Not exactly an advertisement for Applebee's...

Yesterday I asked my kids to share what they had/did for dinner the night before. Then of course, it was my turn, and "Mrs. Overman, what did you do?"

Me: I had dinner with my two favorite teachers at Applebee's.

M: Oh yeah. I threw up Applebee's before. Mini-cheeseburgers.

Me: Ugh.

Ahh, writing conferences.

There is literally nothing I love more about my job than have conversations with my kids.

And this is why.

Today I did my usual conferring with kids. I am trying to get around to my newbies first (the ones I didn't have last year) in order to know them a little better and give them the extra little ummph they need in writing. "A" was first on my list to meet with today.

A is as young as she is quiet in comparison to the rest of my kiddos. I said, "Would you read your story to me or would you like me to read it myself?"

"I'll read it to you. 'My mom, my dad, and my brother. I love my family. My mom cleans. My brother likes video games. My dad is a lazy bum.'"

The minnow is still alive.

Yesterday during Writing Workshop one of my little guys had a picture of a fish and some too-small-to-read words in a bubble next to it.

Me: E, will you tell me about your fish?

E: Oh yeah. This is my fish. My uncle gave him to me and I was going to feed him to my cat. But then I realized he wasn't dead. So I just put him in a bowl and started feeding him. Sometimes the food falls all the way to the bottom of the bowl, though.

Morbid.

Right in the middle of lunch today, one of my little ones looked at me and said,

"Mrs. Overman, are you just gonna teach here 'till you're dead?"

Satellite Dish

I start my mornings with community time where kids share lots of different things. I have the same kiddos this year, so I wanted to know what they spent their summer doing. I got the typical answers:

• "I went swimming in the lake."
• "I played with my sister."
• "We went camping."

Then G shared, "I was helping my sister build a treehouse and look at my thumb!" [holds up thumb with a seriously nasty blood blister] "Then look what happened!" [holds up finger with a big scrape]

"G, what happened there?"

He replied, "Well, after we worked on the treehouse, we rode bikes. I rode right into the satellite dish."

Seriously...who does that?!

Pony

School doesn't start for another week, but I have a good one for you. Hopefully I'll get all the details right (if not, Ruth, feel free to leave a comment and correct me!).

My friend Ruth has a friend whose daughter we'll call "A". She's four and apparently has spent LOTS of time praying (as do most little girls) for a pony. Her parents decided not to tell her she wasn't going to get a pony, but instead just let her pray what she wanted.

After MANY days and nights of praying for the pony, the family awoke to find a pony in front of their house. Of course, A wasn't surprised; she had been expecting it!

The parents desperately tried to find the pony's owner...no luck.

Lucky they live in the country....

Are you there?

Well, if you're here with me, yay! I know I said I wouldn't be back until fall, but something funny happened and I'd like to remember it here.

This story was told at a family gathering this past weekend.

When my cousin Jennifer was little she had an imaginary friend. Said friend went everywhere with her...and went with my aunt and uncle as well since she, of course, was always with them. Apparently they left Imaginary Friend at a rest stop one day.

You read it right: THEY LEFT IMAGINARY FRIEND AT A REST STOP.

How?

Like this:

They stopped at the rest stop, did their thing, got back in the van, started to pull away...then Jennifer screamed, cried, and demanded they go back because--

Imaginary Friend was still on the bench at the rest stop.


I'm not a parent, and when I am someday I'm sure I'll change my tune, but I wouldn't have gone back. No thanks, we will get over this by driving and doing something else.

My uncle, being the wonderful guy he is, pulled over, opened the door, and made SURE Imaginary Friend was back in the car again. His comment:

"People watching were probably like, 'What an idiot. This guy's opening and closing the door for nothing.'"