Overlap

 I'm doing training to provide child care for GBYS and a lot of those trainings have overlap with my church calling and language development class.  I have an internship at CRS and that has a lot of overlap with my articulation, language development, and other classes.  It's a fun time where so many new ideas are being reinforced by real life experiences.  

I'm planning to teach a Relief Society mini-lesson about Early Intervention and child development that would help current moms and community members be better educated about available services and red flags.

I did a lesson with the missionaries recently and their friend had a 2.5 year old with only 5 years.  His delay is significant.  He's in speech but they declined Early Intervention and that is going to be a barrier for him attending a pre-k program for special needs.  

M has had some hard times but she plans to work at a summer camp this summer and go to college in the fall.  I'm excited for all she is working toward.  She's a great young woman.

Stand stand

 We have 5 stands!  They were taking up a lot of space so I built this little stand for them.  It just barely holds the three manhasset stands that are ours.  We have one of those stands that has adjustable knobs, terrible but better than the wire things.  We also accidentally brought an extra one home from the Christmas music festival.  I sent an email to the organizers and they say nobody has asked about it.  Bummer.  We love manhasset stands.  

Our first manhasset stand was from P's school when they were throwing away the old ones.  Last year I drove to Decatur to get another one since we would both be needing good stands for the Christmas festival.  While in Florida for spring break I found another for $10.  So we brought it home too.  Now we have more than we need on a daily basis but will never have to use a bad stand again.

I used the knob adjusting one just the other day as a stand for holding the container as I ground some wheat.  It's good for that sort of job.  But when you want something to hold music, manhasset stands are my one elephant.

banners

 

I volunteer at a preschool for children with hearing loss.  It seems like a nice job but I'm a total communication kind of girls.  I'm learning all I can to help kids communicate.  I do a lot of cutting and laminating.  One of the teachers learned that I can draw so she asked me to amek pictures for the class.  That has been fun.  It always reminds me of my mom when I do artistic things.  I feel like this picture captures the idea of enclosures without blocking the view of the animals too much.

School is going well.  I just got an A on a test we were all stressed about.  I'm so grateful that P is so loving and supportive of all that I do.

We got some new teachers called to primary and that is very exciting.  We had our big spring activity on Saturday and it was great.  I get all worked up over things sometimes and I don't need to...  Life.  

The sweet gum trees drop a lot of spiky balls and I've enjoyed burning them in our solo fire pit.  That has been fun but now I think I'll just bundle the rest up for yard debris or trash because I don't have all day to tend the fire.  Enough!

Good hike, good day

 Today we hiked fagan spring with the boys.  The hike was a gentle 1.8 miles round trip with lots of stops to catch crayfish and even a salamander sighting.  B brought a carbohydrate feast that kept us entertained and was a nice picnic when we reached the spring.  Pizza, rolls, meat, cheese and bugles.  I thought he was bringing a lot but it was lunch for 4 people as we were hiking from 11 to 2.

M had a competition. lP had a birthday party to attend. M's indoor winds group won first place.  Their show theme is "Decomposers" featuring a "Thriller" type mash up of awesome classical composers and their music.  It's so amazing that the kids get to be part of this great program.

The 3 peas watched "Win or Lose" from Disney.  It had a neat simultaneous story telling of a softball team going to the championship.  It did not have happy endings but it did cover a lot of ideas and I'm glad we binge watched the 8 episodes together.  I like their habbit of watching shows together.

The boys room has been a disaster for a few weeks and we're getting close to sanity.

Laundry was washed.

Dub-dubs were made.

Dinner of Pepper-onion-green bean-sausage-egg stirfry on rice was enjoyed by L, B, P and me.  lP hates peppers and onions so she went and made a sandwich.  It is rare for L to ask for more of a dish so this is probably going to become a regular dish for us.

My college requires a $200 payment for a meal plan each semester.  It's annoying but also we've never had so much chick-fila in our lives.  I plan to bring home salads and chicken patties on a regular basis to use up the balance before the end of the semester.  There are worse things.  Really.

Spring Break

 We had a really nice visit to Florida.  P had to work but the kids and I had the week off together.  We drove down on a mission to get gator clothes, get G to a Dr., and visit Lois.  We also enjoyed visiting Grandma C and Grandpa S, visiting Rock Springs, aunts L and E, friends at the beach, many playgrounds and visiting uncle S on the way home.  

The part that didn't go so well was driving home the last hour into a tornado zone!  I'm used to Hurricanes and didn't see anything obvious like a funnel cloud so we just kept going north.  Scary times included pulling over to the side of the road near a cliff/bluff as tornado sirens blared around us.  Pulling over to a gas station when our phones all went off after we crossed into the North AL tornado warning zone.  We were supposed to immediately seek shelter, preferably underground.  But I didn't have a way to do that.  So we prayed and got back on the road.  We did get home safe and it was exhausting.

While we were gone P found a royal star magnolia for me and planted it in the front yard.  We recently agreed that was the tree to fill the hole in the front yard.  It's so cute.  It is an early bloomer and has many petals.  It doesn't grow huge and I'm so excited that he found one and planted it for me.  I have so many flowering trees and I just feel so lucky.

More active adventures

 I can't believe how much fun I've been having lately.  On Friday I went mountain biking with sister H and sister S.  We rode over in Hville and it was fun.  Tonight I went to a contra dance in town.  I've been hearing about it on the radio for a year and finally got the courage to go.  The ladies who said they would go did not but I didn't let that stop me.  DF was there with her son and tons of really friendly people.  I had a blast.  It was a heck of a work out too.

I applied for a part time job yesterday.  I'm not qualified for it per se, but it was a good exercise to generate a resume, cover letter, and application.  I've been just focusing on the kids and church callings for so long.  I need to practice these professional skills.

I wish I had thought to include some of my student writing for the application.  I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Active Ladies group

 Last year I started a group me at church for ladies to go do active things.  We've gone on hikes, caving, walks, big hikes and this weekend we'll go to a contra dance.  Our ward has a book club and craft club.  There is a group of young families supporting each other going to the temple.  There is a group that goes out to eat once a month AND we even have relief society activities a few times a year. 
The RS president has been so supportive of this group and It's really fun to get together and do something active and usually free.  Yay!