Author's Day & Thankful Thursday

I had the BEST morning! Cooper's kindergarten class has a tradition called Author's Day. The children each write and illustrate a book- it can be about anything that they want. They work on it for weeks and each book is dedicated to someone- again, anyone they want. On Author's Day, their teacher reads each story and the child sits next to her in "the author's chair". I didn't really know what to expect except that the moms who have older kids were all a flutter about how great it was going to be. I was dying to see what his book would be about- and a little nervous as well. I shouldn't have been. Here is the cover of his book-

Ok- please let me pause to say how excited I am that I've actually modified my HTML so that the picture appears where I want it to! Hooray- This blog is responsible for my expertise!

Cooper has had a love affair with turtles for years. Jon has an uncanny ability to find random turtles along the side of the road and will stop to pick them up to bring them home for Cooper. I think that the general plan is to keep them- but thus far, I've been able to thwart any such plans. Here is the dedication and page 1 from his book.

So, I teared up at the love that went into him dedicating it to us. All of the kids had such sweet dedications- some to their older siblings, a few to good friends or grandparents, 1 to a dog in heaven and a few others to either their mom or their dad. Following the "the end" page, there was a page called- About the Author. It had their picture and some facts about each child. There was a sentence that said- Something that makes me proud is... his answer? that I have a good mother and a good father. So perhaps we're doing ok after all!! Proud of his good mom and dad- now if that doesn't inspire me to want to work even harder to be a good parent- I'm not sure what will. After all of the books were read, there was a little reception and a slide show that captured every kindergarten event this year ....set to music that left not a dry eye in the room. Every child in the class has grown and matured from the first day of school and it was so wonderful to see how far they've come. His class was fantastic and his teacher- an angel. The day was good.

That brings me to Thankful Thursday-

1st, that we have been blessed with Cooper having a fantastic year in kindergarten. I firmly believe that this is the foundation for how kids feel will feel about school long term. Cooper was loved all year and his confidence has grown so much.

2nd, that in the face of unimaginable tragedy there are so many people who come together in prayer and to offer support to each other. It is nothing less than beautiful.

3rd, I am thankful for 2nd chances, and 3rd and 4th.....

4th, I am thankful for the upcoming long weekend- a time for us to rejuvenate and spend time focused on nothing but family. I am counting the minutes.