Let's see, my last post was December 27th. That was 1 day post blizzard.  Rain came through last night and has finally washed the lion's share of the snow away.  That only took 2 weeks.  And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the 60 degree temperature today freaked me out a bit.  I mean, come on people, it was 14 when I left for work Monday morning.  As Miss T says, "Welcome to Southern Illinois." Welcome indeed.

#1 Son's Teacher lost her sister this week.  Her sister has had some serious heart problems and was awaiting a transplant (please, people, make sure you're an organ donor.  Really, if you're dead you have no need for all that internal stuff that could save up to 8 lives: http://www.organdonor.gov/index.html).  Mrs.T has had a really tough year and "her kids" all new what was going on.  A mom from the class messaged me the day her sister died and asked if anyone was making arrangements for the kids to get Mrs.T something.  I told her I'd find out (being an insider at the school) and if not, I'd handle it.  In fact another mom ordered flowers for the funeral but I didn't know that until after I'd sent a note home asking each child to bring in $2-$3.

In the end, the kids brought in $60! I was amazed.  I had told their sub I'd get a card for them all to sign to send with the gift.  She called the kitchen Wednesday and said, "The kids want to know if it would be alright if they made their own cards instead."  By all means, YES! And the cards they made were so sweet.

I took their money in to the Hallmark store today and ended up with 2 Willow Tree figures and 2 small Yankee candles in Mrs.T's favorite color (purple).  I took everything in for the kids to see and they were thrilled.  We sent the gifts and their cards to the visitation tonight with another teacher.

I hope Mrs.T knows what an impact she's making on these kids. They've all been so worried about her this week. I'm so proud of them all.