Scary Day!

Today was kind of a scary day for this Mommy!  I had four kiddos today, all in diapers, and all napping at the time that Ava was to get out of school (2:30) for her early out day.  My friend, Sarah, has offered many times to pick up Ava for me, and I finally decided to take her up on this offer in order to avoid waking the kids up (never wake a sleeping child!!).  She called me at 2:35 to say that "something weird" was going on because no kids had been released, and none of the usual teachers were outside.  She said a police car with its lights on had come into the parking lot, drove around, and then left, which was odd.  While I was on the phone with her, she spoke with a man who had tried to enter the school and he told her the school was on "some sort of lockdown."  According to him, all the doors were locked, and the person he could see through the window in the office told him to "go away."  Then, a helicopter arrived and began to circle above the elementary school for several minutes.  At the same time, the principal finally stepped outside and spoke over a megaphone that "all students and teachers were to remain inside their classrooms, and all parents were to remain inside their vehicles" and were not to try to enter the school.  She stated they would address the "fears and concerns" of the parents when they had more time.  At this point, I was still on the phone with Sarah, but immediately decided I was going to go there myself because I was starting to really worry, and I just need to see Ava myself and make sure she was okay.  By the time I arrived at the school, the children had been released, so obviously everything was fine at this point.  When I finally was able to pick up Ava about 45 minutes after when she was supposed to get out of school, she immediately began talking to me about how they were on a lockdown, and Mrs. Shelton told them all to hide under their tables, put their heads down, keep quiet, and they turned off all the lights.  She told me it was really scary, and some of the kids were crying.  How awful!  She also said she wished her Mommy had been there with her. :-(  According to the local news, and a later phone message from the principal, gunshots were heard near the elementary school, and police were canvasing inside the school and outside to make sure everything was safe.  Thankfully everything was just fine but it sure gave this Mommy quite the scare!  After all the recent school shootings, and especially the Sandy Hill shooting in Newtown, CT, your mind goes immediately to the worse possible scenario when you hear your child's school is on a lockdown and no one is allowed to leave or enter.  So thankful to get my little girl home today, and she doesn't seem to traumatized by the experience.  At least she hasn't told me, "I don't want to go to school anymore!"  :-)