Eli has been away for the past two weeks, with one day and two nights in the middle at home, which really just messed up any sense of irregular regularity I managed to establish.
The girls have been busy with school.
I have been busy with school. And, meetings. Kindergarten is piloting a new play-based curriculum this year (which I LOVE!), but it does mean that we meet a lot more to provide feedback, plan, and prepare all of the play-based learning that happens.
You know, play can look accidental and chaotic, but in my room it is purposeful and organized with routine. It keeps the kids and me sane. It just requires a bunch of planning and Pinteresting.
Pinterest!! Oh, I am so Pinterested in Pinterest now. It's bonkers. It's SO up my alley. If you want to see where I get some great ideas and inspiration, find me on Pinterest! I think the iPhone pushed me over to the place where Pinterest was doable and not sucking up too much of my time. In fact, it's the perfect time passer for when I only have a few minutes before another. Purposefully Playful Pinterest, I love you.
So, this week, it is my goal to get back on track.
This post goes back to September, the day after Gramma's surgery (which is another HUGE event in these past two weeks!), when Eli was out of town, and I was a volunteer for our school's Cross Country Road Race.
I helped the students interested in running train for about three weeks before the event, along with a great number of teachers and staff at my school. Any student, from Grade 1 to Grade 8, can participate in the Road Race and Miss G trained.
Miss A would sit in the office and read books to anyone who would sit with her while we trained. On race day, her good (big kid) friend, Miss E, took her outside to watch Miss G race (Miss E raced with her own age group later that afternoon).
One day, in the training, Miss G fell and scraped her hip and knee on the pavement. Luckily, it was very close to the school.
She wanted to give up running for good. Luckily, that sentiment only lasted 24 hours until the next practice when here little friends showed up.
Miss G is a FANTASTIC runner! She has a very good pace, can run the whole time (1.s km), and is pretty fast.
Sometimes, she likes to hold hands with her friends and take a little walking rest. Adorable.
Miss G had her first ever cross country race!!
She ran a solid 1.3 km, and we are so proud of our little running girl.
You can see that she is a full head and shoulders shorter than her competition.
She ran a good run, though she did not win a "race necklace."
Miss G got a celebratory Bear Paw cookies in her lunchbox the next day, though!
The day of the big race, the school was hyped.
ALL staff helps to pull off this big event. We have staff out in the neighbourhood as crossing guards, cheerleaders, at the start and finish line, at the refreshment table after the race (with hot chocolate and homemade muffins, also provided by the staff... two dozen of my famous banana chocolate chip muffins were there, too!).
I was leading some of the races (3) with my bike. Mu bike has fenders and a basket. It is so cool!
There is a pretty good chance I could outrun many of the kids in ONE race, but three back-to-back races would be out of the question.
We race around the town blocks, which is pretty fun, and all the teachers become traffic control experts, so we pretty much reek havoc in one area of town for a few hours once a year.
It's wonderful fun, but I was so pooped from biking over 10 km on my cruiser.
Man!! Kids can run fast when that GO shout happens.
You have to pedal for your life just to avoid being trampled. It's crazy fun!!
It's a little scary to be in front of a herd of running kids who really really really want to win. Especially at the start. OK. A lot scary.
But the end, oh! it's so much fun to be leading in the winners of each race and to see their families waiting for them at the finish line. Some of the parents were so surprised to see their kid leading the pack! They were crying and cheering all at the same time. It's was pretty amazing.
And you know what? The cheering didn't stop until the last runner crossed the finish line. For all of the participants, the distances for each age group is no easy feat, and quite an accomplishment!
I didn't get to take any pictures of Miss G running because I was leading the next race (which left less than five minutes after her group took off), but a good teacher friend of mine was the race photographer, and she got some for me.
Miss G did not win the race, and she was disappointed.
Once she came home to see the pictures and saw just how big and tall a lot of her competition was, she felt better.
We were SUPER proud of her!!
Check out the wind swept hair!! I'm glad I don't have a picture of me after the races with my sweaty helmet head.
1 comment:
You look like you could be Pee-Wee Hermans girlfriend!
-Brad
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