Kid's writing, and that sisterly bond

I've been so lucky to be able to help out in Maddie's classroom now twice. I think it will become a weekly thing, so I am extremely excited. I find out my day off a week ahead of time, and I'm able to go in then on that day the following week.

I help out with "kid's writing." Maddie and her classmates draw a picture and then "conference" with us to tell us what the picture is describing. They try to sound out what they're trying to say and write it down on the paper, and then we write it underneath so they can see how close they were.

It is the coolest thing to get to go see my Cran in "action" in a classroom setting. She is so funny and gets the biggest smile on her face when she comes in and sees me sitting there (and, I admittedly can never wipe the smile off of my face for a good 10 minutes). She's such a good listener and always works so diligently, just like she does here at home. Once you tell her a task that she is supposed to accomplish, the girl sets her mind to completing it and doesn't waiver from it.

Her teacher is very impressed with with how well she's doing, and it's so nice to hear that. She tells me that Maddie is so mature and her sweetheart. And, I told her that Maddie just adores her. It's so nice to know that Maddie truly loves her teacher and enjoys being there.

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Faith listens intently every day to Maddie's report about what they did on that given day in school. These two are so in sync with each other; it's so neat. Everything that Maddie does, Faith wants to do it as well. So, she does her workbook pages every afternoon with either me or Dan (when I am gone) and she and Maddie do their projects, spelling, numbers, writing, drawing, and our home version of "kid's writing" every chance they get.

These two go through so much paper. Rhonda gave us a huge stash of paper a few months ago, and it definitely comes in handy. They are writing or drawing constantly. We have to get them new boxes of crayons and sidewalk chalks very frequently because of how much they use them all. Faith was so cute yesterday too; she picked some flowers for Maddie on the walk home from school. She said she wanted to make a vase for the flowers, so I suggested making one out of a toilet paper roll. She was so excited and made one with my help with popsicle sticks and tissue paper, and then loved it so much that she made another one by herself for Abrie (but this one she said is a "puppet for Abrie!" haha). Maddie and I came out of school together yesterday, and Dan was there waiting with Faith and Abrie. Needless to say, Faith was so excited about the surprise for Maddie. And, Maddie was SO excited when she saw what Faith had made her. Her reaction was so cute, and it made Faith's day. She then decided that she loved it so much that SHE made one for Faith too!