I One Upped Taryn

The ear piercing peal of the weather alert radio woke me up from a headache enriched sleep at the lovely hour of 4:30 a.m. I intended to roll over and hopefully get another 1.5 hours of fitful sleep before the alert was upgraded to a tornado warning and the radio would shriek once more. But then, I checked my phone to see what/if any texts came in from the news weather watch. None from them, but some from Taryn.

She was awoken last night by phone calls from security. From the sound of it, I believe it took two calls to get her to consciousness. That sounds about right. She reported that she was safe in the basement with her infamous flood flashlight, her sherpa blanket (we love those!) and her kindle. Oh, and that due to the dedicated security team she had just enough time to put on a bra, find her flashlight and get out of her dorm room. What more does one need? Water bottle? Maybe it was too insignificant to mention. I am a proud mama though that she took the flashlight I forced on my college girls for emergencies. Oh, and I'm proud that a bra is important too.

As I was trying to stop shaking from the radio alarm and the sound was still reverberating in my ears, I thought to myself, with this headache, and knowing that what passes through Missouri hits us too, I will most likely be in tornado lockdown today. And not only will I want my bra but a shower would be good too. Some people say "like mother like daughter" and while that is certainly true with my girls, I also like give 'em a "haha suckaaaaas!". Even if the sun hasn't come up yet, and my brain feels like it will burst sometime later today, I still got it in me!

Kay - I got lots of "made you look" double takes yesterday, followed by snickering, as teachers walked by catching a glimpse of the crown of dreads. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a photo taken whether I want one or not!

The kiddos put their names in sticky foam letters on their crowns and we had fun cutting yarn. I turned the sand table lid into a cutting table on the ground and marked two sides for cutting with colored masking tape. I told them to measure from red to purple, or green to yellow depending on which side they were on. The actual length doesn't matter at all, it's the exercise of measuring I was sneaking in. I saw many kids hacking away at what was once a long piece. That's OK we need bangs too. After school I spent a long time cutting more. It will take hundreds of pieces of yarn. And no, I didn't measure :)

Today we tape on dreads and paint our cat in the hat stripes on the bag that will go on top. We will work and play all day, stopping only to read Dr. Seuss everytime the timer goes off in class :) Tomorrow we feather, glitter and sequin the crown just in time for a birthday party for Dr. Seuss! I sure hope a tornado warning doesn't mess with my art project! Uh-oh, I just realized that because parents are bringing in cupcakes and juice, I will have an adult audience.

Sending love to Taryn who has classes from 10 am to 7:30 today. Sure hope she got some sleep after security let them out of the basement. Wait a minute, it's Taryn - of course she went back to sleep!!!