merry happy everything, that one time my kid was jewish

as a working mom, I always find it hard to feel connected to everly's schooling experience.  we are both in the same district, meaning our schedules are identical.  this is a blessing and a curse.  I would love to go in and work in her class during their 'break-fast' winter celebration, but that is also the last day of my quarter, not easy for me just to check out for a few hours.  I'm always pulling flyers out of bags that are two weeks old, and I think, wait, didn't we just get this flyer, or has it really been sitting in this bag for that long?!?  I really don't know the answer.

so as I struggle to figure out how to balance this new normal for us, I do cherish the little stories that come home from school.  my all time favorite, that one time, no, make it two times, my daughter had her teacher certain she was jewish.

I teach 6th grade, meaning I also teach ancient world religions.  my kid has been able to identify buddha since she was two.  I also have a pretty extensive picture book collection from my kindergarten teaching days, so lots of books of different traditions and holidays.  my daughter has an entire shelf dedicated to her holiday books.  sure, most of them are from her favorite holiday, halloween, but she also has a hefty stack of christmas, hanukkah, kwanza, chinese new year, and thanksgiving books.  when reading the hanukkah books last year, everly really loved the traditions in the stories.  when we were out during the season, she asked for a menorah when she spotted one on the store shelf.  I instantly loved that little moment where she was excited to participate in something she had read about.  last year, hanukkah and christmas overlapped, so we lit the menorah at her grammie's house on christmas eve.

well, to circle back to kindergarten...
apparently, lighting the menorah was her favorite tradition from last year, and that is what she shared with her class.  now, her teacher being the good public school teacher that she is, quickly picked up that everly must be jewish.  and as a fellow good public school teacher, I know exactly what she was thinking, I must not send home a santa bag and ornament to my one jewish family.  

and just to confirm with everly's story, her teacher asked the mr.
the mr. laughed, and said, no, not jewish. [and if you know my husband, that was it, no more explanation needed]

a few days passed.  and again, my kid is talking up hanukkah and menorah lighting in class.  she never mentions the gingerbread house making, or the fifteen christmas trees that are decorated around our house, nope, just the menorah.

now, this is when I just about die.  that amazing public school teacher, now pretty terrified that she is going to send home a santa face glued to the side of a grocery bag to a jewish family, asks my husband for a SECOND time if we are jewish.

apparently, my kid is so persuasive that it took asking a grown man twice if we were jewish before she could send home our christmas presents with ease.  oh everly, you really gave that poor teacher of yours a run for her money this holiday season.

*photo from this year lighting the menorah!

first days of school, for two of us

this year everly started transitional kindergarten.   due to her november birthday, she cannot start kinder officially until next year, but TK is an option we have in our state for kids her age.  having everly in my school district is exciting because our calendars are now perfectly aligned.  however, that comes with some new challenges for this working teacher mom...my first day of teaching is her first day of school. and that means I have a lot to wrap my head around!photos from daddy - thankful for text updates during the day!

thankfully, we had our meet the teacher the day before school officially started, and this allowed me to get that first day experience.  this year, even though I had amazing teachers willing to take my classes on the first day so I could go to everly's school, I just didn't feel like I needed it.  this year, everly is at a school that she will only be at for the year of TK, so maybe I will feel different next year when she officially starts at her 'real' elementary school.  thankfully, when I got home from my first day, everly was still completely dressed [I think re-dressed] from her first day, backpack included.  this way, we were able to make her 'first day' of school sign, and grab some photos, since this had totally slipped my mind this year.  again, her starting pre-school in september made some of those little details easier to remember, but we fake it pretty well.

everly did amazing, and because she is used to her daddy being on school duty with her, she didn't bat an eye about anything.  in so many ways, she is exactly my daughter.  when it comes to going to school, she is much more the mr.  leaving us doesn't bother her.  she loves school, and even though she tells me every day there is a little girl in her class that is crying because she misses her mommy, she just states it very matter of factly.  she is really just excited that this year, every day I go to school, she gets to go to school too!  win win for everyone here. and of course, we celebrated our first days, her first, and my eleventh, with pinkberry.  we are both very serious about our pinkberry as you can see.

below are photos from her meet the teacher morning - and this 'in progress' mural at her school was pretty perfect.  later, we are checking out the Wide Open Walls project here in Sacramento - so I'm sure many more mural photos are in the future here!

 

here's to another amazing school year, for two of us!