Family Flag Day

Today was Family Flag Day at Evan's school. As part of his homework for the past 2 or 3 weeks, we've been working (or assigned to be working) on our family flag. It was to contain pictures, words, symbols, etc. of things that are important to our family. We started ours on Wednesday. Shhh. Don't tell Mrs. Appling. Today was the presentation of the flags in front of the class and the parents, followed by lunch (at 10:45), which consisted of family favorite dishes brought in by each parent.

Evan did a really good job. We talked about things we like to do as a family and came up with: traveling to the beach, the mountains, and New York; church and worship; school and education. We also talked about that mommy is from Atlanta and daddy is from Knoxville and those are the cities where his grandparents live. So we had pictures of all those things, as well as his handwritten words for beach, mountains, New York, God, Knoxville, Atlanta, etc.

You cannot imagine how hard it was for me to let this be his project.

The older I get, the more I realize what a control freak I am. I didn't know that about myself when I was younger. But, I wanted SOO badly to straighten pictures, write words myself, tell him exactly how to arrange the whole thing, etc. But I couldn't. I knew that. So, I sat on my hands - almost literally - and let him put on crooked pictures, words whose letters were all different sizes, and in the most haphazard fashion imaginable. And I wouldn't have it any other way. He thought it was a masterpiece. And so did I.

See what happens when you give up a little control?

Here is Mrs. Appling with the class sitting quietly - criss-cross-applesauce - before the presentation of the flags.

Here is Evan doing his presentation, with me as his prop and his prompter. The first few kids presented without parental intervention, but one kid wanted his mom up there, and from then on, all the kids had to have a parent. So, the guy next to me was kind enough to take some pictures for me. Yep, you can call me Vanna.

And, finally, here are the kids eating their very early lunch: hot dogs, pigs in blankets, chicken fingers, banana bread, brown rice (that was ours), chicken-n-dumplings, chips, cookies and cupcakes. It was a very well-balanced meal.

And here are some close-ups of the flag: