Art Walk

Tonight we went on an art walk at John's school. There were a couple of areas where John's art work popped up so we made a point of seeing those first. There was a whole wall of military themed drawings which made me feel better about John's picture of a tank. It was their project for Veteran's Day. I was a little confused on why he was drawing tanks before...now I know. You may recognize the tank drawing from the post about John's art in my office.

The other art piece he had was really a report about animals and their habitats. His report was longer than the paper allowed for writing so he used one piece of paper for the report and one for the drawing. They had the report side on display with the drawing on the back side. As you can see, the handwriting is REALLY good for a first grader...in my opinion anyway. This is said by a left handed person that received "C"s in handwriting throughout elementary school.

We then checked out some of the other pieces on display from the other classes. We ended the evening with some music in the gym by older kids. I am sure the piece of paper they gave us at the beginning of the tour told me where they were from but I had recycled the paper by then. Anyway, the cookies and punch sugar rush made the music more than bearable. We listened to a few songs and then headed out for dinner.

Huh, what did you say? ...hearing aids

John received hearing aids about 3 weeks ago. They are great and he is great with them. He helped pick out the colors for all of the pieces and you can hardly tell they are there. When kids ask him about them he just states it like this... "Well, you know how people have glasses to help them see better? I have hearing aids to help me hear better. It is just the same." He took the hearing aids for share. Ok, so he was wearing the hearing aids anyway but he took the care kit and accessories for share. The kids in his class had all sorts of questions and the teacher was very impressed with both John and the kids. No one has teased him about it and I have been working with him on a "look" he can give kids if they start.

On the night he got the hearing aids we celebrated with a trip to McDonald's and a doughnut at Krispy Kreme. We went to the Krispy Kreme by my office where you can look in the window and watch them being made. It was his first time seeing the process and he was intrigued. We eventually went inside and ate one. He had one right off the line and thoroughly enjoyed it as you can see by the picture. If you look really close, you can see one of the hearing aids.

Thackston Spring Musical

It has been a busy couple of weeks since Easter. John was part of Thackston's spring musical extravaganza. I thought this picture sort of typified the event...a little bit of chaos. It was done very well considering the kids ranged from 3 years old to 5th graders. Each class had a different number which tied into the overall theme of "our solar system". At the end, the whole school got up on stage and sang "Here Comes the Sun". It was all very cute and they all did a great job.

Jacene

Thackston School Branch update

This week they ruled the Thackston School Branch fire was arson. There are no specifics yet but I will stay informed. Oh, John starts Thackston School down the road from the branch on Monday. I have enough uniform clothes now that he can make it through the week. I put the outfits all on one hanger so you just have to know what the weather is like and grab the appropriate one. It is a no brainer.

In his class are some kids he went to class with at the branch a couple of years ago and one of them is the girl he was planning on marrying so it will be good to have them reunited. The long distance thing wasn't working well, we couldn't even get her to his birthday party. She is excited about seeing John again too. Her mom and I talked on Friday about it.

I think he will assimilate well and have my fingers crossed to boot.

Jacene

Thackston School Branch Fire

This morning I was getting ready and tidying up the house and I heard a snip it on the news about Thackston school having a fire and as I tried to figure out which Thackston it was (there is the branch where John goes and Thackston school down the road) the news mentioned the school mascot, Elliot the bearded lizard perished in the fire...that is John's school.

I hopped in the shower and went to the school with camera in tow and John not in tow. I spent 2 hours on the scene and took pictures, talked to teachers, tv reporters and UT police and staff briefly. UT bought the property last fall and was allowing the school to remain as long as it wanted. I over heard some of the firemen and they are going to figure out if the State Fire Marshall will be involved but won't know anything until Monday. They are still looking at arson and not ruling anything out at this time.

When I got to the school only one teacher was there, Ms. Angie and I didn't see her until I had been around most of the school. We hugged and cried together. I couldn't help but cry as I took the pictures. I had 3 distinct sets of memories of TSB. I went there as a student from when I was 2 through 1st grade. I then came back around 6 years later and helped whenever I was out of school with my sister's class. I made a lot of little friends in those years and some became the base of my babysitting empire (maybe not an empire, really).

The last set of memories was of course with John. He started going there when he was 15 months old and is Kindergarten now. I had just dropped him off yesterday. He LOVES his teacher, Mrs. Donna. Just last week he said he loved us the same. I would like to believe that if there was a contest I could edge her out but who knows. When I went to tell him we both got emotional. He wanted to see the pictures and we cried. Clay and I have explained that only Elliot got hurt and how things were going to be alright. John kept crying and fretting throughout the day. I can't blame him, it was his second home. I cried off and on throughout the day too.

The school is meeting at 9:00am Monday at the Unitarian Church on Kingston Pike. I will be out of town and Clay needs to be at work so we will miss this. John will stay with Clay's Mom until I get back in town on Tuesday afternoon. I am going to call the "big" Thackston on Monday and get details about transfering him. This has sort of made the decision of when and where to transfer him a little clearer.

Here are some photos of the school. Notice the Sheriff's helicopter in one of them, it was circling slowly overhead when I got there. Forgive the picture placement. It is late and I am running out of patience on where frames are snapping... if you are reading this and know me then you will understand and read through the random picture placement.

Jacene