Extra

Yesterday after school the vice principal came into my classroom where I was meeting with my team and tongue in cheek asked, "Can third grade stop with the fight club?!?"

I wish and also we're trying.

Yesterday was A DAY.  I had a student come to school in tears which is always an auspicious way to start the day.

One girl stuck her tongue out at another and they were both upset.  I talked to them and one had been singing and the other told her to stop because it was annoying, so the singer stuck out her tongue.

We talked about other ways it could have been handled, because I am into futility like that.

My ebullient student who is as adorable as he is naughty, came to school late and sad.  Turns out I like him bouncing off the walls more.  I was trying to help him with math (again me + futility) and I noticed he had tears in his eyes.  I asked, "Are you sad?" He nodded.  I asked him if he wanted to talk about it and he hesitated.  I asked, "Do you want to talk about it in Spanish?"

He did.  I left my class in control of their out of control selves and took him to find someone who spoke Spanish.

I pulled a student out of line on the way to art so that we could have a heart to heart about behavior.  A quick redirection turned into about ten minutes of her airing all of her grievances against everyone else in the class to excuse her being mean.  

During art, another student was flinging paint around so he was invited to go clean tables in the art room during recess. 

During lunch the secretary came and got Miriam and me because of...third grade fight club.  There were 7 kids--mostly mine--who'd been brawling at lunch and they didn't have the sense not to do it in front of the office windows.  

When they were in full scale denial of wrong doing, one of the secretaries said, "We could see you right out the windows."

The students turned around to see what the secretaries' view was and stopped their denials.

One student started rapid fire angry Spanish and a few others joined in and a girl said, "Stop!  In English!  The teachers don't understand!"

Miriam had recess duty so I told them they'd all be with me during recess.  A few of them were accepting and a few of them were sizzling mad about it.

We had the whole conversation (again, we've had it many, many times) about if someone does something to you, you have options besides hit them back.

I had a student unrelated to any of the rest of the drama in complete sobbing tears because she'd hurt her friend's feelings in the morning and had been rebuffed in her apology efforts.  So I pulled the friend aside too and they were both sobbing until I unraveled that.

I had my students who missed recess scattered about the room working.  One of them wondered if they could talk about what happened at lunch.

Absolutely not.  (Do I look like Judge Judy?!?)

I said I knew what happened.  They were hitting each other and that's not OK.

A student got bonked in the head at recess so he was holding an ice pack to his head when they came back in.

It was a whole scene.

The student who cleaned tables in the art room came back and told me that the art teacher had said I would give him candy since he'd done such a great job cleaning tables.

I said, "OK, I'll talk to her about it."

He said, "Oh no, Teacher.  Never mind."

I thought so.

So then I had a parent meeting after school unrelated to all the rest of the day's drama, but with enough drama for daytime television at least.

No days are completely free of travail, but some of them are just PACKED with travail.

Elementary school

There were accusations.  First, I didn't warn them there was going to be a sub and second, there was a sub.

I told them I was sorry and I explained that I had a headache.  They kind of huffed like they were going to let me get by this time, but I'd better not let it happen again.

The sub was a delight, or at least the note left behind was:

 In case you're not as accustomed to wobbly spelling and handwriting like I am, here's the translation:

I apologize as I am sure my penmanship is hurting you to read as a teacher.  It is usually better (slightly) but I foolishly hit the gym too hard and my arms are shaky.

It was so delightful to me, I texted it to my family and Emma summed up how we were all feeling: 

One of my students had something "very big" to share.  He first had everyone raise their hand if they are a BYU fan.  (Third graders love to have everyone raise their hand if...)

After he had found out who was a BYU fan, he proceeded with his story.  His parents are British and I love the way he peppers his stories with little British phrases.  He said they thought they were going one place for dinner for his brother's dinner, but his parents "were being cheeky" and it ended up they went and met the BYU football team.  He was so excited telling them all about it.

One boy raised his hand and asked, "Was Michael Jordan there?"

"No!"

"He's dead," someone said.

"No I think just retired," another one said.

"Plus he played basketball."

"Wait, were the Lakers there?" still another kid wanted to know.

"That's basketball!"

The poor story teller had a look on his face that reflected how I feel 75% of the day.

***

I had assigned them an online math assignment when I was gone and seven of them had done it.

"The sub didn't tell us!" the rest of them said.

"He only told these seven?" I asked.

That gave them pause.

I made the rest of them do the assignment.

***

Walking down the hall, I saw two 2nd grade girls, deeply engrossed in conversation and one of them said, "I have a loose tooth and I am so stressed out about it.  I mean, it could come out at any minute!"

I rounded the corner and another kid was oblivious to the world around him and singing for all he was worth.

There is always something exciting happening at an elementary school.

Migraine day

 I get way fewer migraines and headaches in general than I used to.  The difference is that I no longer feel the need to be a hero.

I stayed home from school yesterday.  

I wrote wonky sub plans in the 3:00 AM hour and then slept for a few more hours.  I mostly felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

Contributing to my migraine was a super stressful and somewhat confrontational Monday.  There are strong personalities in those after school meetings and sometimes I'm one of them.  We all want the best for our collective students and we don't all have the same opinions, but we need to work together.

I stopped by Walmart on my way home for 4 things.  It took me 45 minutes.  I don't go to Walmart all that often so I don't know the lay of the land and I was looking for pretty specific things. I searched high and low.  Imagine me studying the boxes of lightbulbs for the correct kelvin number, because Adam told me that was key, while trying not to get run down by the blue vested guys pushing enormous carts and filling pick up orders.

It was a whole scene.

After that I sat in the Walgreens pharmacy window line for an interminable amount of time.  Emma called and said, "Would it cheer you up if I told you I bought you a Christmas present today?"

I said yes.

She said, "How about if I told you that I bought you a second present because I found something you would love on my way out of the store?"

Emma is a giver of good gifts and highly generous.  We're lucky to have her.

Adam and I had dinner with Mark (Mark Monday) and my head hurt a lot and I wanted to lay it down on the table, but the table looked kind of dirty.  Mark kept looking over at me and patting my shoulder.

We went home and Adam rubbed my back, which is heroic of him.  I slept for awhile, but then I spent several hours of quality time feeling like I might die.

Who has more fun than me?

I spent the day resting and napping and being mildly productive (if you count working on my Christmas list while sitting in a recliner productive).  We had tickets to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever but Adam ended up having church commitments and Emma ended up forgetting all about it.  Mark and I went along with Lili and her boyfriend Josh.  Adam bullied me into eating some toast before I went.  I still didn't feel great, but I loved the movie.

"Hey, unto us a Child is born!"

Weekend

 Friday night we pretended it was Saturday and went grocery shopping.  These are the kind of thrilling details you can come here to read all about....

Saturday we hit the road early for Nevada.  I drove and Braeden and QE called and she wanted me to read to her and I hate telling her no.  We told Braeden our brilliant plan to go visit them during the Christmas break and that is when Anna's parents are already going to go visit them.  So it was Braeden's turn to say no. We get to see them over Thanksgiving though, so we will share.

We also had good conversations and I love being with Adam.  Road trips are the best because we just have time to talk.  

We got to our house and a few limbs had blown out of the maple trees and will have to wait patiently until we can drag them away somewhere.  Otherwise the poor house probably felt very neglected.  We haven't been there for a while and thankfully my dad winterized it and Omar is our mousetrapper, which we appreciate with our whole hearts.

We didn't have water and didn't want to un-winterize just for the day so we didn't thoroughly clean but we vacuumed and the little cordless vacuum we have there is invaluable.  I set up some outdoor bait stations for mice.  

I would say it isn't personal with the mice, but it kind of is.

Adam and I organized the store room, which was long overdue, and I gathered rugs and bedding to take to Utah to wash.  We took a break for lunch at Marianne and Robert's.  My parents were there and Morgan and it was a delicious lunch and so nice to visit in their warm and cozy home.  (Our house was freezing.)

Adam went back to install thermostats and Robert and my dad went too.  I visited with my mom while they were doing that.  She had me pick out an advent calendar to take to QE.  My dad came back after a while and I kept quizzing him about what he wanted for Christmas.

I told him it wasn't about him.  I said I wanted to give him a gift, so he had to tell me what to give him.

Pretty much daughter of the year when the words, it's not about you, it's about me come out of your mouth....

Later, we watched a bit of Isaiah's game.  Enoch and family are there in Rhode Island watching a few games so we played Where's Waldo and found them in the stands.  (Enoch isn't terribly difficult to spot.)

Adam came over to retrieve me so we could head back to Utah, but Isaiah had already made three three-point shots (he ended up making 7 in the game and one 2 pointer besides).  It's fun to watch him play basketball.  

We drove home and were exceptionally tired, but we listened to Nate Bargatze comedy which helped. 

Adam spoke in church on Sunday and I enjoyed hearing him. I was asked to sub in nursery and that is a different gig since last time I was in nursery. It is half as long and there were three very sweet and calm children who tenderly played with the toys and patiently waited for their snacks.

As a bonus, my neighbor Jenn was the other sub and we were able to visit about grandchildren and adult children and how cute those nursery kids were.

Later in the afternoon, we scooted our kids out of Sunday dinner early because Adam had two meetings at our house.  (I made cookies then happily sequestered myself away.)

I went upstairs and Braeden and QE called and I read her two stories and she modeled how she was using a scarf to be Little Red Riding Hood. 

We're back at it today.  

Grateful Friday

 Wednesday we had an unexpected faculty meeting right after school.

Nothing like ending an exhausting day by being told that amidst the swirling uncertainty of the district splitting and us joking that our district will either be called "The Leftovers" or "The Scraps," our Title 1 funding will not exist next year.

We also talked about the fact that some in the state legislature want to drastically change the way public education will be funded (spoiler alert:  it won't be funded well).  There are many who believe that public education is evil/wasteful/the enemy.

We often feel like we are barely holding on and now our support staff will be slashed. It is wearying and discouraging to be told that all our efforts are neither appreciated nor supported.  

I looked around at the grim faces of my fellow teachers and I knew that their thoughts, like mine, were reeling because we need that support staff.  We need more of them.

We have many students who are a year or more behind academically.  We have students who come to us without their basic needs met.  We have students who do. Not. Know. How. To. Act.

The gap will only widen.

I didn't really realize how disheartening it all was until I talked to Braeden last night about it and started crying.  I guess it had been there, below the surface for awhile.

About the time I'd finished cleaning up the dinner dishes, I realized I also had a lot to be grateful for.

For one thing, as Dr. Seuss said, I have brains in my head and shoes in my feet.  I can keep doing what I can do.

I'm grateful to have a son who understands me thoroughly and knows what to say always.  One time when he was three years old, I was crying about something completely unrelated to him and he brought me his blanket.  He's always been like this and it feels like Heavenly Father must love me because he sent me Braeden.

I'm grateful to have such a great principal.  He said, "What questions do you have?  I have facts and opinions and I will tell you which is which."

He thoughtfully answered our questions and then he said, "This doesn't change what we do within these walls.  We will keep focusing on numeracy and literacy.  We will stick to the essentials."

I'm grateful for the stalwart people I work with.  I can't tell you how many times a kid is positively flipping out and an adult has a serene poker face and just handles it with grace and kindness.

I'm grateful that when I was driving home and my mind was mulling things over and I thought for the hundredth time since the election that maybe I should consider changing schools, an answer came into my mind.

It was a clarifying course to follow.

I'm staying put for now.  Just call me a member of the orchestra playing the violin while the Titanic sinks....

I'm also grateful that maybe things will be OK.  There is a good chunk of time between now and next year and maybe something good will happen.

There's nothing wrong with hope.

You can't make old friends

Erin and I went through a rebellious phase and this was it.  We had a hammock and it was forbidden.

We also couldn't tie knots (not an Eagle Scout between us) and we tied an excessive amount of inferior knots hanging the hammock between bookshelves.  When our resident assistant was there, knocking on our door in an effort to catch us in the act of using our hammock, we furiously untied 12 million knots (give or take) while trying to suppress our giggling.

We have both gone on to live upstanding law abiding lives, so I guess we got it out of our systems.

I love Erin.

It was my very good fortune when we were matched as roommates our freshman year at BYU.

We talked on the phone the other night, for over an hour, and it was sublime.  We decided we need to talk more often.

She is one of my oldest friends.  We knew each other when we were as young as the above picture.  We've visited each others' childhood homes.  We know each others' siblings and parents.  We have a lot in common and when I talk to her I feel understood and loved and I benefit from her wisdom.

She is a woman of faith and humor and resilience.

We've known each other almost 25 years and at any time in those years, if we'd seen each other, we could have talked like no time had passed.

You can't make old friends.

YEN

 If I have people over and don't take a picture of the table, did it even happen?

A lot of our guests wanted an explanation about my clock wall.  I don't have one except I like it and it's a pain whenever the time changes.

Also, I only ever look at the biggest clock to check the time, so no, it doesn't bother me that some of them are a few minutes off. (I welcome anyone else calibrating them if they are so inclined.)

Then I told them about how my grandmother's grandmother clock identifies as living in Hawaii because it is always 6 hours off no matter what I do.

Then Marcia realized I was wearing a shirt with clocks on it.

It was a whole theme.

We had four kinds of soups, bread and scones, brownies and peanut butter cookies.

You know who can cook well?  Empty nesters.  They've had practice.

I had a game planned, but we never got to it because everyone sat around the table for hours talking.

(And it's a miracle some of those men are still alive after hearing some of their teenaged antics.)

Two of the men got up and quietly rinsed dishes before they left.

It's a quality group that enriches my life!

Turkeys and limes

 Yesterday my students made fact family turkeys.  They were each given a domino and they had to use the two numbers as factors, then multiply and divide the fact family.

A turkey leg got severed and my desk was the turkey hospital.  I made a cast and then everyone wanted one.

(The cast clearly didn't do much for the math.  Please believe me when I say I am trying.)

They also wrote things they were grateful for on leaves.  I stapled them to a bulletin board.  No surface is safe.

I particularly liked these:

I am imagining there are multiple ways to spell it....

On another topic, do you remember in Little Women when Amy desperately wants to take limes to school, because they're all the rage?

Well, let me tell you, Mini Brands are the most exciting thing in the young lives of my students.  Yesterday was 27 school days until Christmas break so we started our advent calendar.  They were beyond thrilled with the little door and the fact that they are all going to get a turn eventually.  

I get a little excited about the door too.  It's cute!

They asked many clarifying questions like, "What if I'm absent, but my picture is behind the door.  What happens then?"

I told them that I'd choose someone else and we'd do theirs another day.  

They asked over and over, "So we all get one?!?"

Yes.

My little English learner exclaimed, "I LOVE you Teacher!"

I said, "I love you too, now sit down.

Weekend

 School has been a little frustrating.  Teaching division is not for the faint of heart.  My practicum student and I have been trying to teach them about the connection between multiplication and division.  I called several of my students up to my desk one at a time so I could help them.

Me: draw a picture showing three times five.

(They can do it; not a problem.)

Me: now write the multiplication equation that goes with that picture.

(Again, no problem. )

Me: now write the division equation that goes with that picture.

They write 3 ÷ 5 = 15.

Me: You wrote three divided into five groups has 15 in each group. Does that make sense?  Here are three counters.  Divide them into five groups with 15 in each group.

They honest to goodness take the counters and try to make five groups of 15.  Eventually they see it is impossible but we're not any closer to them getting it.

I dreamt about it all weekend.  In one dream my students were in danger and I was trying to protect them + teach them division.  In another dream, they were playing with hackey sacks in the back of the classroom, while I was trying to teach them.

Maybe things will go better today.

Friday night we went to a wedding reception for a girl who was a beehive while I was YW president and I've always liked her a lot.  It was fun to see and talk to so many of our friends.

Saturday afternoon we went to the BYU art museum and invited Mark to join us.  

I love art museums.

Also, our sweet little QE fell and hurt her head.  Braeden rushed her to urgent care and they glued her up (which would have made her great grandpa Dahl approve--he's a gluer of wounds).  Braeden called us from the car after the doctor visit.  He was shaken.  She, sporting a big bandage on her forehead, said cheerfully, "I have no shoes on and I am in the car!"

Braeden took her to Medicinal McDonalds as he called it because her favorite thing in the world is to get orange juice at McDonalds.  Then they went to Target and looked at books which, on second thought, she probably likes even more than orange juice.

I felt empathy for Braeden.  We want so much for our children to never be hurt and here we are in this mortal world where people get hurt.

I think her attitude was instructive too.  Sometimes we worry so much about our kids, but they are going to be OK and are just marveling at the novelty of being in the car with no shoes on.

Sunday was a marathon of church, family history with Marie Louise and dinner with our kids.  I had Mark move furniture to accommodate YEN, which we're hosting tonight.  Emma told me a story about catching a glimpse of her outfit reflected in the elevator at work and thinking she looked like she "won 5th prize at a regional dance competition."

She certainly can paint a picture with her words.

Grateful Friday

 I am grateful for FaceTime!  I love talking to QE and reading her stories (she says, "Can I read you a story, Nana?" and "Another one!" and it is the most irresistible thing in my life).  Her little voice could solve world peace.

The other night she said, "Something on my toe is bothering me."

Braeden inspected her toe and trimmed her toenail and I just marveled at her sentence.  How is she so grownup to say something is bothering her?!?  She's growing fast and it just keeps getting better.

I'm grateful for time with Adam.  He's been home lately and I'm glad.  I appreciate time to talk about things great and small.

I'm grateful that we are having a grown up transfer of power in the country, because it could have gone the other way and that would have been anything but a grown up concession.

How bottom of the barrel are my silver linings on that one?!?  

I'm grateful to be a teacher.  That usually makes this list.  Those kids are cute and smart and witty and easy to make laugh.

I'm grateful to be a mother.  Those kids are cute and smart and witty and not as easy to make laugh, but less whiny.

A lot less.

I'm grateful it was super quick when I got my oil changed.  Is there anything better than a sort of dreaded task ending up easy? It's the little things.

I love autumn.  I love November.  (Although recess duty is cold.) I love Thanksgiving.

There's always something to be grateful for.

Counterweights

 I talked to lots of teachers at school yesterday.  The district split didn't come up as a conversation one time.  I think we're all processing and waiting and seeing.

What is going to happen is thrumming through my head.

I'm not great at change or uncertainty.  So here's a chance to practice I guess.

To offset those feelings, here are some good things that happened yesterday:

A girl I didn't know stopped me in the hall.  She asked, "Are you Mrs. Davis?"

I said, "Yes."

She told me her name and proudly said, "I'm in second grade."

I said, "Well, I will look forward to you in third grade next year!"

She smiled and ran off to recess.

I just love their earnest friendly little selves.

On Tuesday we had some girl drama and one of my girls was distraught so I sent the practicum teacher with my class to the counselor lesson and I stayed behind.  We chatted.  She cried and I handed her Kleenex and told her I understood.  We moved on to more cheerful topics and she told me that she had traded in her candy with her parents for Mini Brands at Walmart.

I asked, "What's a Mini Brand?"

She was so shocked she gasped.  She couldn't believe I didn't know.  She reached over on my desk and grabbed my phone and said, "Google it."

I did. 

She told me about all the different kinds and then yesterday, she brought me one!

I was as pleased as I could be.

Here's a picture of what was inside (the pen is for scale).

They all gathered around my desk because apparently everyone loves Mini Brands and here I had no idea they existed.

I explained to them what a VHS tape was as well as a film reel.  

Then at lunch I went on Amazon and ordered a Mini Brands advent calendar for my classroom.  We'll start next week and instead of counting down days until Christmas, we'll count down days until Christmas break.

I love the exchange of knowledge.  I'm teaching them what I know about multiplication and division and we had an in depth discussion, including a globe and a map, about Columbus yesterday (they had no idea who he was) and they're introducing me to the wide world of Mini Brands.

I'd call it a fair trade.

Well

 I feel disappointed this morning.

I am disappointed that the worst of the I-can't-believe-these-are-our-best-options won.

It's not like he's ever hidden his personality from us.  In a deeply divided country that is crying for unity, we've got...him.

Tabor said recently that President Nelson was his president.  Mine too.  Yikes.  Mine too.

Also, the Alpine School District split into three.  PG and Orem are left in the decimated leftovers (and we didn't get to vote on it--if I had some tea I would go throw it in Utah Lake.  Taxation without representation).

Either the quality of education will decline or taxes will increase and that is all.

Yesterday I read from someone in Lehi that they wanted to break away from Orem and Pleasant Grove because those cities wouldn't pass the bond.

And that is completely valid. 

And makes me sad.

I don't know exactly how it will affect me (probably way more than anything else that was voted on last night).  I know that I'm going to walk into a school of stressed out adults for the same reason.  We'll have solidarity in that.

We'll also have solidarity in teaching our little ones.  They deserve our best.

Election day

Well, today is a big day.  We are introducing division in 3rd grade.  They love it (at least at first).  Between cursive and multiplication and division, 3rd grade is like being invited to sit at the big kids' table.

Oh, yes.  It's also Election Day.  I'm probably not the only one with a pit in my stomach.

Last night over gluten free macaroni and cheese (Mark Monday), Mark told me we're going to be fine.  He laid out all the reasons.

I said, "What about the school district decision?"

He said, "The district is the airplane, but you are the pilot."

I guess the takeaway is if you need a pep talk, ask someone with two autoimmune diseases.  He knows something about getting through things.

This morning I was thinking about the pilot thing and the words from the song Jesus Savior Pilot Me came into my head.

Jesus, Savior, pilot me,
Over life's tempestuous sea:
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rocks and treach'rous shoal;
Chart and compass come from Thee–
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!

As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boist'rous waves obey Thy will
When Thou say'st to them, "Be still!"
Wondrous Sov'reign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!

When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
'Twixt me and the peaceful rest–
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
"Fear not– I will pilot thee!"

That feels better than me being the pilot.

Weekend

On Friday Emma texted me:  Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?

It was as shocking as if one of my boys had texted wondering if I wanted to go to a craft store with them.

The girl hates to shop.

I said yes.  Of course I did.

Also Friday night, Adam and I went on a recliner quest.  I decided to upgrade my arrangement in my office.  Turns out I'm not just a Goldilocks where my bed is concerned, also my chair.  

We got separated in Costco, and I gave him very precise and helpful directions to find me.

Then he texted our children this:

How did he not know where the sharpies usually are?

I love being with Adam.  We came home and watched the Great British Baking Show which is about the best thing that could happen to me on a Friday night.

Saturday I met up with Emma at Walmart in Fort Union.  She needed a vacuum and a file box for choir music.

A guy stopped us to ask where the garbage cans were, including some expletives because he was frustrated about not being able to find them.  I pointed him in the direction of my best guess and I told Emma to get ready because the older she gets, the more people will ask her for help at a store.  I get stopped for questions about which cereal to buy, to identify vegetables and which pineapple to pick.

(I give them my grandma's advice on pineapple picking.)

We found a vacuum and I showed her the file crate that every teacher I know has in spades.

We went to lunch and ordered the exact same thing.  I told her about the berry agua fresca I had added to my Diet Coke with brilliant results at Chipotle the night before.  She told me she had also eaten at Chipotle and we had ordered the exact same thing (except she had put the watermelon limeade in her Diet Coke).  She is very much her dad's girl, but sometimes she's mine.

We went to the Fashion Place mall and she bought a cute dress and cardigan.  

Again, I can't tell you how shocking this was for me:  Emma shopping and not under duress.

We wandered a bit more and then I headed home.

Adam and Mark had gone to Costco to pick up the recliner that was the winner.  They assembled it and set it up and I'm perched in it right now.  

I am a fan.

Sunday morning I changed clocks.  I can't really sleep in anymore so I get no delight in the time falling back like I used to when I was a teenager.

After church-family history-choir practice (I'm no good at it, I go in solidarity to Emma), I got things sorted for Sunday dinner.  I made a gluten free cake and then Mark's pump had gone haywire, his blood sugar was way high and he didn't end up coming.  We enjoyed our time with Emma and our bonus kids and Liberty and Nikki took some food back to Mark which was very kind of them.

This morning I woke up an hour early.  Experience tells me I'll adjust.  

Grateful Friday

 Oh Halloween.  You exhaust me!

My mother was 100% accurate that I did not indeed sit back and relax during the party.  The parents who came to help were wonderful--I've never had such a great crew--but I still felt like I was juggling flaming torches.

By the end of the day, my floor was covered in popcorn (room parents always think the popcorn in a clear glove would be a fun activity--it always makes such a mess!), the students were amped up with excitement or desolate because they'd lost part of their costume or overheated because of their layers.

I let everyone go 5 minutes early.  We all needed it.

What I feel grateful about is my school.  Halloween endears these people to me (they are already endeared to me--it endears them further).

The teachers had a theme of cartoons.

This was in the office and I want it to stay there forever.

Every team was pictured on a different TV along with cereal and milk.

(Sadly the kids have no idea about Saturday morning cartoons.)

My team dressed as characters from It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown:

Here's most of the staff--some weren't there yet, or busy elsewhere.

I love these people and working at this school!

Also, I'm grateful Adam and I have landed on a great life hack.  We went to Costco last night.  It was empty.  There were employees waiting idle at the check stands.  I love being where the people aren't, especially after Halloween at school.

Happy Halloween/Happy Nevada Day (for those who celebrate)

 If I could bottle up the energy at the school the past few days, my mom could stop worrying about me drinking caffeine.

I could drink that instead.

Here's hoping we survive the day (and tomorrow, which will be worse).

It is happy to be around happy and excited children though.  It's contagious and even though Halloween lives at the very bottom of my favorite holiday list, here I am, sort of excited right along with them.

I helped decorate the hall a little after the faculty meeting.  We don't enter into things lightly.

(Speaking of the faculty meeting, I got a shout out--and the gift card that goes along with it--from Maren, who had been testing ML students in the classroom next to mine for the past two weeks.  She said she wanted to give me a shout out because she had eavesdropped on me the whole time and "it was hilarious."  I'm not 100% sure how to feel about that, but hey, I got a gift card.)

Also, besides being beside themselves with excitement, my students have been delighting me.

One was looking for a book recommendation and he had just finished reading Christopher Mouse and loved it.  I showed him the Beverly Cleary shelf and handed him The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I told him a 30 second book review and a huge smile spread on his face and he grabbed the book and went straight to reading it.

Adam gets bonuses at work and I never do, but I felt like I did in that moment.

Here are some other good things:

At the faculty meeting, we were asked to submit names of students who could use some extra holiday love. Being part of a school that cares so much about their students and families makes me happy.

At the end of the day, my students were coloring Halloween pictures and I played Ghost Girl for them which is my very favorite song of Emma's.  They were stunned.  They said things like, "Wait, you know her?!?" and "Is that actually her singing?!?" and, "She made this song up?!?"

They are a very easy crowd (but it's a good song, says her mother).  

Some of them walked over to look at my family picture on the wall, suddenly more interested in Emma.

They make me laugh and often I have to suppress it like when a girl came mournfully to my desk and asked in an injured voice if she could go to the wellness room.  (And the Academy Award goes to....)

I asked her why she wanted to go and she paused and then said, "I can't remember."

I told her to go sit down.

The final thing delighting me is that I got an email from one of my room parents and she said they had the entire Halloween party handled and hopefully I could "just sit back and relax."

Usually the Halloween party feels like juggling flaming torches, so I will take it!

Fear and outrage; us and them

I had a conversation with a friend who shrugged like she didn't care when I said that if the district split, there wouldn't be the educational resources for children in the district that there are now.  She didn't care and I was effectively stunned into silence.

I strive to be informed about the presidential election, but it leaves me feeling depleted and often revolted.

Adam and I were talking about the fear and outrage that is dished out in the media from both the left and the right.  It is discouraging and bears very little resemblance to the country we thought we grew up in.

There's a lot of us versus them and very little we the people.  Most people I know are like me and don't want to align with us or them, but here we are.

So after school yesterday, my team and I cut out pumpkins and hung up Halloween decorations in the hall (I have two former college basketball players for teammates which comes in handy, I must say.)

We talked about ways to make the holiday fun.

We planned lessons and graded the math test we'd given.  

We sent texts and emails to parents.

In short, we did what we could.  We'll keep doing what we can.  It's all any of us can do.

That, and be kind.

I am constantly telling my students, "Just because someone does something wrong, doesn't mean you should do something wrong."

I hope I have the fortitude for the next month.

We survived it

Yesterday was...a day.  I don't even know.

I had traffic duty and then a parent waylaid me in the office to find out about the field trip and then another person stopped me and then my student whose birthday it is wanted to walk and talk with me and all the while I was wading through people to get to my classroom.  

Matt was there when I got there and said, "There are kids outside."

I said, "I'm coming!"

(They aren't going to die if they wait three minutes outside.)

The kids were all keyed up and one student threw a tantrum because of their field trip group.  (Also threw their desk.)

We got everyone sorted and got the lunches sorted and went for the buses and someone forgot her jacket, so I had Miriam watch my class and we went back for it.

It was 9:00 AM and I was already looking for my serenity!

We got to the field trip, at the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point.  They always love it and everyone behaved pretty well.

In with the butterflies, one of my boys said he wanted to leave.  His tone of voice told me that he was terrified.  I took him outside the enclosure and a few more students wanted to go too, so we watched through the window.

Three of them decided after a while to go back, but my little buddy stayed with me and flinched every time a butterfly came close to the window.

We finally got everyone gathered up when it was time to go and we headed to a park.  They had to eat before we let them play.  One of my students had two full-size Hostess cupcakes, a sleeve of powdered donuts and a quart-size bag bulging with candy for lunch.  He had two large sugary drinks to wash it all down.  I had already eaten my sandwich, but I gave him my orange, which he happily took.  (I offered to peel it.  Even still, my children are more inclined to eat an orange if I will peel it.  He wanted me to peel it.)  His lunch explains a whole lot.

It's a new big park in Lehi and it was a lot of fun.  And fraught with injuries.  Kids were crying and limping right and left and it was up to us to parse out who was actually hurt.

One kid had hit his head and was bleeding and an enthusiastic chaperone went to her car and had some  bandages she wanted to stick on his head, which would have stuck in his hair.  I vetoed that.  I had him sit by me for a few minutes and then he was good to go again.

At the end, one of Miriam's students was wailing because she had lost her glasses.  Alissa and I both wear glasses and we sent out students back into the playground to find them.

Miriam stood there nonchalantly waiting for us.

Finally we decided if she didn't care, we wouldn't either.  We gathered everyone up again and the glasses were on the bus all along.

One of my girls wanted to sit by me on the bus, both on the way and on the way back.  We chatted about Halloween and scary movies and her brother (who used to be my student) and her primary program.

She was quiet, looking out the window, as we drove back to the school.  She suddenly turned to me and asked, "How do people who paint His picture know what Jesus looks like?"

I said that was a good question and I think they made their best guess.

She said, "Hmm, OK."

The minute we got back to the school and everyone needed to use the bathroom and get a drink, we were supposed to go to the 1st grade Halloween program.  We hightailed it to the gym for the program and then back to class to celebrate the birthday in the few minutes before school was out.

In our haste, there was a kerfuffle in the line behind me that I didn't see and I had to go to the office after school and identify just who shoved who.  Luckily no one was badly hurt.  

A fifth grade teacher happened to be in the office while I was watching and gasped at them shoving each other to the ground.  I said, "Lucky you!  You'll get them in two years."

She said, "I'll retire by then."

I told her nice try, but she was too young.

When it was all said and done, I just wanted a nap, but we had to plan next week and realign our literacy groups and I had to meet with Matt to go over my observation.

Mondays.  I'm telling you.  I felt dysregulated when I got home, but we had YEN and YEN is fun.  We ate a delicious dinner (it's always delicious) and played a few games that no one really cared too much about winning, but were fun.  We dabbled in political talk, but not too far.  We mentioned our children, but not too much.  We mostly just talked and it was just the antidote I needed for my day.

Weekend

 Friday night I hosted my connections group.  It's basically book club without books.  Emily and Jamie and Janelle came and I loved visiting with them.  Neither Emily nor Janelle are at Bonneville anymore so it is nice to catch up with them.

Adam helped me set up for the party.  You've never seen anyone arrange vegetables with that kind of precision.

Saturday morning Adam went and helped someone move and I went to CVS and got shingles, flu and Covid vaccinations.

The lady checking me in raised her eyebrows and said, "Wow.  All three."

The lady administering the shots was getting all ready and I asked, "Was this a mistake?"

She said, "Well, I just hope you don't plan on doing anything tomorrow."

Gulp.

I started feeling kind of weird in the afternoon.  My joints got a little sore and my head was a little floaty, but I was OK.  

We went to the Jordan River temple with Carolina and her fans.

I loved being there with so many people I love.  

On Instagram (where I swiped the picture from Marianne), she said that this must be what heaven feels like and I agree.

After the temple we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner and the guy in charge was the least customer-is-right person you ever met.

He said he didn't have room for us.  We said, "We are OK being at separate tables."

He said, "You say that, but then you'll move the tables."

We promised we wouldn't.  Adam became the ambassador talking to him.  We had to stand off to the side until the entire group had paid, then he led us to the back and reinforced that we weren't to move tables.

In the line, he chided Robert for using the wrong plate.  Robert didn't know what to do with the wrong plate he was holding (put it back in the pile of plates?) so he held onto it under another correct plate.  The guy was waiting for him at the end of the line and said, "I told you you couldn't use that plate."

Robert said, "I didn't know what to do with it."

The guy said, "Give it to me."

Later, most of the people had left and Marianne, Robert, Emma and Adam and I were lingering and chatting.  The guy came up to us and said we needed to leave because people were waiting for the table.

Wow.

If you didn't think someone could take a pizza buffet restaurant that seriously, you were wrong.

I slept OK considering my sore arms woke me up whenever I moved, but I woke up feeling awful.  I was nauseous and achey.  I kept thinking, "Maybe I'll feel better after I take a bath."  But then it took me a very long time to have the gumption to take a bath.

Adam sent me the link to watch church from home, which I appreciated, but I missed going to church.  We were gone last week too and I like going to church.

I spent the day thinking, "OK, I'm feeling better," and then realizing, "No, I'm really not."

I better not get shingles or the flu or Covid!

By late afternoon, I was feeling more like a person.  Emma and Mark came over and I had heated up some Costco soup, so it was very fancy.  Mark had a new Nerf gun that he had won as a prize.  I said, "What is your life like?"

He just smiled.

Adam had been at church from 7:00 until 5:30.  He had tithing declaration and meetings and I appreciate him and how much he serves.

We sat around and visited and told Mark not to shoot us.  Then we played dominoes.  It was a different domino game than we had ever played and I read the rules, which doesn't ever happen and here's why.

After the first round, Mark read the rules and then we played it the correct way.

We played a few rounds and at one point someone said, "Are we keeping score?"

We weren't.

We're very uncompetitive (except sometimes Emma and me with word games).

Then we played Pass the Pigs.  It's so nice to have our kids over on Sunday evening.

Yesterday I talked to Braeden and Anna and QE and she was zooming around in her crazed I-didn't-have-a-nap-but-I-still-kind-of need-one state.  She was running a circle around Braeden and Anna and singing at full volume, "I love Mama she loves me, I love Daddy yessiree.  He loves me and so you see, we are a happy family!"

Braeden said, "Pray for us...."

If they lived close by, my Sunday evenings would be peak Thelma.

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday I put this on my door:

I saw the idea and bought a little Teachers Pay Teachers set.  I asked my class to help me remember the books I'd read to them so far this year.  I wrote the titles on the book covers.

It made me very happy that they remembered a lot of the books that I had forgotten about!

(It also made me happy that the set came with plants.)

I will keep adding to it as the year goes on and I read more books to them.

I am constantly preaching to them that I am teaching them math (trying to at least) because they will use it all the time as adults.  To that end, I presented them with my problem.  The shelves were two inches tall, the books were nine inches tall.  The door below the window was 38 inches.  I had them help me decide how far apart to place the shelves.  (I gave them guidance because we haven't even learned division yet.)

I love my little corner of the world.  Sometimes it is sheer chaos and sometimes it is aggravating, but sometimes it is downright delightful.

I'm grateful for room 108.

Man, no wonder I don't know what 9 x 9 is!

 Yesterday I went to Trader Joe's after school to pick up a few things for my Connections party on Friday.  I decided to name my quarterly gathering I have with my teacher friends Connections because it needed a name and I want to stay connected to them.

The guy at the check stand said, "Third grade teacher?"

Pointing to my Third Grade Crew t-shirt, I said, "How did you know?"

He said, "Lucky guess."

Then, like people often tell me, he said, "I remember my 3rd grade teacher."

I was prepared to hear some warm and cozy memory and he said, "She was pregnant and we had subs all the time.  All we did was watch movies.  It seems like we watched movies every day."

I said, "That's terrible!"

He said, "Yeah, I loved it at the time, but now I think, 'Man, no wonder I don't know what 9 X 9 is!'"

I don't show my students movies every day, but sadly some of them might emerge not knowing what 9 X 9 is.

Yesterday I had a little knot of students playing with something under their desks.

I said, "Put whatever you are playing with on my desk."

One of them sheepishly asked, "All of them?"

I said, "Yes."

Why they had four of these pens between them under the desks is beyond me.

At recess, I broke up the band.  I moved desks, like I do.

They had been in class a full 30 minutes when one of the chatty kids almost fell off her chair, because she was so startled by the quiet girl sitting next to her.

"How long has she been there?!?" she gasped.

"Since recess," I said.  "I moved desks."

It made me feel better about them not always picking up what I'm setting down.  I'm trying. 

It isn't always a me problem....

(And I need about twelve more quiet girls to slip next to students.)

When Tuesday is a Monday

 Yesterday I woke up with a headache, which is no way to live.

If you noticed the format was wonky on my blog, it's because my computer went a little haywire.  I was typing and the cursor started moving on its own and deleting things.  I did all the things, turned it off and on, turned wi-fi off and on.  It was crazy.

Adam, on his way to high stakes meetings, offered sympathy but was too busy to help.

It finally stopped being so wacky, but when I tried to fix the weird spaces, it freaked out again.

So far so good today.  Hopefully it will last.

At school, my computer (different computer) wouldn't connect to airplay so I couldn't cast my screen on the board.  It seems like that wouldn't be as vital as it is, but some of our curriculum is only in slides that I show on my computer. 

I was thwarted.

My students were all shouting Harry Potter spells at the screen to try to make it work.  (8 year olds shouting Harry Potter spells isn't as great for headaches as you might think.)

During my prep, I found the innovative learning coach who truly is one of the most helpful people I know.  She said the same thing happened to a second grade teacher and what finally fixed it was climbing up on a chair and unplugging the AppleTV and then plugging back in.

So then it worked.

The day improved, but my headache did not.  (Can someone show me how to unplug and plug back in?)

Monday night we had fruit and cheese and crackers for dinner, which is truly one of my favorite meals, but I decided to go to the store and get actual groceries after school yesterday.

I did my shopping, but was stymied at the checkout.  I've had the same PIN for my debit card for a few years and I entered it wrong and then I couldn't remember the right way (still with the headache).  I was at Winco and they only take debit cards, so I didn't know what to do about my recalcitrant brain.

I finally entered the four numbers in the right sequence.

Also at Winco, I ran into a Bonneville family.  One of the girls, a sixth grader who wasn't in my class, said, "Hi Mrs. Davis!"

It made me feel better.

The takeaway is to say hello.  It just might be the lifeline a person is looking for to lift them out of a Tuesday that is feeling a lot like a Monday.

Home

We made it home!  

There's snow on the mountain and we turned our heat on.  The season changed while we were away.  

We had meetings at school yesterday and everyone caught up on their fall break adventures or misadventures as it were.

One teacher had stuff stolen from their driveway and another has a mouse she can't catch.  A teacher got married and another moved her two kids into the same room and no one slept all weekend.

We sat huddled around computers, setting goals and discussing, discussing, discussing.  At one point, Alissa suggested we take a walk.  So we went outside and took a lap around the school, which was good to revive our tired brains.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

I keep thinking about the beautiful art we saw in Fort Worth and Dallas.  It was dazzling in both its variety and beauty.  

We talked at school about our why.  Why do we do this?  

It is hard to articulate, but for me it's connected to that art.

We are all so different and we all have our masterpiece to give the world.

I was talking to a kindergarten teacher and we both foremost want our students to feel safe.  Then loved.  Then we want to teach them the curriculum.

I want my students to feel like they can do things.  

I want to empower them to create their own masterpiece.

Weekend

 Friday Adam and I headed to Waco.  I wanted to go to the Silos and it was worth it.  Everything was beautiful.  

I loved walking through the shops and just seeing all the pretty things.

I sent this to our kids.  It was an I Spy game of where Adam was taking a meeting.

Emma returned this zoomed in picture.

We went to a hotel Chip and Joanna Gaines had renovated and had lunch in one of the restaurants.  It was delicious and also beautiful.   This was one of my favorite parts.  I could have spent the day there, curled up with a book.

We stopped off in West, TX for kolaches.  Adam wanted to get some for his friends.  Our next stop, of course, was Buc-ee's.  

It was my second time going there, but it was equally impressive as the first time.  It's a whole cultural experience.  I told Adam that if you grew up stopping at Buc-ee's on road trips and then you moved anywhere else, you would always be disappointed wherever you stopped.

I was the kid who never found their name on anything at a gas station, so this was exciting:

I didn't end up getting the t-shirt, but I got this little tray.

I straightaway took a nap when we got back to our hotel room (against all conventional wisdom a nap in the 4:00-5:00 hour is my favorite) and Adam did a little work.

One of us works harder than the other one on these trips....

The alumni party was at the Fort Worth Zoo.  It was getting dark and we didn't go around too much, but we saw the giraffes, which was fun.

We met up with Wes and Scott, two of Adam's colleagues, and the three of them had already arranged to leave early and go get tacos.  They saw their boss and one of them said, "We'll go whenever you're ready."

He said, "I'm ready."

So they hopped to it and we headed out.  Adam always rents a minivan for just such a time as this.  He loves driving people around.  He'd be a great Uber driver.

We went back to Velvet Taco and had a good time.  We dropped them off at their hotel (with the kolaches) and Adam dropped me off at our hotel and then he went back to the alumni party to help get Hootie sorted.  100% not his job, but he is always the good guy and I'm lucky to be married to someone like him.  Also, can we talk about Hootie?  It's the Sprinter van we took to Seattle a few years ago.  I kept calling it Hootie on that trip and Adam was not super enthusiastic about the name, but it stuck and now I hear all these people talking about Hootie and I feel like I have left my mark on the world.

It's the little things.

Saturday morning Adam was up and gone well before I woke up.  They hold two commencements in the day and I stayed in the hotel during the first one, happily with my book and embroidery.  I tried a little family history, but I was in the 1700s and clueless.

Adam picked me up and we checked out of our hotel and went back to the arena where the second commencement was already underway.  We got merrily waved through all the security checked back entrances and they moved cones so Adam could park in the loading dock area.  He had already made friends with all of them in his easy way.  A peek into the commencement team's job is pretty incredible.  One graduate had a broken shoe and they were on it, figuring out how to help.  Another graduate had her name wrong.  An employee came up to Adam and explained the problem and asked, "Do you know where Megan is?"

Adam said, "I will go look."  I was left with the graduate and nervously hand wringing employee and the guys watching all the screens behind the stage.  Megan showed up and whipped out an index card and pen from her bag and talked to the tech guy to change it on the screen.  I texted Adam, "They found Megan."

He later told me, "I had no idea who Megan was.  I'm still learning names.  I was going to try to find her picture on my phone."

I still loved his helpful posture.  It is one of his defining characteristics.

We chatted with a few more people, then found some seats and listened to a bit of the graduation.  I felt this swelling inside me when they had all the masters candidates stand.  I did that!

It is always very inspiring to go to the graduations.  One of the speakers talked about his wife picking up all the slack with their four children while he worked on his bachelors degree.  He said his whole motivation was those four children.  He said, "Now I don't wear work boots and overalls to work.  I'm business casual."

Everyone cheered.

Wes told us later that when he was handing out diploma covers, one of the graduates had the sash that indicated they were the first generation in their family to graduate college (43% of the graduates were!).  Wes said, "Congratulations on being the first generation."

The man said he was also the first high school graduate in his family.

Wes told him that he had changed his whole family.

I can see why those guys like working at WGU so much.

On a WGU high, I bought a sweatshirt.  One of the guys selling the shirts asked, "Who's the graduate?"

I said, "Me!"

We left the graduation and went to the Kimbell Art Museum.  It was amazing.  I love a good art museum.  I feel taller after looking at art.

Adam said, "Wes and Scott have to see this!"

He was going back to the graduation anyway to tell his team good job.  He left me at the museum.  I wandered around happily.

They returned and we only had a few minutes before we were taking them to the airport.   Like the teacher, I showed them the Michelangelo and Donatello.  I showed them the Monet which was one of his first exhibitions.  

I love art.

After dropping them off, we checked into a different hotel in Dallas.  It's kind of strange and not as nice as the photos online suggested, but it's fine.

A change is as good as a rest.

We went on a quest for New Haven style pizza in Garland.  They had a two hour wait so we opted for Tex Mex instead.

Today we're heading home and tomorrow I have early meetings at school.

Back to reality.

Grateful Friday

Fall break is going swimmingly.

I am grateful to be able to spend time with Adam exploring a new city.  That is my favorite.

Yesterday morning he worked and I did a little bit of training to be a mentor.  (I never asked to be a mentor and I have all these online courses associated with it and it's a pain, but that's a rant for another day.)

I also did a little embroidery and read.

We had lunch at Chicken Salad Chick with something like 18 varieties of chicken salad.

I used the bathroom and was so delighted with the signs, I took a picture.

I sent Adam to the men's bathroom (it was labeled Chick Magnets) to see if they had signs in there.

In the afternoon we went to the arena where the graduation will be held.  He introduced me to the commencement team and they were very nice to me.  They even gave me an all access pass which went straight to my head.

Adam did a walk through with them and I tagged along and it is a huge undertaking.  I think they are having about 1400 graduates.

One of Adam's employees, Liz, is an enthusiastic Texan and she had created an evening for us.  We picked her and another guy up at their hotel and went to the Stockyards.  A woman from the events team told us, "You have to go watch the cattle drive at the Stockyards!"  and a woman on the commencement team said, "You have to go watch the cattle drive at the Stockyards!"

We assured them we were going.

After all that build up, it was very anticlimactic.

About five cowboys drove about 15 longhorn cattle down the street.

Maybe if I had never seen cattle or cowboys it would have been more exciting.

One thing I noticed was that they all held their reins like Texans.  When I was growing up, my dad would tell me not to hold my reins like a Texan.  So based on that sample size, I guess it's a thing.

We walked around the Stockyards.  There were touristy souvenir shops and high end shops and lots of boots and hats for sale.  It was like Disneyland for Texans.  It was a fun vibe.

We met more of Liz's team and had dinner at a BBQ place.  We lingered and visited for a long while.  

Then we got ice cream.  A guy stopped me on the street and said, "Where did you get that?!?"

I pointed him to the ice cream shop.  Solidarity.  

We left the young to stay and go to the honky tonk and Adam and I gave Liz (who's about our age) a ride back to her hotel.

We're not the staying out late crowd.  Solidarity.

We talked to Braeden and QE and then Emma, which was nice.

Hoping Mark is still among the living.

I love being with Adam.  I love seeing him in his work element and learning more about what he does.

I'm grateful for this life.

Fall Break

Good morning from Fort Worth, TX.

Adam and I flew here yesterday.  I vacation where WGU has events and there's a graduation this weekend.  (I considered graduating because WGU graduates can graduate anywhere, but I decided I was not looking for the hassle.) 

We left from Provo.  Adam is the very king of cutting it close at airports (I'm not, Mark calls it exposure therapy for me).  The ladies at the TSA checkpoint lectured us about being late and then the flight hadn't even begun boarding.

Adam said he wanted to go back and say, "See?!?"

-We rented a car (not from Avis, thank you very much) and stopped at a Starbucks to use the wi-fi for a meeting Adam had.  I stayed in the car and called my mom.

My first time in the Dallas/Fort Worth area besides just being at the airport, it was kind of hard to get a sense of it.  Water towers, mega churches and lots of trees covering the city.  That's about what I saw.  

We checked into our hotel which is the same kind we stay at in California and it reminded me of QE.  The carpet is the same in the hall and it reminded me of her happily bouncing down the hall saying, "Off we go!  Off we go!" because we were heading to the pool.

We walked in the cool evening and I was wearing a denim jacket and it was the first time since last spring that I really needed a jacket and I was glad about it.  We explored a bit and liked what we saw.  Our destination was Velvet Tacos for dinner, which Adam had been to before.  He said we would do a taste test between there and Torchy's a different day.

But then Velvet Tacos was so good, he said, "Never mind, we don't need to go to Torchy's.  This is better."

I said, "Then let's come back here."

I would very gladly get that salmon taco again.

We walked back to our hotel and stopped to use my bird ID app because there was one spot where the trees were brimming with loud birds.  They were great tailed grackles and I googled it and a collection of grackles is called a plague.

I hope the grackles don't find out about that.  It might hurt their feelings.

Today, Adam has some work stuff and in the afternoon we are going to the Stockyards with one of his teams.  

I brought my embroidery.  Like I told Marianne, "Tell me you're a middle-aged woman without telling me  you're a middle-aged woman."  Turns out you can fly with scissors if they are under 4 inches.

Game changer.

Moms

Yesterday my mom commented on my blogpost:  I think your hair is lovely.

Most days it decidedly isn't, but my mom wouldn't believe that.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with Braeden a few weeks ago.  He was telling me that he got his courage up and asked one of his mentors what kind of university he could expect to get hired at, based on his work in his PhD program.

I said, "You should have just asked me."

I honestly didn't know why he needed to ask anyone else.  I know that answer.  Anywhere on this planet would be lucky to get my boy.

Braeden said, "I didn't ask you because you would have said I could get hired anywhere."

I said, "Well, you could."

I could tell Braeden didn't believe me any more than I believe my mom.

Here's the thing I always tell my kids though.  (It's a quote from the show Community that used to be on TV.)

Anyone who spent 9 months inside of me isn't good, they're great!

And if mothers think their children are amazing, it's just about quadrupled for grandmothers.  If QE ever needs a shot of confidence, I hope she asks me.

Because that girl's future is so bright, I need sunglasses.

Curly

 One of my students sat across my desk from me yesterday and asked, "Is it hard to have curly hair?"

Did she mean, "Is it hard to live up to expectations?"

Maybe she meant, "Is it hard to achieve curliness with your hair?"

Or, "Is it hard to walk around looking like that all day?"

Probably she meant the last one.  Sometimes I glance in the mirror partway through the day and I think, "Is that my hair?!?"

Every day is a new adventure.

Weekend

 Saturday morning I woke up crying from my dream.  That's an illustrious way to begin a day (or a blogpost).  I was dreaming that Braeden was leaving home.

I told Braeden about the dream and he said, "Usually when you wake up from a bad dream, you can feel relieved that it was only a dream, but not that one."

Nope.

The reality is that not only has Braeden left home, but his equally traitorous siblings have as well.

Sunday night was no better on the dream front.  I dreamt that my friend, Jamie, and I were in an elevator at school (there isn't one) and there was some kind of malfunction and the elevator tipped over and ended up upside down.  When we were finally rescued, Jamie went to the hospital, but I went back to my classroom because I had left my class alone (while I was joyriding in the non-existent elevator?).

When I woke up from that dream, I realized that the headache I had in the dream was not in fact from being upside down, but from the bump I got on my head when we landed, because I hadn't stayed upside down.

Slowly, it dawned on me that it had been a dream.

I don't know what any of this says about my mental state, but I remember very few of my dreams, so when I remember them, I guess I blog about them....

Besides my wacky dreams, we had a pretty good weekend.  A highlight for sure was going to the Orem temple with Mark to do baptisms.  He baptized and confirmed me.  The temple was beautiful and I loved the way I felt when we were inside and I loved being there with Mark and Adam.

Being in the temple with my children feels like all my dreams (the good kind) are coming true.

Adam and I, after careful deliberation, picked out a new Christmas tree for the living room.  We wanted it fairly tall and quite skinny (but not too skinny) with warm white LED lights.  Knowing what you want so specifically makes such hunts easier and harder, but we finally ended up with what we think is a winner.

I will love festooning it with red and white and straw ornaments.

Speaking of trees, when we were talking to Braeden and QE on Saturday we told them that we were on the hunt for a tree and QE said she wanted a pink Christmas tree.  I sent her this picture.

Braeden said she said, "Another one!" which is exactly what she says whenever I read her a story.  

I told Braeden, "Get the biggest aluminum Christmas tree you can find, Charlie Brown.  Maybe painted pink! Do something right for a change, Charlie Brown!"

I don't think he'll listen to me.

At church on Sunday, Adam got up to close the meeting and said, "Part of my responsibility as bishop is to correct false doctrine when it is taught in sacrament meeting."  There was the slightest intake of air in the room.

Adam continued, "Reddick said the bishop must hate him because he had to speak and he is teaching the lesson in priest's quorum, but the opposite is true."

I think I was the only person in the room who knew Adam well enough to not have a mini panic attack, thinking he was actually going to correct false doctrine right there in public.

Our ward choir resumed practicing yesterday and I went in solidarity with Emma because it means so much to her when people go to choir.

There were four of us who showed up.  We struggled through one of the songs and the choir director said, "That was pretty."

The accompanist, who has what no one would consider a poker face, shook her head no and said, "Maybe it will sound pretty eventually."

It took all my self discipline not to start giggling because I knew I would never stop.

Later in the afternoon I caused chaos on Family Search by messing up some merges.  I couldn't recreate what I had done because I hadn't written down ID numbers in my haste (I always write down ID numbers, but I was rushing because it was time to get ready for dinner).  Silly sad Thelma.  It felt even worse because it was Marie Louise's family I was messing with.

Our dinner guests came and we had a nice time.  After they left, Adam cleaned up the kitchen and I called a Family Search helper.  I explained my folly and she said, "Oh, I know.  I have been there."

So kind.

It made me want to be like that, even when people are hasty with merges on Family Search.