Looky! Looky!

Look at my baby!!!! He is loving kindergarten.  He loves his teacher.  He loves his class.  He loves everything!!!   I am happy this transition has been a good one for him.  I was helping in his class on Thursdays for an hour before I was offered my little Teacher's aide job.  I have been able to help in his class every day as an aide until my supervisor gets her "Star reading program" up and running which will be in a week or two.  There are 2 of THE cutest little girls that sit at his table named Hannah and Ashley.  Mason told me today "they are my best girls! cuz we are good friends".   He loves it when I come to his class.  It's also been fun to see Samantha and Jacob in the halls or at recess.  

My work is going well.  Day's 1,2,3 & 4 are under my belt.  I am feeling more comfortable in the classes and I enjoy being with the kids.  My first class is 5th grade and there are 3 kids from church in that class and a couple more from the neighborhood that I know. When I'm in that class I usually supervise the kids on an assignment while the teacher works with small groups in a small room off the classroom.  Today I supervised them in the library and took them back to their classroom.  My 2nd class is 3rd grade and again, 3 kids from church. In that class I have been "observing" but starting tomorrow I will be in charge of  their spelling lesson for the day while the teacher is out of the class with individual students.  I even get to give the test on fridays! :)  My last class is 1st grade and there's one boy from primary there. I have been doing different things each day but it looks like I will be reading the class a story and then supervising journal time and centers while the teacher works with individual students or small groups out of the classroom.  The remaining hour I have been working with Mason's class and helping the librarian get ready for her book fair this week.  In the future I will be working with individual 3rd and 4th grade students following the guidelines for the "star reading program" which I have yet to learn.

I feel more focused and organized in the rest of my life and Jacob and Samantha are adjusting well to being Later Gator's.  I continue to think this will be a very good thing for me.  yea! 

fairy circles and other magical places

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about how my big girls are growing up and in some ways, away from me. It's not that I feel we are not close, we are. They like to tell me about what is going on with their friends, how their day went, etc. It's just that my hours to influence them, share thoughts and feelings are being swallowed up increasingly by other things; school, play rehearsal, friends, homework, etc. It is a normal growing up and away and healthy for them to explore their world but I wanted to find some way to be involved in their day a little more, find a way to interact with them about more than normal family life stuff.

They still take a home lunch most days to school. I decided to add something to their lunches. I used to write little notes every day and when they were in elementary school they loved it. I decided to make it a little more mature than "Hi honey, how was your test today? love mom".

On Monday's I share a poem. Tuesdays a quote. Wednesday's a scripture. Thursday's a note of gratitude/praise regarding something I had noticed during the week. Friday's a joke.

This poem was written by Hilda Conkling who lived from 1910 -1986. She started writing poems at age 4 and published her 1st book at age 12. She would tell her mom and her mom would write them down.

It was the first poem I shared.

Autumn Song

I made a ring of leaves

on the autumn grass:

I was a fairy queen all day.

Inside the ring, the wind wore sandals

Not to make a noise of going.

The caterpillars, like little snow men,

Had wound themselves in their winter coats.

The hands of the trees were bare

And their fingers fluttered.

I was a queen of yellow leaves and brown,

And the redness of my fairy ring

Kept me warm.

For the wind blew near,

Though he made no noise of going,

And I hadn’t a close-made wrap

Like the caterpillars.

Even a queen of fairies can be cold

When summer has forgotten and gone!

Keep me warm, red leaves;

Don’t let the frost tiptoe into my ring

On the magic grass!

It reminded me of our Lowe family reunion this summer. Carly planned the whole thing as a value project for her Young Women Personal Progress program. She contacted all my siblings and my parents and found out when everyone had summer commitments so she could find a time we could all meet at my parent's cabin on Cedar Mountain in Southern Utah. She organized a meal and cleanup schedule and had everyone send in their meal plan so she could make sure no one repeated a meal. She sent out a questionnaire to gather information to play a trivia game we called "who want's to be a Lowe-it-All" We divided into teams & played "Jeopardy" style with Carly acting as Emcee. The winning team then went into playoff mode and played against each other so we could have a grand champion. It was an upset with Matthew beating out Maury who was favored to win. Maury is our trivia champion. She has a great memory.

On a walk early in the week Carly and I discovered a plant growing in a perfect circle in the meadow. It was a lighter color green then the nearby vegetation and had a silvery sheen. It was pretty cool. She decided to bring the children on a walk the next day and would tell them it was a "fairy circle". It's where the fairies come to dance for their festivals. Because the fairies had danced here, some of their magic dust had fallen and that's where the plants grew to form the circle. The children would have to be very careful at the circle because if you step into the circle you would have to keep dancing til someone pulled you out.

Mark, Maury and I headed out first and placed bubbles, chocolate kisses and glow bracelets in the circle. We hid behind some nearby bushes and trees. Carly told them the legend on the way and most of the kids were skeptical. "I don't know if there's such things as fairies". Then they arrived and the little ones were all amazement. Alyssa gasped, "oh! Fairies ARE real!" Bethany wondered "How did they know our names?" (their names were on the bubbles) Jacob, ever skeptical, was the big doubter and at 9 yrs old that is to be expected. He kept looking over where we were hiding and I think he spotted us when Mark started growling. Carly had to keep shushing him to keep him from telling the little ones what he knew. The children on their walk home decided that butterflies are fairies in disguise.

Carly put my brother Matthew in charge of a hike. Since most of the children wanted to be involved he decided we would have those adults not hiking drive us up to Strawberry point, drop us off & then we could hike back to the cabin so it would be half as long and downhill for the kids. After we explored the point we began our hike back. We had to walk down this road quite a ways before encountering the trail head.

There were moths all over that we preferred to think of as butterflies or in the children's eyes; Fairies. They were beautiful; baby blue and black. Why are butterflies entrancing and Moths repulsive? I think it's the whole flying around bouncing off your lights, fuzzy wing, no pretty colors thing. The "butterflies" were everywhere in great numbers. The children would catch them in their hands, hold them a while and release them. The butterflies would land on their clothing and skin.

It was a magical day, an exciting day.

A day to remember.

Adjustments...

In 1 hour and 14 minutes I will be starting my first job outside my home in 14 years. I have answered ChemDry phones and scheduled technicians for Carpet cleaning on and off since about 2 weeks after Carly was born and I even did a home study course and trained in Salt Lake for a couple weeks so I could work at home as a medical transcriptionist for a couple years, which I really loved. It was perfect for me but when Mark bought his own Chemdry Franchise in 1999, he needed me to quit that and help him with the phones. I was much better suited to the transcription but.... I was needed elsewhere. I've been off the Chemdry phones for a couple years now which as been SOO wonderful. I really don't want to go back to that but with the way the country is going financially I am well aware of that possibility looming before me. Right now business continues to be good enough that we're not worried yet but you never know...

I know it wouldn't be nearly as bad if I had to do it again at this point in my life because my children are older now and that was the thing I hated most was feeling as if I was neglecting them because I often WAS neglecting them. I absolutely HATED HATED HATED stopping them in the middle of their telling me a story or an important thought or me reading them a story with "Sorry, I gotta get the phone". I had a hard time being consistent with discipline because I would be interrupted so much and we are still trying to recover from that because Jacob's personality took full advantage of those opportunities and Samantha was a good one to follow his lead but anyhoo... this wasn't intended to be a rampage about my time as Chemdry Secretary. I better list some things I am grateful for during that time to change my focus.

1. I was able to stay home with my kids

2. I could help Mark as he worked so very hard to provide for our family

3. I was able to stay home with my kids

I know this new job will come to a surprise to most of you. It came as a surprise to me too. I wasn't looking for a job. The Assistant principal who taught Carly and Rachel when they were both 6th graders approached me last week asking if I'd be interested in being a Teacher's aide in the afternoon when Mason was in Kindergarten. He goes from 12:38 to 3:30. Samantha and Jacob get out at 2:15. The original position was from 12-3. I would be helping out with a new reading program they are going to implement at our school called "The Star Reading program". I would be an oral Language aide for 3 different teachers for 30 minutes each and then spend an hour with this "Star Reading Program". I felt interested but there were definitely some hurdles. I said well I can't do it unless I can start at 12:30 when Mason starts school. She said "no problem!". But I still had a problem with Jacob and Samantha. I didn't want them home alone so I then asked to see if they could switch to the school's later schedule where they would go from 9:15 to 3:30 instead of their current schedule which is 8:00 to 2:15. That was approved by the principal and at family council on Sunday it was approved by the children although with some serious grumbling by Jacob.

I explained that it really wouldn't be much different. They'd still be getting up & getting ready at their regular time since we still needed to have scripture study and prayers with Carly & Rachel before they left at 7:20 and 7:50 respectively. Instead of doing their homework after school they would do it before school so they'd still have the same amount of time after school to play.

(The kids that get out early are called "early birds" and the kids that get out later are called "later 'gators". )

Samantha's response: (say it really fast with an air of excitement and wonder) I wonder what it would be like to be a later gator, I never have been a later gator before. I think that would be fun to be a later gator, sure mom! I'll be a later gator cuz I think I would like to see what it's like!

Jacob: (say this with a groan of defeat) okay mom, I guuueees. I don't really want to be a later gator though.

He doesn't have a real concrete reason other than he just doesn't wanna. He's being a really good sport about it though because he knows I want to do this and it's the only way. I appreciate that although he isn't excited, he is not making an issue of it.

Why am I doing this you ask.. instead of reveling in my time alone.. .home without the kids.....

Maybe that's why. I'm not reveling in that time. I only had 90 minutes of alone time, not enough to really DO something but I'm just a little lost. I have been feeling strangely unfocused for the last year or so and think it has a lot to do with my kids getting older. I know I could get my house cleaner, plan my meals better, finish up those scrapbooks... but I'm not. I have no desire to and so I think I need something new to help me get myself back in focus.

We'll see. I'll let you know.

Today was the first day for Samantha & Jacob to be Later Gators. At first it was a little chaotic but we hammered out some details of what was NOT going to be happening and what WAS going to be happening from 7:50-9:00 when they leave. They did their homework. Jacob vacuumed the family room for me and Samantha straightened up the bathrooms. I stayed busy that hour as well, straightening up the house when my routine has been to flop down in front of the computer to "relax". My first impression was that it was already focusing me on getting some necessary things done. I was much more productive than usual.

Of course I'm a little scared that:

1. I'll hate it.

2. I will feel more stressed

3. I wont' be good at it

4. My family will be neglected.

5. I'll hate the commitment of every day

But then I remember how excited I am to try something new. That it's only 12 1/2 hours a week. That nobody will be home while I'm gone. That I will get to learn new things.

OH man! it's now only 22 minutes til I start my new job! Better go! Wish me luck!

What Jake's been up to....

I noticed that I haven't posted about Jacob in a while so Today is his day! 

This kid had a great memory! He loves to read fact books and remembers them.  He came to my bathroom to fix his hair and saw a book sitting on my bathtub titled "Elizabeth".   "Is that about Queen Elizabeth?" he asked.  "It is"I replied, she was the Queen of England a long time ago".  "I know.  Shakespeare did all his plays while she was Queen."  How many 9 yr olds know that?

He got a new bike for his birthday and he LOVES being able to ride without his knees knocking into his chin.  His last bike was a gift on his 5th Birthday and he has been riding it without complaint but it was getting a bit small.  His new bike is a nice one!  We cleaned the carpets for a bike shop on trade so Mark picked out a shiny bright blue Trek bike for him.  We have WAY too many goathead sticker plants in our neighborhood so he's already had a couple flat tires but Mark has fixed them right away so he's been able to keep flying.   
He was so excited to get his new glasses this summer right before school started but the excitement has worn off.  I have been asking him every day after school... "Did you wear your glasses at school today?"  His answer was always "Yes!"  I went into the school last week to talk to his teacher about something and my mom instincts made me ask "Has Jacob been wearing his glasses regularly in class?"  The teacher gave me a BLANK STARE and replied, "He has glasses????"    
About 2 weeks ago on a Friday afternoon Jacob came home from school grimacing in pain and said he had an accident on the playground right before it was time to come home.  He was playing on the playground: some game involving stealth and running I am sure, and one boy jumped from the slide above landing on his collarbone and then he slammed into the slide next to him, hitting his collarbone area again.  He told his teacher.  She sent him to the office. They said "It looks like it might be broken, how far is it to your home?" He replied, "Not far" and so she just sent him home.  I was a little upset that they didn't call at least to tell me he was hurt and ask if I wanted to come get him or should he just walk home.  

Mark looked at him and said "yep! It's broken.  I've seen lots of broken collarbones"  We called the doctor, they told us to come right in.  We got there, he was examined and the Dr. Said "yep! it's broken!  Go to the hospital and get x-rays so we know how bad"  We went to the hospital.  He was x-rayed.  We took the x-ray back to the Dr. office. He studied it.  He studied it.  He studied it.  He couldn't see a break.  So Jacob was sent home with a sling and instructions to stay in from recess for the next week.  The Diagnosis: A lot of tissue and ligament damage.  Jacob couldn't even lift his arm above his head.  He didn't change his shirt til Sunday.  It slowly improved and by the Next Friday he was out of the sling and feeling fine.  I said a prayer of Thanksgiving for all the cereal with MILK he eats EVERY DAY! I think this kid has some seriously strong bones. YEA!!!!
Today..... he was not feeling well and stayed home from school.   Sometimes I feel like I'm being had when he acts sick in the morning.  The coughs sound suspiciously forced and the groaning is a bit over done.  Today was different.  He had that look around his eyes; that sunken in, dark-circled look.  He was sneezing and coughing and his stomach felt "Hot" in his words.  He wasn't nauseous so I'm still not sure what that meant but he was definitely uncomfortable.  He even slept for a couple hours after the kids left for school so I KNOW he was sick.  He never sleeps during the day.   He can go to bed later than anyone and pop up earlier than anyone with energy to spare.  He seems to be back to normal tonight so I'm sure he just needed a day of rest to get back on track.  
So.... That's a little of what Jake's been up to.

a Poem for Monday

Recently someone close to me felt that their prayer had not been answered.  She was struggling to not feel betrayed and angry and left alone. I found this poem to share with her.  I thought it was so beautiful and every time I read it I feel more and more connected to the beautiful language and emotion. It's nice to hear someone verbalize so eloquently what I have felt before. I love poetry for that reason. I'd never read anything by Anne Bronte before but I have found several this week of hers that I really like.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

                         The Doubter's prayer    

 -Anne Bronte 

Eternal power of earth and air,
Unseen, yet seen in all around,
Remote, but dwelling everywhere,
Though silent, heard in every sound.
If e'er thine ear in mercy bent
When wretched mortals cried to thee,
And if indeed thy Son was sent
To save lost sinners such as me.

Then hear me now, while kneeling here;
I lift to thee my heart and eye
And all my soul ascends in prayer;
O give me -  give me Faith I cry.

Without some glimmering in my heart,
I could not raise this fervent prayer;
But O a stronger light impart,
And in thy mercy fix it there!

While Faith is with me I am blest;
It turns my darkest night to day;
But while I clasp it to my breast
I often feel it slide away.

Then cold and dark my spirit sinks,
To see my light of life depart,
And every fiend of Hell methinks
Enjoys the anguish of my heart.

What shall I do if all my love,
My hopes, my toil, are cast away,
And if there be no God above
To hear and bless me when I pray?

If this be vain delusion all,
If death be an eternal sleep,
And none can hear my secret call,
Or see the silent tears I weep.

O help me God! for thou alone
Canst my distracted soul relieve;
Forsake it not -- it is thine own,
Though weak yet longing to believe.

O drive these cruel doubts away
And make me know that thou art God;
A Faith that shines by night and day
Will lighten every earthly load.

If I believe that Jesus died
And waking rose to reign above,
Then surely Sorrow, Sin and Pride
Must yield to peace and hope and love.

And all the blessed words he said
Will strength and holy joy impart,
A shield of safety o'er my head,
A spring of comfort in my heart.

Christmas in September

Last saturday was Super saturday. Super-crafty- female-bonding- laughing-someone else cooks me a fabulous lunch- saturday.  

When I was enrichment leader a couple of years ago and in charge of super saturday,  I was floored by how much work it was to organize and prepare for.  About 2 days before the event, I and my hardworking-kindred-spirit co-organizer Judy decided it was TOO much work and next year???? Fuhget about it!   The day came.  We watched everyone enjoy creating their projects.  We watched their smiling faces as they laughed and talked with one another and we were instantly transformed.  "Of Course we'll do this again next year!!!!  Look how much fun everyone had.    OH... It wasn't really all THAT bad was it?"  

I wasn't' in charge this year.  It was nice to just go and enjoy my projects and not be in charge. Judy, my wonderful friend, is STILL in charge and I want to say thank you to her and all the other women who organized and pulled it off so I could go have an enjoyable saturday by myself.  The Relief Society presidency made us lunch.  They recreated Cafe Rio salads.  YUMMY! It was so good.  I made 3 projects and here is one of them.  I actually didn't sign up for this one but it was so cute when I got there and Candace (who supervised & prepared this project) had made a couple extra just in case..... Thanks Candace.  

I love advent "countdown" christmas decorations.  I already have a couple of them and there's one Target has carried the last couple of years and I have decided this year I WILL have it.  That's why I didn't sign up for this one but Candace said she'd like to collect enough to have one for each of her children.  I thought that was a fabulous idea so I signed up right then for her extra one.  

It's made out of a 24 count mini muffin tin.  There is a little decorated cardstock square with magnets on the back that cover each muffincup.  You can put a little card with a scripture or title of a Christmas story to read or a little treat behind the number in the cup.     

Isn't it fun!!!

 This picture is for you Judy.  She gave me a little bamboo plant after the super saturday we put on together as a gift of Thanks for all my hard work.   I just wanted you to see how big it's gotten.  I love it.  Thank you for all you did.  I know it was overwhelming and you do it every year out of pure love for the sisters of our ward.  You are Beautiful!

Shameless plug for Betsy.....

Carly and I both got haircuts last night.  Carly wanted something new and different & SHORT! I was just getting my normal haircut.  I have been going to Betsy for many many years.   She has had 3 children and I have had 4 since she began cutting my hair.   My sister Maury discovered Betsy when she was going to BYU.  She introduced her to Christy (another sister) and I  and 12 years later... here we are!  Whenever Maury or Christy is in town they try to schedule time for a Betsy cut. When we moved from Orem to Brigham City I would drive down every 6 weeks for a haircut til Jacob was born and then it became too overwhelming so no more Betsy cuts for a time.  When I moved back to Orem I was back to Betsy.  she's fun and friendly and she always does such a great job with my hair.  Carly took some pictures she found online, used them to explain what she was looking for to Betsy and voila! Here she is, all stylish and cute.  Carly had a little trouble recreating the look this morning but it'll just take some practice.  She is So Happy with her new haircut.  

So... if you are in the market for a new stylist and you like my hair or Carly's.....

Betsy works part time so you call her at home to schedule  371-8681 and she cuts your hair at "Salon on the avenue" which is on University ave between center street and 100 North on the West side. cost of a cut: $20  She always gets me in quick, usually within 3-4 days of my phone call.  You won't regret it.  She's the best!