Day 57 Cinderella

I really should write a book with all the funny things that go on during a day at school.

When we go to gym they wear their black shoes and then change before they go into the gym. After gym they take off their gym shoes and put their other indoor black shoes on. Sometimes it's a big ordeal. Today was casual day so everyone had on different shoes...maybe ones with more buckles and straps...things that take more time.

Everyone had their shoes on and they started heading back to the classroom. One girl realized the line was going and she suddenly exclaimed, "Well, it worked for Cinderella!"

And off she went hopping down the hall....

Gee I love these kids!

Proper Words

Allen is away in Edmonton with Jill at a meet. Things worked out so that Allen ended up having a little time with his niece and nephew while his sister and brother-in-law were out. He really gets a kick out of those kids (kids in general?) and so was totally up for it.

He got all set up to read his 5 year old niece a story. He got a bunch of pillows to make them comfy.

Allen: Are you all snuggled in?

Niece: It's just that I don't snuggle with random strangers.

Allen: I'm no random stranger! I'm your favorite Uncle Allen!

Niece: I would just rather you didn't use that word snuggle.

What a kid! She went on to explain that she is much more comfortable with the word cozy.

Schooled!

Oh, then she snuggled right in, with her head in his shoulder, to read the story.

Funny girl.

Service

I noticed the other day that Jill's iPod was cracked and asked her about it. She said she dropped it while delivering flyers for the food drive. She said she also got shin splints that day.


"Sometimes service warms your heart. And sometimes you 

just get a broken iPod and shin splits" -Jillian Ackroyd




Sadly, that's the way service goes sometimes.

Friendship

In my class we are reading stories that follow the theme of friendship. This past week we read a story about a little boy who had to go stay with a family during the week while his mother worked. The older boy thought this little boy was quite annoying for a number of reasons. I thought many of the reasons were quite justified. He was a greedy little guy, always wanting whatever the older boy had. The older boy had to take him places with him where he never had to do that before. He would okay with the older boys toys and break things....typical kid stuff.

After we read the story a couple times I had the kids write a paragraph about whether or not they would like this little boy has a friend. The majority wrote as I expected: that they would not like him for a friend. There were a handful though who said they would have him for a friend. They felt bad for him that his mother had to leave him with another family and they thought maybe he'd be sad or lonely and needed extra love. It was so touching.

One interesting thing to note: the kind paragraphs came from kids of all sorts of religious backgrounds. A Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, and Muslims. If only this could be magnified for the whole world to see. Perhaps we would have a little more peace in the world.

Testicles

I bet that title got your attention!! :)

A teacher I work with told me a funny story. (Names have been changed!)

She walked into a room where two of her students were looking at a book. One said, "Man! That is the biggest testicle I have ever seen!"

She figured she ought to find out what they were looking at.

It was a picture of an octopus.

She said, "Jason, I think you mean tentacle."

In light of my dear uncle's 75th birthday, I thought I'd share something that made me laugh out loud today at school.

I always have my students write in their journals on Mondays and today their journal prompt was: What do you want to have or do or be when you're old. I left "old" up to them to define.

Some wrote about what they want to be when they grow up. Some wrote about being old like a grandparent.

This one was my favorite:

When I am old I will have a cat, not a dog, because cats are calm. I will have a big comfy bed and chair. I will have white hair. And I will have oatmeal for breakfast. every day. I don't want to be old.

Happy birthday Uncle Clifford! Be a little crazy and skip the oatmeal today!

Boy Power

Next quote of the day from Peirce: As his friend, Anthony opens the van door, "You are a skilled man! My sister has a lot of friends that can't open that door and they're teenagers!"

My Sharp Dressed Man

Quote of the day from Peirce: "Mom, I like hanging out after Cubs..."(I'm thinking he is telling me he is enjoying spending time with is dear old mother) ".....cause the ladies love a man in a uniform."

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The other day in school we were talking about moms being tired. One of my students had this to say:

My mom's job really isn't appropriate for me to talk about at school. Sometimes she has to leave at midnight to see her clients and she's gone all night so she is really tired.

Hmmm....had to wonder what her mom does!

Her mom came in to volunteer so I had to ask her. Turns out she is a birthing doula.

Sure had me wondering for a while!

Reminded me of a picture I've seen passed around by email:

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.

I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn’t show me dancing around a pole. It’s supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

God's Minions

Today in Sharing Time I had the children share their favorite scripture story or something they have learned from the scriptures. It was so great to hear them share. My favorite was one who shared the story of Ammon. It went something like this:

"and so he cut off all the robbers arms - so the king said, "Whoa! are you God or something" and Ammon said, "No, but I am one of his minions....."

War Wounds

Yesterday we did a bunch of housework and yard work. Definitely a day of trials for our children. Pierce was raking and got a sliver in his hand. Oh the weeping and wailing!! You would have thought the world was coming to an end.

This morning as we were leaving for church I asked him how the "wound" was.

He said, "Oh it's fine. I am going to tell the ladies it was from a shark bite though."

Oh brother!!

My Mouthy Kid

One day I am going to spend a day writing down the funny things Peirce says. We hear the funniest things from him. Here are some of my favorites today:


"Mommy, If you want to avoid a lawsuit, I suggest you start thinking about what to make for dinner."

Jill was admiring some purple flowers in the ditches. Peirce said, "I'm not sure why you would like those. I'm pretty sure they've an invasive plant, and what is there to admire about an invasive plant? Nothing if you ask me!"

After talking with a family at Calaway Park: "clearly some parents are blinded by love."
(translation = that was one ugly kid!)

And sometimes they teach us.....

Sometimes I am humbled to be my kid's mom. They teach me a lot.

A few weeks ago at a swim meet I was feeling bad for Jill that she had to miss out on everything on Sunday. Way back we decided she wouldn't swim on Sundays. At the end of the races on Saturday at the last meet I said to her, "Sometimes I think you should swim Sundays." In that moment, if she would have said, "Me too mom!" we would have stayed. Instead she looked at me and said, "Why?" I explained that it just is fun and maybe having more chances to race would be a good thing. She just looked at me in a puzzled way and said, "Oh mom, you know that would never work."

She's right. Thanks for reminding me Jill!

Then a while ago I was shopping. I ran across some purple shoes that were a great deal. However, I didn't know what size I should get - so I didn't buy any. On Sunday we were driving to church when I remembered. It turned out that Jill does wear the size of shoes they had there. I mentioned that maybe we should stop by there after church and snap them up because there was only one pair left. Both Jill and Peirce exclaimed, "Mom!!!"

Enough said.

They're so good.
Maybe that's why I get to be their mom.

Love...but not that much

Pierce: I love you Mom.
Me: I love you more.
Priest: No. I love you more.
Me: Then show me by cleaning up your room.
Peirce: Okay. Maybe you do love me more.

Christmas Miracles

It's the little things around here that make me smile. The Christmas anticipation around here is palpable.

P: JILL! I broke on of your crayons.
J: That's okay. Please just try to be more careful. Thanks for being honest.
P: You're welcome. I'm trying to be really good for Christmas so I don't get coal. I think I'm doing much better.

Good Thing For Little Brothers!

Funny story from while we were at the funeral yesterday. J&P decided to go for a bike ride and hunt for grasshoppers. Jill was the one who relayed the story to me. They had a great time and biked a long ways. They found tons of grasshoppers too and decided to bring them home to put in P's bug cage.

Me: How'd you get grasshoppers home?

J: I told Peirce put them in his pocket. That's what little brothers are for, don't you know?!

Nice. Can't wait for laundry day!

No One Needs To See That!

Today I got to teach a primary class....not something I get to do that often! It was a last minute thing so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare (i.e. grab a manual while they're singing the opening song, flip through it while someone's doing the scripture and stuff like that, then teach!).

The lesson was "I can be kind" and we were supposed to learn about the story of The Good Samaritan as well as a few other things, but in the limited time I had to prepare I figured that The Good Samaritan could be our main focus. I read it to them out of the Bible, stopping as I went to explain things. Then I had them tell me the story. Then we acted it out. It was funny: No one wanted to be the Priest or the Levite. They didn't even want to be the robbers! They only wanted to be the good guy. Those are good little 5 year olds :0)


I read from John 10: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho (and we talked about different trips we'd all been on) and fell among thieves (and we talked about bad guys and how to stay safe from bad guys), which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.


I explained that raiment is clothing. One bright little girl said, "They took his clothes? Oh great! Then I bet everyone saw his penis. No one needs to see that!"


However, one boy, who'd obviously been told the story before was quick to add that he saw the picture, and he knew the guy still had his underwear on. We found the pictures in the manual, and sure enough! PHEW!! He did still have his underwear!

She's right. No one needs to see that. :0)

Peirce Paints God

Today after school I told Peirce that he was in charge of the FHE lesson. He was excited about that and got busy right away on his lesson. He decided he'd paint a picture of God and Jesus and have us write down things we know about them. He said this was one of his Faith in God requirements.

The picture didn't go quite as well as he'd hoped it would. He's been wanting to paint on a canvas so I finally let him tonight. He was a little disappointed in the finished product but when he explained the picture to me it all made sense. Most of all though I loved the process! We had a great conversation.

P: What do you think God looks like anyway?
Me: Well, when Moses saw him he said he had a face. And the Brother of Jared said he had a finger. And Joseph Smith said he wore clothes and had hands and feet and a chest and stuff.

P: Oh! That must mean he looks like us. Okay

P: Why do you think Jesus always wore sandals?

Me: Well, probably because it was really hot where he lived.
P: Where did he live anyway?

Me: In the place what we call Israel now.

P: Oh ya! I saw that on the news when it was Easter. I'm going to paint him in the desert in Arizona.

P: Why do you think God is always shiney?
Me: The scriptures say he knows everything, and knowledge is light, so there must be a lot of light that just shines around and out of him

P: Oh ya...I know that.

P: What do you think the Holy Ghost looks like?
Me: We don't really know. He doesn't have a body. If he did he couldn't do it job.

P: Oh. Okay. Do you think the Holy Ghost is the same as God?
Me: No. They're 3 different people: God, his son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

P: Oh ya...I know that Article of Faith

And on and on it went. We had the greatest conversation while he painted and I made dinner about the nature of God, and seeing God, and the Godhead. It was terrific.

The yellow around God is him glowing. He took great care with the bottom portion of the picture to make it look like a desert. The white clouds represent the Holy Ghost.

During the lesson Jill and I wrote down things we knew about God. He wouldn't let Jill see things I was writing down (didn't want her to cheat) and when we were finished he graded us. It almost turned into a fight - but something must have touched Peirce's heart and instead of having me be first place and Jill be last place he gave me a red ribbon and Jill a blue ribbon. Phew!

I tried to find the place in his Faith in God book where it says to go through this process - but I couldn't find it at all. It was a great lesson though!

House Fairy

This morning I found Peirce's room not quite as put together as it normally is. He's pretty good at keeping his room clean...on the surface. If you open the drawers or the closet you sometimes get a sorry surprise. He's been asking why The House Fairy hasn't brought him anything lately and I told him the drawers are probably the problem. This morning I found his room like this:

There was a note on his desk:

It said:

So of course, the House Fairy wrote back:

We'll see if it helps! I think he was hoping she'd clean the drawer. But that's not really her style.

Eight is Great!

Our Peirce will be 8 on Saturday, and he gets to have his baptism on his actual birthday - just like Jill did. Tonight we planned everything for it. It's so fun to see how excited he is for it, and also how excited Jill is for him. These are the moments in motherhood that I really love. I hope the day is as special as he hopes it will be.

On Sunday he had his interview with the Bishop. He looked forward to it all week. As he sat outside his office waiting for his turn he started to get a little nervous. He said to me, "What happens if I don't know one of the answers??!" Then the Bishop came out and invited him to come in. He turned to me with a bit of a panic on his fact and said, "Oh no! I can't remember the prophet's name! Mom!" LOL