Thanks Joy, but I have to share this one!

I don't know if people read my comments, but this was a winner (Thanks to my cousin for the laugh!) :

One of my friends who is a teacher has a great ice skating/show and tell story. A little boy brought a box of Stayfree Maxi pads to class and had everyone peel off the stickers and put them on their feet. Then he told them that his mom let him use them for skates at home to help clean the floor. Stop laughing right now, 'cause I know you are. Laughing. Right. Now!

This is Kathy again, I have to say that is one ingenious mom!

Just ramblings

I have decided that I must rededicate myself to exercise. I got off the bandwagon when I was going blind. To be fair, the doctor did tell me I shouldn't go. Then there were all those cookies given to me by kind-hearted friends. Sadly, some of the weight I lost has found me again. So, I decided that I have to go and workout until I can fit into all of my clothes again. Those of you who are faithful readers of this blog will recall that in a bold move I gave all of my bigger girl clothes away. Well, I have been to Gold's twice in the last two days. I tried a class called Body Combat which I was probably doing incorrectly, but which was a fantastic release to all of my pent up frustrations. However, about ten minutes through, I was asking myself, "WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU EVER SEE IN THIS?" Then the endorphins kicked in and I remembered. That is why I was able to go in today.

One of my students is writing his life story. When asked why, he replied, "I don't plan on having many more experiences....and I could really use the money."

I teach five year olds in Primary. I love it. I wish I could remember every funny thing they say, but sadly...I am getting older and my brain just isn't what it used to be. Here is one I do remember, "Sister Behrend, does Heavenly Father have a girlfriend?"

I have a student teacher. She is fantastic and will someday be a great teacher. Sometimes weird things happen in my class. I think that my body gets possessed by a crazy spirit and I do these really odd things. Like ice skating. It just jumped into my head when the kids were not getting a concept and I told them to take their favorite skater pose. While I am leaning over with my leg expertly pointing out behind me and one arm in the air, while the other one daintily dangled to the ground, I remember that Mrs Hill is in the room. She was in my blind side when I had this great idea. So...I glanced her way and saw her in a perfect pirouette pose. I told her later that I liked it, she informed me that I couldn't have seen it because it was on my blind side. When I described it to her, she confessed with was her triple axel. Got to love a girl who will throw her best jump on the first day in class.

Ok, that's all I have in my head right now--except that I am hungry and need some scrambled eggs.

Hope everything is good in your neck of the woods.

Snow

I like it.
It is celestial and clean in its whiteness (until the road crews get out).
All of the really good holidays of the year have snow in them.
I love to watch it snow from my warm living room, while the fire burns and I am wrapped in a quilt reading a book.
Soup is better when it snows.
If there was no snow, there would be no ski-cross at this years Olympics. Also, no downhill, no Super G, no half pipes...
If it didn't snow, we might not appreciate spring as much.
Or summer.
If it didn't snow we would have nothing to cover the dead browns of the leaves in the fall.
Without snow an entire tire industry would go bankrupt.
I am starting to have to really reach for reasons I like snow.
I think I am trying to convince myself how much I like snow.
I like the sun....

Driving with my dad

Ok...this will be two semi-serious posts in a row.

My dad has been driving me to work again. I have resigned myself to the fact that he will probably drive me every day--forever. Well...he does let me drive myself to summer school.

The last month he has been waxing sentimental. He actually cried when he was talking about my grandpa. Being pioneer stock did prevent him from actually CRYING...it was a little more like choked sobs.

Today when he picked me up, he just started talking. From school to home he addressed the following subjects: debt, politics, good music, how to take a rewarding trip, him as a child, the Art Academy of America, a fugitive we both know, the beauty of the mountains around us, and the Olympics. It is less than ten miles from my house to the school and he drives about 50 mph the whole way. He began every new topic with "BUT its just like..." I think his segways made sense to him, somehow...but not so much to me.

When he drove into my driveway he turned off the motor. From past experiences, I knew that meant we were going to talk. And so it started, "BUT its just like..."
He started with the topic of his experiencs as a child wanting to draw, and how the Art Academy of America took all the fun out of it. Then he started up another topic. "I choose your mother out of all the women in the world to be your mom. When I first saw her I was taken by her beauty." At this point he does that chokey sobby noise. "I knew that when I was around her I felt good and when I was around her family there was so much love. That's what I wanted for my babies, because I never had it in my own life."

Long pause.

"I feel so grateful that I found her. I know you are the good people you are because of her." (His chin is quivering and he is trying hard to control himself.) "I know that some of our children have had rough spots in your lives, but you have all done well. You are honest, you are hard-working, you have good families."

Another pause.

"Your grandmother told me that I would have to look hard for a better woman to marry. She could cook, sew, and clean." Smaller pause. "She did tell me that if finding someone who could darn my socks was important to me, I should look somewhere else. I learned that if I kept my toenails clipped my socks lasted longer."

I personally think that I--and my siblings--are the sum total of both of our parents.

Between generations

Last night I was holding Loucee and she went to sleep on my lap. She can be quite a little snuggler when she's asleep, and I was enjoying the quiet and peace of it. I was kissing her hair and feeling her breathe while I could hear her two brothers and one cousin playing in the back room. They were laughing and enjoying themselves and I found myself smiling at how content having the grandbabies in my home makes me feel. I needed that content feeling, because while two generations down from my own were visiting me, two generations up my grandpa was laying in an intensive care unit. We have been so worried about him, and have had sleepless nights thinking about his pain, his heart, his hip, my grandma, his kids-my mother... Two generations up are struggling. My grandma puts on her brave face, but she has been sleeping alone in her house for one of the first times in literally a half a century. She is a pillar of faith--she KNOWS everything is going to work out fine, no matter what 'fine' is.

On one end of my generations life is just starting. My grandbabies have such a vigor and drive to live, to love, to learn. They are barely aware of the drama unfolding just a few generations up the ladder. They are blessed to know their great-great grandparents, a few might even remember them.

On the other end, hard decisions are being made. There is love, living, and even learning. They have been blessed to know those in generations down from their own, and back to their own parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, great grandparents...

So last night, it occurred to me. I am in the middle.

People everywhere I go ask how my grandparents are. They tell me to pass along their thoughts and prayers to them and their family. They tell me stories about my grandpa as their bishop, or that he sold them a car. Some relate stories of how kind my grandma is, that she was always the first on the scene with food when a family needed help. My grandparents are well loved and have lived well.

Last night I felt more on the aging side of the generations. I wondered if I have lived in a way that people would care if I was sick when I am 90. I wondered if they would have fond memories of me. I wondered how my grandchildren would remember me, as loving and fun? Would they look to me as a pillar of faith and strength?

I know this kind of thing happens in families every day.

I feel like a middle child of generations.

Haiku--an ancient form of Japanese poetry

I am very proud of my students for learning how to write a Haiku. It was a long process, but the end result was worth the effort. I want to share some of the work of my brilliant students. Here goes:


The Grinch
by Ismael
He hated Christmas
He tried to take the tree, food
Now is nice and kind

Grinch
by Savannah
Mean man stole Christmas
His brain is full of spiders
He is a monster!

Grinch
by Kylee
Green, hates Christmas Eve
Stinky, hateful, grouchy, mad
Hearts an empty hole.

Snow
by Jayden
It is cold and wet
Freezing cold and very wet
Crunchy under feet

Grinch
by Jordyn
Green, hates Christmas Day
MEAN, yellow teeth, yellow eyes
Hearts an empty hole.

Santa
by Ismaelia
Santa is good, fun
Chubby and funny and fun
Santa Claus brings toys

Snow
by Easton
White, cool, wet, good fun
Too much drives my mom crazy
So much that she screamed.

Yeah, I pretty much loved that last one.
There are so many Grinch ones because we did our school Christmas program with a Grinchy theme.

Hope you are all staying warm and toasty!
Kathy

Ever just feel...

Happy? I do, right now in fact. This day started out a little bit shaky, but I just feel good inside.

(My alarm didn't go off, and not one person in my house thought it important to wake me. So at 6:50 I jump out of bed, run to the shower, just get out and hear that my dad is outside honking his horn. I did growl.)

Maybe its Michael Crawford singing "O Holy Night," or maybe the smell of banana bread baking. It could be that my new student came back today and brought her cute personality with her--glad she didn't leave that in Gooding. Maybe its that Mark is coming home tonight, and not staying in Burley. Maybe its that Charlie's friend Ryan is here and they are playing games and laughing. Maybe its chicken-bacon-ranch pizza. Could be my new 20.00 tree complete with lights, pinecones, and little berries on the ends.

Whatever it is, I just feel happy.