Grateful Friday

It's conference weekend in October!  I think this is my favorite weekend of the whole year.  I love General Conference in October and April but I especially love autumn, so October wins.  The mountains are aflame with red trees and it makes my heart sing.

I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and spending time being spiritually fed and lifted.  

Mark's going to spend the weekend and we're going to squeeze in yard work between Saturday sessions (we promised Mark we wouldn't make him mow).  

I'm grateful for this weekend.

I'm grateful that tonight we're going with friends to see Nate Bargatze perform.  Adam and I have watched his Netflix special and he is funny!  It will be a good time and I will try my best not to turn into a pumpkin as I stay out past my bedtime.

I'm grateful for my glasses.

Yesterday we read a story about Benjamin Franklin and some of his inventions.  He invented bifocals!  I told my class that I had some.  "Did Ben Franklin make your glasses?!?"

How old do they think I am?

Then they all wanted to try them on and I told them they looked very fashionable.  One little girl who sits in the front because she can't see and has lost her glasses, said she could see!  It reminded me I need to see what I can do to get her some glasses.

I'm grateful for modern medicine.  I always am (see: Mark and all my other loved ones who are still alive because of modern medicine).  I have decided to try a new route with my neck/back/headaches.  A Spine and Pain Clinic opened nearby and if that isn't right up my alley, I don't know what is.  I went yesterday.  Assuming my insurance is OK with it, I'm going to get a nerve ablation and physical therapy. I called to report to my sisters and Marianne told me that it is good for her first year teacher daughters to read about my travails on my blog.

We're all in this together!

And speaking of that, I'm grateful for the teachers who share their stories with me.  I feel less alone too.  Yesterday another teacher had a student with an accident (number 2 and that is horrific) and a student throw up.  On the same day.

A different teacher cried when talking about low reading scores. (She may or may not be a 4th grade teacher with a lot of my former students....)  It feels so helpless and hopeless at times.

We have each other to laugh and cry and feel horrified with.  We try and we fail (the mean girl talk didn't really solve anything).

We try again.

And it's definitely not all terrible.  They think I'm funny (and not many people do after all).  Yesterday I sneezed and said, "I must be allergic to third graders!"

It slayed them.

Always an adventure

Yesterday Hannah, who is the third grade intern, said, "I still love this job, but somedays I think, why am I doing this?!?"

I said, "I know!"

She said, "It is always an adventure." 

And that is true.  

Yesterday the boy who lost his shoes had a missing backpack.  This one he was very stressed about.  He said, "It was my dad's when he was in high school!"

I sent out an email to all the teachers and within 30 minutes it was back in our classroom.  (Kindergartners had it....)

Even after school I had teachers emailing to make sure it was found.  

And someone also told me I had cute shoes.

Teachers are nice.  Girls aren't always nice.

I had a ring of mean girl action going on yesterday.  (Last year rowdy boys, this year mean girls.)

I had five of them sit at my desk while I took everyone else to computers.  I said, "I'll come back and talk to you."

I came back to five silent girls with nervous faces.

I told them that girls are REALLY good at being nice.  Better than boys, I thought.  I asked them to tell me what a good friend is like.

I told them that girls are REALLY good at being mean.  Way better than boys.  I asked them to tell me what a mean girl is like.

I told them it was up to them if they wanted to be mean or nice.

By the end they were all crying.  One sobbed in my arms and then I gave her a Kleenex and told her to go to computers.

My circus + my monkeys

Adam said, "I hope it wasn't your shoes."

There's that, at least.  My shoes didn't go missing.

Yesterday was A WHOLE DAY.  

For starters, it was picture day.  Before school, the teachers had to get their pictures taken and we were all a little cranky about it.  We stood in line and grumped.

Matt said not to go to recess until we had had our students' pictures taken.

But then it all took waaaaaaay longer than it was supposed to.  Guess who gets upset when their recess is late?

Third graders.

Everyone was increasingly frayed around the edges and they kept asking me when will it be our turn for pictures?!?

I could say I don't know a million different ways and it wouldn't have made a difference. (I know this because I did.)  There were the students whose mom made them dress up and they were unhappy about it.  There were the students who forgot it was picture day and they'd just worn regular clothes and they were either unhappy or fine with it.  Either way, they wanted to talk about it.  Then there were the students who brought the money for a picture order and the ones who did not and they were all stressed about it because Teacher, what do I do with this?!?  and also, Teacher, I didn't bring money! and Teacher, I think my mom forgot!

It's fine.  I said.  It's fine.

Finally, we got the call to go for pictures.  I had a student who refused to put his arms inside his sleeves and the picture taker refused to be OK with it.

I finally talked him out of the turtle look.  Then he refused to smile.  Re-fused.  The photographer was persistent.  Finally I said, "I think that is as good as it is going to get." She told me to move because I was blocking the flash.  (She did let the poor kid move on though.)

By lunchtime, I felt like I needed a nap, but we were just getting started.

Let me just give you the run down of the cast of characters.

The recess aide:  she is a mom and as such 1) refused to give up in the face of something missing and 2) knows shoes are important

The one who lost his shoes:  completely ambivalent.  He's the most chilled out islander around and shoes vs. no shoes?  No big deal.  He could have cared less.

The girls in my class:  little mother hens.  They were completely bent out of shape that the shoes were missing and they had all sorts of wild theories.

The boy who actually knew something:  Um, Teacher?  I know who took the shoes.  I appreciated his knowledge + wondered why he didn't come forward with the information about 15 minutes earlier.

The liar next door:  I didn't take the shoes (he had).

His accomplice:  I don't know anything about it (he did).

So Miriam's boys finally confessed and produced the shoes and I was left putting together the pieces.  Meanwhile, one of my students from last year was supposed to be at recess herself, but instead pressed her face up to the window of my classroom for reasons beyond my understanding. And let me tell you, my already riled up class was not having it.

I kept saying ignore her and she will go away and she kept not going away.

Later in the day, when things finally started to feel rebalanced, one of my struggling behavior champions (he's so good at it) flipped out so much we had to evacuate and lock down the classroom.

Just another day in paradise.

A little bit of light

Sometimes school is downright discouraging.

There are the students who struggle academically.  So much.  As in, I wonder how they will ever catch up.

There are the students who struggle at home.  Sometimes the glimpses into the chaos take my breath away.

They play video games that no children should play.  Some of them seem to have free rein on YouTube.  I heard the other day that this is the first generation of Americans that will be less educated than their parents.

It all makes me sad and...discouraged.

Yesterday though, we were reading a book about Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy.  It was outlining the similarities and differences between the two.  It talked about slavery and Jim Crow laws.

A student asked, "But Teacher, why would Black people not be able to go to the same school as white people?"

I said, "Because they were wrong."

I don't know how else to explain it.

When I read about the Emancipation Proclamation, and that it meant there were no more slaves, most of the class erupted into cheers.

It warmed my heart.

They are a diverse, multicultural group.  Some of them speak other languages in addition to English and are navigating a world their parents don't understand as well.  Some of them belong to churches and some of them don't. Some of them have strong families and some of them do not.  I love that they don't seem to see each other as "other."  I love that they recognize the inherent wrongness of racism.

It's not all discouragement.

Weekend

Friday I had an appointment with a podiatrist about a tailor's bunion on my foot.  What an exciting sentence that was for a starter.  He said that I have deformed foot bones and that I've probably had them my whole life, they are just causing problems now.  

I remember my grandma telling me not to get old.

I tried, Grandma.  I failed.

He gave me a shot on my right foot.  He said it would be sore for the weekend.  The weekend is when I do all the things.  I asked if I needed to take it easy.  He said, "Well, don't hike Timp, but if you need to go to the store, you can."

Also I don't think I'm at risk to become a steroid user.  It has made my cheeks flush and made me feel weird and shaky off and on all weekend.

Not all that fun.

Emma and I met for tacos on her way home from work, so that was a compensation.  We went to Don Joaquin which is so good.  I also know it's good because Edgar likes it too.

Saturday morning I went to my classroom to work for a little while because I'd left early on Friday and it had been a weird week and I had stuff to do.  I could have stayed for hours, but that will always be the case.  Emma met me and we went grocery shopping together.  I have a student who refuses to do his work mostly (he is on the spectrum and is super smart + super hard to coerce).  I bought him some mechanical pencils that he likes and he will use them (sometimes).  He burns through them and I have four that need to be refilled and I can't figure out how to do it.  I told Emma we needed to get refills for them but I didn't know if they would have them at Winco.  I would have wandered aimlessly, but Emma led me right to the aisle.  She is not a frequent Winco shopper.  She just had an inkling they would be over in the short aisles by the seasonal stuff.

Is she a wizard?

Mark is also a wizard and I decided to task him with refilling the pencils when he came over for Sunday dinner.

Maybe wizards are on my brain because Adam and Emma and Braeden and Anna are all currently rereading Harry Potter.

In the afternoon I pulled out some autumnal things.  While we were heating up some soup for dinner, I pointed out to Emma that I was not sure about the mantle.  She said, "Do you mind if I tinker?"

Of course not!  I felt so proud!

She climbed up on the hearth and moved the candlesticks a fraction and I said, "That is so much better!"

It's the little things.

We watched While You Were Sleeping.  It is one of those movies I could watch over and over (and I have).  The older I get the more I want to be Midge when I grow up.

Adam got home in the middle of the night.  He flew home early so he could be my emotional support husband for my sacrament meeting talk.

He's a good one.

As predicted, my talk was survived and I felt a lot better when it was over.

We talked briefly to Braeden and Anna and QE.  She is recently enamored with Curious George and Anna read the book to her so we could see her reaction.  She would say, "Oh no!" and "Oh boy!" and the little sounds she makes when she is trying out new words reminds me so much of Braeden!

We love that girl!

We had the group over for dinner which is always fun.  We ate, discussed Come Follow Me a little and went outside and played Cornhole.  We had four teams:  the Kepfords, the Johnsons, the Davises, and the old Davises.  Adam and Nikki were the most consistent and we decided that maybe it was because they didn't have any Dahl blood....

It ended up in our tournament with the Kepfords and Johnsons in the championship round (I think Hyrum and Clarissa won?) and the rest of us lost interest to see who was the winner of the loser bracket.

We're not very competitive as a family.

I'm looking forward to a week of Adam home.  It's the calm before the storm because October is going to be one busy month.

At least it will be October and I love October.

Grateful Friday

Another Friday.  It seems like it came around quickly.  

Adam's out of town and I especially miss him on weekends when we are mostly together.  I'll have to rope Emma into going grocery shopping with me.

I'm grateful she's around.  I don't even want to mention it because I don't want to jinx it, but I'm glad she's home for now.

I'm grateful that it's been such a topsy turvy week, I haven't even thought too much about the fact that I am speaking in church on Sunday.

I am.

Now that I think about it, I am nervous, but it will be over after Sunday.  I have a 100% survival rate for church talks so I think I'll make it.

I'm grateful it is autumn.  The air feels cooler, the mountains have a wash of red and orange leaves in spots.  I love everything about autumn.  The crunchy apples, the spicy scents, the cozy feeling, lighting a candle.  Sign me up.

I'm grateful my headache went away.  

I'm grateful I was able to talk to Braeden yesterday and hear QE babble in the background.  They were on their way home from Costco, where Braeden had bought "a lot" of ice cream sandwiches for a ward party.  He said, "I didn't know how many we would need or what the budget was so I just bought a lot."

I bet it will work.

I found two caterpillars on my geraniums while he told me about the high stakes exams he had just taken and the promising developments in getting a paper published he co-wrote.  Just when did he get to be such a grown up?  Also, I thought I pulled the geraniums inside before the caterpillars descended but it turns out I did not.

He needed to go and told QE to say good-bye.  She urgently said, "Nana!  Nana!" and how am I supposed to say good-bye to that?!?  Braeden said a cheerful, "Love ya Mom!" and they were gone.

I'm grateful every day to be a mother and a grandma.  I love how much they get me.  For example, both of my boys have told me, in September, what they want for Christmas.  They know their mother.  It just keeps getting better.

Weird day

Tuesday I had a headache all day.  I went to the chiropractor after school and it was one of the times where he was astounded by how messed up my neck was--my hip too.  I still had a headache.

We went to Culver's for dinner because it was Bonneville night there.  It is always a lot of fun.  The place is packed with Bonneville families.  My students who I'd just seen a few hours earlier and they weren't at all thrilled about it were over the moon to see me at Culver's.  I don't know.  Teachers outside the school are way more exciting than teachers inside the school.

My head still hurt and I didn't feel like eating much.

I had a hard time sleeping because my head hurt so much.  At 2:00 AM, I wrote some marginally coherent sub plans for the morning.  I decided that my headache would be gone by the afternoon.

I finally slept and woke up around 7:30.  My headache was gone but so was my energy.  I was completely sapped.  I decided to go tidy up the house a bit but I never did.  I just was empty.  

I wasn't hungry but I made a peanut butter and jam sandwich and took it with me to school.  When I let my students in from lunch recess, one of them said, "Finally! You're back."

They have zero sympathy for teachers missing a day of school.  They take it as a personal affront.

I felt a lot better, but it was clear to me that I was still a little foggy when I passed out papers and kept missing students.  "Teacher!  You forgot me!"

When they went to art class, I was finally hungry and I ate my sandwich.  The day was over really quickly (a half day will do that) and then I had a School Community Council meeting of which I am a reluctant member.

When that was over, there were definitely things I could have done around my classroom, but I went home and took a nap.

Don't underestimate the power of a nap at 5:00 PM.  Conventional wisdom would say it isn't a good time to nap, but they would say 2:00 AM is a bad time to write sub plans so conventional wisdom...well, it's not  wrong.

Adam is in Chicago and I had a dinner date with Janelle at Chubby's.  It was so good to see her!  I miss her.  We caught up on all the things and we planned a party.  We decided that we are going to have a teacher friend party every time grades are due.  That will remind us.  We got out our calendars and wrote a  guest list.  It was the most normal time in the 24 hours.