Things that happened today

- The Apprentice was in today. She's a huge help, but a bit of a distraction to some of my kiddos. One of my boys is IN LOVE with her. Big time. Today's journal topic was "If I could be invisible, I would..." His response? "Follow Apprentice and kiss her." I stopped him before he could illustrate it. My girls, on the other hand, are fascinated with the Apprentice's tattoo (a fairy on her lower back - only visible when she bends over to help someone).

- My frequent absentee has now reached a total of 22 days out of school. The parent involvement counselor has already been in touch with her mother about the situation, and they were supposed to meet yesterday (the older sister is failing every subject in 6th grade due to her absences). The mom didn't show for yesterday's meeting and the girls were both out today.

- One of my darlings decided it would be amusing to smear yogurt on her face at lunch, in order to entertain the second graders at the next table.

- A very quiet boy in my room punched a 3rd grade boy in the mouth while they were in the bathroom. He then came back and told me that the 3rd grader was fighting with him - so of course, I yelled at the older boy, because he "should know better." When the whole story came out, he was in huge trouble with both me and the principal.

And of course, the art teacher was out with the flu, so I didn't get a break today. And I had to go to a meeting right after work, at a high school that's 45 minutes away. Is it Friday yet?