Many faces of Mary Elizabeth...

Lately it is a little difficult to figure out what Mary Elizabeth's personality is going to be on any given day. There are times that she is kind and sweet, saying please and thank you and expressing her concern for her brother and sisters and all mankind. On those days she looks like this:


Then there are days that nothing is quite right in her world, frequently when she hasn't had enough sleep or she is fighting sleep, and she looks more like this:

But, I suppose more often than not it is some combination of the two, and we get something like this -- you just know that somewhere in the corner of her mind she is up to something:

Visit with the Easter Bunny

Sunday we were at the mall -- Jason needed a shirt and I think Mallorie, Hannah and I needed a change of pace. At any rate, we went to the mall and were strolling around when we spotted the Easter Bunny sitting in his chair waiting for children to come visit. Unlike when Santa camps out at the mall, there was no line of children waiting to see the rabbit. Mary Elizabeth seemed interested in visiting with the very large rabbit, so we took her over, just to visit (I really wansn't interested in a picture of her on a bunny's lap). The Easter Bunny gave her a small box of crayons with a very small coloring tablet. This turned out to be a huge mistake on the part of the Easter Bunny. Mary Elizabeth has talked for a week about her visit to the Easter Bunny and how she doesn't like him.

M.E. -- Those are my crayons

Mom -- yes, they are your crayons

M.E. -- The Easter Bunny gave them to me

Mom -- yes he did

M.E. -- But I don't like him

Mom -- Why don't you like the Easter Bunny?

M.E. -- I wanted a lollipop.

Later in the week she brought it up again.

M.E. -- Santa brought me toys

Mom -- yes he did

M.E. -- That's why I don't like the Easter Bunny

Mom -- but Santa and the Easter Bunny are friends, the Easter Bunny will bring you candy

M.E. -- I wanted a lollipop

I'm thinking there better be a lollipop in her Easter basket this year.

Final Parent/Teacher Conference

One bad experience at a parent/teacher conference can scar you for life. For me it happened when Hannah was in the fourth grade. I innocently went for my scheduled conference and her teacher very politely asked "does you daughter lie". I was, naturally, quite taken aback. It was during a phase when I think Hannah did not feel she was getting quite enough attention. She had bandaged her hand quite extensively and when asked about it informed her teacher that she had burnt her hand while we were visiting her grandparents. I suppose the theory was that the number of candles on her grandfather’s birthday cake created quite an inferno, and thus, the burnt hand. At any rate, when she came to school the following day with no bandage she informed her teacher that she had gone to the doctor and had her skin "grafted back together". Quite a creative thinker she is. At any rate, this is what prompted the inquiry about her perhaps being less than truthful.

Today I had what will be Hannah’s last parent/teacher conference, the don't them at the Junior High. I was not asked about her truthfulness, nor was I told any surprising stories about her. It was pretty much a standard conference – she could do a little better in math, but we can work on that – and we selected her courses for next year. Next year she starts 7th grade – Junior High. It seems like just yesterday that she was starting kindergarten.