How to Give a Little Holiday Cheer. . .

. . . to the least-festive room in the house.

. . . viola. Christmas cheer.

ha ha.

:)

Delicious Dip

This lovely dip/dressing has renewed my desire to eat my daily dose of veggies. Delicious.

Los Homeboys Mios

The typical get-to-know you questions can be pretty predictable (which is not a bad thing), and it’s funny how people's responses to your answers are often (and understandably) predictable too.

Common question #1:

So, what do you do?

(I teach – kindergarten.)

Awwwww! Do you love it?

(Yes, I do! )

or. . . something along the lines of:

Wow. . . a class full of little kids – I could never do that.

Almost every time.

Oh - and: Do you guys have nap time?

(I wish!)

For my friend Maryann, when she tells someone that she teaches math at a junior high, she feels like she suddenly becomes that person’s therapist as he/she describes horrible, repressed memories of hating math and junior high.

She gets it all the time.

(I guess I can’t complain about people’s response to kindergarten.)

Common Question #2: So, how big is your family?

When I explain that I’m the oldest of six - five younger brothers, it’s like always like this:

Wow. Five brothers. You’re the only girl? (Yep.) Wow. How’s that? (I love it. When I was little I used to really wish I had a sister, but it’s all good now. Love ‘em.)

This is true - including the part about wishing for a sister. When Mom was expecting Sam, I asked to not be told if it was a boy or girl, because I wanted to hold out hope for a sister until the bitter end. I even wore a pink shirt to the hospital. Of course, I was deluding myself: it’s not hard for info. like that to leak out, and I knew. (PS: I’m most definitely glad we got Sam instead of a girl.)

And so – I grew up amidst a bunch of boys. In a way, I missed a lot of “girl stuff” as a result of being the lone sister: the toenail-painting, stay-up-late-talking-about-boys, the going-shopping-all-day-with-your-sisters stuff. Eventually, I had roommates who filled in as sisters. They shared with me those kinds of experiences, and helped me learn how to wear matching clothes and other skills that are not natural outgrowths of associating with brothers (just kidding).

But seriously, I don’t feel that I missed out on too much by having only brothers. Really and truly, wouldn’t trade my bros for anything. Not even sisters. :)

I was looking through some photos; I think that’s why I’m waxing all sentimental-ish. They make me laugh.

Here are the sentimental-ish pics.

Five brothers? (Yep!) How’s that?

Sometimes it’s kinda like this:

Me: I have a great idea! Let’s all lay down on the floor and take a picture of our heads.
Boys’ collective thoughts: our sister is crazy.
Boys’ vocal response: what!? Okay. Whatever.

No words necessary.

Are you laughing at me or laughing with me?

Don't make me get my angry eyes!!

Focus people. Let's look at the camera.

Sweaty with a spectacular view.

Idaho + Ross Park + 6 people and 6 swings = best picture ever.

A New Year

This is the bulletin board in our hall. I finally figured out how to use our school's Cricut machine (a paper die-cut machine), and I love it! So much fun.

My door is the one on the left.

Our room!

This week we learned about the sun. . . can you tell? :)

I wish I could post pictures of my cute kids up here too. . . but I'm pretty sure I can't do that. :)

Fickle Favoritism

I've long said that winter is my favorite season. What's not to love? Well, let's be honest: scraping ice off your windshield and having minimal daylight hours aren't the best, but, that aside, winter is amazing! Christmas - family, food, good memories; cozy winter cabins in the woods; vacation time from school/work; skiing, ice-skating, tubing, snowmobiling; wearing sweaters; and beautiful, peaceful, romantic snowstorms that unify everything you can see. Mhmm. Hot chocolate. Snowmen. Etc.

However, I'm realizing that I can't unequivocally claim winter as my favorite anymore. As each season comes and goes, my allegiance to winter wavers.

A piece of my heart belongs to autumn, when the world takes on a new palatte of warm colors and even a new musty, harvesty, yummy smell. And when autumn arrives, I fall in love with it.

Yet, spring too, always catches me pleasantly by surprise, and I smile at how the people start to trickle out of their houses and once again occupy parks and lawns, where the grass is starting to turn green. And at how winter's faded sunlight now starts to feel warm on my skin. And flowers. I forget that the world has flowers!

The reason for this post is that summer has never really been in the running for my favorite season. . . but this year, it it is making a comeback. I'm not a fan of HOT days that make me feel like a fish that has been washed ashore and is now baking in the heat, with no energy to move. I guess since unbearably hot temperatures have not arrived yet, I'm not holding that against summer. Yet. Because summer does have some pretty fabulous redeeming qualities.

Number one: light! It's light, even if I'm up at 6 and out until 10! It is markedly easier to get out of bed when the sun is there to reassure you that yes, it really is morning: this is not a cruel joke. The extension of daylight beyond dinner-time is also reassuring: there's no darkness to convince me that I'm sleepy, and there is clearly still time to accomplish something.

Lengthened sunlight creates the illusion of more time in a day, but now working a part-time instead of full-time for the summer, having a bit more un-claimed time is a lovely reality. Time to have some mini-adventures I've been meaning to have. Time to tackle some projects that have been stacking up: sorting my college textbooks and notes, finally visiting the dentist and optometrist, working on some teaching projects for next year. Thanks to summer, I'm feeling slightly more in control of my life now.

Plus, only with summer do you get to smell just-mowed grass and gasoline. And I love that my nose has freckles and my skin has enough color that I look like I might not be dead.

So currently, summer is pulling ahead in the race. In fact, I think I'm going to proclaim it at this very moment as my favorite season.

Check back in October to see if it can hold its rank. ;)

Reg

“Missionaries: people who leave their families for two years, so that others can have their families for eternity.”

( Okay, so that quote was kind of sappy, but I thought it made a good point. Also, Janelle, I'm sorry this is kind of reminiscent of your last post, but I had to write something about Ben too.

J )

Well, this kid is going to Germany. And I'm going to miss him. Of course, there's nowhere I'd rather he be, and I know he will grow as a person and bless others' lives as a missionary. But our family won’t be quite the same until he’s back, just like when Jared was gone.

It's funny how brothers are just . . . brothers. . .when you're small, until you get a little older and they become some of your best friends. Some of the reasons I will miss Reg:

He’s a happy kid and takes things with a grain of salt and with humor.

He’ll play the piano with me. He’ll be a goof with me. He’ll talk to me and listen to me.

The way he treats me never changes. He doesn’t treat me like he thinks I’m a dork, even when I’m being a dork. Does that make sense? :)

He is always happy to see me. “Aw, what up!?!?!”

BUT. . . I guess that these are all some of the reasons that the Lord can use him as an instrument to bless the lives of people in in Germany.

See ya in two years, Reg!!

Stacking Your Bets

A thought from my former stake president, President Plumb:

If you believe that there is a God and act accordingly. . .

. . .and you're right: you will reap an eternal gain

. . . and you're wrong: you will have a finite loss

If you believe that there is not a God and act accordingly. . .
. . . and you're right: you will reap a finite gain
. . . and you're wrong: you will reap an eternal loss

Pinto Beans 101

Ahem. Here are the groundbreaking results of our class experiment on the effects of water, light and air on how a seed grows. :)

Here is a seed given light and air, but no water, for several weeks. Go figure, eh?

This seed was given water and air, but no light. This grew inside our dark cupboard. Suprisingly, it grew the tallest of all, as though it were stretching up and up, seeking to break through to the light. As you can see in the picture, the stem was a white, and the leaves were pale green.

Here is the seed that was given water and light, but no air. (Well. . . to the best of our ability . . . all I did was tie it in a small plastic bag, so of course, it did get air.) And actually, I think the bag created a sort of greenhouse effect on it to keep it moist and warm, although the size of the bag kind of stunted its growth. Still, the effects were interesting.

And the winner: the seed given air, water, and light. This plant now has several bean pods of its own, one of which we're hoping to open up and check out this week!

So there you have it folks. Everything you ever wanted to know about bean growth,

in a nutshell. Or, how about an eggshell:

(As part of our plants unit, one of the great moms in our class donated everything for the kids to make these cute "eggheads" with grass seeds.)

Pinchy, Cutty, Hammer, Claw

Where this game originated, I'm not sure. But it's been in our family game repetoire ever since I can remember.

The rules: one person lays facedown in the middle of the circle. Someone on the outside picks the poison: pinchy, cutty, hammer or claw and silently gestures to the rest of the group to let them know which one they've chosen. The person in the middle guesses what is coming. If the guess is right, the person is done and someone else is in the middle. If the person's guess is wrong, the group gets to rain down on their backs - pinches, or hammering pounds, or claws, or saws.

It was pretty hilarious and innocent when we were little, but when the boys decided to play it while home for Conference weekend, I opted out. I think it would have been hazardous to my life.

Fun, huh?

sNOw Fair

Snow.

I miss you.

You haven't met your quota this year.

The east coast gets bucketfulls and we get nothing? (An inch yesterday doesn't

count.) They can't even handle snow.

Pretty soon, it will be spring, and you won't be welcome anymore.

I'll have to wait another whole year for you to come around.

Just one, big, heaping, beautiful snowstorm before you go for good.

Pretty please?

Goodbye, Carlos; Hello, Carlisle

Carlos the Car died in early October from internal complications resulting in engine failure. He was 18.

Carlos passed away while doing one of the things he loved most: making the trek between Utah and Idaho. His love for road trips was exceeded only by his secret desire to get away with going 45 in 30 mph zones. (A tendency which, unfortunately, the police didn’t sympathize with. Twice.)

Carlos and I saying our final goodbyes. *sniff*

Carlos and I have many memories together: packing him to the ceiling with everything I owned to take to school; cramming in so much baggage and people to get home from Rexburg for Christmas that there was hardly room to move. . .

. . . driving through (and surviving) Rexburg snowstorms; defending him from jabs from by brothers (he did NOT smell like a diaper. Definitely not); being “anonymously” saran-wrapped and window-painted (yes, I know who you are); and our final trip together home from the Blackfoot Fair.

Adios, Carlos; you’ve been good to me. It was definitely a blessing in my life to get you when I did and that you lasted so long. You will be missed.

And then. . .

Carlisle: my Subaru Legacy that I now drive over the Legacy Highway bridge to get to Legacy Prep. each day. . . Sometimes I just stand and look at him. This car, the one that beeps hello when I push a button, is it really my car? The one that has power windows? The one that has a CD player that actually works?

(This picture evidences my lack of skill at taking pictures in the dark. Better picture forthcoming.)

Who knows what memories are to be made. I hope we go exploring. I hope we go on a road trip, maybe somewhere beyond Idaho. I know we will have adventures together.

The Long and Short of It

All I can say is kindergarteners are pretty savvy sometimes.

It was time for a change, so I chopped my hair (thanks for being my moral support, Megan).

Family and friends response: oh! How nice!

Peter (name changed), seated across from me during kindergarten reading group: “How come you have Willy Wonka hair?”

Can’t say there’s no truth in that assessment.

The new 'do.

Our good friend Johnny Depp.

http://worldlyquirks.today.com/files/2009/10/willywonka.jpg

By the way - is it copyright infringement to just Google a picture, copy it, and stick it in your blog, even if you cite it? Someone who is more savvy than me please let me know. Maybe I should ask my kindergarteners.