studies the last year have been in different books about the children of Israel, currently in Judges. Our 6 yr old loves to read & write, and fills notebook after note book with all sorts of stuff. This page was laying on my desk yesterday, and tonight after meeting she brought it to show us, she'd finished writing. HMMMM I think we often underestimate the comprehension of these little people, and what they really do hear when we think they are playing, scribbling or wiggling in meeting!!
(Click on image to be able to read it)

Kaela's school birthday

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At our little school they celebrate everyone's birthday by inviting any family members to come and have lunch with them. Kaela's birthday isn't till July, but they designate a day during the school year to celebrate the summer birthdays, so no one gets left out! Leon has always done this before, but today he is out of town, so the honor fell to me. They have a separate table set up for the birthday child, siblings & guests, and after everyone's done eating they all sing happy birthday. I stuck around a bit afterwards to watch the kids. Before they go outside for noon recess, the younger kids all sit on the floor and wait while the older (4th & 5th) grade boys mop up the floor & fold & put away the tables. Kaela also got to be helper today, by holding the door for the clean-up crew. Here's a few scenes from my hour at school with the kids.
**As a side note here, "Our" little school is one that was formally a Class 1 school. In other words, one of those schools "THEY" did away with, deeming them unnecessary expenses, among other things. Some of the highlights of this school were: (some have remained because of long term teachers & attending families)
*children all saying grace together before noon meal *Children responsible for chores around the school...as you saw in the pictures, also taking out the trash, cleaning chalk boards, room duty chores. Things we did back in the 60's & 70's when I was in grade school.
*All grades have recess together, and all the kids in different grades get along.
* Teacher ratio in each grade is 1-6, although we have 2 grades per room, 3 teachers.
*Parents volunteered their time for clean-up, & yard mowing.
I could go on and on about this one, it's a huge rant! The expense it's caused the school district here on just consolidating this school is huge. I can't imagine what it was state wide. They hired at least 4 more "employees"...after all, if a teacher is teaching the "3 R's", then surely she can't teach P.E. too!! (or do any office work, ect) oh yes, as these students defiantly needed the services of a guidance councilor! O.K...I'll stop. We still choose to opt out of district to go to this school because of the many advantages we feel like a small school offers, despite what we've lost!



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My garden work

Last week we had a couple of really nice days, so on Thursday the garden/dirt bit hard enough that it sent me out to work. I have a problem getting seeds planted. I like to buy them, but then they sit here, and by June, somehow they usually still aren't planted, and the Nurseries call loud & clear. I usually end up satisfying my craving for flowers by buying way too many plants. Even tho I try to buy perennials, they don't always survive, and my *budget* always feels the pain. This year (once again) I swore to do differently. I got one flower bed planted, and spent a good 3 hrs on some yard work exercise...for what? We'll see if it's worth it, two days later it snowed again, and got quite chilly. If this weather doesn't improve, I'll be buying plants again after all!!

Sunday evening at our house

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So tonight while I was having my catch up on blog time, my youngest decides to play waitress. She appears in my office with her offering in hand, announcing that she's made me banana bread!! I think it was low cal too!! For some reason my kids tend to get rather bored, and therefore extra rambunctious on Sunday evening, and of course if I'm glued to the computer screen not paying attention, that doesn't help matters.
So on tonight's schedule was make banana bread, insist that we all try it, eat all the ice cream, make freshly squeezed orange juice (and leave the mess for mom) go biking, & of course, ask for mom's phone to make the daily phone call to boyfriend!

Relyssa at KU Relays

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http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&pg=2&event_id=67&video_id=2654&folder_id=221&offset=2#video
I think that will get you to the right video, it should be:
"Girls shuttle hurdle relay Heat #4.
Pretty interesting, I'd never seen them do one before! These girls quickly outdistanced the other teams.

Relyssa was one of 10 students from our high school to go to the KU Relays, and
the girls brought home first place trophy for the hurdles she ran in!
This is was her first overnight out of state school activity, so it seemed like a big event to me! She said the weather was cold & damp on Friday, better on Saturday.
The video shows the heat she ran in, and it follows her team. You can see how far ahead they are. There are two seniors, a junior, and R. is a sophomore. These girls are our school's top 4 for running hurdles. She was the last one to run, coming from the right side. They did a super job. Congratulations Lyss!!

For Katie, Courtney, Debbie & others!

Kimber, Becky, Elaine, Cyndie, Maxine & Misti
We joined the walk because of Cyndie. She has two daughters with MS, and each one of us know at least one other person who has MS! We've already decided that next year we're going to walk as a team, as this year we just signed up individually.
We had a great day for walking, it's just beautiful here. We also had a good time visiting, as social time with us all here is pretty limited!
ADDITIONALLY, THANK YOU FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DONATED IN MY NAME! Your contribution was appreciated!

MS Walk

Please do not feel in any way obligated, but I wanted to post this so you know what I'm doing, and if you do choose to support the MS society on my behalf, I thank you!

Dear Family and Friends,

I recently accepted the challenge to raise funds to support National MS Society. Please help support me in this important project by contributing. This has touched my life because of a dear friend with two daughters with MS and another dear friend who was diagnosed last year. That's the reason I have chosen to participate in the Kearney MS Walk.
I want to do something about multiple sclerosis now. Please help by supporting my upcoming Walk MS: Blue Cross Blue Shield 2008.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is dedicated to moving us towards a world free of MS. They fund research into effective MS therapies and also help people with MS to live powerful, meaningful lives. I believe in the work they do.For information about this volunteer fund raiser and its programs, you can visit http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer .

It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using the link below. If you would prefer, you can send your contribution to the address listed below.

Whatever you can give will help. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. To make a donation online, visit my personal page to make a secure online donation

Sincerely,
Maxine Jelinek

To make a donation online, visit my personal page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/maxinejelinek


To mail a check on my behalf, please make payable to the National MS Society and put my name in the memo line. Send to: Nebraska Chapter NMSS * 7101 Newport Avenue Suite 304 * Omaha, NE 68152