Her Honor

I went on a field trip with Mauri today to Ameritowne.  Lex and Shi both attended as 5th graders, but this was the first time I chose to volunteer.  Probably out of guilt, since I have postponed events and activities (including a birthday celebration, for goodness sake) with promises of recompense incessantly over the past few months.

I had to drive separately, thank heavens - that bus ride might have killed me off - because I needed to arrive 30 before the kids for "training," which turned out to be a 5-minute spiel of much ado about nothing.  I think most of the parent volunteers were there merely for crowd control should the mannerly 5th graders turn into a disorderly rabble.  Except for the unlucky parents in the Bank and Snack Shack -- they were pretty darn busy.  I, on the other hand, had the good fortune of choosing to work at the college.  Free education, without the lure of fun items and toys to buy.  The only offering would be a student ID card, which could be laminated for $1.  I am the queen of lamination, and my expertise was actually required on an occasion or two.  Other than that, I spent some passing moments on my phone, repinning away on Pinterest (because the kids working in the college were on it).

The week prior, Mar had been elected to be the Judge of Ameritowne, following in the footsteps of her big sister Shilo.  I chose to work in the college because it was next door to Towne Hall, and I had been advised that I could should not work in the same business as my child, so next door was the next best thing.

(swearing in the Ameritowne mayor)

(setting up her office)

  I snuck over a time or two to check out how all that judging was going... it was almost always packed to the brim with criminals of the worst sort:  those who refused to Tebow in front of the Snack Shack, or say "cha-ching" in front of the bank, runners, and rule breakers.  Mar had to make quick judgements, and require the payment of tickets all day long. 

Another volunteer mom was taking pictures, most likely for the yearbook, since she has been in charge of the FVE yearbook for the past few years.  She had her big professional camera, snapping away all day long.  At the end of day, she pulled me over to show me a shot she had staged that she thought was soooooo funny.  I found it disturbing.  She had told Mar to pose like she was taking a bribe from another business owner.  Neither of those 5th graders had the slightest idea why she was having them pose that way, and I fumed about it on the way home, wondering how I could best handle the situation.  What was she thinking?  That was NOT the values the kids were there to learn, and certainly NOT the values Mar would feel comfortable representing.  Mauri had been sworn in and had promised to be honorable and fair.  

Should I email the teacher?  Should I email the mom directly?  She is also one of my neighbors... I don't want to offend her, but I feel like I should say something.  I would be horrified if that picture ended up in the yearbook or an end-of-year video.  I've decided to talk it over with Bill before doing something unkind or rash.  It still gets my heart-rate up, though.

Other than that little incident, the day went smooth as butter.  I think it was a fun and educational way to learn about business, finance, and government.  The kids all had a blast.

Once we were home, Mar and I stressed a bit about Valentine's Day.

It's tomorrow, you know.

We need to make a box.

Mar needs to fill out Valentines for her classmates.

After the past few weeks I've had, another trip to the store just felt too overwhelming, so we brainstormed, and...

Valentine's box:  done.

Valentines:  done.

Almost instantaneously.  Stay tuned tomorrow for our fabulous solutions.