Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love spending time with my family. I love giving presents and getting presents. :) But I also worry. I worry that I am not giving gifts that will make people happy. I worry that I am not doing enough. I worry that I will forget a tradition that is so important to my children even though they are all grown up.
 Usually about two days before Christmas I start second guessing some of the presents I have purchased. I try to be organized so that I do not have to go out shopping those last couple of days before Christmas but then I start the second guessing. I need to learn to let it be and remember that the best part of Christmas is spending time with family. This is the last year for at least two years that I will have all my children here for Christmas. I need to sit back and enjoy our time together.

Merry Christmas!

Greeting Your Child

Everyday I walk my students outside at the end of the day. They wait by me until their parent, older sibling, grandparent, etc. come to pick them up. I have made a few observations as I have watched this ritual for over 28 years. Something I have noticed lately is a little disconcerting. A lot of parents are talking on their phones when their students come out of school. They do not seem to acknowledge their child at all. It does not matter if they are waiting in a car or they walked to the school to pick their child up. They just grab their child's hand and take off. I do not see the parent even smile or say hi to their child because they are so busy talking on the phone. I know that I don't see what happens after they leave the school ground but it makes me a little sad that a parent does not say anything to their child after they have been away from them for seven hours. This is not every parent but it is enough that myself and other teachers have noticed this phenomenon a lot. I didn't have a cell phone when my children were young so I might have done the same thing.  As a mother I found that if I talked to my child immediately after school or an event, they were more likely to give me more details about their day. This is just my observation and I hope that I do not come off as being judgmental but I hope it will give parents something to think about at the end of the school day.

My "Baby" Graduated

Joe and I said this a lot this year, "This is the last time we will________________(go to parent teacher conferences, go into West Jordan High School, watch our boys play football, etc.) Today we said this is our last time to see one of our children graduate from high school. It is bittersweet to have your youngest graduate and move on. In August we will officially become empty nesters when Ryan moves up to Logan to go to school. We have plans for our "spare time" but our house is also going to be very quiet without our children and their friends.
 Ryan has had a great bunch of friends throughout high school. It was fun to take pictures of them and see the camaraderie they share. They will be going their seperate ways after the summer. I will miss having them come to our house to play ping pong, etc.

Isaac's family crocheted and made candy leis for all of his friends. What a fun tradition.

Memorial Day

When I was little, we would go to either Minersville (my dad's hometown) or Wellsville (my mom's hometown) for Memorial Day. We would cut flowers from the yard and wrap them in wet newspaper to take to the cemetery. There would always be irises, snowballs, and peonies. My mom would take canning jars and cover them with foil so that they would look better. At the cemetery we would put flowers on lots of graves. We had to put flowers on the graves of great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.
They were small towns so everybody would be at the cemetery. We had to stand around and wait for our parents and grandparents to talk. As a child it felt like they knew everybody at the cemetery. We would be there for hours. We were not allowed to run around in the cemetery because that would be disrespectful. We had to just stand around and wait for our parents. It was kind of boring. But I learned to honor my ancestors and remember them on Memorial Day.
It is still a tradition for me to honor those people I love on Memorial Day. Instead of getting flowers from my yard, I buy chrysanthemums from a store. Instead of going to one cemetery, I now go to four cemeteries. It is a little different to visit big cemeteries than the small town cemeteries I visited as a child.  When I went to my sister Lisa's grave site yesterday, I ran into my other sister there at the same time. We spent a lot of time visiting while her daughter and granddaughter had to stand around and wait for us. I guess life has come full circle.

A first graders perception of moms.

My first graders are writing a book for their moms for Mother's Day. Today they were supposed to write about what their moms like to do. I gave them a few examples. They had a hard time knowing what their moms like to do so I told them to think about some of the things that they see their moms do a lot. Here are some samples of how first graders perceive their moms' favorite things to do:

Sit on the couch.
Look at facebook.
Do indexing on the computer.
Sleep
Cling (That is how you spell clean in first grade.)
Take care of me.
Play on the computer.
Play with me.
Go to work.

It made me think about what my kids would think I like to do. What about you?

Pinterest Success

I made these http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/12/wingers-sticky-fingers-copycat-recipe.html for dinner dinner. There were well liked and tasted just like Winter's Sticky Fingers. They were also pretty easy to make.

Sunlight

I love light. The first thing I do every morning is open all the blinds in my house. I need light. For three years I had a classroom with windows. This year I had to change classrooms part way through the year. (One of the joys of teaching year-round is that you have to rotate classrooms.) I am now in a classroom without windows. There is a lot of artificial light but I still feel a little claustrophobic in there. I miss my windows. When I first started teaching, hardly any of the classrooms had windows and it did not bother me. I have become spoiled and I really miss windows in my classroom.
Today I was cleaning the blind and the window above the sink. I decided I didn't want that blind anymore so I took it down. It made my kitchen so much brighter. There is just a field behind me so I don't have to worry about neighbors spying on me or anything. I wish I had taken that blind down earlier.

Pinterest Fails

I am not a seamstress. I get frustrated when I sew. This weekend Crista was here for conference and Spring Break. We decided that we wanted to make skirts. We found a cute skirt from Pinterest and decided we would try it. We went to the fabric store and I found some really cute yellow fabric with small white flowers that I liked. I also found a white, dressy, ruffly shirt that I thought would be Springy and cute to wear with the skirt. I was so excited. I was going to get some white sandals and yeah I have an Easter outfit. The skirt was only $7.50. Crista bought a aqua print fabric and we got to work. It took us about seven hours to make. I did an okay job of sewing and it looks decent just laying on the table. Crista and I decided that the person who made the dress and blogged about it has no curves. This skirt made me look very frumpy. I know I am frumpy but it exaggerated my frumpiness. I am going to have to work on it or something before I can wear it in public. Oh well, I am glad that I did not pay more than $7.50 for the fabric. We won't talk about the time because I got to spend it with my favorite daughter. This is what it should look like.

Couponing

Last fall I went to a class in Relief Society on how to use coupons. I was so excited because I was going to save all kinds of money. I went home and organized my coupons the way I was taught. I went on the web site to check the ads and get the coupons that went with them. I did everything just the way I was taught. Well, maybe not everything. I only have one Sunday newspaper instead of four. I have found, however, that I am not saving any money. I have been trying to coupon since October and it just does not work for me. I think part of the reason it is not working is because the things that there are coupons for are not the things are normally buy. I do not want to start changing how I cook, etc. Also, if there is a coupon for something I do want, another brand is usually cheaper than the brand from the coupon. I use a few coupons when I shop but I am probably only saving $1 to $2 each time. Is it worth my time, effort, etc. to coupon? What are some tricks that you have found to help you save money at the store? I have always shopped the ads and have bought bulk of items I will always use. Today I bought a few cases at Smith's from their case lot sale. Any suggestions?

Exciting day at school

I am off track but I went into school today because Governor Herbert came to my school to sign the education bills from the last legislative session. It was all so exciting. It was way over the first grader's heads and very political. They were most excited about the security people that kept watch over the governor. The third graders did an amazing job with a patriotic performance. They got a standing ovation from all of the dignitaries that were there to watch. I am sorry for the blurry picture but I was using my phone and it doesn't take good pictures from a distance.

New Discovery

My daughter told me about this trick a few weeks ago but this was the first chance I had to do it. If you need to shred chicken, put the chicken in your Kitchenaid with the regular beater. It does a great job. I know Crista got this idea from someone else but I can't remember who it was. So I am sorry if I am not giving credit to someone who deserves it.

Watching Lacrosse

I have always loved watching my kids in all their different activities. I have been to many dance concerts, piano recitals and choir concerts to watch my daughter Crista. I have been to numerous baseball and football games for Eric. I even went to a couple of track meets. (They are really long and boring.) Ryan started playing lacrosse his freshman year. He is now a senior in high school. It is such a fun game to watch. We love going to his games. This season started out pretty bad with four losses in a row. The last three games have been wins! It is so fun to watch your child do well and do add a game to the win column.

Yesterday I tried to clean the dishwasher. I ran a full cycle of hot water using vinegar, then baking soda, then clorox. It didn't seem to look any better after using all of that hot water for three cycles. I was hoping it would help. My dishes have not been looking very clean lately. Maybe I will have to start washing the dishes by hand. :( Any ideas?

Starting Out

Hello everyone,
I have decided to join the blogging world. My life isn't too exciting but I hope to have some insights and thoughts that people my enjoy reading.