Homework First! Blah!

"Is Anybody Home?" I called out about 20 times! "Is Anybody home?" But... there was not a sound. No one said anything. Zippo!

"IS Anybody Home?" I yelled louder: three more times. Then I started to get worried a bit...because I couldn't find anybody. I looked everywhere. Nobody. Right then, I got worried a lot. Where was everybody?

After school, I always, always, give my mom a hug, and tell her about my day. I put my books down, and hang up my coat, and go to the backporch to pet Scruffy, who is NOW an OUTSIDE Dog. She chewed up one too many things to be an INSIDE Dog! But in the winter, I can keep her on the backporch because it's warmer than out-out!

"Scruffy, where is everybody?" She just wagged her tail. I had to look for hints. There had to be signs about where everybody went. The towels were folded by the washer...so mom had been there. My brother's bookbag was by the frontdoor, so he had been there. There were some carrot peelings in the sink, and the crockpot was full of stew...so mom had been there. Ok, so my dad is at work. Check. My big brother is in Brasil on a mission. Check. But what about Markus and Mom? Maybe Markus was still at basketball. His ball wasn't in his room. Check. But where is Mom?

I thought I heard a sound...but it was only Scruffy moving her dish.

When I was little, I thought monsters were real...they seemed like real. But now, I am old enough to know about shadows and stuff. Thinking about all of that made me need to call my grandma right then! But just when I picked up the phone to dial her number, I saw a note on the table.

'Honey, I hope you remembered that I am taking Markus to the dentist after school. There is some fruit in the fridge. Be back soon. Love, Mom.' OH, Yeah, that's when I remembered that Mom was going to take Markus to the dentist after school...and she'd be back soon, so I was all alone in our home. Maybe I heard another sound. I tried not to think about the bad stuff about being alone. I tried to think of the good stuff. But, I needed to get my 2 dolls first. I am big, but I have two very special dolls, Lena and Zana... that I will probably keep forever. I used to talk to them alot. Sometimes, I still do... just so they don't feel bad. McKenzie helped me name my dolls. She thinks of good names I think. And I wish she were here right now to play house with me. McKenzie is such a fun and kind cousin.

I put Lena and Zana in my arms and marched into the family room. I was in charge! I could pretty much do anything that I wanted! Mostly, I wanted to go back outside and sit on the porch and wait so that I wasn't alone in our home...but I sure didn't want Markus to think I was afraid...BECAUSE I WASN'T...that's why! And it was very very COLD out on that porch after a few minutes anyway. And PLUS, my dolls were cold too. SO...I just got brave. And I am brave...but there are sounds and stuff. So, I took my dolls with me and we turned on every light in the entire house! BE Brave, Be Brave, Be Brave.

Anyway, I had lots of homework to think about. My mom always says: "Honey, get your homework done first." But she wasn't there...and that TV was! If I turned it on, it might have something to watch right then. At First, I thought: Okay, Hadley, you know what to do, you should get your homework done. Then I thought: I know that I know what to do...but I also know what I want to do, and I'm in charge and I can do whatever I want! So I made up my mind!

I put my dolls on the couch and told them that we could watch TV together. The TV remote was high up on the shelf...but I could reach it on my tippy toes. I looked over at my homework...then at the TV...then at my homework...then at the TV. Hmmmm! My dolls just looked at me. OK! OK! I was in charge...that's kinda like I was like the mom... and I knew what to do. I put the TV remote back up on that very high shelf and picked up my books and my dolls. I spread my homework out on the kitchen table and put my dolls on two chairs right next to mine. I was the teacher and Lena and Zana were the students... I read my library book aloud to them, since mom wasn't there. They listened to every word! Then I taught them how to spell all the words on my list. Only 4 math problems and my homework would be all done! They sat so quietly.
Just when I finished my very last problem in math...I heard a knock on the front door. Oh MY! My heart about stopped! Be Brave. Be Brave. Be Brave. Should I answer the door or not? Was it a stranger or not? I grabbed my dolls, hurried into the front room, crawled across the floor, and tried to peek through the window curtains. It couldn't be a purple monster. There is no such thing as a real purple monster. It couldn't be a polka dotted ghost. There is no such thing as a polka dotted ghost. I just hoped that knock would go away. Would it be someone short or someone tall? Knock. Knock, Knock. Would they want to come in? I better go get my guard dog, Scruffy, I thought. The knocking got louder. Oh my! I crawled back across the frontroom and then ran across the kitchen and to the back door to get Scruffy. My mom would want Scruffy to save me! She would let her come in...JUST this once...I just know it! "Come on Scruffy, Come on." I loud-whispered. Somebody wants in our house!

Scruffy was so happy to see me that she jumped up on me, and then she ran into the house. "SHHHH, Scruffy!" Then the doorbell started to ring. OH MY! Somebody really wanted in! Be Brave. Be Brave. Be Brave. I finally got Scruffy all calm, and I crawled back across the frontroom floor. Scruffy followed me, just wagging her tail. Then Scruffy saw my dolls and she ran over and picked up Zana in her mouth! "Scru-f-f-y!" I sorta needed her to growl and bark so the person on the porch would run away, not eat my best dolls...but Scruffy just wagged her tail some more. The doorbell rang again right when I took Zana out of Scruffy's mouth. I ran to the backporch and pulled the little gate thingy shut. "STAY SCRUFFY!" She might not be a guard dog after-all...but that was a sad emergency time to find out! BE BRAVE. Be Brave. Be Brave. Brave was not enough. I said a quick prayer because Faith is even better than Brave! I tiptoed over to the window again, and pulled back the curtain very... very... s-l-o-w-l-y...just an eensy weensy teensy bit...and tried to see who was out there. AND oh my! WAS I EVER SURPRISED!

I started to breathe and a little safe giggle came out. Its good that Scruffy was on the back porch so she couldn't jump up and knock our visitor down. Then I ran back to the entry, unlocked and opened the front door. "GRANDMA! I'm so glad its you!" I put my arms arms around her and held on real tight. "Hadley K, where have you been? I've been knocking for a long long time!" My grandma shook some snow off of her shoes and took off her scarf. She had tried and tried to call me, but I had left the phone off the hook when I saw mom's note. "Hadley, I told your mother that I was getting my keys and would be on my way. She took your brother to the dentist. I was supposed to be here before you got home. But, my car wouldn't start and so I had to get Mr. Franley to help me. I am so sorry honey." I told her that sometimes things happen like that. I didn't really want her to worry about all the sounds, now that I was safe and stuff. Besides, I am big. Plus, I make good decisions...plus: I am very very brave...Plus, (mostly):the prayer...so I was just fine the whole time.

We followed that yummy stew smell into the kitchen, and grandma stirred it a bit. She saw my books on the table. "Maybe you should get started on your homework Hadley K and then when you're through, we can bake some cookies if we have time." "I only have one more thing to do!" I smiled. Then Lena and Zana and I went to the storage room to get some chocolate chips...and on the way back...we turned off all the lights!

My Best VALENTINE

The best feeling in the universe and beyond is when somebody actually likes you and remembers to tell you! AND Valentine's is a fine kind time to do it!

So I took all of my Valentine cards to school for my whole class. I chose the best of the best super best cards to McKenzie, Alexa, Mallory, Ashley, Audrey, Laura, Caitlyn, Hailey, Heidi, Aubrey, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Jase, Samuel, Ethan, Daniel, Brandt, and Asher. Then I chose sorta good ones for Cassandra and Margaret and Neil and Martha and Jacob. Then I almost didn't want to give one to Regge because he looked on my spelling paper, but I have to get over that, because maybe he will never EVER do it again...okay, fine, I gave an owl valentine for him. Oh no!  Next I ran out of valentine cards. Oh well, there was only one name left and it was Seneca. She doesn't talk very much and so that means she is SHY. It's okay, she won't even notice probably.

Today was super doo-per good! I got loads of Valentines! But the best of the best was the one from mom and dad. All of our breakfast plates were turned upside down and my mom said, "Don't turn them over until after the blessing!"   It was hard to keep my eyes closed during the prayer because I was so excited. I tried to concentrate... which means to think about what we were doing... because prayers are very important, and because everything we have is a gift from Heaven,  so I listened the best I could, and then when Jayden said, "Amen", we hurried and turned our plates over and there was my best Valentine ever! It was a giant Pink Bear and it was holding a Zagnut candy bar and that is my very very favorite candy of all times! I couldn't wait to show it to Luci! And when I did, she said it was the best valentine that she had ever seen too!

At school, we had to do some Math, and some spelling, and some reading, and THEN Ms. Clay finally announced that it was time to put our Valentine boxes on our desks and then we got to go around the room putting Valentines in each others' boxes. We had copied all of the names on the Valentine envelopes so we knew which Valentine to give to everybody. She said we learned alot about how to write and how to spell that way. Mostly, last night, I learned how to get tired from writing everybody's names, but now it was today and so it all works out!

I got tons of Valentine cards! Some of them were funny, and some were very nice, and some had hearts and some had cute cartoon animals on them. A couple of my friends even wrote messages on the back...and that was amazing...because my hand was so done after just writing names on the envelopes and the: 'from Hadley K' part on the back of every single card. It was my favorite day of February 14th school!

Ms. Clay let us go early to recess too! WOW! Everyone was super happy about that and so we had to STOP! RIGHT WHERE WE WERE AT! and think about being quiet in the hallway for a minute, before we could go. I was right by Seneca's desk and so I stood right there for a whole minute. The lid was off of her box and I could see that she didn't have many valentines in her box. Maybe everybody else ran out of valentines too. She looked very sad.

Luci and I were on the swings and I kept thinking about Seneca. If my valentine box were almost empty...then I would be sad too. Something inside me was drooping down for a minute. And then I got a great idea. "Luci, come quick," I jumped off the swing and hurried into the school with Luci following right behind me. "What are we doing Hadley?" she wondered when I stopped at our classroom door. "Luci, you need to stand here and guard the door so that no one and I mean NO ONE will come into the class room!" I hope she didn't roll her eyes, but I couldn't wait to see. I had to do something important and really really quick.

"Ok Luci, thanks for being my smarty hardy guard-y! Let's go back out on the swings." Luci demanded to know about our adventure, but just then the hall monitor boy came around the corner: "You can't be in the school until the bell rings, ya know." And we did know, and Luci said, "Let's GO!" and so we headed out the door as fast as we could without running...because running is also against school rules. Then, just as we got outside the doors, the bell did ring, and it was LOUD right there by that door! It was so funny, because everybody came running, sorta like when you put food in a dog's bowl...just get out of the way!

When we got back into our classroom, Luci passed me a note: "Ok Hadley K, what did you do? Why did we come into the class during recess and risk getting a ticket from the hall monitor boy?" She was worried. What did she think I was doing? Eating all of the candy by myself? Putting the teacher's desk upside down? Coloring on the walls? OF COURSE NOT! But still, I should tell her because she is my very very best friend. But... if you tell people when you do something nice then something about it goes away. Hmmm.

"Seneca!" somebody was excited. "That is awesome!" "Wow, where did you get that?" Lots of kids were around Seneca's desk right then and everybody was telling her that they liked her special valentine. I saw a big smile on Seneca's face. She was holding a giant pink bear valentine and it had a Zagnut candy bar on it! Luci looked over at me with wide eyes that said, 'oh'.

Ms. Clay went over to see what everyone was ahhhhh-ing about, "Someone must think that you are very special Seneca"...but Seneca could not even talk. She just smiled and held her valentine and looked at it over and over. "Ok, everybody...back to your seats", Ms. Clay said and then she let us choose: we could read, or draw, or play quiet games, (like dot to dot or hangman and stuff) until it was time to clean up and go home. We had so much fun and I kept peeking over at Seneca (and yup!), she just smiled and smiled and smiled...even when she was reading a book...she still held her special Valentine! Out of the corner of my eye, I could see other kids sneaking valentines into Seneca's box. One by one, the valentines piled up until her box was full to the tip top!

When the last bell rang, Luci and I gathered up all of our books and our valentine boxes and started for home. "That was nice Hadley K. I think it made Seneca a little different. She smiled the whole half hour left of school. Maybe she doesn't have to be so shy now. That was really nice. But what about your special valentine Hadley K? That was your best one!"

I was quiet for a while and we could hear the snow crunching of our boots, because Luci was right. It was my best one. Plus, it was from my mom and dad. Plus, it had a Zagnut candy bar right on it. Plus, that is my very favorite candy in the galaxy. I sorta felt a little tear coming but I knew that part of it was sad water and part of it was happy water. Because, when I think about how happy Seneca was, and how nice everybody was to her, then it all works out. So I raised my eyebrows really tall and my tear melted back.

"I think that Seneca's smile was my very best valentine Luci." And when I heard those words out of my mouth, then, something inside me smiled too!

The LIBRARY

If I didn't know to be really quiet...and I mean REALLY Q-U-I-E-T, then I would have stood up on a table and yelled: "THANK YOU MS. CLAY, FOR A PERFECT FIELDTRIP DAY! (Only because we went to the best place in our whole town and probably in the whole world!) We all got in the buses for our fieldtrip and after the other teacher warned us to be extra extra good and not bad at all...and after Ms. Clay told us we were going to have a nice day, then "we all put our sack lunches in a safe place next to us or in our laps without looking in them", and then we looked out the bus windows. I heard a paper noise and I saw a boy from the other class take a cookie out of his lunch and sneak pieces in his mouth. He'll be sad when we get to our picnic and his cookie is all gone. Some kids just have to 'learn by doing I guess, because they won't learn by listening'. Very sad...v-e-r-y sad. There are consequences you know! That means that we choose stuff and then something happens after that.

Caitlyn and Audrey are sitting in front of us and they are planning Audrey's birthday party for February 4th! They said that they will invite Luci and me! I love Birthday parties! We passed Mr. Lee's variety store where I get to buy gum sometimes, and where I got my glass piggy bank, and where I buy candy hearts that he scoops from the bin with his scooper ...oh! and where I like to look at all of the coloring books and stuff. I'll probably get a coloring book and markers for Audrey's Birthday! We drove past Christiansen's furniture store where they have the farm set in the very back and it even has the fences for the horses and two wagons for the tractors. Luci and I looked out the window alot so we could see where our surprise fieldtrip was going to be!

A boy in the back took somebody's backpack and started passing it around. Luci just rolled her eyes. Sometimes, people need too much attention we think. Our bus went right past the post office and then we turned left and almost went to the swimming pool where I got water up my nose when I took swimming lessons last summer, but then we turned back and I could hardly believe my eyes! The bus was stopping.  OUR FIELDTRIP WAS TO THE EPHRAIM CITY LIBRARY! My mom will not believe this! Maybe they think it is MY Birthday or something.     I absolutely LOVE GOING TO THE LIBRARY!

Ms. Clay said that if we were REALLY and I mean...REALLY QUIET...then we could check out two books each! I looked around at everybody in the whole two classes and tried to spy out who might not be quiet so I could beg them to hold it down so we could each take two books home, but when the huge wooden doors opened...I forgot all about anyone else and wandered into what I call: wonderful!

"Come on Luci," I whispered. "I know the best place for us!" I grabbed her hand and hurried so we could sit by the big red beanbag by the childrens' books. There are fifty-three million books probably. I love to see the illustrations.  (Merriam and Webster): That means the pictures...but it makes people feel extra special to say they illustrate stuff instead of just draw pictures I think. And instead of saying they wrote a book, big people say that they authored a book.  I like big words, so that all works for me. Now when I think about that, maybe I will be an author and an illustrator when I grow up...well, or I might be a mailman lady...because they get to drive on the other side and take packages and surprise people or maybe I will...I don't know...
I'll plan it out on Saturday probably!

Luci is my best friend and so we decided to choose four books together and then trade around when we get home. FOUR BOOKS! That is so hard to choose. I wish we could choose 42 books! I like books about horses, and I like chapter books about mysteries and 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' sort of books. Oh! and books about Brasil because that's where my brother is, and maybe I should get a craft book for my mom because she is making a shelf for my room!

Two of the kids from the other class were laughing and talking outloud by the water-fountain, so we came really really close to packing it all up...but finally Ms. Clay talked to the teacher with the big clipboard and so the that teacher took her board and very sharp pencil and those talky laughy loud boys out to the bus by themselves. That's a consequence for ya!  They should have listened and obeyed.  SAD for them.  NO BOOKS for them. Maybe next time they will get it.

I like books about: space, zoo animals, how to draw, biographies (that's just books about people) and AUTO-biograhies are about somebody who wrote about their own self, because they auto-matically know what to say... since it is them)! There are books that show all the colors, and books about going to other countries and it even shows what they wear and what they like to eat in those places. I found a book about weather and it's all about how the rain drops down after the clouds bump into the mountain and stuff like that. I almost decided to get a book about my favorite movie, but then I saw a book about going to grandma's house and I think I will get that one for sure! Luci found a book about making your own necklace, one about popcorn, one about twins, and three storybooks that we have never ever heard of! We took each book out and turned a couple of pages and then put it carefully back or put it on our giant 'maybe' stack.

It seemed like we were only at the library for 2 minutes when Ms. Clay announced that it was time to choose our final books and take them to the front desk because it was already lunch time. "Oh no Luci!" I whispered. "We have to hurry and choose! That couldn't have been a whole hour Luci." Luci just started putting books back on the shelf except the Pollyanna book and one about poems and stuff. "But what if the very very VERY best books are still on the shelf and we haven't even seen them yet?" I panicked, "HURRY!" Ms. Clay warned us. So, I closed my eyes and picked two books from my best pile...and then very carefully put the other 7 'almost' books back for later! I got a book about Butterflies and a storybook named: A Wagon full of Surprises! and I quick talked Luci out of her poems book because we have to have the book about Going to Grandmas! and we took them to the front desk.

When we left the library in two straight lines, we marched across the hall to a large pretty much empty conference room and then we could finally open our lunches. "Luci, I was so excited for my lunch and special treat, but I would rather go back to the Library and look at books!" She was smack-dab in the middle of a bite of her peanut butter and honey sandwich so she didn't say a word. "When I think about it, Luci!" I smiled, "Eating is like feeding YOU and reading is like feeding your ideas. And I like being hungry for both!"