Happy Birthday, Ben!

Celebrating Ben's Birthday

I think Daila enjoyed it the most. But we all enjoyed it more watching her excitment with the giant balloons, decorating the posters, and of course the birthday cake. She LOVES to sing the "Happy Birthday" song and blow at the candles . . . any day of the year. :)

Good Old Fashioned Fun

You Guessed It: SNOW DAY FUN!!!

Well we finally got enough snow to warrant a "snow day". :) This is our 3rd snow day of the school year, but our first accumulation of snow. The other two were due to ice and were debatable.


I received this e-mail from my cousin that I thought was appropriate for today's outing in the snow. It sure strikes a note of truth and made me reminiscent.

To Those of You Born 1930 - 1979:
To all the kids who survived the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's . . . .
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day and we were okay! We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
Jay Leno said:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'


Now as much as I dislike forwarding emails, I just had to post this to elicit some opinions. I know some of the changes are good: being aware of the dangers of lead based paint, discouraging moms from smoking or drinking during pregnancy, and wearing helmets, for example. But some of them make me miss those good 'ol days: riding in the back of the truck, being able to play outside without worrying about child abductions or weirdos, and the whole "parents on the side of the law" bit and what it implies about how our children our being disciplined.

It certainly gave me some food for thought. Now when you couple that with the quote from Jay Leno about the natural disasters we are experiencing and needing God at this time . . . well let's just say I agree.

A Family Affair

Everyone pitching in to help me grade papers and organize for "Homework Hero".

I love this picture. Yeah . . . this is exactly how I feel too. Ah that I could fall asleep so peacefully while working. As you can see, Daila's job was to draw with a highlighter and then cut up her paper into little pieces. What would I have done without her help. :)

Anna's in charge of the "Homework Hero" awards and Janae is sorting the papers by name. I get to add the spelling tests to the top and staple it all together. It's so great having help . . . .

My desk NeVeR looked like this when I used to teach my own class. I just can't seem to get a handle on all the stuff that is already in progress. But it's okay. No one expects me to waltz into the middle of a fast paced marathon without stretching first and starting out at a jog. (Except for me. :) I'm too much like my mom. Nothing but your personal best.)

I'm mean seriously . . . look at this mess! It is actually spilling over!!! And I didn't stage this photo. I came up from making copies, looked up and thought, "Oh my holy crap. This is getting out of hand." Then I chuckled and took a picture with my phone.

And it doesn't look this way now. (Only because I moved it to another location before I left for the weekend.) :) I am more organized now. And one of my students said, "You know, it's like you're not even a substitute anymore." Ahhh . . . success!

Spending Time with Karyn

*fanfare* Cue our theme music . . . "Sisters. Sisters. Never were there such devoted sisters."
Friday was my first professional development day in 5 years (and they are quite different here in Missouri). Karyn had Friday off and she came for a visit. I'm so glad she was willing to babysit my girls. I'm glad my own girls can be a part of our sister activities so they can see how lucky they are to have each other. We watched the old Parent Trap (1 and 2). (Anna and Janae loved it, so they pass the old movie test.) We watched Mama Mia on the sing along setting and we all sang and danced. (Sisters-in-training passed the love of musicals test.) And we all got strep throat . . . (wait . . . what?). Okay we didn't ALL get strep throat . . . just Anna, Janae, and Daila. So I'm VERY grateful Karyn was willing to babysit. She is so fearless! Well technically she didn't know when she agreed to it. Daila had a temperature Friday morning and I just left her with a note on what to do and to call if things got worse. Saturday Janae was also feeling sick and we all went to the doctor. Strep. So now all three are taking stinky (literally) medicine. But they just say "cheers" and chug it like a shot glass. (Passed the "Going through tough times with a sister makes it easier to bear" test.)

I also got a call Friday night requesting a meeting for our New Beginnings committee to meet the next afternoon. We are not so flexible on time with Ben's second job (plus he was on call this weekend, had a "move" to do, and a talk to prepare for sacrament meeting, and a lesson for Sunday School), but thanks to Karyn, I was able to attend the meeting and get it off my list of things to do. (Even though that meant staying longer and not getting things off her own To Do List.)

We sure enjoyed having her here. I wish I had had more time to spend with her instead of having her babysit so I could get stuff done. But I will take time with my sisters any way I can get it. I'm glad she feels the same way.

Here we are modeling Ben's shopka (Russian hat, duh). :)

Janae

It's such a fashion statement. And unbelievably, incredibly, terrifically, even miserably WARM.

Daila

And I passed the loyal to sisters test by not posting the video of Karyn wearing the hat, dancing Russian style, and shouting "Hey!"

Karyn put it on, looked in the mirror and said, "How come when they (my girls) wear it I see cute and when I wear it all I see is BIG?!"

Umm . . . yeah. It's still big, Karyn. :) She looked cute in it too. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Busy Busy

Young Womens activities; Ben's second job; teaching school full-time; reading essays; grading tests; dealing with kids throwing airplanes or pencils or both, standing on chairs and tilting back, looking you in the eyes and doing the opposite of what you kindly asked them to do; potty-training Daila, poop on the floor; preparing Janae for baptism; helping Anna write her auto-biography for class; flying industry down, supporting Ben as he goes back to school, grateful for ESI increasing their tuition reimbursement program; Janae's personality clash with her teacher; Young Women presidency meeting; Daila's adjustment into sunbeams; wondering if sensory processing disorder will explain why she is up so much in the night; baths, brush teeth, scripture study; writing lesson plans; professional development, student council meetings, student support team meetings, staff meetings, morning duty, fourth grade candy sales, student pick-up duty, call students' parents to introduce myself (so they won't hate me the next time I call to tell them their kids are behaving like brats); Beehive presidency meeting; New Beginnings committee meeting; mini Youth Conference chaperones; my sweet neice's brain tumor--worry, worry worry; reading Rebecca for book club (maybe I'll just watch the movie); reading about sensory processing disorder; reading 4th grade math books so I don't look like the idiot I am, how can I engage them in their math lessons?; did I mention Ben's second job?

I am grateful for civil rights and Dr. King for many reasons . . . but presently the top reason on my list is a FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!!

Ok so it doesn't happen all at once like that, but it still is a lot on my mind. We are all in an adjustment period at my house. I am grateful for such a supporting and active husband who helps at home. I am grateful for sweet helpful daughters who let me sleep in by taking care of each other. I am grateful for a support network of friends who offer words of encouragement and lift my spirits with their humor and love. I am grateful for a mother who can be my best friend and counselor in addition to her normal motherly duties. I am grateful for a large family who stand behind me no matter what life throws my way. I am grateful for the gospel that keeps my perspective eternal.

So that's what we are up to . . . how 'bout you?

Okay . . . not my smartest move

But in my defense, I have washed Daila's coat in the washer. She has a down coat. And I can even put it in the dryer and I have had NO problems. So when she got sick in the night and threw up on her down pillow, I thought I would just throw it in the washer with another pillow. Then I hesitated not knowing what to expect since it was a feather pillow. But who wants to spot clean a vomit spotted pillow? Would you want to sleep on that? No. So I threw it into the washing machine on a regular cycle and didn't give it another thought. Well . . . You know all those tween girl movies with the sleepovers and the pillow fights with the feathers flying everywhere? I always wondered if that could really happen . . . well it could. Our feather pillow tore in the washing cycle and when I went down to take it out, this is what I found:Feathers everywhere! Even clogged the sink that the washer drains into! Still finding feathers in the next load . . . feathers, feathers, feathers.

Soft, whispy feathers. Actually, I was kind of surprised by how soft and "floaty" they were since they were damp. So could you have a pillow fight with a feather pillow, have it tear, spreading feathers throughout the room and into your hair and everywhere? My discovery says, "YES!"

Bubble Machine is a Hit

Santa brought Daila a bubble machine!!!

Woohoo!! Thank you, Santa!!