Do we ever really grow up?--Part 2

There are those things that we hope we never grow out of like a child's love. Children have a great ability to love and forgive. One of my meanest tough guys will never hesitate to take the hand of a younger child who is frightened or in need of comfort, and I just think "you never know".

Children are able to sense if a person is good or bad very quickly. They are drawn to those that they are able to trust. It often scares me how quickly I can gain a child's trust, sure they're fine with me, but what if someone can emulate that trustworthiness.

I joke around with my students all day long and sometimes it can damage my authority in the classroom, but I can't stop because I love their silliness. Every day they come up to me and say some of the funniest things. The best is when they say something funny and they're totally serious, that's when it's the hardest not to laugh. Today for instance I was called Mom, or Grandma probably 10 times all on accident. When they realize they just called their teacher the name of the person raising them, they get these bug eyed looks of amazement on their faces, and then they start to laugh. It's so much fun to respond to this, "Yes, dear?" "Are you calling me old?" especially if they don't realize the word Mom slipped out. Then I get the, "she's crazy!" look.

Look at their imagination, incredible. Each day I hear about a man named Steve that lives in one of my student's heads. If she gets a headache Steve is dancing. Then there is my little man who is determined to come up with a way to turn himself into a super hero, and I really do think he will. Just my small group of children have so many wonderful qualities that I hope I can hold on to.Children for the most part think they are wonderful! They don't let much hurt their opinion of themselves. I think this is part of why children are able (normally) to get along. They are perfectly fine with who they are, we adults are always questioning ourselves. We should stop and see that we are beautiful, wonderful, loved, and brilliant in our own ways. We are just what God intended us to be, and he's working on making us even better, and that is Splendid! Watching children brings such happiness into my life. I hope that we can all be as happy as we were as children. Go hug a child, you'll feel better! (ask first) Love You, All!

The Wonder that is Summer

I grew up in St. George, and as such, I became very accustom to the heat there. Temperatures of 100 degress plus don't really bother me. I only remember a few times growing up that we even had any snow. Once we got about 3 inches all at once and the whole city shut down! Schools closed, businesses closed, people were driving off the road all over the place. It was chaos. Did I mention that it was only 3 inches? In fact, I didn't own a pair of long pants (besides church pants) until I was probably in junior high or maybe even high school. I remember standing at the bus stop on the three or four days during the year that it actually got kind of chilly and we would all be wearing shorts and our warmest sweater or maybe a coat.
Every time winter comes around here in Logan, I ask myself "Why did you choose to come to the coldest place in Utah to go to school?" Answers like "to meet my wife" and "to go to a great engineering school" come to mind, but it still doesn't make me feel better about the fact that IT'S COLD! We've had a couple of times this winter that it has been in the teens... as in NEGATIVE teens. It's also a joy to walk on 3 inches of ice everywhere I go... nevermind, it's not.
That's why whenever we get a warm spell during winter here in Logan, I inevitably say something like "Summer's coming!" or "Does this mean winter is almost over?" I'm sure Meghann gets sick of it, especially when I start in November or December.
I guess you could say that winter is a good thing because it helps me to not take the warmer months for granted. Summer is great because everything is alive. The world is beautiful, people are out and about, doing barbeques and picnics, or just enjoying the good weather. You can go hiking or swimming. You can play tennis, baseball, soccer, you name it!
All I can say is, SUMMER'S COMING! WOOHOO!

Phantom

So I came into work early this morning because it's a teacher work day, and if I get here early I get to leave early! No kids, so I can get enough done that I wont have to work this weekend.

Anyways, I left Logan around 5:30, and before I pulled out I pick up my i-pod and thought, "Phantom Baby! That will get my morning going." I'm off, and listening. I came to the swamps and encountered really thick fog. It's pretty common, but it's worse when the sun isn't up yet. The phantom of the opera with the organ started playing right as I went into the fog, and I was totally spooking myself. I jumped once, and then locked my doors, which is so silly. I came out of the fog, to a perfectly clear dark morning sky with the moon shining, by this time Music of the night was playing. I just had to laugh at how much music affects me. Happy, now sad, now scared. Way to go Andrew you made my morning emotional and frightening.

Guess I better get to work... Have a great morning!

Childish

So much of what I see in children every day reminds me of my adult life, and I find myself wondering, "Do we ever really grow up?" (this is long, been thinking about it all day)

So I'm going to do this entry in two posts. I'm going to start with the bad, so I can end on the good.

Every day I notice and deal with students' behaviors that aren't necessarily admirable; but they have a good excuse, their brains aren't yet fully developed. It is somewhat concerning, however, when I think about my life, and realize I'm still dealing with these behaviors at 22.

Let's just preface this with, kids will be kids, and I love them for that. Growing up is rough, there's no getting away from that.

Yesterday Kurt traded his $10 dollars of lunch money for two marbles and a used watch that only had one plastic strap. He was thrilled with the trade and truly felt that he was getting the best part of the deal. Then with me, there have been moments that I look back on and think, "I totally got swindled", but at the time I was perfectly happy with the trade. I'm very anxious right now trying to determine which home will be the right home for us. Big decision, I don't want to get swindled.

Today I learned that one of my students has developed ulcers as a result of many things, but primarily worry. I started to see one area of worry as I observed her throughout the day: girl drama. We're halfway through the year, and the girls are getting mean! They misunderstand each other, they say things they don't really mean, they get emotions tangled with their logic, and then they cry and worry about it. I had finally dealt with so much of this today that I stopped and looked six 8 year old women in the eyes and said, "It's a bad day for girls...shake it off. Just make sure that you are being a good person and trying to be nice, and try to make up for the times that you aren't." But that drives me crazy, they feel stupid for being mean, and try to apologize and then the other girl won't except the apology. In fact today the other girl was literally running away, because she didn't want to talk. (rolling eyes) This doesn't seem to get better, I dealt with some of this in high school, but for the most part have been fortunate to avoid this. Then I grow up and decide to work in a career with mostly women, and I witness lots of mean girliness in my colleagues. We're talking 40 to 50 year old women...is there no hope for our gender? This poor student. I love all of my students so much, and I can think of very little I can do to help her. I so badly want to take that worry and pain away from her, but again girls will be girls.

Manipulation, some of my kids are masters at it, thanks to their parents. Towards the beginning of the week, I almost let one of my students take control of my attention, and that's just what he wanted. Crying, whining, and he is really good at it. Thank goodness a little voice came into my head and said he's manipulating the situation, remember your behavior management tricks. So, we went the rounds and I eventually got him to comply with the rules. I do this sometimes, too, crying to try and get my way. I pout, it's true. I'll let my real emotions seep through, in hopes of getting my way. I control this urge for the most part, but every once in a while I'll try it. Like maybe we're deciding where to go for dessert, and Aaron wants pie, but I want cold stone. I'll admit that I'll pretend like I'm perfectly happy with pie, and then pout. Aaron always catches on. I don't do this much anymore in our marriage, it's faster to just be honest. Then we duke it out for dessert.

Stay tuned for the happier comparison tomorrow....

Have a Listen

Have You Heard This Kid?!

David Archuleta! So there have been a few times in my life when I've stumbled across American Idol on T.V. and I would stop and watch. But, I saw a clip of David on Youtube, and decided to watch his performance tonight. It was so AWESOME, it gave me chills. The two best things about this kid are that 1) He's from Murray Utah, and 2) He sang John Lennon's "Imagine" tonight! Can't beat that song! I totally have a crush on him, amazing voice, and super cute personality. (You're still the love of my life Honey!) ;)

Quick House Buying Update

We made an offer today on the home below. It's a little torturous though, because it's a short sell. Which means, we now have about two weeks of wait time to see if the bank will accept our offer. So to keep from going crazy, we are going to keep looking like we haven't found something yet.