Pansies and PE

When I first started taking Max and Rebecca to preschool all sorts of people wondered what I would do with myself with my new found freedom

Well the answer is planting pansies and helping with PE.

A call went out a few weeks ago a call went to the parents of fifth graders for volunteers to help the PE teacher with the bicycle safety program. The school, through a grant, had purchased 30 bikes and a huge box of bike helmets. For the next month the fifth graders would be learning about bike safety. The teacher needed one or two volunteers to help size helmets and wrangle the kids when they were outside. The time slot, from 10:45 to 11:30, neatly fit into my five year old free schedule and, as an added bonus, I was even available to help out on the day Jake’s class has PE. I immediately said I could help out and I would be available on both Tuesdays and Thursdays (most parents only helped on the days their kids have PE, I’m just nice and picked up an extra classroom).

Shortly afterwards Nate’s teacher made it very clear that she *really* likes parent volunteers and that we should feel free to stop by any time. With this in mind I stopped by after PE last week to see what I could do.

It turns out she has pansies. Lots and lots of pansies, that she had picked up for practically nothing and she needed help getting them in the ground.

So today, after I dropped off the dynamic duo, I spent the morning planting pansies, adjusting bike helmets and planting more pansies. It was a gorgeous day, temperatures in the upper 60’s with plenty of sunshine, all totaled I put in 92 plants and there was still a fair amount left.

PE went without a hitch, although there was a moment when my skills as a mother of three boys came into play. At the very end the kids were told to bring their bikes over to the storage shed. All but two boys rushed over. I watched the two stragglers circle about and then head over. As they crossed the blacktop I watched as they built up speed as they prepared to move from of stretch of blacktop to another. At that point my “mother of three boys” instincts kicked in. I pointed at the boys and shouted “No jumping!” as they reached the curb. They both hit the brakes and gave me sheepish grins as the slowly negotiated the bumpy terrain.

Ha! Thought they could put one over me while their teacher was busy with the rest of the class. Not a chance.