Hot Dogs, 4th Graders, and Duck-Duck-Goose

Turing into an annual tradition, yesterday, Abbey had her 4th grade class from Carterville Elementary School over to our house for an hour and a half of fun. This is the second year Abbey has been teaching and near the end of the school year (one week left) she will invite the class over on a weekend to hang out.

There were a total of 12 (out of 17) that came over and they had a blast. We grilled hot dogs (only about 6 were eaten) and had chips, cookies, root beer and fruit punch for the kids. Two people were playing guitar hero pretty much the whole time, except for the last 10 minutes when they finally turned on Dance Dance Revolution.

It was also funny to see all the girls want to play football and really just run around in the back yard. Also, Abbey's class absolutely loves relay races. So, we got out two baseball bats, divided up the team, made them spin around with their head on the bat and then try to run to the other side of the yard. One girl almost ran into the trampoline (that would have been bad for so many reasons), and one boy fell down twice pretty hard. Then we played Duck-Duck-Goose. I think the last time I played Duck-Duck-Goose I was in 4th grade.

I think only two boys actually knew my name and one of them really wanted me to play him in DDR and the other really wanted me to pitch to him outside with the baseball and bat. I opted for the baseball, but promptly quit when he about hit our neighbor's house.

I know it has only happened twice, but I love this day every year, because these are the kids who have spent almost every day with my wife for the last year. It is incredible to see how much she loves the students and how much they love her. These are the kids Abbey tells me stories about every night and the lives that she has invested in and influenced for the last year. It is also fun and educational just watching the 4th graders interact with each other for an hour and half being stupid. You can learn so much by simply watching them play guitar hero, talk about playing guitar hero, tackling each other during football, and drinking root beer.

Oh year, next year, no more fruit punch. I sure hope that doesn't leave a stain on our carpet.