Grateful Friday

Yesterday I sat in the outer office (I was waiting to talk to the principal).  I was chatting with one of the secretaries and one of the teachers.  The teacher was also having a skirmish with the copy machine.  The secretary was messing with a fidget spinner that someone had left on her desk.  We considered all the destructive ways our students would deal with the fidget spinner.

I leaned back in the comfy chair I had been directed to when I started my wait for the principal and we compared notes on the day.  For my part, I had a student throw up (twice) inside his shirt because he was embarrassed and didn't want everyone to see and I confiscated the Kleenex because there were piles of used Kleenex all over and THAT HAS TO STOP.  From now on they can come and ask me for one and I can make sure it gets thrown away.

(I went to college for this. On purpose.  I don't know.)

Also, I'm probably going to develop the immune system of a superhero.

What I'm grateful for is the easy and companionable feeling of sitting in the comfy chair in the office and talking to the other women, battle weary from the day.  I know for a fact because I have witnessed it first hand that they are both in possession of big hearts and steely wills.  We are in this together because deep down, we truly love it.

(Just not the nasty parts. Seriously.)

Carry on

Every time challenges arise (so, you know, often) I feel a pang of guilt that I shouldn't be working.  Mark needs me at home.

Except he really doesn't.

If I weren't working I would probably see him more in a day but not a lot when you consider his busy schedule.

It occurred to me that maybe I am grieving (for lack of a better word) and trying to adjust to the change of lifestyle and circumstances, kind of like moving to a new city.  It takes time to feel like yourself.

Some days I get notes from students professing their love and gratitude for me.  Some days they hug me and eagerly tell me their news.  Some days the light of learning glows in their eyes and they are enthusiastic and clever.

Some days they are rotten.  They roll their eyes and are sassy.  They drop one of my books on the floor and mindlessly step on it.  They refuse to work.  They steal from each other.  They are mean on the playground.  They refuse to try.  They refuse to stop talking.  They refuse to stay in their seats.

Those are the days when I wonder, what am I doing?  Some days I'm scowling on the inside all day long.  (But I must have a passable poker face because one of them told me recently she couldn't imagine me getting mad.)

Every once in a while I get an inkling of it mattering though.  I had a girl tell me she wants to be a teacher because of me but she wants to stay home with her kids too.  I told her that was exactly what I'd done and she nodded in major approval of both her life choices and mine.

I taught them yesterday that brang isn't a word.  They were shocked and surprised and told me all the people in their lives who use brang as a word.

"Not a word," I said.  "Not. A. Word."  If they remember that one fact, I will have made a difference in the world.

The other day I was filling out security questions associated with a password change.  One of the security questions was your third grade teacher's name.

Everyone remembers their third grade teacher's name.  It was at once validating and concerning.  How will they remember their third grade teacher?  I want them to feel loved and encouraged.

I guess this all my way of telling myself to keep trying.

Five lists

Five things I'm tired of:

- wearing layers

- wearing socks and shoes

- the presidential election

- Facebook

- whiny children

Five things I miss:

- complaining about the heat

- being barefoot on grass

- warm evenings on the deck

- having all my children home

- walking with my friends

Five things I'm looking forward to:

- summer (clearly I have spring fever)

- getting some things spiffed up in our house

- BYU Women's Conference

- reading more books

- trips I'm daydreaming about

Five things I like about every day:

- reuniting with Adam and Mark

- overnight oats every morning for breakfast

- read aloud time

- chatting with fellow teachers

- texting my children

Five things I will remember fondly about this time in my life:

- being around school children

- hugging Mark

- Sundays with my college kids

- going to concerts at BYU and performances at PGHS

- free tickets to the Hale Theater

Face to Face

There are no two ways about it, diabetes is a pain.  Saturday night was rough for Mark because his infusion site was infected and his blood glucose was high and he didn't sleep well because his pump didn't want him to. (It vibrates and buzzes and chirps like a nervous mother hen.)

Sunday afternoon when it was time for the Face to Face meeting with President and Sister Oaks, I went downstairs and Mark was sound asleep.  We decided to let him sleep and we watched the meeting last night instead.

I loved it.  For one thing, Kristin Oaks taught one of my classes at BYU and I have loved her ever since.  It was a 6 credit spring term class so I had a lot of time with her.  She is wonderful.  It was a class where we were in classrooms and she would evaluate our teaching.  Every time she evaluated me, she'd start by saying, "First of all, Thelma, you look beautiful."

How can you not love someone like that?

What I really loved about the Face to Face was that President Oaks reminded me so much of my grandpa.  I kept thinking I should text my siblings and see if they saw what I saw but then I'd remember that they'd probably watched it the night before.

I've never compared President Oaks to my grandpa because behind a podium, speaking formally, President Oaks never reminded me of him.  But there was something about the casual setting and the way he gestured and the expressions he had.  After, I told Adam and Mark, "I feel like I just spent time with my grandpa."

It was a nice feeling.

I also felt very encouraged and inspired by the meeting.  I felt this love of all the youth by the Oaks.  They seemed to just emanate this awareness of the potential of everyone in that room.  It made me think about how Heavenly Father feels about each one of us.  He loves us.  He sees potential.  He is happy with the feeble efforts we make and wants us to make more.  He will help us.

So I was reminded of my grandpa. I was reminded of Kristin Oaks and how kind she was. I was reminded of my car pool friends I drove to Sandy with every day during that spring term.  (Two were sort of brash and from New Jersey and the other was from Arizona and had this aloof manner but we all got to be good friends.  I haven't thought about them in years!)

Mostly I was reminded that we are God's children and He has a plan for us and help built into that plan.

Not bad for an evening of watching a rebroadcasted video!

Weekend with Adam

When we realized Saturday was opening day of spring training, we scrapped our Sunday meal plans in favor of ballpark food.  Seasons need to be acknowledged.

We all wore Mariner's shirts (and gave Desi one to wear.)  I decorated the table with a succulent and a baseball (I didn't have a cactus and it's the Cactus League for spring training).

I also pulled out this pennant Braeden and Anna gave Adam for Christmas.

Desi was very patient with us, listening to us rhapsodize about baseball and Dave Niehaus and our favorite Mariners.

I never even watched a baseball game before marrying Adam.

***

Saturday night, Adam and I tried to watch Sanditon but I was sound asleep at 9:00 p.m.  I said, "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Adam said, "You're old."

That seemed like a pretty sassy thing to say for someone who is the exact same age as I am.

***

Adam asked me to speak in church in a few weeks.  I asked for how long.  He said 10-12 minutes.  I said, "That is too long.  I can't speak for that long.  I've never spoken for that long in my life."

(I mean, besides on the phone, to my sisters or Janet.)

He said, "It's not that long."

Friday night I asked him again how long he wanted me to speak.  He said, "I already told you how long and you said no."

"Well, yeah," I said. "That's too long."

He said it wasn't too long.

I pointed out to him that I had all the power because I could sit down whenever I was done.  I said, "You should find another speaker to add."

We will see how this drama unfolds.

***

After dinner Sunday we played Cover Your Assets.  I was doing quite well until all the rats turned on me and stole my assets.  I ended up losing and Adam ended up winning.  He had about 8 times as much money as I did.

He smiled at me and said that since we were married, what was his was mine.

I like that we're married.  (And not just because he will share his fake money with me in Cover Your Assets.)

Grateful Friday

When Mark was born, I felt guilty that I didn't have nearly the razor sharp attention to give to him that I had with his siblings.  I had these two bigger kids who took a lot of my time.

Then one day I realized that giving Mark Braeden and Emma more than compensated for my lack of time.

I still am narcissistic enough to believe my children are a gift.  Now I share them with my students.

We've been studying biomes and they selected a biome to research and write about.  A lot of them chose the taiga because wolves.  Braeden and Anna came to my classroom yesterday to talk about the taiga in Russia (Anna) and to show a Minecraft rendition of different biomes (Braeden).  They brought their sparkle and enthusiasm.  Desi was right about those two.  Power couple.

Anna was a natural.  They were entranced.

The kids loved them and asked a million random questions and I also loved it.  As a bonus, we've been reading about the first flight this week so Braeden showed some pictures of his visit to Kitty Hawk and told them about it.  He even showed them where it is on the map.  That's my son, using the map.

Mark wonders when he gets to come and I don't know.  For one thing, he has school.  For another thing, I'm not sure what he would share that would align with our curriculum.  I mean he's awesome at building and fixing things and cracking me up and he knows every song from the 80s but we aren't really studying that stuff.  (Also he knows some Spanish but my native Spanish speakers know more.)

(He could teach them light saber moves; they would lose their minds.  Maybe for an end of year party....)

Anyway.  I'm grateful for my kids.  It's fun to share them with my students and vice versa.

***

We went to Emma's concert last night and I LOVED IT.  Carmina Burana was astounding.

All four choirs plus the philharmonic orchestra were crammed on the stage and I spent the entire time scanning the identically dressed white girls who all had their dark blonde/light brown hair pulled back to see which one was Emma.  It was like Where's Waldo except way harder.  I never did find her and it turned out that where we were sitting made it impossible to see her anyway.

She was lovely and ebullient after and I would have loved to get a treat and visit with her like we used to do after her concerts, but Mama has a bedtime.  I love having Emma in choir concerts again. (And I wish we'd taken a picture of her.)

I'm grateful we live close to BYU.

***

I have been thinking about how fortunate I am to be able to do something I love.  It feels like a gift and when I consider the opportunities and people and circumstances who helped me get where I am, I realize it is a gift and I probably didn't deserve it.

I'm grateful for my education and opportunities.

Happiness is...

...two simple words:  no cavities.  Mark and I went to the dentist yesterday.

...finding the perfect resource to teach something online.  Teachers Pay Teachers is my love language.

...sunshine.

...seeing the looks on my students' faces when I read to them.  I just finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I loved seeing their delight.

...serendipity.  I brought little Hershey's bars (the tiny ones with four little squares) because we were starting fractions and food always helps.  1/4 of a chocolate bar, you get the idea.  They had been telling me I needed to bring them chocolate when I finished the book.  It just worked out on the same day and they thought I had fulfilled their wish.  Also, they made little Golden Tickets to show me and I told them all they could come to my chocolate factory.

...Emma's concert tonight.  I've missed going to her concerts.

...outsmarting Mark.  He hasn't fully recovered from the exhaustion related to his show.  Partly because he has a bad cold and partly because he worked until 10:30 the other night.  Yesterday he was lying on the couch with his head lolling.  I asked, "Do you have homework?"  He moaned and groaned and said something unintelligible.  I remembered I had a Costa Vida gift card one of my students gave me for Christmas.  I asked him if he wanted to go there for dinner.  He perked up a little and said yes.

I said, "As soon as your homework's done, we'll go."

And I went upstairs and he got right to work.  I don't care how tired that kid is, he loves Costa Vida.

The thing causing me the most happiness:  Adam is coming home from his business trip.  I like having him around.

Sunrise sunset

Swiftly flow the days.

Yesterday one of my students asked me, "What's next on the list?"

Um.

She said, "You know, Valentine's Day then..."

"Oh.  St. Patrick's Day is the next holiday."

Later in the day another one wondered if we were halfway through the school year yet.  I said, "More than halfway."

That was met with exclamations of either glee or sadness.  It depended on the student.

Time is skipping right along.

Mark's show is over and fingers crossed we have more time together.  It is lighter later and earlier as we're heading toward spring.

All the routines and mundane tasks and milestones and performances and garbage cans to drag to the street and bills to pay and laundry to fold and dishwasher to empty add up to time passed.

Lately Adam and I have been talking about the unsettling reality of four seniors next year.  Braeden and Anna and Emma are all planning to graduate from BYU and Mark from high school.  The what's next beyond that is almost entirely out of our hands which feels weird.

I mean, haven't we been in charge all these years?

Adam pointed out to me that just how you have to set expectations before you need them in parenting because you don't know when it's too late, you have to figure out when to back off and how much to back off when they're staring down adulthood.  The reaction singed into us is to intervene and give advice and/or instructions.  It takes skills I have yet to hone to step back and let them do their thing sans comments from me.

Is this the little girl I carried?
It this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise sunset, sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly flow the days,
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as they gaze...

Terrorist negotiations

Braeden and Anna brought a stuffed sloth with them to celebrate Emma's birthday on Sunday.  (Like you do?)

They accidentally left it here, so Mark sent them this:

We were meeting for lunch to celebrate Emma further (and she's been wanting to go to Cracker Barrel ever since she was in France).

Braeden and Anna called immediately to negotiate with Mark.  They called on FaceTime because they wanted reassurance their sloth wasn't hurt.

So, my kids aren't getting any less weird.

And Mark forgot to take the sloth to lunch.

Despite the conflict, we did manage to have an enjoyable time.  And Mark and Braeden did, in fact, play checkers.

Birthday girl

Emma is one of the best parts of having a cell phone.

She is the reason I have Instagram and Snapchat.

Her texts are never overly dramatic.

(Update, as of last night there were over 90,000 views and the clout is still going straight to her head.)

Emma has this indefinable energy that is at once laid back and intense.  She is witty and empathetic and strong willed and soft hearted and stubborn and independent and creative and you'll never catch her having small talk for the sake of small talk.

She has vastly improved the sound quality of our opening song on Sunday evenings since she's returned from France.

I can't imagine what I ever did to be lucky enough to have her as a daughter.

She's 21 today.  Happy birthday to my Emma Jayne!

Grateful Friday

Today I'm grateful for the people I love + glad it's Valentine's Day because any holiday that includes red is a winner.

I love my friends.  I always think of my BYU roommate Erin on Valentine's Day. (Happy Birthday Erin!)  It was a blessing in my life to be assigned to her.  I am grateful for a lifetime of good friends who have moved in and out of my life and most especially for those who have stayed.  Having friends you can pick up with after time and distance is one of the great gifts of life.

I love my students.  They aggravate but also delight me.  Yesterday I was teaching them about tides which was sort of mind blowing for them.  And they wondered if the moon used "the force."

Yes.  Yes, it does.  If by the force you mean gravity.

I love my family.  Because of Mark's play, I've been shown firsthand the love and support we have on that front.  Geri is here right now and Mark ran straight to her after the show last night.

(It was another sell out crowd and I cried and I loved it and those songs are in my head like a curse.)

I love our kids (and that includes our family expansion pack, Anna).  They are turning into these grown up people who I love to spend time with and who impress me with what they know as they pursue their passions in life.

I love my Valentine.  He brought me tulips last night.  He knows how to make me laugh and how to make me feel loved.  He knows how to bring me back to reality when I am anxiously spiraling and he knows what I need before I do sometimes (like when he orders food for me that I didn't know I wanted).

I love that sometimes he just squeezes my hand and it communicates sentences.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Gender studies

Yesterday was crazy sock day--which I participated in as you know--as well as crazy hair day--which accidentally happens to me regularly.

None of my students wore crazy socks but a lot of the girls and a few boys did crazy hair.

One boy, who normally has a carrot red crew cut, was sporting bright blue hair.  He said, "My mom did it."

Another boy, who normally has a distinct part and slicked down hair like a Ken doll, had a fauxhawk.  The girls noticed and sort of swooned.  "I like your hair," several of them said, surrounding him.

He looked uneasy.

"You should always wear it like that," they crooned.

He looked like he regretted abandoning the part and slicked down hair.

As for the girls, the majority of them had crazy hair.  Some of it was complicated and looked like it had taken some time.  A few of them had toys tied into their hair and there were a lot of bows and crazy twists.

A group of non native English speakers goes with the ELL teacher every day.  They came back with crazy hair.  One of them is a boy and he had three tiny pony tails spiking out of the top of his head.  Everyone laughed along with him, enjoying the joke.

A few hours later he pointed to his head and said, "Teacher, this hurts."

One of the girls with lots of hair tied in lots of crazy twists that resembled a highly coiffed mane of a show horse, said matter of factly, "Mine has hurt all day."  That didn't mean she was going to do anything about it.  She wanted to keep it that way.

The boy wanted those rubber bands out so I carefully pulled them out while he winced theatrically.  The girls laughed.  Having their hair pulled for styling is just a fact of life for them.

Who knew crazy hair day would emphasize so clearly a difference between boys and girls?

Teacher life

One of my fellow teachers sent this from Talk About Teaching by Charlotte Danielson.

The practice of teaching involves a far more complex task environment than does that of
medicine. The teacher is confronted not with a single patient but with a classroom filled
with 25–35 youngsters. The teacher’s goals are multiple; the school’s obligations far from unitary. Even in the ubiquitous primary reading group, the teacher must simultaneously be concerned with the learning of decoding skills as well as comprehension, with motivation and love of reading as well as word attack, and must both monitor the performance of the six or eight students in front of her while not losing touch with the other two dozen in the room. Moreover, individual differences among pupils are a fact of life, exacerbated even further by the worthwhile policies of mainstreaming and school integration.  The only time a physician could possibly encounter a situation of comparable complexity would be in the emergency room of a hospital during or after a natural disaster. (p. 258)

I don't want to take anything away from doctors, because they save actual lives, but it made me feel a bit validated when I am trying to do reading groups.

Also, it being Friendship Week, today is crazy sock day.  (The student council came up with these things and they're 6th graders, so....)

I asked Adam and Mark if they had any crazy socks and that resulted in a trip to Target.

I look ridiculous but Adam said my students will love it.

They love it if I let them draw instead of practice cursive during read aloud time.  I don't need to dress like a clown if I want to make them happy.

Here I go though...

A fun math problem

We're all about word problems in third grade plus right now we are starting to learn about expressions and equations.

So, what do you get if you have late nights at the theater plus insomnia fueled mornings times too many plus pajama day at school (dress up days are the worst--the kids get so hyped up)?

You get one very short blog post.

I will add a picture though.  These lovely ladies came to Mark's show last night.

Carolina, Desi, Marianne and Mark

I am so grateful to have family come to Mark's show.  For one thing I love to have dinner with them and catch up while we're waiting in the line for the bathroom during the intermission.  Also, it makes me feel loved that they love Mark.

Carolina said, "It was so cute!  I looked down and saw you and my mom wiping your tears."

Hey.  Just wait Lina.  Pretty soon you'll be a shameless crier too.  I think it's your birthright.

Another show

Friday, Braeden, Anna, Emma, Olivia and all her family except Ruben came to Mark's show.

It's one of my favorite shows my kids have been in.  And bonus, I understood more of the story the second time around.

By next Saturday, I'll be an expert.  You can ask me anything.

Omar traded off sitting on Olivia's or Edgar's laps so he could see.  When Marius was singing about being the only one left behind, Omar whispered to Olivia, "I wish Mark had been the one to survive!"

Emma cried when Mark died on the barricade.  I definitely flinch and squeeze Adam's hand, but Emma cried.  She loves her boy.

Some judges from some high school theater association (I don't really understand it) were there so Mark just had a few minutes to greet us then he had to go be "adjudicated" which sounds serious, but drama kids are...well, dramatic.

A few weeks ago, the boys who played the students had a mandatory bonding time that their director insisted on.  They got together and ate pizza and played video games.

I think it worked.

Since we didn't have much time with Mark, we took a quick but requisite picture of Mark and Anna.

Anna reminds me of the lyrics from the kids' song by Justin Roberts Cartwheels and Somersaults.

Well, we never really knew

How much we needed you

We also quickly took this picture and I was fumbling in the weird light and trying to squeeze everyone in and Mark was saying, "I've got to go!"

And his friends were walking by and saying, "We've got to go!"

Some of them are looking at me and some of them are looking at Olivia, but we got them!

Anna, Emma, Mark, Omar, Braeden, Marcos, Liliana and Ammon

Grateful Friday

I am glad for many things.

I'm grateful for my warm house and sturdy car and lack of traffic/recess duty.

Winter has us in its grip.  I am protected from the worst of it and I appreciate that.  We had both recesses inside yesterday which is kind of the worst, but I'm also glad to keep the kiddos warm and safe.  (I just wish we only had inside recess on days we have PE.  Can that be a new rule?)

I'm grateful for modern medicine.

Wow.  Mark was super sick and he took some antibiotics and improved dramatically.  I'm also grateful for doctors who listen to me when the rapid strep test comes back negative but I say, "I think he has strep."

Because my kids have had strep one or twelve times.

I'm grateful I've been able to stay healthy despite spending my days with coughing sniffling children.

I credit Wellness Formula which is this supplement I take and it wards off illness.  I would be in a multilevel marketing scheme for this stuff.  (Not really.  I will never have a money making opportunity for you.)

I don't know if it is the placebo effect or what and I don't really care, because I'm here for it.

I'm grateful for my students that laugh at my dumb jokes, hug me, doggedly try to pass off their multiplication facts, demand answers when they don't understand, and remind me to send someone for the lunch crate.  (Every day.  I seriously forget every day.)

I'm grateful for one sweet girl who drew Lehi's vision when I had them draw a picture to illustrate our vocabulary word, realized.  These kids are the best.  The best.

I'm grateful we picked Pleasant Grove High School.  We mostly picked it for the performing arts and we weren't wrong.

Les Miserables knocked my socks off.   It was just well done.  Opening night was thrilling and I was for sure wiping my tears when the lights came up but I think most of the audience was also wiping their tears so I was not alone.

When Mark was up on the top of the barricade fighting for the revolution, I kept thinking he should get down and hide behind it.  Another boy was down there handing up rifles.  Why didn't Mark get down and do that?

It didn't matter that my brain 100% knew it was a play.  My motherly instincts wanted him to stop being foolhardy.

I'm grateful for the support of family for Mark.  Last night my parents came to the show, tonight Olivia's family and our college kids are coming.  Monday, Marianne and Carolina and Desi are coming and next week Geri will be here.  The wreath of love that surrounds Mark via his family matters to him and to me.

I fumbled for my phone and was too slow so I only got this one picture. If you're only going to get one picture, one of the two Marks isn't bad.

He hasn't been allowed to cut his hair.  Adam said we'll cut it after the last show.  I said I don't have the upper body strength for that.  That kid has a lot of hair.

Finally, I'm grateful Les Mis has good music.  Because that stuff is in my brain and I still have 5 shows to go.

Momming

It isn't that often that my kids really need me it seems (I mean lately--for awhile there, I was keeping them alive), but yesterday, I had to pull up my mom boots and report for duty.

I left work around 4:45 and got home at 8:00.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and Adam called.  While we were talking, Mark texted that he was throwing up.

He had been sick with a bad sore throat and just general exhaustion that we chalked up to being in a musical that is trying to kill him--besides him dying with all the other revolutionaries every show.

Throwing up on top of the rest sounded like strep throat to me.  I swung by the school and got him.  The night before opening night it's not easy to get someone out of rehearsal, I don't care who you are.

But I squared my shoulders and played my mom card.  I drove him straight to the walk in clinic.  He threw up twice in the waiting room which you would think would help you jump the line but only caused them to keep handing us little bags for him to throw up in.

After a very long wait while he took a little nap on the bed in the exam room and I read the New York Times on my phone and scrolled Facebook and thought for not the first time that I should always have a book with me, we were released with an antibiotic prescription.  I dropped him off at home and went to the grocery store to get sick food for him.  I quizzed him about what he wanted to eat (he had to eat something with the medicine) and the only thing I could get him to commit to were jello and french bread and bananas.

And he doesn't even like bananas.

I went to the grocery store and got everything (including bananas) and also some chicken soup and popsicles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch which I never buy, but my baby is sick.

(I bought the store brand of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I mean, I love the kid but I'm still cheap.)

When Adam got home from his young men activity, we made sure Mark was tucked in with extra Capri Suns in case his blood sugar went low and our eye on his monitor in case it went high.  We went to the school to get his car and at 9:00, they were still there, rehearsing.

I can't tell you how glad I was that my Mark was home in bed.  I hope the antibiotics do the trick and he'll be feeling better for opening night!

Reading Emma's book

On my poster of 100 Epic Reads is A Fault in our Stars by John Green.  I grabbed it from the shelf in Emma's room so I could continue my quest to read every one of the 100 Epic Reads.

This is what it's like to read one of Emma's books:

She crosses out offensive words with a sharpie.

She marks a lot(!) of things with sticky notes.

This was tucked between the pages.

Sometimes you borrow your daughter's book and you just end up loving her more.

What do you do on a snow day

First, there wasn't that much snow.  We got a skiff.  There was a lot more snow in other places in the district but Pleasant Grove is usually...pleasant...when it comes to snow.

We went to McDonald's for breakfast.  Adam and I took our laptops and did some work and Mark  used Adam's iPad and worked on homework.

I texted the kids our new business venture.

If you ever need something named, ask Emma.

I got a lot of work done and took sips of Adam's Diet Coke intermittently.  Adam said to Mark, "See, that's why I got a Diet Coke because I knew your mom would want some."

How to be a good husband life hacks.  Adam could do a podcast.

I also got caught up on a bunch of things at home (including ironing!  That's been a long time coming), I worked on family history with my incomparable friend Marie Louise, and I had a quiet easy day.

It was nice.

In the evening we played Boggle.  Mark had never played before.  How is that possible?  When we were tallying up points, Enoch called to chat.

I told him about Boggle and about how I'd won and about how I always win.  (If you can't brag to your brothers, who can you brag to?  Answer:  Your sisters, your kids, your spouse....)

Enoch said, "I always win when we play Boggle too."

I said, "I wonder who would win if we played."

He said, "I would."

I don't know about that, but I know if there was a contest about who had the most unabashed self confidence, Enoch would win.

Every time.

Snow day!

This is the first time in the 5 1/2 years we've lived here that school has been cancelled because of snow.  The Alpine School District usually just says, "Well, drive safely!"

But today, 4-8 inches are predicted and we're home.  I may feel less wonderful about it when we have to make up the day during spring break, but today it feels perfect.  Mark has been burning the candle at both ends and with opening night on Thursday this week promises to be one of late night rehearsals.

As for me, I have thought of about 30,000 (ballpark figure) things I can catch up with today and I would also love to just sit and read a bit.

How marvelous does that sound?

It's a sweater and jeans, cozy sock kind of day and I am glad.