School Carnivals and Pies

Every spring, Ella’s school throws a carnival. I’ve been to school carnivals. Usually nothing to write home about. Except this was more of an actual carnival that happened to take place at a school.

There were actual rides.

Loran took a time lapse photos, hence, two Lily’s.

Lily decided to cash some of her tickets in on the swings. Ella was happy to hang back from that ride and watch Lily circle by. We played carnival games. Lily got her face painted. Snacks were purchased and enjoyed. And there was a silent auction. This is where things get interesting.

Each teacher has an item up for bid. Some are pizza parties or nature walks, but the kindergarten team went with pies in the face during morning assembly. Always one to support the team, we bid on that for Ella. We explained what a pie in the face was. And actually, when I bid, I figured, knowing Ella, she wouldn’t actually want to pie her teacher. So we’d bid, Ella would win, and her teacher could just get a hug and not a pie. Awww… But, once we explained what the pie in the face was, Ella was intrigued. Excited? Elated even? She informed us that she indeed wanted to pie her teacher. So much, that every few minutes, she would inquire about the status of her pie. She really wanted to win.

Ella ended up winning, as nobody challenged our bid. I figured, well, if she does want to pie her teacher, she’ll at least be gentle about it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to last Friday. Pie day. I hurried to get Lily ready for school so we could make it to school by 7:45 for morning assembly. As we walked in, the entire school was in the gym starting the “Pledge of Allegiance”, followed by the “Pledge of Allegiance to Texas” – yes, that’s a thing, a rousing chorus of “America the Beautiful” with help of this video, a school chant…and I was gearing up for the pie throwing when the school was dismissed…what?! I looked around and I saw two of the Kindergarten teachers wearing capes, shower caps and goggles, and they looked like they had been pied. I did not see Ella’s teacher. Or Ella for that matter. I had missed it.

Lily and I filed out of the gym and I spotted the classic elementary school fixture – vomit on the floor. I immediately thought, “Ella freaked out and puked on the floor!” But, because I’m a mom and an amateur detective, I deducted it wasn’t hers as she had eaten blueberries for breakfast. I caught up with Ella, her class and her teacher. I found out Ella didn’t want to do it. She got up there and was trembling and there was no way she was going to pie her teacher. So, her teacher picked a friend to help and together the two girls threw pie in their beloved teacher’s face.

Ella has failed the first hooligan test. A good sign for the future.