Things to remember...

Every other week it is our turn to take Madelyn + friends to Kindergarten in the afternoon. Of course, Luke and Evan enjoy going along for the ride. Luke loves his carseat and falls right asleep every time. (Some days this is how we get him to take his nice, long afternoon naps.)
And Evan loves getting in on the knock-knock jokes with the kids and
laughing right along with Maddy's friends.

And everyday after pulling into the garage he asks to watch the trucks "build a house"! He brings out his little lawn chair, sets it up and gets so excited to watch as the truck dumps dirt everywhere. He could seriously watch all day long. But luckily the truck is usually done a few minutes later (I think it's lunch time) and I explain that the truck has to go take his nap too. On the way inside we heard the truck's loud engine driving away and Evan exclaimed, "The truck! The truck is taking a nap! The truck is snoring. Ha ha!"

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Last week Madelyn had a hard time going to school each day. She would cry and cry that she did not want to go that day because she didn't want to be away from me and she didn't want to get a yellow. In her class the kids' behavior for the day is rated by red, yellow, or green. A green is great! A red is certainly not so great.

Madelyn is quite the talker and as we learned at her parent-teacher conference this fall, she is quite the social butterfly in her class. Her teacher asked us if she knew a lot of people outside of class before starting kindergarten, which she did not. But Madelyn sometimes can not stop talking and is very LOUD. So there have been a few times this fall
where she came home earning yellows.

This bothered her very much. Every prayer that she offers at dinner or bedtime mentions something about being good and getting all greens. And then last week, I caught her praying by herself before school to not get any yellows or reds. It was worrying her so much
that she did not want to go.

Then I remembered a book that Madelyn and I were introduced to early in the school year, "The Kissing Hand." In the book the little racoon is afraid to start his first year of school away from his Mama and so she tells him that she will kiss his hand and that whenever he is scared he can open his hand and feel her love and not be so scared.

So I drew a heart on Maddy's hand and told her that I would be with her all week...just look at her hand and know I love her tons. And she did great! I am glad that it bothers her when she gets yellows so she can work to do better, but I don't want it to worry her to the point of not wanting to go to school. The kissing hand seemed to help very much.
And before she left for school that day she asked if she could draw a heart on my hand as well.
This is what I was prvileged to look at the rest of the day:

Let me always remember how
happy my heart was on these days.