Pioneer Day

Our day started out with a siren! I had planned to stay up late, after putting Kyra to bed, last night so I didn't bother to close the basement door while settling her in for the night. I had, however, set the house alarm to "bypass" that open door. But instead of staying up late, as I lay with Kyra to read, the lack of sleep in the past few days hit me like a brick wall. I fell asleep in her bed. And I slept soundly until 5 a.m.

I got up at 5 a.m. and tip-toed out of Kyra's room. My normal routine is to turn off the house alarm and then let the dogs out. But this morning, still half-asleep, I noticed that the basement door was still open so I didn't automatically think about the house alarm being on. I fed the animals and then began preparing to make a crock-pot full of chili for Pioneer Day. But before I could do that, I had to clear off the counter. I had a couple of empty soda cans sitting by the sink, so I rinsed them out and then opened the kitchen door to throw them in the recycle bin in the garage and was shocked awake by the LOUD house ALARM. I had a major adrenaline rush, dashed over to the control panel and entered the code to turn it off. Then came the phone call from the security company to verify if it was truly an intruder. I gave them my secret password and admitted it was a mistake. After a few minutes, I wondered if Kyra slept through it all. But then I heard her calling me. I went into her room to reassure her that nothing was wrong, but she was too startled to go back to sleep. Bummer...

But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Kyra came into the kitchen and asked if she could help make the chili. So I put her to work emptying cans of tomatoe sauce and beans into the pot, adding spices, and even let her cut the onion. I was nervous about letting her cut the onion because I've sliced my thumb way too many times, but she was very careful and did a great jog. I browned the hamburger meat while she was chopping and then I sauted the onion while she rinsed cans and put them in the recycle bin. Her help saved me a lot of time!

Next I had to type the letter to parents about Teacher Appreciation Week. I started it and Kyra was watching over me suggesting changes. I asked her to just let me finish typing the rough draft and then I would let her edit it. She thought I used too many words and too many "big words". I went to take a shower while she edited it. She dumbed it down, added colored fonts to the names of the days and added clip art images to make it stand out. For example, on the "bring a flower" day, she added a clip art image of a flower. I have to admit that she certainly made it look and read a whole lot better than my rough draft! Wow!

We ate a quick breakfast, grabbed the cooking chili and left for school about 10 minutes later than I had planned. If she hadn't helped me this morning, I certainly wouldn't have gotten it all done. Luckily, we found a parking spot in the school lot. She helped me carry items to the classroom and then another parent returned with me to the car to get the remainder of the items.

In the classroom, the children were excitedly anticipating the adventures ahead. One boy tore a hole in his pants, accidentally, before arriving in the classroom. He picked up a needle and thread and began sewing the hole back together in his pants leg! I was impressed that he put the newly learned sewing skill to use!

Kyra's family group consists of a mother (Savannah), a father (Caleb), twins (Kyra and Cameron), and a younger sister (Grace). They are the M&M family. Their last name is Mitchell and each family members first name starts with an M: Michael, Morgan, Marie, etc. Savannah (aka Marie) had left over apron material; while waiting for other kids to arrive, she made matching small aprons for the two baby dolls (Kyra and Savannah both brought their American Girl dolls). What a great "mother" Savannah is!

Once everyone had arrived, the "family groups", loaded all of their items into their wagon and an adult helped them tie the rope around it all. At 9:15 a.m. everyone went to the gym for organized square dancing. Lots of parents stood around the edges of the gym court while the children sat in groups of eight on the gym floor. The music teacher suggested that the parents sit with their children and sing along to three songs that they had learned. That was fun. Then the parents returned to the sides of the court and the children began the square dancing. They were so cute!

Then we returned to the wagons and began to line up. Other grade classes came out to the playground to wave good-bye as the 4th graders walked down the track and off onto the trail. I was glad to see so many parents there! The trail itself was probably about a mile long. It had steep hills, a few small creek crossings, and several fallen trees that required the kids to pick up their wagon and lift them over the fallen trees. The children seemed to really enjoy the hike. At the end of the trail, everyone settled down for a rest and a picnic snack. Afterwards, Kyra and Savannah packed their baby dolls in the box for the return trip, because they were tired of carrying them. While waiting for everyone to pack up, Kyra got on the wagon and the rest of her "family" had a blast trying to make her fall off by pushing/pulling the wagon quickly back and forth. One parent looked concerned, but I just smiled and took photos since they were all laughing and grinning.

The return trip to the playground seemed to go faster. Although we had a small snack about 30 minutes before, when we arrived back at the playground everyone was starving. A group of moms had not gone on the trail and had set up the tables of crockpots, plates, napkins, water, etc. Kyra, Grace and I served ourselves the chili that Kyra had made. I thought it was quite tasty! Allyson's mom's home-made macaroni and cheese was very yummy too!

After lunch, the children returned to the classroom to watch a Little House on the Prairie movie. Most of the parents left, but a few of us stuck around to help clean-up and deliver unclaimed crock-pots to classrooms. Thankfully, all but one had the teacher's and child's name on it so we could at least get it to the right room.

I had originally planned to go to the gym this afternoon for a "cross training" session. But I decided that the 2-mile hike through hilly trails plus carrying heavy crockpots and coolers was enough exercise for the day. After getting things put away and my stuff loaded in the car, I returned to Kyra's classroom to give her teacher the notes (about teacher appreciation week) to put in the children's "Friday folders". I gave Kyra a hug good-bye and told her I would pick her up after school. I went home, took a shower, and just relaxed until time to go get Kyra. What a relief to have this event over!

I loaded the dogs into the car to go get Kyra. As soon as I picked her up from school, we went straight to the vet to get updated vacinations for the dogs. They were good puppies! Back at home I did a little cleaning, but we mostly just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Happy Pioneer Day!