September 11

Yesterday when we said the pledge of allegiance, I considered these kids, safely going about their day on a sunny September.  I considered the peaceful mundane-ness of it all.

I don't take it for granted, not on September 11.

After math and morning recess, I sat them down and told them about September 11.  None of them knew anything about it.  I showed them some pictures and told them a very edited version of events.  I didn't tell them how many people died.  I told them about the heroes that ran to help.  I didn't tell them that many many of those heroes lost their lives.  I told them about the feeling of sadness, but also of patriotism and unity.

I told them even though we have a lot of different people in our country, we are in the same country and we can be kind to each other.

It's small, but I couldn't let the day pass without at least talking about it and remembering.

After school, Mark and I were going to go to Costco.  He came to my classroom and I sat him down at my desk.  I handed him a paper and a pen and told him to make a list and a menu.  I'm used to being bossy in that room, I'm also used to being a little bossy anytime with my kids so it works either way.

We were just about to leave for Costco and I realized that I didn't in fact have my wallet.  I had failed to put it back in my school bag after the weekend in my purse.

So that changed everything.

We went home and I got my wallet and I told Mark he might as well stay for dinner.  We went to Costco and bought a lot even though they didn't have the good gluten free bread or the good gluten free pizza.  Rats.  

After dinner, I put Mark to work on building my dresser.  He and Adam got it done.  

Having my kids attend college 30 minutes away is the best way to do it.  A few hours away?  Zero stars.  Do not recommend.

Weekend

Happenings:

Friday night we went to IKEA and walked around and looked at pretty stuff and I got a new dresser for my closet because my current one was old twenty years ago and one of the drawers is completely broken.

(I miss Mark because I would have had him assemble that dresser in minutes.  It is currently still in the boxes.  Maybe tonight...)

I talked to my mom and got the report on my dad.  I think he is in pretty good shape considering he is a great grandfather who was bucked off a horse.  It could have been so much worse.  He is in a lot of pain though and I hope and pray he heals quickly

Adam and I did our Saturday errands and why is that one of the favorite parts of my week even though I don't love errands? I guess because Adam.

Three girls at Winco said, "Mrs. Davis!?!"  I said hello to them and I only recognized one of them although they all seemed to know me.  I think I know every kid at that school, but I don't seem to after all.

Saturday we went to Lucette's baptism.  I was glad we were able to go.  It was a nice event.  Lucette asked Mason to speak which I thought was delightful.  He said, "In case you don't know me, I'm Lucette's cousin in law."

He did a great job and I told him he should be an elementary teacher.  (He teaches 5th grade so I guess other people agree with me about that one.)

We had a delicious dinner afterward at Ammon and Melanee's house and I enjoyed everything about it but didn't take a solitary picture.  Olivia sent this to our family WhatsApp situation so I promptly stole it.

At one point, Marianne said, "Look at Ammon, isn't he cute?"

I said, "We did a good job with him."

I think we deserve zero credit, but we claim some anyway.

Sunday we had the gang over for Sunday dinner. It is great to have them.  We ate and visited and had a Come Follow Me discussion.  Then, Adam had to go to a stake youth fireside and the rest of us took a walk by the Lindon temple.  The girls and I walked a little slowly because Liberty ran a half marathon yesterday and was a little sore.  The boys strode out ahead.

I love being with all of those kids.

Grateful Friday

As much as I loved being in Nevada the last two weekends, I am grateful we are home this weekend.  I will be able to do all the weekend things on the weekend rather than squeeze them into weekdays.

I talked to Mark last night and he seems happy and healthy and enjoying his life.  That makes me grateful.   Also, like I told him, I feel like I'm getting away with something this year.  My class is easier!  I don't have a head-ache every day.  It's pretty amazing.  I feel much better equipped to help the ones that need it and I am enjoying all of them more.  They are not without their challenges, but I am not without my resources.

For example, one of them hates to write.  As in, he'll tear up his paper, throw things and declares that he quits.  (He has a speech problem so he actually says, "I twit!" and it is adorable but I can't let him know that.)

I talked with Jamie about ideas.  She gave me about 6 different pencils and said maybe he would like one of them.  Maybe he hates writing because it texturally bothers him.  He immediately preferred one of them and I immediately ordered a package from Amazon.  He's been using Jamie's pencil and has been reverently presenting it to me at the end of each day.  He loves that pencil!

The package I ordered arrived yesterday.

You just never know what it's going to take to make something work better.

I have one little guy who complains most mornings of a stomach ache.  Yesterday it finally occurred to me to ask him what he had eaten for breakfast.  He said, "Nothing.  I didn't have breakfast."

I got him a fruit snack he said, "Wow, teacher!  That really helped!"

Imagine.

I'm grateful that I can buys pencils and snacks when needed.  I'm grateful for every little way I can pave the road a little easier for them.

Because I love those kids!

Finally, something I'm decidedly not grateful for.  My dad was bucked off a horse yesterday.  (Will someone please tell my dad he is too old for stuff like that?!?) I'm grateful he went to the hospital. (It's not a foregone conclusion with that guy that he will go to the doctor.)  I'm grateful he didn't need surgery--at least not so far.  He has several broken bones in his back and his ribs.  I hurt for him and I'm so sorry for the pain he is enduring and will continue to endure while he heals.  

Last night as my siblings and I were glued to our phones for updates, I knew they were praying like I was.  I'm grateful my sisters are there to help (Olivia is dropping Ruben off at college right now, but she will be back and she is a force to be reckoned with much like Marianne is).  I'm grateful Tabor was coincidentally on his way there.

Families are a really good invention.

Things I love

I love being greeted enthusiastically by my former students.  A gaggle of fifth graders approached me yesterday.  The girls threw their arms around me.  The boys came toward me then took a few steps back, not sure.  I just greeted them jovially and it was all good.  My current students wondered who they were and I said, "Some of my favorite fifth graders."

They said, "You have favorites!" and gasped like they'd just uncovered a moral failing.

Well, I do.  I would never reveal which ones, but I'll tell you this for free:  it isn't the whiny ones.

I love the things third graders say.  I was helping a student solve an addition problem.  He was adding the ones.  "What is 4 + 8?" I asked.

He said, "That is usually 12."

I guess regrouping can cause you to doubt yourself at times.

I love the laughter at faculty meetings.  We are back to all liking and trusting each other.

I love the way fresh basil smells.  I bought a pot yesterday because the one by my kitchen sink is looking anemic.  I'm not ready to give up on it yet (I'm rarely ready to give up on a plant), but I needed basil, so what's two basil plants between friends?

I love that it's cooler and we can open the windows in the evening without heating up the house.

I love the Book of Mormon.  I read it between Memorial Day and Labor Day and it is like a friend I never get tired of.

Clip up clip down

I have a few students with behavior charts.  One of them is neither defiant nor unwilling to work, he is just impulsive.   He is big and loud and exuberant.  He calls out whatever happens to be on his mind whenever he wants.

He sort of reminds me of Mark at that age.

He has a chart and if he just can't stop yelling and bouncing and hurling himself around the room, the clip moves down.

If he sits still and does his work for a few blessed minutes, the clip goes back up.  If he ends on green, which is the top of the chart, he gets a prize at the end of the day.

Most of the day he is hurtling around at top speed or remembering his chart and asking if he can clip up.

The answer is usually 1) no and 2) sit down.

He is charming and funny and he knows it.  He also makes all the girls giggle.  

Yesterday I was right in the middle of a phonics lesson and he called out, "Do you hate Tongans?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Do you think white people are the smartest people?"

I said, "No."

I said, "These are good questions, but we are doing phonics right now, so can we talk about this later?"

He said, "OK."

During writing, we are doing personal narratives.  One choice is they can write from a strong emotion.  I have encouraged them to remember a time when they were happy, sad, nervous, excited, scared, etc.

I said, "For example, one time I was scared when my sister and I were driving in the snow and our car slipped off the road and we got stuck in a snowbank."

My irrepressible friend asked, "Did you pray?"

I said, "Yeah, we actually did.  And our dad came with a shovel and dug us out of the snow."

"Was it your dad or your Father?" He pointed to the ceiling.

I said, "It was my dad."

Another girl raised her hand, "You should pray when you're scared."

I agreed.

Sometimes they remind me in no uncertain terms that I teach school in Utah County.

I eventually got the lesson back on track.  I eventually got through the day.  We clipped up and down many many times.

Weekend

 Friday Adam and I drove to Nevada.  The sky was glorious.

The land of the setting sun.  Nevada sunsets will always be my favorite sunsets.

All was peaceful at our house--the owls have been awol and there were no furry friends in the traps which I'm still low key nervous to check every time we arrive.  It was windy though.  One of the big poplars in the front yard is basically a hollow shell being held up by its bark and that is a little unsettling when it's outside the bedroom, but we are living dangerously, I guess.  Dealing with trees is on the list.

It's a long list.

Saturday I cleaned the entire house from top to tip.  It's both not that dirty because nobody lives here and dirty because no one lives here.  It makes sense in my head.  I hung up a clock in our bathroom.  I puzzled about which wall to hang it on.  Do I want to be able to see it when I get ready at the sink?  Do I want to be able to see it from the bathtub?  Do I want to be able to see it from the bedroom?  In the end, I told Adam I let my grandparents make the decision.  There was a nail hole in one of the logs so I hung the clock there.

Marianne and my mom and I went to Olivia's to work more on Ruben's quilt.  Olivia gave me some fresh peach pie which was delightful.  Adam went to town to buy a ladder.  My mom, Marianne and Olivia all said, "We have a ladder!  He could have borrowed it."

I know.  Adam knows.  We all know.  That guy does what he wants.  I told him he needs to embrace the borrowing lifestyle there, but maybe like dealing with the trees, he will get to it later.

My next job after cleaning the house was to edge the front steps.  That maybe seems like not a top priority, but I started it anyway.

Started it, but then my dad came over on his buggy and I stood and visited with him and pet his horse and asked him what the weird looking bug thing was that I found.  He said it was a crawdad.  I said it was too small and too far away from the water.  Nevertheless, that is what he said it was.

It was about the size of my thumb and the crawdads I used to try to catch in Boulder Creek were about twice as big.  I don't know.

My uncle Drew drove up and he said that that poplar has been hollow for years, the home of the starlings.  That makes me feel better that it's held up this long and worse that maybe it can't hold up much longer.

I abandoned my step edging project because I was supposed to be at Marianne's.

At Marianne's we convened to get ready for Carolina's surprise party.  Marianne assigned me to assemble and frost the four layer cake.  Carolina decorates and sells amazing and artistic cakes and Marianne wanted me do her cake?!?  It was like her telling me to make some spurs for my dad and reconcile my mom's bank statement!

So it was with some trepidation, but I did the cake.  My dad and Olivia and Marianne made a balloon arch, Robert set up all the tables and chairs and Marianne kept giving my mom jobs that she would sit down to do.  It is a constant battle to get that woman to sit!  Everything came together and the party was in good order when kids started arriving.

Marianne didn't know who would come because teenagers aren't exactly the stalwarts of RSVP-ing, but more and more kids kept coming.  Everybody loves Carolina and that is all.  Marianne started worrying she didn't have enough food (and she had a lot of food-- also I texted Marianne later, and she didn't run out of food!)

Carolina arrived with some friends who had taken her to town and she was sufficiently surprised.

While I had been involved in all of that, Adam had tried to repair the roof where an ice dam had curled back the roof (it will need more help, but it's good enough for now), had trimmed along the brook some and had done some mowing.  

We were both pretty tired!  It's not always the most restful place to come to, but we also love it.  It's beautiful and it's ours and I love the neighborhood!

Sunday we went to church, which I always enjoy and came home to a terrific thunderstorm.  There was wind, rain, hail and a leaky roof (not by the ice dam, but in the bay window).  It was something!  Here is a hailstone I picked up on the back steps.

We were having everyone over for dinner and it was such a dark and moody sky, I wished I had tea lights for the tables.  Instead I went out by the garage and cut some of my grandma's cutleaf coneflowers that were drooping after the storm.  (My sisters call them goldenrod and I didn't think they were goldenrod, so I googled it.)

Whatever they are, they brightened the table almost like candlelight.

I also put a little crabapple at each place.  Even when it is decidedly unfancy, I love setting the table and my dad makes fun of me for taking a picture, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

We had a nice evening eating (everyone brought food, which is the norm around there and makes everything easier and better) and visiting. 

Monday morning I worked a little more on my front steps project, but was impeded by some big tree roots.  I took a walk with Clarissa...and some others.  (She told me she wanted to be featured on my blog so she was really an integral part of that walk!). Adam and I did exciting things like label the breaker box and we also watched some deer who came to sample the apples.

We made it home in time for dinner.  It was such a nice long weekend.  We had our projects, but enough rest too.  I love being there.  It never fails to remind me where I came from and that even after a big thunderstorm, the sun always comes back out.

Grateful Friday

A long weekend!  Adam and I are going to Nevada and I am not sad about it.

I'm grateful he is back from Phoenix.  He was gone most of the week, returned yesterday.  Last night there were two plastic forks on the counter.  He pointed to them and said, "I brought you something."

"Forks?"

He said, "They come with accessories."

There was Portillo's cake in the fridge.  The only thing better than Portillo's cake is a Portillo's strawberry milkshake and I know the 118 degree Phoenix temperature wouldn't have helped that along.

I'm also grateful for beautiful weather, behavior charts that work, my friends, our kids and getting to see my parents and sisters and some of their families this weekend.

I'm grateful it will be autumn soon because I love autumn.

And a long weekend with Adam.  Did I mention that?