Hammond Happenings: The post with no title

I simply cannot think of a title for this post. There are too many fantastic options...

A Day in the Life of a Pre-K Teacher
Pregnant Clumsiness
The Chronicles of a Crazy Teacher
Cooking Friday Disasters
Cooking with Kids - What Not to Do
When Pancake Batter Fights Back
Pink Batter Explosion
Laughter and Messes - A Typical Day in Pre-K
Why The Day Does Not Go As Planned

So many options! So little space! Now let me explain... I started the day feeling very cute, very excited that my baby bump looked more like a bump and less like a blob of fat.

Why is it sideways? This annoys me!

I felt quite confident and thrilled that it was a Friday! (And a jeans day!) In Pre-K we cook every Friday. Some days aren't very elaborate, some days are quite fancy. Today just happened to be a fancy day! With no fear and way more confidence than I should have had, I sat my students down to begin making heart shaped pink pancakes. I was cheating just a little in my fanciness by using the instant pancake mix where you just add water and shake until the lumps are gone. The kids were doing a fantastic job and I was quite proud of my teaching skills. "Look at me! Teaching 3 and 4 year olds to make pancakes and keeping everyone under control. I am quite the teacher, aren't I?" The Lord knows the thoughts of my heart and knew I needed my pride taken down a notch. So He took all of my planning and perfect classroom managment and threw it right out the window. Let me set the scene:

So there we were (as all good stories should begin)... We had added water and food coloring to our pancake mix and several students had already taken turns shaking (with my help). I was very careful to make sure I had the lid screwed on tightly and was feeling pretty good about the progress we were making. Who can say what happened next? There's no telling what my face looked like in those moments! Before I knew what was going on, the lid exploded off of the bottle (landing several feet away) and my helper student and I were suddenly washed head to toe in bright pink pancake batter. Let me pause the story for a moment to let you know that several of my students come from homes where messes are not allowed and spills are punished. I've worked really hard all year to teach the students and their parents that messes are ok (and sometimes a lot of fun). This student happened to be one that was particularly worried about not having a mess. Ever. And now I have bathed her in batter the color of Pepto Bismol. She looked at me with a look of sheer horror on her face and said, "Mrs. Hammond! What happened?!?!" I couldn't even answer her. I was laughing so hard words wouldn't come. Another teacher happened to poke her head in the room as it was raining pancake batter and asked what was going on. I just laughed! Which of course, made my students laugh. And when 4 year olds laugh, you can't help but laugh harder. Which leads to them laughing harder. General hilarity and minor chaos ensued. My aide found a roll of paper towels and went looking for a rag. I sent my messy student and a helper to clean her hands and face in the bathroom. Another student ran across the hall to get my co-teacher. She came over and her class, hearing the laughter, followed. Suddenly, I'm sitting in a pink puddle with 20 some odd students literally rolling on the floor laughing while my co-workers looked on helpless. After 20 minutes of laughing so hard we couldn't see straight, I managed to get the batter somewhat cleaned up, and pancakes started on the griddle. Overall, the day was a huge success. The kids loved the whole experience and couldn't wait to tell their parents about our day. There were some minor set backs in the baking process - like I forgot to spray the pancake rings and the pancakes glued themselves hopelessly to the ring. And there was that moment when G.I. Joe came flying across the classroom and landed ON the griddle. He luckily avoided the cooking pancakes and I was able to save him in seconds. (No G.I. Joe's were harmed in the making of this post.)

So I went from that cute pregnant lady up above, to this: