Grateful Friday

 Our fun is drawing to a close.  Braeden and Anna and QE will fly home tonight.  We kept her up strategically for a later nap and all the fingers are crossed that it will keep her happier on the late night flight.

She's such a little champ.  She happily goes along with whatever is happening.  We went on a few errands this morning, returning some Christmas gifts for Braeden and Anna.  We went to IKEA to look at chairs for our cabin and then we had lunch at Slim Chickens.  Adam and Braeden were engrossed in a college football game on the TV by our table and Anna and I were entertained by QE using her chicken as a spoon and slurping up fry sauce.  She is endlessly entertaining.

We had pikkujoulu last night and I think it is the first time I took zero pictures.  We also didn't have our treats.  We were all tired and I think tired of treats.  Treats lose their appeal if you've had them in excess for a month. 

We ate our clam chowder and bread (not bread bowls, but GF bread and sour dough bread) and fruit and cheese and QE loved the clam chowder.  (Anna had cleverly put chunks of bread in it to thicken it up so she could eat it easier--they are such good parents!)

Adam did his scripture reading and Braeden did a reading and Mark read what Adam had written on Christmas Eve so Braeden and Anna could hear it. 

It was low key and none of us were sad about that.

We went to the basement and started on the huge lego set Adam bought.  I didn't want to buy it and zero people were on my side.  I said that we have a finite amount of space for huge lego sets and zero people were on my side.

I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the areas where I do have say so.

I'm grateful for this time we've had being together.  I am over the moon about being a grandma.  When she says "Nana!" and runs to me with outstretched arms I feel like it's Christmas morning and my birthday and I won the lottery all at once (I'm guessing, having never won the lottery).  I love to read to her and laugh with her and answer her questions and see her process new information.  I love when she says,"Nana read" and backs up to me, ready for me to scoop her and the book onto my lap.  I love when she says, "Nana play!" and "Sit down, Nana!"  Yes.  And always.

She also loves Uncle Mark and Auntie Emma and Grandpa Papa which is my favorite name for Adam ever.  

He's a good Grandpa Papa and I'm so grateful to be doing this life together.

That day Adam drove fast

Yesterday was, in balance, a nice day.  It had a little more excitement than I prefer though.

In the morning, we walked around UVU campus to show Braeden and Anna where Mark is going to school.  Unfortunately, every single door we tried was locked so we toured the outside of UVU.  At least the sun was shining and it felt good to get out of the house, even if it was a little chilly.

We went home for lunch and QE's nap.  While she was napping, Adam and Mark took the van to get washed and went to get Mark's allergy shot.  He's been getting allergy shots for months with zero bad reactions.

Yesterday was not that day.

He came home and was fine.  Everyone (except me) got ready to go swimming.  We were about to leave when Mark came to me and said he had hives.  His face was getting increasingly, alarmingly swollen.  He said he was having a hard time breathing.  Adam gave him Benadryl and I called the allergist.  They didn't even listen to my description of how he was doing.  They said, "Bring him back."

Adam and I took him in Adam's car and Braeden and Anna and QE took the van and went to BYU campus (where buildings were open).  

Adam is a careful and law abiding driver.  He drives like a Washingtonian.  When we see a policeman and I inevitably warn Adam (because I would be above the speed limit and would need the warning), Adam is inevitably not speeding.  It aggravates me sometimes when we are running late.  Just. Go. Faster.

He needed zero amount of urging to go fast yesterday when we were driving Mark back to the allergist office in Provo.  He zipped through a light that had very much turned red.  He weaved between cars.  He went fast.

Mark's throat closing up will be the difference between Adam speeding and not speeding it turns out.

We hurried in to the office while Adam parked.  You go in and sign yourself in typically so there is no receptionist.  I saw a worker and started, "He..."

They took one look at Mark and whisked him back.  They immediately started taking his vitals while someone else quickly gave him an epinephrine shot.

I don't love it when multiple medical people are urgently clamoring around someone I love, but I appreciate their efforts.

They had us sit in a room for about thirty minutes and the doctor sat across from us and casually chatted, but I could see that he was eying Mark closely the whole time.

As if by magic, the hives gradually disappeared and Mark became less swollen.  His blood sugar wasn't even impacted by the whole situation which sort of surprised me.

Mark was there in his swimsuit and a t-shirt and I asked the doctor, "We were about to go swimming.  Is that still OK?"

He said yes and just don't be too crazy.

We met the others at the pool and Mark went a lap or two in the lazy river and then sat in the hot tub.  QE did a lap or two in the lazy river, but once she found out about the play area in water that was about knee deep to her, she was done with that!  She wanted to climb and go down the slide and she loved when the bucket above filled with water and tipped over on her.  I watched her splash around, completely soaked and surmised she is pretty much our favorite grandchild.

She loves to be read to for me and she loves swimming for Adam.  It's like she was custom made.

Emma met us and we went to Via 313 for dinner.  (Part of Geri's gift to us was a gift card to take everyone out to dinner.  We loved it!)

We tried to keep QE busy with random things from my purse, but they weren't cutting it.  I sent Braeden for crayons and a paper from the front desk and that got us until dinner arrived.

I need to up my purse game.  

We came home and Mark said he wanted to go curl up in a ball and listen to a podcast.  His adventure had taken it out of him.  

The rest of us watched videos of when Braeden turned two and after Emma was born and Adam's graduation from Yale, when his parents were there.  It was fun to compare QE to Braeden.  Some of her expressions and actions are just the same.  They had watched videos of Anna at the same age and said that QE talks constantly like Anna did, but she is a lot less serious than Anna was.  She is a lot less smiley and constantly cheerful than Braeden was at that age.  A mix.  A delightful mix and in case it wasn't obvious, we are pretty obsessed with her.

Grandma goals

Adam writing a Christmas memory about his grandparents on Christmas Eve, prompted me to recall a Christmas with my Grandma.  

I know she stayed with us the first year we were in our new house and I can't remember if this memory is from that first Christmas, or another subsequent Christmas.  

At around 4:00 AM, my sisters and I were awake and excited and scrabbling around.  It woke my grandma up.  We were old enough to feel regret about that.  She said, "Oh, it's OK. I'm a light sleeper," like it was not our fault at all, but hers.

She went downstairs and fetched a present from under the tree.  It was the game Aggravation. While my parents and brothers slept in the next rooms, she taught us how to play. The novelty of playing a board game in the predawn hours on Christmas morning will forever be in my memory.

When my grandma visited, she brought the fun (and also fun size Snickers bars and black cherry Shasta soda).  We played games she taught us around the table.  She sang to us and with us.  She admired every inane thing we ever created.

I loved going to my grandma's house during the Christmas season.  It was always decked out in holiday cheer.  I inherited a few of her glass ornaments that I didn't put on our tree.  They are too precious especially when I have a toddler around.  I also ended up with all the Christmas gifts I gave her and she mostly wanted things that lit up or played music.

Yesterday I wound up a little train/snowglobe/music box situation and held it for QE to see.  She marveled at the falling snow and said, "bugs."  No, little California girl, snow.  She pointed to Santa on the train and said, "Ho ho ho!" and "All aboard!"  She bounced a little to the music and waited expectantly for me to wind it again when the music stopped.

I understand why my grandma wanted Christmas decorations that were more spectacular than serene.  It was for her grandchildren.

And I aspire to be like her.  If QE ever wakes me up early on Christmas morning.  I hope I'll have a game ready.

Under the same roof

There is a cozy, all is right with the world feeling when all of us are under the same roof.

Braeden and Anna and QE came yesterday and right now I'm sitting alone in a still house waiting to hear QE.  An advantage of having roughly the same sleep schedule as she does (I go to bed way earlier than everyone else) is that I get morning time with her.

(And I don't think her parents mind.)

We had a wonderful Christmas time.  Christmas Eve was nice.  Mark looked snazzy in his suit, complete with a pocket watch he bought himself.

I think he is aspiring to look like his grandpa.  He said he just needs a mustache.

We played games and I made cinnamon rolls and Adam and Mark wrapped last minute gifts.  In the evening we read stories to each other (including one Adam had written that day).  He doesn't write that often (besides for work), but  I'm always glad when he writes.

I love this picture of Emma reading to us which Mark holding his favorite Christmas bear.  When he was little, he'd always hold his bear so he could see the book.  He still does.  I guess it is muscle memory.

(The little tree was for QE.)

We had a mini testimony meeting around the candlelit table and it made me feel happy.

I asked Mark if we were going to watch Charlie Brown Christmas and he asked, "Well, is it December 24?"

He is very good at being the youngest child.

Christmas morning we had a late call time (I had been up for hours).  We enjoyed our gifts and had happy surprises.

Then we tidied up and made ready for our guests.  

I may or may not have been watching out the front window.

QE was happy to be at Nana and Papa's house.  She started calling him papa and I finally realized it is because that is what Braeden calls him a lot.  We are happy to be Nana and Papa.  She was quick to hug us but then equally quick to want to be set down so she could explore.  She gently touches Christmas ornaments (and nothing breakable is down low) but she is mainly interested in books.  She didn't want to be read to, but perused all the books herself.  Later in the evening, she wanted to be read to and knew which books were the ones she wanted.

Smart girl.

She took Adam upstairs to play in the nursery (that room has been rebranded many times) and later she took me.

We are helpless when she grabs our hand and pulls us where she wants to go.

"Sit down, Nana.  Sit down."  What's a girl to do? I sat down and pretended to drink milk and water out of the little cups she would present to me.

I had pulled out the Little People and there was a princess doll in there that was from something else.  QE immediately named her Princess Anna.  (Pronounced like the princess from Frozen.)  She has never seen the movie (she doesn't watch any screens besides FaceTime with her grandparents) but they have a Frozen book and she is obsessed.  

Braeden and I marveled at the power of Frozen.  Emma was more captivated by it than anything else as a little girl.

We had our Christmas dinner and read stories then QE went to sleep and the rest of us showed each other funny SNL clips until I went to bed early.

I am looking forward to the week ahead!

Grateful Friday

No more homework!  No more books!  No more teacher's dirty looks!

Even though I am the teacher, it is so nice to have Christmas break.  When you are a teacher, you have the same elation at school holidays you had as a kid, which is pretty great.

Yesterday we had the Jingle Jam which was something Matt brought to our school and it was really fun.  We used to have a practice Christmas Sing for the rest of the school.  Instead of that, this year we had the Jingle Jam.  The kids could wear pjs and we gathered in the gym, somewhat in a circle.  We stood up and performed for each other where we were seated.  It was fun to see the other classes and in between we had Minute to Win it games for the teachers.  Miriam and I won at Pictionary which was very exciting because I am abysmal at that sort of thing except Pictionary.  The only coordination I have mastered is my left hand holding a writing implement.  The third grade as a whole lost their minds cheering for us.  Such an easy crowd.

After everyone went home for the day, Miriam came in my classroom and we cried together for a minute because she had found out more tragic news of a student's family.

It is heartbreaking because we care, but I am so grateful to work somewhere like that and with people who care so much.

I'm grateful Mark came about an hour after the students left with lunch and helped me take down my Christmas decorations and carry things to the car.  While climbing up on a chair to reach the top of the bulletin board, he said, "You know how sometimes high school students help in elementary classrooms?  They should have the basketball players do that.  It seems like a good match to have someone with an 8 foot vertical reach."

He's not wrong.

After a month off while an insurance snafu was resolved, I had physical therapy yesterday.  I'm grateful I could resume.  It makes a difference.

I'm grateful for the next week.  I'm going to love spending time with our family.  

I'm grateful to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel gives me hope and purpose and belonging and peace.  The older I get the wider my net of worries seems to be cast.  When I can back up and remember where my faith is, it helps.

Merry Christmas to you and yours dear reader!  

Kindred spirits

Yesterday I took Jamie's gift to school.  It was a set of rainbow gel pens and a bundle of transparent sticky notes.  (When I found out transparent sticky notes were a thing, I thought, Jamie needs those!)

I wrote a note:  In a world of black and blue pens, you are a rainbow gel pen.

Yesterday Jamie came into my room and gave me another gift.  She said, "That other one was just for you.  I'm giving this to all the teachers."

It was a little bag of good chocolates (because Jamie) and a pencil that never needs to be sharpened (because Jamie) and transparent sticky notes!

A gaggle of girls had gathered (school was just starting) and they wondered why Mrs. Riddle was giving me a gift.  "We're friends!" I said.

And I hugged Jamie and said, "Wait until you open my gift and you will see."

Jamie turned to my students and said, "When you get older and have the great privilege to read Anne of Green Gables, you will understand what a kindred spirit is."

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

        L.M. Montgomery

     

Trying to hold it all (and sometimes dropping it)

There is a juxtaposition of effervescent frivolity and heaviness at school.  It's a lot to hold.

On the one hand, we've got Christmas coming!  We did Christmas mad libs, which they loved.  I answered the question 5 million times, "Now what is a plural noun?"

"It's more than one of a noun. Like desks.  Or puppies."

"Ohhhhh."

We did the Christmas Sing and I mortified my students by dropping all the cue cards (they're slick and laminated) while we were leaving the stage.  I was also gathering up all the big pink peppermints and trying to get one of my students (who hadn't gone on stage, but had instead been curled in the fetal position on the other side of the stage) to come.  It was more than I could manage.

Matt was standing right there and he helped pick them up and two moms scurried up from the front row and picked up cards and it was less 30 seconds and didn't embarrass me at all--I clearly was just trying to hold too many things--but my students were embarrassed.  "In front of our parents!" they moaned.

It made me laugh.  

It also made me laugh when I was having them write letters to Santa during writing time.  They were supposed to pick a villain and then make up reasons why he or she wasn't really so bad and Santa should give them a present after all.

They were excited by the project and I was playing Christmas music and we were all having a fine time.  One of my students came up to me with an urgent question.  She had written her letter in her newly minted cursive.  "Can Santa read cursive?"

I said yes.

They wondered if they could deliver the letters to the villains.  I said, "Well, they aren't actually...real."  (Most of them were Disney villains like Ursula or Scar.). 

One student said, "If it was live action, we could give it to the person who is playing the part."

I said yes.  Do that.  

They entertain me.

And break my heart.  I have two students who have just felt off lately.  One suddenly has sort of a different personality and one has school work that has just tanked.

I went to the office to ask Camie, who knows everything, if she knew what was up.  She did.  Their families are in crisis.  Both families.  So much crisis.  You can add that to my other perpetually struggling friend. And it isn't just my class.  Miriam and I tear up sometimes talking about some of their stories.  It fractures me a little.

For part of our curriculum we learn about different cultures so Christmas traditions are a great way to do that.  When we talk about our own Christmas traditions, some of their faces cloud.  They aren't sure about gifts or a tree.  "We don't eat anything different for Christmas."

I know there are students at our school who aren't looking forward to the holiday.  They prefer school where there is food and warmth and predictability.  (Even when your teacher humiliates you by dropping all the cue cards.)

It is a lot to hold.

I saw this by Lisa Jo Baker:

I doubt it was a silent night...

Mary, a first time mom stranded far from home likely wailed in pain.

What I'm saying is...

You are in really good company if your Christmas includes pain and tears and homesickness.

Because there was also - "A thrill of hope"

I was wondering how we can do silly things like Christmas mad libs and our advent calendar and Christmas Sing when so many of them are experiencing such hard things in their lives.

Then I wonder, how can we not?

For unto us a Child is born.  Unto us a Son is given.

It's the best news for everyone and a very good reason to celebrate, especially when things are tough.

A weary world rejoices.

Update of randomness

Happy sad:  Emma found an apartment.  We are sad to see her go; we have loved having her stay here.  At the same time, I am happy for her because it is a cute apartment much closer to work and she is excited.

Happy sad.

That sums up children leaving (and re-leaving) the nest.

She is having Braeden help her move the big stuff (so convenient that he is in town every time she moves!).

It was only Monday and I was unreasonably tired after work yesterday.  It is a lot.

One boy kept wailing, "There is NO way I can make it one more week until Christmas."

A girl told me she was tired of me telling her what to do.

Well sis, I'm the teacher so that is kind of the gig....

We have the Christmas Sing today.  Yesterday we rehearsed and I forgot the cue cards on my desk.  They need the cue cards.

A boy promised me he would remind me today.  I love all the many ways they take care of me.

Adam and I had a dinner with the stake presidency and their wives last night.  We all talked about our grandchildren and it wasn't even insufferable because we all have them.  I know we all probably thought ours were the cutest, but we were kind about it anyway.

  

Weekend

Friday evening Emma and I went to see Janelle in her holiday review.  While we were in our seats, waiting for the show to start, I told Emma about how I had felt pretty lousy all day.  I kept trying to be productive, but then I felt sick and I would try to remind myself it was OK to rest.

Emma said, "You need to remember you're an apex predator."

What now?

Emma explained to me that humans, like lions, are apex predators.  She said, "You aren't a drone.  There's no queen bee. You don't need to work all the time."

She said, "Big cats hunt, but then they lie in the sun."

It kind of blew my mind.

It was like when she told me that she was taking care of today Emma instead of future Emma.

My default is to think future Thelma is incompetent and that I'm a drone, working away for that queen bee.

I told Emma it had blown my mind and she said, "I'm happy any time I can get you to not work so hard." (And I am probably the least hard worker among my siblings.  We were raised this way.)

There is still stuff to do, but I am going to try to be an apex predator every once in a while.

We enjoyed the show and it was fun to congratulate and hug Janelle after it was over.  I love the euphoric energy of someone who has just performed.  I think it's the drama mama in me.

Saturday we did all the things including going to two library book sales (Adam stayed in the car and made appointments).  The Orem library was woefully picked over but at the PG library, I texted Adam and asked him to come in and help me carry books.

I got some for my classroom, a fat stack for QE and an even fatter stack for me.  

A tip of the hat to my apex predator self.

And it's exciting when you buy more books than you can carry and it only costs $15.

Don't sleep on the library holiday sales!

Our original plan was to have Pikkujoulu on Saturday.  I had been feeling sad about having Braeden and Anna and QE miss it.  I realized that the great thing about a made up holiday like Pikkujoulu is that you can have it whenever you want, so we are celebrating after Christmas.

So last night, since we already had our children for the evening, we had pre-Pikkujoulu.  Emma and Mark both called it Prekujoulu.  Mark had had a problem with his pump so his blood sugar was sky high and he didn't feel great.  He drank a lot of water and we did a music night, which is another made up activity we've been doing since our kids were little.  Everyone picks a song that goes with a theme and we listen to them in the dark.  Last night Emma instructed us to pick songs about holidays other than Christmas.  We turned off all the lights except the Christmas tree and it was lovely.

I was going to make some GF party bark, but didn't because of Mark's blood sugar.  We had little smokies and Chinese pork and kale salad and apples and oranges and jalapeño poppers (except not Mark) so it was a pretty festive but also low carb dinner.

He finally started to stabilize and I'm so grateful for insulin and his ability to take things in stride and make it work.

I taught Sunday School on Sunday and Adam helped me create a slide show.  He is a perfectionist and good at stuff like that and I am neither so I was grateful for his help.  While he worked on the slide show, I taught myself how to make these stars which is either being a worker bee or an apex predator with leisure time.

I don't know anymore.

I have a 100% survival rate for those Sunday School lessons, so I feel pretty positive about that.

Mark came over and we ate dinner and talked to QE.  I read to her.  

In the evening we went to a concert at our stake center.  A BYU piano performance professor, Jared Pierce, is in our stake and he created a pretty amazing lineup of performers.  He is friends with Dallyn Bayles who is a broadway performer so he sang some songs and did some recitation.  There was a mens chorus of BYU singers which was amazing.  Our neighbor, Louisa, who is a BYU vocal performance major sang and a quintet of people in our stake performed. Jared's son, Noah, plays the saxophone and he and his dad performed a jazzy rendition of It Came Upon a Midnight clear and stole the show!

It was a packed house and I love the way people pause to rejoice at Christmas time. 

I have a celebratory and chaotic week of school ahead of me.  I'm looking forward to it!

Grateful Friday

I am having fewer headaches and I am grateful about that.  Yesterday I got a headache and it just kept getting worse and worse and at 1:00 AM, when I couldn't sleep because it hurt so much, I got up and wrote some very wonky sub plans.  Adam took my laptop from me and finished them and filled out the absence form and sub request.  

I told him I was a classified employee.  He clicked that button and it asked about how many hours I work and I was so confused and my brain wasn't working and I finally remembered that I am a certified employee.  Any other time I would know that.  In the middle of the night with a migraine, I have no idea about anything.

I was grateful to Adam for helping me and grateful to my team for being on the other end of the sub plans, printing them and I'm sure making sense of them for the sub.

I went to Costco after school with Mark yesterday.  I'm still not over shopping with one of my children and having them eager to go.  We chatted and he told me about a recent date (he told me very little) and his holiday plans (when he'd be home).  He told me when he thought he would head back to Provo and I told him he wasn't going anywhere until the basement was cleaned (he's 21 and I'm not really the boss of him but we can pretend-- also I told him I would throw away what he doesn't clean up in the basement and yes, I mean big lego sets).  

He said, "Maybe I'll work on it tomorrow.  I'm stopping by to get some cards."  Then he said, "Is that weird that I stop by when no one is home?"

I told him no.  It is still his house!  He said, "Well, it feels weird.  Like, should I be doing some dishes?"

I said to go ahead and do all the dishes he wants! (And I guess if he stops by today, I'll be here.)

I am grateful for my friends.  We went to dinner with Warren and Susan on Wednesday.  I got home to a gift on my doorstep from Bonnie.  She is love and light personified.

Yesterday Jamie brought me a beautifully wrapped gift.  It was this:

Trust a teacher friend to get you a Katherine Applegate book!  I loved her tag too.  "Teaching and loving are different words for the same thing."

Everything Jamie touches is amazing and that is all.

I told her that her gift wrapping was so beautiful.  She said, "I love it until I do about 50 and then I feel like stopping but I have a reputation!"

So I guess the moral to the story is: manage expectations, people.  

But I love Jamie.

I love a weekend coming up with Adam.  He's my favorite.

I am grateful for my migraine medicine because I am already feeling so much better, just really wiped out.  I certainly have a nap in my future, but I think I'll feel well enough to go with Emma to Janelle's holiday review tonight.  (Adam is going to one of his friend's organ recitals--in December, you've got to divide and conquer!)

Making me crazy

Yesterday I had a student that just would not stop talking.  He is always a chatterbox with not much impulse control, but this was extra.

Finally I walked him down to the 6th grade hall and asked my friend Maisie if he could sit in her class and do his work.  He sat down and I had little confidence that he would get all his work done, but at least he would not be driving me crazy.

(Also 3rd graders are just intimidated enough of 6th graders that they are pretty quiet and compliant in that situation.)

When it was recess time, about twenty minutes later, I walked down to get him.

On the walk back to the classroom, I asked him why he thought I'd sent him to 6th grade.

"I don't know," he said.

I told him that he was talking so much that he was not doing his work.  I showed him his 75% completed page and said, "See how much work you can get done when you are quiet and work at it?"

He argued with me the rest of the way back to the classroom that he hadn't finished the page.

"Go to recess," I said.

Also, every girl and a lot of the boys have a quickly growing collection of origami boxes and cootie catchers and tiny toys and water bottles and pens and markers and library books all piled on their desks.  Every time anyone moves, things fall to the floor.

Enough!

I said they were allowed their name tag and a water bottle and that was all.  I said, "All the stuff falling to the floor all day is making me crazy!"

One girl asked, "Are we making you crazy?"

I said, "No.  You aren't.  It's the stuff and it has to GO."

They cleaned up pretty well and a few things migrated back to the desktop and now we have a naughty box where extra stuff goes.  I told them I will throw away everything unclaimed in the box at the end of the day. 

"Even library books?!?" someone asked.

"What do you think I will do with library books?" I asked.

"Oh," she said.  "Not throw them away?"

It is self preservation at its finest around there.

I put some lotion on my winter dry hands.  One of the girls said, "No fair.  How come you get lotion and we don't."

I said, "You are all welcome to lotion any time you need it."

She said, pointedly, "I don't want lotion."

Something similar happened with my reading group.  I have one of Miriam's students who is a very new English speaker.  I was speaking slowly for her when I went around the group asking them to name the beginning sound in words. (Yes, this is kindergarten or preschool work and yes they are very low readers.)

A boy said, "That isn't fair!  You are talking so slowly for her."

I said, "Do you want me to speak more slowly for you?"

He said, "No."

I go home exhausted every day and that is 1/1000th of the reason.

A girl would not get logged on to her computer when it was small group time and those not in groups were supposed to be working online.  She was talking and bouncing out of her seat and playing with her pen.

Finally I got up from my small group and dragged her desk over next to mine.  "Sit there," I instructed.  "Get logged in."

And the internet wouldn't connect.  All around her, Chromebooks were connected to the internet.  She kept trying and it kept disrupting my group because she couldn't get logged in.

"Go get another computer," I said.  

"Whose?" she asked.

It doesn't matter.

There are 6 more days.  I think I can make it.

(I'm not sure I can make it.)

Best work Christmas party ever

We had our work Christmas party after school yesterday.  Matt rented out a movie theater for us and we watched a movie.

It was great (especially after he settled down and stopped yelling Marco, wanting us to yell Polo--the best elementary principals are actually children at heart, I think).

He also gave us all a gift card for soda and popcorn.  We chatted in the line for snacks and got comfy in the theater (I got a recliner!) and all lamented that we hadn't brought blankets.

Tyler, a young father with a lawn business side hustle besides being a really great 6th grade teacher, went around with his phone as a flashlight, looking for spare change under the seats.

We teased him and he said, "Hey, I've already made 50 cents!"

So maybe he has another side hustle.

We watched the movie, Next Goal Wins.  It isn't going to be my favorite movie ever, but I enjoyed it.  We laughed together and just relaxed.

At the end, nobody had to clean anything up.  We walked out of theater, still laughing and chatting and got into our cars and everyone went home.

This is the kind of low bar lifestyle that I appreciate!

Third grade

3rd grade power structure:

Student: Teacher is the boss, but I am the manager.

Another student: But why?

First student: Because I am biggest.

They have seen things:

I was science partners with a boy who only talks or really does anything when he wants.  He also throws the contents of his desk when he wants.  We were looking at fossils and determining their traits.

He said it was a monkey.  I asked how he knew.

He whispered, "I've seen lots of shows with monkey bones."

Language barrier:

Tattling Girl: Those boys are talking about me.

Me: What are they saying?

Tattling Girl:  I don't know; it is in Spanish.

Me: What are you boys talking about?

Boy: Pizza

When your class is 2/3 girls, they get you:

Me, killing time in the 30 seconds until lunch time: I would love nail polish that was scented.  Like dark green could be pine scented.

Every girl enthusiastically agreed.

Me: I want one of you to invent that when you grow up.

They all nodded their heads.  So look for that in the future!

Weekend

December weekends can be busy, but also good.

We had a good time going to the Jazz game on Friday night.  I told my mom that we left after the 3rd quarter because I was tired.  My mom said, "Didn't the others want to stay?"

I said, "But I was tired."

The game started at 8:00 PM and I'm at the age that when something starts at 8:00 PM, I say what?!? Actually, besides maybe some college years, I think I've always been that age.  The Jazz were losing though and everyone seemed OK to leave.  (And it was Adam's idea.  He recognizes the signs of me fading fast.)

Saturday we had a ward Christmas party breakfast.  I have always thought a ward Christmas party breakfast felt cold and bleak, but this one was not!  It was warm and cozy and we had crepes with fresh fruit and a good program and I was happy to be there.  We enjoyed visiting with our friends.  The people in our cul-de-sac kind of gravitated together and it was fun.

We did all the Saturday things plus Adam REALLY cleaned his car and I was grateful to not be there.  I have never been held hostage, but I have been at the car wash when Adam decides to clean the inside of his car.

I talked to QE and her parents.  I sang The Wheels on the Bus (twice) and then I pulled out Merry Christmas Amelia Bedelia and Braeden said, "You just made her day."  She watched me read it with a very serious expression on her face while she was taking in the information.  Braeden and Anna, who had had a very tiring week kind of drowsed in the background while I read and at one point, she reached around behind her and poked them.  She didn't want them to miss anything.

We capped off Saturday evening with a trip to the temple with Emma which is always a lovely way to spend any amount of time.

Sunday we celebrated Mark!  Clarissa and Liberty and Nikki came.  Braeden and QE called while I was making dinner and I sang The Wheels not the Bus while I stirred.  I am a distracted cook at best, so it was kind of a wild ride but it worked out.  Mark always wants spinach egg casserole for his birthday.  It's OK.  Like I told Braeden, it's something you would have on a Tuesday, not necessarily for a birthday dinner, but it is what Mark wants.  So we have it.

Emma told me that she knew it was hard for me not to have the table runner on the red side, but it was better on the white because of the red centerpiece.

I'm still not 100% convinced.  Red always wins.

I made a chocolate cake recipe with only 1 tablespoon of flour.  I made it with gluten free flour, because I thought only one tablespoon would mitigate the gluten free-ness of it all.  I have made it before with regular flour but this time it didn't quite set up right.  And it was kind of flat.  We had it with raspberries and whipped cream though, so how could you go wrong?

Mark said, "Am I three?!?"

I told him the green were the tens place and the red was the ones place.

Obviously.

We played quixx and had a generally good time.  Mark liked his gifts:  a t shirt, two Pink Floyd vinyls and a saute pan.

What more could you want?

Grateful Friday

I'm grateful for this holiday season.  I love Christmas.  

I'm grateful for school:  my class, my friends, my administration, all of it.

I'm grateful for my family.  I love keeping in touch on WhatsApp with my siblings and mom and the occasional niece or nephew and I love our family group text.  It's fun to get random bits of news and humor (and lectures from Mark if no one responds to what he sends fast enough).

I'm grateful for phone calls with QE.  Last night I talked to Braeden with her in the background.  She heard my voice and wanted Bus Bus.  Then Braeden told me about a new game.  You say a line from a book she has and she says the title.

I know, I know, I'm a bit biased.  But that girl is smart.  I played the game with her and it was a delight.  If you pause too long saying another book quote, she says, "Hmmmmm."

I'm going to have to be on my game when she comes!  I will bring some of the books I took to school back home so I can have enough literature for her.

I'm grateful for Adam.  A few nights ago just the two of us ate dinner together.  It felt like a gift.  I'm always grateful for time with him.

I'm grateful we get to take two of our girls (Emma and Clarissa) to a Jazz game.  We are pretty neutral about the Jazz, but the games are fun.

This weekend we will celebrate Mark's birthday.  My gratitude for him extends to gratitude for modern medicine and health insurance that keep that kid alive.

He's still the best Christmas gift I ever got.

Oh December

School in December is a wild ride.  In the middle of a lesson, a student will raise their hand and offer how many more days until Christmas.  They want to know what day is our party.  They want to know when Christmas break is.  They want to know how long Christmas break is.  Five of them have December birthdays which isn't helping anything.

I am also not helping anything.  I add to the chaos.  They are obsessed with the Christmas village.  We do the advent calendar (sometimes twice a day so we can give everyone a turn.) It's chaotic.

Yesterday for one of our advent calendar activities, we played Don't Eat Pete with mini m and ms.  One boy said, "But it's not fair.  Not everyone will get the same amount of m and ms."

I told him life wasn't fair.

A boy next to him nodded solemnly and said, "That's true."

(I'm a big proponent of you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.)

All the Christmas stuff is fun though.  I love reading them Christmas books and singing our song in very silly ways.  (We did underwater, whisper and opera yesterday.)  And I love those kids.  They delight me every day.

Yesterday in math we had a word problem about a girl named Savannah.  I said, "Hey, I have a niece named Savannah."

One of my girls said, "Wait.  Is she a teen?"

I said, "Yes."

"I have a cousin named Savannah and she is a teen!"  Then she thought a moment and said, "Are we...related?!?"

She said, "My cousin Savannah loves to sing, does your niece?"

I said, "I don't know.  Maybe.  She is really good at basketball."

She said, "Different Savannah!"

One fun Christmas activity we do is Christmas Around the World.  I assign them a country and a lot of them are very bugged they don't get to pick.  (See:  you get what you get and you don't throw a fit).  They research how to say Merry Christmas in their country and draw the flag.  They locate it on the map and find out about three traditions.  They make a paper doll with traditional clothes from the country.  It is my favorite part since I love making paper dolls.  

I show them all how to lay the doll on top of the paper and trace the clothing.  I help whoever wants me to because I could make paper dolls all day.

Some of them choose dolls that are basically like gingerbread men, but I also bought some from my cousin Hannah that I let them use.  (Hannah has a shop where she sells them:  Lily and Thistle.  She is amazing.)

Here are the first four to be finished and I couldn't be more proud:

One of the boys said, "I thought I would hate this, but I don't."

My students have reading calendars every month.  If they read 30 minutes a night and bring the calendar back, they get a prize.  Yesterday I gave a student her prize for November.  I told her she did a great job reading.

She said, "I wouldn't even do it, but my mom makes me."

I said, "Your mom and I are on the same team!"

With resignation in her voice, another girl said, "My mom is on your team too!"

And I am glad.  It is December and I need all the teammates I can find.

Emma Jayne

Last night Adam was out of town and Emma and I were home.  I had texted her earlier and asked if she wanted to have one more session with the sequin ornaments (and then they are dead to me; I can't do any more) and we could either watch a good or a terrible Christmas movie.

She texted back that she was in.

We settled at the kitchen table with my laptop and I said, "OK, do you want to watch a good one or a terrible one?"

She said, "Terrible."

I said, "Oh good, I was hoping you would say that."

I read her several descriptions of Christmas movies on Netflix and we discarded ones that either didn't sound terrible enough or were for kids.  We were there for a predictable romance with cheesy characters and bad acting.

We were not disappointed.

I had a bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner and pinned sequins and emptied the dishwasher and melted my class's ornaments (they weren't great, but at least they worked this time) while we watched.

Sometimes a daughter is really the best thing in the world.

Back at it

It was so great to be back at school!

After school Miriam and Hannah and I were meeting in my classroom and Matt stopped by and said, "You're all together!"

It was the first time since Halloween that we had all three been at school.

(And Hannah seemed like she was getting sick so it may be a one day only situation.)

Jamie and Holly and Miriam and Hannah all asked about my mom.  I love my friends.

I forgot to mark attendance and I told the secretary I was sorry and maybe I actually forgot how to be a teacher.

My students lost their minds over the decorations, which I loved.  

They stared and stared at the Christmas village Emma set up.  Then someone wanted to know, "Why is NO ONE looking at Santa?"

They also wondered where Rudolph was.

Everyone is a critic.

In phonics I reviewed vowel r syllables with them.  I said that when the vowel is before the r, the r controls the sound of the vowel.  

One of the boys raised his hand and said, "So what you're saying is that the r is the man?"

I said, "No, that is absolutely not what I am saying."

Sheesh.

Then he sort of read the room (and my tone, honestly) and said, "The vowel is the girl and so ladies first?"

I said, "When the vowel is before the r, the vowel and the r make a single sound."

A girl said, "How about we don't have it be about boys and girls?"

I said, "Yes. Good idea."

And we moved on.

Sometimes I'm glad they come to school so I can let them know what isn't actually OK.

We made ornaments (out of the cups) and listened to Christmas music while we did it.  (I thought I had the same kind of cups and I didn't.  It was a fail and we will try again.)

We practiced with the whole third grade singing our song for the Christmas sing.

I read them a Christmas story for read aloud time.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Weekend

This was the weekend of decking the halls.

Friday was a lovely day.  I did 5 loads of laundry and puttered around the house, taking down autumnal decorations and readying the house for Christmas decorations.  I wrapped a few gifts and paid bills and watered the plants and just caught up on things.  I told Adam that I think I'm going to take a personal day every first part of December because it was so nice to be home to do stuff.

I got a very nice email from my sub, reporting on things and I can tell she was great, which makes me feel happy.

Adam and Emma brought home pizza and we started decorating.  Mostly Emma and I did, actually.  Adam's role is usually just carrying stuff.

I felt lonely for Mark because I've been decorating with him for years.  He gets up on the ladder and is extremely patient as I say, "no, over more," and "no, now that's too far."  He arranges things on the top shelf and then ducks down so I can see it.  We are a good team.

I texted him that if he'd come over Saturday and help, we'd get Thai food.  (You just have to know people's currency.). He agreed.  So we left the high stuff.

Saturday, Adam and I went to my classroom.  (He carried stuff and then sat down and worked on church appointments and the like.) I sorted through some of the papers left in my box in the work room and left the completely full turn in basket alone.  I will deal with that later.  I again took down all the fall decorations and changed the calendar and the job chart and the daily schedule.  Emma brought sandwiches and helped decorate.  She set up the Christmas village while I decorated the tree and set up my little elf door.  Soon enough it was looking festive.  I am excited for my students to see it.

Sometimes I think all the setting up and decorating is a lot of work and I wonder if it is worth it, but then it always is.  I enjoy the process of decorating and I enjoy the end product.  Joy in a joyful season.

Mark came over and hefted the heavy ladder and climbed up and down it like a 20 year old and brought the small tree in from the garage and helped Adam set up the large tree in the family room.

Emma and I decorated the small tree and Mark said that his life is a lot better since I stopped having him help with that tree.  I am picky about red distribution on the red and straw ornaments tree and he can't see red against green very easily with his color blindness, so he is excused.

It's better for everyone.

My grandma wanted me to inherit all the Christmas decorations I ever gave her.  One year I didn't give her Christmas decorations and she told me that she was disappointed so guess who gave her Christmas decorations every year?

I also got this plastic Santa that had been her mother's, Great Grandma Wood.

My grandma was nothing if not exacting in her decorating.  It was either lovely or out of there.  She made exceptions for sentimental things.  This Santa, taped together and with a tiny burn mark where the light inside touched the plastic, always had pride of place.

I hung it by Grandma's clock. I'm not going to tempt fate by putting a light inside. 

One of the decorations my grandma loved the most that I gave her was some snowmen roasting marshmallows.  She exclaimed over it every time we got it out to decorate.  It is in a cardboard box and when I opened it, the smell of my grandma's house was overpowering.  I quickly closed it back up.  I'm going to save that smell for as long as I can.

I opened the box for Adam, Emma and Mark, then closed it again.  They all smiled in recognition.

It's a magic box.

We decorated the tree.  After a while, Mark said, "Some people would think this is decorated."

We forged on.

After a while longer, Emma and I were the only ones still decorating.  I asked her, "What would I do without you?"

She said, "Finish decorating alone."

True.

This is also true:

I love the temple in the distance and the star in our front window reflected in the back window.

A close up of the cacophany that is our tree.  No one will accuse of us sleek and minimal.

Grateful Friday

I have a lot to be grateful for this morning.

I am grateful to be home!  

We drove to Fallon yesterday morning early for the surgery.  If you need surgery, go to Fallon.  They were so great.  Everyone was very kind and seemed so competent and efficient.  After the surgery I went to Walmart for my mom's prescription while they were removing her midline.  We hit the road with crackers and applesauce and ginger ale, but she didn't really have much nausea.  We stopped in Winnemucca for gas and an XL Diet Coke for me and a small Coke for my mom.  We ate ham and cheese sandwiches from the cold case and kept going.  We listened to our second Come Follow Me podcast of the week and I kept hitting the pause button to make comments.  

It's a lot of fun to listen to podcasts with me....

We got to Starr Valley around 4:30.  My dad and I unloaded everything and I used the bathroom and then kept going.  I called Adam when I was getting close to home and needed someone to talk me along.  It was exhausting, but I did it and I am grateful!

I am grateful for Adam and Emma keeping the home fires burning and taking care of Mark when he was sick.  He encamped in our bed and I felt sorry to not be there to take care of him but also grateful that Adam and Emma were there to do it.  

I am grateful Mark is feeling better.

I am grateful for Christmas music playing in our house right now and that I have plans to decorate this weekend.

Except I sort of feel like I was hit by a truck today so I'm going to take it slow.  I think it's a let down of yesterday's adrenaline and my body is thinking, "OK, you can relax now, so just chill."

I'm grateful for phone calls from Braeden.  His sunny voice is what I need any time of any day.  And QE in the background saying, "Nana!  Bus Bus!" is about the best thing in my life.  (No, if she were here in person that would be better.) I sing The Wheels on the Bus to her as many times as she wants.  Braeden said she has a one track mind, but I'm here for it.

I'm grateful that my mom's surgery went well yesterday.  She is such a trooper.  I'm sorry to say to my children that there's no way I would be that complacent and uncomplaining if it were me.  I'm grateful I got to spend so much time with her this week.  Braeden asked me, "When is the last time you spent that much one on one time with your mom?"  I think never.  There were always siblings around and as much as I love time with my siblings, it was great to just be with my mom.

I will always remember praying with her.  I will always remember how kind she was to literally everyone we came in contact with.  I will always remember her undaunted courage squaring her shoulders and walking into every appointment with the same can do attitude she has had my whole life.

Can do is basically her entire personality.

We met with her doctor Wednesday afternoon and she pulled out her paper and said, "I have some questions."

He said, "I would fall off my chair in surprise if you didn't."

Wednesday night she called the front desk at the hotel to locate a fellow patient who was also staying at the hotel.  She hadn't seen her for a few days and wanted to check on her.  We met her in the lobby to visit.  This other lady is from Texas and there alone for her cancer treatments.  My mom mostly listened to this lonely and chatty lady and it was such an inspiration.  When we were going back to our rooms, they hugged and my mom said, sincerely, "I love you."

I can't imagine the high fives my siblings and I gave each other in heaven when we found out we were going to have her as a mother.

Humming along

Yesterday I picked my mom up from her treatment in the morning and we went to lunch.  We had a bit of time before we needed to go to Fallon for another appointment, so I said, "Let's drive over and look at the capitol building." It was a few blocks away.

The same mom who arranged for us to have behind the scenes tours of McDonalds, the police and fire stations, and the bakery at Albertsons one summer when we were taking swim lessons in Elko, pulled a pamphlet out of her bag that outlined a tour of historic mansions in downtown Carson City.

I loved it.  I'm a sucker for old homes.  My mom would read me a brief description of each home, complete with what ghosts were said to haunt them.  

I would take any of those gorgeous houses, ghosts and all.

Neither of us are all that good at directions and we would both look at the map and try to make sense of what we were doing.  It was OK though, because we had time.

We drove to the hospital in Fallon to meet with a surgeon about getting a port.  Everyone at the hospital was very kind and once they knew my mom's last name, it was a who's who of the Dahl family. The surgeon went to school with several of my cousins and was listing all their names and he said, "And everyone knows Harvey Dahl."

I imagine he meant my cousin Harvey Dahl who grew up in Fallon and ended up playing for the NFL, but a lot of people know Harvey Dahl my larger than life grandpa too, so it works either way.

The lady who walked us down to the surgical center where we needed to fill out forms told us the Dahls she knew and that lady who talked us through all the prep for the surgery went to school with my cousin Molly.

My mom is getting the port tomorrow morning and we are glad.  It's been a struggle to get one arranged and she needs it to continue her treatments.

Our whole family is praying for her and I feel like our prayers are being answered in little ways all along.

I am enjoying my time with her: my pleasant and kind and faithful mother, who may or may not have information about historic mansions in the area in her bag.

My mom

My mom has me help her wrap her arm, where she has her midline, before she showers.  She brought left handed scissors for me to use to cut the tape.

She elevates motherhood to a whole new level.

I took my mom for her treatment yesterday.  She wanted me to come in so she could introduce me to everyone.  I think they probably had little interest in meeting me, but I dutifully went inside.  I'm glad I did, because what I saw was my mom shining her light in every direction.  She greeted everyone by name.  She introduced me, "This is my middle daughter."  They all met Olivia last week; next week they'll meet Marianne.  It's kind of a billy goat gruff situation.

We walked into the room where two other women were sitting in recliners, huddled under fleece blankets, hooked up to complicated IVs.  My mom cheerfully said, "Hello friends!"

She instructed me to sit down and visit.  She asked them all about their Thanksgivings and their families and she knew the details of their lives.  One of the women, who is here alone, told her all about a National Geography documentary she had watched and my mom acted fascinated.  Besides introducing me to them, she didn't say one word about herself.  She was only interested in them.

When my mom and I were driving here on Sunday we talked about how people become more like their spouses as time passes.  (I was once again grateful for Anna.) 

Joan was very dirty from Starr Valley and I told my mom, Adam would go find a carwash.  Then after I left her at the doctor's office, I decided to go and find a carwash.

My mom is right about most things.

Live from Carson City

Last week Olivia had the same blogpost title and this week is my turn.  I am in Carson City with my mom.  We had a nice trip, visiting and listening a little to the Follow Him podcast.  We couldn't have had better weather, which was good because it had snowed in previous days.

I also had a good weekend.  Yesterday when we were packing up, I told Adam, "I feel sad every time we leave here."  And it's true.  It is restful and happy there.  

In backwards order, my mom taught Relief Society and I was happy to be in her lesson.  I love the Wells Ward.  They've stopped acknowledging me as a visitor and I like that.

Our kids went home Saturday night with Clarissa.  She wanted to practice her songs for the Tabernacle Choir, but like Adam said, our kids are really good at tuning people out.  I think they were happy with their headphones and music.

Also on Saturday night, Robert and Marianne and Carolina came over.  Carolina wanted to hear our courtship and engagement story.  You've never had a more enthusiastic and captive audience.  It was fun to recount it for her.  I am forever grateful Adam and I ended up together and I loved the ways that Marianne and Robert are entwined with our story. 

Then we played Qwixx.  Always a good time, especially when paired with the Yacht Rock playlist on Amazon music. 

Speaking of playlists, I finessed my Christmas playlists on Saturday.  Christmas playlists are not to be taken lightly and I have 5 so I am ready for whatever mood strikes.  Adam and I went to Elko on Saturday and bought some heat tape for our roof (the ice!  the snow!).  We also bought more pins for those ring ding ornaments because I am a masochist and decided to make more to use the rest of the sequins.  

Friday we had Thanksgiving leftovers dinner at Marianne's.  I went over early to help her and she was all ready to go. 

She is a precrastinator.  I get it.

So that's me, up to date.  I am happy to be with my mom, happy to be enjoying a bit of leisure away from school and grateful for this holiday season.

Grateful Friday

Hours late because I woke up with a migraine.

I don't know about the migraine.  I am generally feeling so much better after my physical therapy and also still having migraines sometimes.

I'm still feeling grateful today (mostly because I'm finally feeling a little better).

We had a very good Thanksgiving.  It was a combination of Marianne is amazing and many hands make light-ish work.  (I was pretty tired when it was all said and done.)

Olivia and Adam and I took a walk in the morning and then Olivia and I went and helped at Marianne's a little but she was pretty much ready.  Hyrum said she had been baying for blood at 9:00 AM and got her children helping.  They are a lot of help and she is a great leader.

We all gathered for lunch a bit after noon. Everything looked and tasted fabulous.

Olivia and her boys had made these darling pumpkin place cards.

I was very grateful for the carefully thought out gluten free designations.  It makes me feel loved.  The whole day made me feel loved.  I enjoyed being with my people.  After we ate, we made our ornament craft that I had come up with which was painstaking and sort of annoying, but everyone was nice about it.  We had our talent show and I cried during a poem Clarissa shared she had written and that didn't help me not cry during two family history stories Adam and I wanted to share (we wisely had Mark read them).  

And I was impressed by those talented kids.  Marianne and I both lectured Olivia and Tabor for chatting in the corner during it.

Once an older sister....

After that we played Nauvoo bingo.  I was sitting between the troublemakers, Olivia and Tabor this time and we had a good time.  We had a Ghanian and Venezuelan guest for Thanksgiving (an Argentinian too, but he had left by then) and they played Nauvoo bingo with us.  I wondered if they would think this is something all Americans did on Thanksgiving and Tabor said the Venezuelan was probably grateful he didn't understand most of us.

Ammon was the Bingo caller (he stepped in once Enoch moved--although we miss Enoch and Jennifer and family!) and he called in both English and Spanish.  Everyone got a prize when they got bingo and everyone got a prize when they got blackout.  Then my mom told everyone to take one more prize.

It's no wonder everyone is very enthusiastic about Nauvoo bingo!

We pulled out all the food and ate dinner and I was not even a little bit hungry, but I didn't let that get in my way.  Everything was just so delicious!

Yesterday morning I took a picture out the window.

This morning I took a picture out the same window.

Snow fell in time just for my Christmas playlist.

Adam took the kids to town to go to a movie with their cousins and he is going to do some shopping and I am in a quiet house surrounded by snow and quiet and I am not sad about it.

Grateful for my family

Yesterday Mark and I drove to The Home Place (rebranded, it's a semi long story).  We had a nice drive and he kept us in good music.  When we got here there were flies to clean up (and my dad had already cleaned most of them) and all the stuff to bring in and Mark was vacuuming and hauling stuff and helping me make beds and he set up the internet and then sat down to work on the forms for his job he will start in January.

Adult children are kind of a marvel.  They go from grudgingly doing what you ask to saying, "What can I do?"

The grudgingly doing what you ask is still fresh enough that I appreciate this new stage!

Clarissa and Robert were out on a walk and they stopped by to say hello.

We went over to visit my dad and Katie and Charlotte (they were there as Charlotte is recovering from a tonsillectomy.  I got my mixer lamp and helped my dad vacuum a few flies.  He said, "No, you can't!" and I asked why not and he said, "Because I don't want you to!"

I said that wasn't a good enough reason and I owed him.  There are more flies than usual this year and if you live in a wooden house, you vacuum flies.

My mom and Olivia were driving home from Carson city and I invited my parents and their guests for dinner.  "Not you," I said to Olivia.  I didn't have enough.

Emma and Adam arrived later and I loved that we were all together.  Mark and I had FaceTimed with Braeden and QE earlier and we miss them and Anna, but I am grateful for modern technology that keeps us in touch.

We cooked some frozen pizzas (a dinner invitation to our house is never that fancy, especially here) and my parents, Katie and Charlotte and Ammon's family came over.  They had just arrived from Utah.  They had already eaten or we would have had really small pizza pieces!

It was nice to visit with everyone.  

I love being here and it is beautiful, but the main reason is family.  This place wouldn't mean as much to me without memories of my grandparents and growing up here.  Also every visit here is immeasurably enhanced by family.  I love visiting and having visitors and being interconnected to people I love so much.

Today we will all gather at Marianne's.  I told my dad yesterday that I would have wanted her as the oldest child too.  Whatever planning in heaven for that was a good idea.

We will miss the ones who aren't there and enjoy the ones who are.

I am also grateful for Adam's family and I think fondly of the Thanksgiving days we spent with them.  I feel doubly blessed in the family department.

When Mark and I drove yesterday we talked about the ways he is like both grandpas and Emma is like both grandmas.  

They could do so much worse!

Here is my grandma Jaynes's mixer in my grandma Dahl's kitchen that my dad made possible with an idea I got from Adam's mom.

I couldn't be happier about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grateful for my job

I love the place where I work.  I love that I have real friends there.  It's not super easy for me to make real friends, but when I do, I don't really ever let them go.

I love real friends.

I love that there is a Christmas tree in the teachers' lounge with ornaments that are part of a giving tree for some of our students.  I love that you have to get them early before they are gone.

I love that Miriam came back to visit yesterday during lunchtime and she was swarmed with hugging teachers.  She cried when she hugged me and I almost but not quite kept myself from crying too.  It was just so good to see her and so good to see that she is on a healing trajectory.

I took a picture when she was swarmed with her students.  They said things like, "I've missed you!" so sincerely and earnestly that it melted my heart.

I love the connections we make with these little people who frustrate us but also wind their way tight around our hearts.

I love my students.  They are funny and brave and aggravating and smart and frustrating and lovable.

I love that we had a party after school for Elsa who is going to stay home with her baby boy and for Maren who is going to have a baby.  Jamie spearheaded the party so everything was beautiful and amazing.  Someone asked if they could hire her to cater their children's weddings and she said, "I'm not for hire."

We are so lucky to have her for free.  She is my go to for everything and I love that her office is around the corner from my classroom and she always has advice and cold soda and candy and nuts and Advil and pretty much anything you could need.

I love that Jordan said at the party, "Well look who the cat dragged in!" and in walked our old principal Jami, who we all love.  It was great to see him and great to have Matt now too because he is such a good principal and what we need.

When Matt sees me, he always asks, "Thelma, how are you?" Last week I told him I had a grievance.  I said, "It's not about you."

He laughed and said "Is this a it's not you, it's me?"

It was more about last year, but he committed to solving the problem.

I could go on and on, but I need to get on the road with Mark for our adventure that awaits.

Just, I love where I work.  I love the people I work with.

Life is good.

Gratitude

Yesterday I called our bank because we had a kerfuffle with an online bill payment.

They said, "You're not even authorized to pay bills online."

I said, "Well I do.  All the time."

They said, "You haven't signed into the bank for over ten years."

I said, "I sign in as my husband."

"That is against policy," was the very curt reply.

I said, "We have a joint account."

"Doesn't matter.  You have to sign in as you.  Oh, and you will have to re-enter all the information for each place you pay online."

I said, "OK, I will do that. Can I just ask you my question?"

He said, "Is your husband sitting there next to you?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Then I can't answer any of your questions."

Ugh.  So that was a pain.  But I created a new sign in (ten years ago is apparently an eon so I had to start from scratch).  When I was all signed in with my newly minted password and security questions, I got the message that I was not authorized to have online bill pay.

I called the bank again. And if you think it is easy to get to an actual person, it isn't.  I finally found a person.  She listened to me and said in a sort of patronizing way, "I can get you set up!  I will walk you through it."

It wasn't like I didn't know how to use the internet.  It said I wasn't authorized.

She said, "Oh, it says you aren't authorized."

So now she saw the issue.  She said, "Just a minute, let me look into this."

She came back and said, "You are not authorized because you aren't a tax owner."

"What does that mean?"

"You aren't the primary account holder so even though you have a joint account, you can't do online bill pay."

I said, "So I can't access my money?!?"

She was really nice about it.  She said, "Yeah, that seems really weird.  Let me see if I can ask more about this."

She came back and checked on me.  "I'm still working on this."

I felt like I was in Victorian times and had no rights because I was a woman.  I said, "Don't other people have joint accounts?  This seems crazy."

She said, "I know."

Finally she came back and said, "It may reset overnight.  Try again tomorrow."

I said, OK and that's an hour of my life that I won't get back.  When I told Adam about it, I said, "What if you were in some grievous accident and were unconscious.  I just couldn't use the bank?!?"

He said, "Well, you should be taking care of me and not worrying about things like that."

I didn't think he was very funny.

He also said, "If we have to, we'll close the accounts and set up something else that we can both access."

Yesterday I told my students about the magic of gratitude.  I told them that being thankful for what you have helps you feel happier if you don't have something you want.

I had them hold up their hands.  I said, "Look at that!  You have two hands!  Some people don't have two hands."

I think gratitude helps even when you're in a frustrating loop of phone conversations that have no resolution.

I'm grateful that the lady at the bank was very nice and helpful.  I'm grateful that I am not in actual Victorian times and I can get this worked out.  

I'm grateful I have two hands.

Weekend

Early autumn changed to late autumn.  The leaves are falling off the brilliantly colored trees.  There's snow on the mountain.   I pulled out my Christmas sweaters for an assessment of inventory.  I told Adam to stop me if I decide to buy more Christmas sweaters.

I made an enormous packing list for our trip.  I'll be gone ten days.  My lists are falling into place; I've been training for this my whole life.  My sub plans are pretty much done, just need the final touches of prep at school.  I have the food more or less sorted for the trip.  I have set aside everything that I can do after I return.  

My mind spins with to dos and since I think future Thelma is incompetent, I want to do everything now, now, now.

I am getting better at believing in future Thelma.  You can think about that in December. 

I am looking forward to the hustle and bustle and quiet calm and connection of the next two weeks.  

Adam and I had a nice weekend together.  Friday night we went to Costco and Trader Joe's, Saturday we went to Walmart and Winco.  (Saved the Ws for Saturday I guess.). We delivered medicine and Powerade to Mark.  He and Emma both have colds (Mark's was worsened by a bad night's sleep because of a faulty sensor) and Adam and I don't.  I have to think that living among children who cough and sniffle and sneeze at me all day has bolstered my immune system to new heights.

We had a quiet Sunday.  Adam was in our ward because President Porter went out of town mid morning.  I am always very grateful to have him next to me at church.  Mark was sick and none of our other guests could come so it was just the three of us on a quiet and rainy day.  

We did talk to Braeden and Anna and QE.  That is always a highlight to any day.  She had bucked her nap and was zooming around. We read a few books to her and she read a frenetic version of Amelia Bedelia to us, flipping the pages and jabbering.  Nothing delights us quite like she does!

Grateful Friday

I'm grateful for the little hero in my class who I aspire to be like.  How lovely that I get 9 months to try to learn from him.

He is one of the kindest people I know.  

We've had a school wide kindness challenge.  My class earned a party (we are having it today) by filling a jar with marbles.  Every time someone was kind (they couldn't self report; someone else had to notice) I put a marble in the jar.

This boy is responsible for about 1/3 of the marbles.

He goes around helping everyone during clean up.  He is terrific at origami and he not only teaches anyone who wants to learn, but he makes amazing little origami creations for everyone.  I have a whole shelfful.  He stays behind to line up the reading books when people are putting them away after reading time.  He checks on kids when they're sad.  The other day I saw him across the playground at recess pick up a kid off the grass who had fallen in the soccer game.  He put his arm around the other kid and made sure he was OK, then they both ran back into the game.  He never leaves for the day without coming up to my desk and saying, "Good-bye Teacher.  I hope you have a good day."

He's just so kind.  He's also smart.  He is a whiz at math and a good reader, especially considering English is not his native language.  Like my other students who speak better English than their parents, he carefully listens to announcements that involve his parents or family and he asks earnest follow up questions.

I have a student who is not so very kind.  Through no fault of his own, he has had some pretty major adverse childhood experiences that have not helped him be successful in school or socially.  He has kicked the kind boy's soccer ball on the roof and also over the fence.  (We have Riley who is the hero in instances like that.) He has been suspended regularly for violent and inappropriate behavior.  It's been rough.  

He's been gone all week and yesterday, before school, my sweet little hero asked me, "Where's XXX?  I haven't seen him."

He had a look of genuine concern on his face. I felt a little humbled.  I knew where XXX was, but I have not missed him.  I could learn a lot from my sweet student.

Also yesterday, Katie, our wonderful community outreach person called my kind boy out of class. His family was flagged for our Giving Tree at school. She told me later that when she asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he told her what he wanted for his little brother and also for his mom.

She pushed him, "But what do you want?" 

He finally told her.  I love my association with people like him.  I hope he rubs off on me! (And I'm going to tell Katie that I want to be the one to get his gift!)

Inside outside upside down

There's what I think and what I say:

I am ready for you to leave.  Go home.  Go home. Go home.

Of course I will help you find your sweatshirt.

It is two weeks past the deadline for the form to be turned in.

I will ask if you can still do Battle of the Books.  

If you would listen, you would understand it.

Come over to my desk and I will help you.

Sometimes I don't do such a good job editing what I'm actually thinking and it accidentally comes out of my mouth:

Quintessential Tattletale Girl:  Teacher, the lights in the girls' bathroom are turned off. 

Me: Do you know how to use a light switch?

Quintessential Tattletale Girl (looking chastened): Yes.

Another super day

I woke up yesterday with a headache.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.  I dragged myself to school.  (Teachers have oodles of sick days that we never take because it is not worth the sub plans and fallout.)

If I'd been able to have a different sort of job, where I could sit sedately and not be around loud children, it may be have been OK, but I quickly crossed over to migraine territory.

Please don't yell, I said.  

It didn't matter.

My hearing is fine, I said.  You don't need to be so loud.

It didn't matter.

I had one of my migraine pills in my desk drawer, like one of those pills a spy carries in case of emergency.  I didn't want to take it because it makes me feel so weird and dizzy and awful, but it is better than a migraine, so I finally went for it.

It was a wild ride.  I had to sit down for a while, but I powered through, like you do.  As time passed, I felt a little better.  My headache was gone and I was just slightly dizzy.  

Then writing happened.

I had assigned them books on Native Americans on Epic, a website with digital books they can read.  They were to look through the books and decide which Native tribe they wanted to write about.  This is the exact same thing I have done every year, with zero drama or problem.

This was not like other years.

The books I assigned were about specific tribes or areas where tribes lived, like Native Tribes of the Southwest.  There were also some general books about Native Americans.  

I had about 5 kids come up immediately and tell me they had decided which tribe they were going to write about:  Native Americans.  They would point proudly at a book titled, Native Americans. 

That isn't a tribe.  They are all Native Americans.  Pick which tribe.

They said the tribe they wanted to do was Crazy Horse.  That isn't a tribe.

More of them said Native Americans.  That isn't a tribe.

One girl wandered into a different collection I had assigned earlier about weather.  Hurricanes, she said.

That isn't a tribe.

It shouldn't be astonishing, because it happens so often, but I am always astonished at times like that:  How is this so hard?!?

3rd grade

We went on a field trip to the Orem library to watch the Timpanogos Symphony.  The kids generally liked it and were generally well behaved.  My impulsive can't stop talking friend was positioned strategically next to me.  I tried to keep him facing the right direction and at least whispering and then he asked, "Can I go to sleep?"

I said, "Yes."

And it was blissful.

Would it be bad if I just let him sleep every day?  Because he is otherwise talking....

One of the girls wanted to sit by me on the bus.  She told me all about her cousins and her uncle and her church.  It was a lot to listen to and to keep straight but mostly I just needed to smile and nod.  There was no quiz.

I started a new book yesterday, The Lemonade War.  I love that I have a class that likes to be read to again.  They cheer if I say I'll read one more chapter and they groan when I'm done.  Reading to children is my love language.

They have told me all about their holiday plans.  It is clear they are not clear on the details.  We are leaving....Monday?  Next Monday?  This Monday?  Wednesday?  I don't know.  We're going to my grandma's.  Then another student raises their hands.  We're going to visit my auntie in California.  We are going to be gone for 8 days!  Well maybe.  Maybe we're leaving in 8 days?

After a few minutes of travels plans sketched by Picasso, I say we need to move on with the lesson, but maybe they can tell me later.

I'm teaching them the Christmas song that third grade sings for the Christmas Sing.  They love it.  They also love the Mexican Hat Dance.  We have music time every Monday and I love that they enjoy it.

They pretty much delight me.

Weekend

My students are usually obsessed with Mark and I don't know why.  Adam said it is because I tell them stories about Mark, but I don't think I really do.  And I mention all my kids in equal measure, which is not that much.  I don't know.

Friday morning, one of the students who I had seen at Pizza Pie Cafe said to me when I opened the door to them first thing, "I saw you last night.  And Mark."  

I acknowledged the truth of that statement.  When they see me in the wild, they always tell me at school. 

Then she turned to all her classmates and told them individually, not wanting anyone to miss the fact:  I saw Mark.

Hours later, she came up to my desk and asked, "Who was that girl sitting by Mark?"

I said, "That was Emma."

She pointed to my family picture on the wall and asked, "Is she the one next to you?"

"Yes."

Mark is the lead and the rest of us are just extras.

He texted Friday and said that their apartment was without hot water and he was going to go home to shower.  He left his calling card on the kitchen table:

I had said earlier that there would be no new LEGO sets for Christmas because they hadn't finished the one from last year.  (Adam said there would be a new LEGO set and he is usually the one that buys it against my better judgement, but I wanted to try to draw a line in the sand.)

So Mark finished the LEGO set.

(How many of these does one family need?  Asking for a friend....)

It was a nice weekend.  We did all the weekend things.  We tried to watch a movie Friday night and I fell asleep during it.  We successfully watched a movie Saturday night:  An American Pickle which was homework Clarissa had given me.

I took some pictures of the sky:

Autumn is my favorite.

My dad sent me this picture:

He texted it with one comment:  It needs a shorter lightbulb. 

I love it!  My grandma's mixer, brought to life!  My dad is a wizard.

After a few week hiatus, we enjoyed having everyone over for Sunday dinner.  After we ate, we played Scattergories.  Clarissa said, "I've never seen the Davises so competitive."

Maybe Emma and I shouldn't be allowed to play word games in polite company.

Everyone except Clarissa left and we talked about one of her really hard classes at school.  I tried to give suggestions, but I know that even the best suggestions may work for a little while at best.  Teaching is not for the faint of heart!