review

Thanks for all the birthday phone calls - it was nice to talk to everyone! We didn't do anything for my birthday ON my birthday. It was a Sunday, so it wasn't like we could go out to dinner. The weekend was really full with random ward stuff, including a convert baptism on Sunday. So the entire day Sunday was geared toward that, particularly since Adam is the ward mission leader. It was our ward's first convert baptism in 2 1/2 years, so it was a big deal for us. A number of people at church did wish me a happy birthday, because they saw it on the Relief Society monthly calendar (that lists everyone's birthdays). But mostly, I just said that it was Lin's day and I didn't want to steal his thunder. I have a birthday every year - you get baptized only once.

Adam and I have a date scheduled for next week - we're doing a babysitting swap with Sarah and Taylor, because it's also Sarah's birthday in a couple of weeks. It's not THE day or even THE weekend, but whatever. We fit it in when we can.

And speaking of converts, or potential converts ... I have a couple of friends (who are now married to each other) from college who I also worked with at the Capitol in Salem. Marc occasionally asks me for advice relating to spiritual things, and recently, he emailed me asking a few questions about gaining answers to prayer. I kept getting off track when trying to email a response, and I also was trying to figure out how to suggest to him that the missionaries would be able to help him better than I would. I've referred him to the missionaries before (about 3 years ago), and he got mad at me for it.

We finally talked on the phone yesterday and ended up talking for about 2 1/2 hours. It was fairly close to the beginning of the conversation that I brought up the missionaries. The bulk of the conversation was along the lines of, "If I became Mormon, what about this and this and this." He's a former Catholic so he asked about confession. He also wanted to know if he and Jessica would be required to serve a mission, what happens in the regular Sunday church services, how tithing and donations are paid, and a couple of other things. Ultimately, he did agree for me to give his name as a referral. He said he doesn't think Jessica is quite ready for a substantial religious commitment but he's looking for direction in their lives. YAY! I'm very happy about this. I've thought for a LONG time that he and Jess would eventually join the Church. I don't know if it will happen right away, or if they'll take awhile. But they'll get there.

They're in Nathan and Amanda's stake - the Turner Ward. If they need some extra support, I'll give you guys a holler.

I'm in a gallery!

So the Spori Gallery does a variety of shows. The last one was of faculty art, and the next one (opening tonight) is the student show. Anyone could submit up to four pieces. And I figured, what the heck. The worst they can say is no. So I submitted four .. and THREE got in! Hooray! I'm very excited. Too bad I can't actually go to the opening, because I have to go to a dance class, but I'll skip out on it early, and go see. I'm not sure if I actually won money (I would love to just break even, to pay for all the framing), and I don't know when I find out, but I'm just happy to see them hanging up in there! The show runs from today until November 14th, so if anyone happens to be in the Rexburg area, you are encouraged to stop by!

And the three pieces are:

Happy Birthday Trina!!!

It's still your birthday here in Oregon even if it's past midnight in Maryland. I hope you had a wonderful day. Send us some details and pictures.

Eric and his family came to visit us for a few days this week. It was great having them here. We really enjoyed playing with our grandchildren. They are so sweet and fun to be with. We got some extra visits from Nathan's family too. I can't get too much of my grandchildren.

On the first I'm flying down to Texas to see Jared's family. I guess this is family time for Mom. It will be fun to meet my newest grandchild. I'm looking forward to playing with Brooke and Bryan, too. I'll be there for two weeks.

I can't wait until next summer when all of my kids can be together again. Sure hope that it works out for everyone to come.

Love ya,
MOM

My new calling

Yes, I have a new calling, and I've done it for about three weeks, despite the fact that I have yet to be sustained. They're a bit slow in Yamhill at times. Yes, Yamhill. If you didn't know, I defected.

My calling is to help with the girl's achievement -- girls ranging in age from eight to eleven. The first week they were coloring charts for family night. This week, they painted pumpkins. I helped with squirting paint and cleaning things up. One girl added a lot of paint to her pumpkin, including the stem. She also got paint on her nose. She put on so much that even after the snack (pumpkin pie -- no surprise there) the paint had not dried so she had trouble carrying it. And she dropped it in the hallway, and it rolled along, leaving splotches of gray and orange paint behind. I think we got it all out of the carpet.

Christmas exchanges

All 3 of the boys emailed me and said that they're in for the gift exchanges, so here's the name draw that I just did:

Trina and Adam - to Mindy (and Aaron?)
Eric and Laurel - to Emily
Jared and Michelle - to Tawnia
Tawnia - to Eric and Laurel
Emily - to Nathan and Amanda
Nathan and Amanda - to Trina and Adam
Mindy - to Jared and Michelle

Clarissa is out of the exchange because of being on her mission - I hope that everyone will at least send her some cookies and a card in December, if not a small gift. I'll email her as soon as I'm done with this post to tell her what's going on.

Tawnia suggested that we do some kind of memory gift - a small item related to a memory you have of that person. You're welcome to make something that costs no money at all, or spend a small amount. Nothing extravagant of course, not that anyone can afford to compete for the "best" gift anyway.

ALSO, if everyone could write memories of everyone else ... how do we want to work that organizing? Everything gets emailed to Mom and she organizes it and sends it back out? Or just put it in an envelope and stick it in with your Christmas cards? Hmm. Actually, I kind of like the idea of getting a bunch of different letters - I will mail all of mine individually.

Everyone else can do this as they have time, but I wanted to throw it out there that I will also write memory letters for each of the spouses. It would be nice to have them for Adam as well, but nothing is "required" or should feel like it's an obligation. Participate in the memory letters as your life permits.

Book exchange for the grandkids - if you can't/don't want to buy books, I think it would be fun to make them for each other. Either way is fine:

Brooke - to Stevie
Bryan - to Joshy
Stevie - to Marnie
Summer - to Bryan
Joshy - to Summer
Allie - to Brooke
Marnie - to Emma
Emma - to Allie

Yes, the sibling exchange was a blind draw. I tweaked the kids a little to make sure they were not giving to a sibling - the point is to have an exchange between cousins.

Did I get everything?

Tawnia's Classes

First Grade Assistant: Each morning between nine and ten, I help in the first grade classroom. There are 18 first graders and when you want to read individually with each child, it takes more than one adult to cover all 18. We have some kids who are just barely reading and a few that read on a third or fourth grade level... so individual reading is important. I go in and read one-on-one or with small groups. I enjoy it a lot. I really like this group of kids and it has been fun to be able to listen to them read and help them move forward in that area of their lives.

One day as I was helping a little girl turned to me and asked if she could go to the bathroom. I paused to think about it and before I could even respond she looked at me and said, "I just went a little in my pants." I told her to quickly go to the bathroom and finish... but it was to late. Unfortunately the room we were in was carpeted... and we don't have custodians... so guess who had the joy of cleaning up that mess! Yeah, ME! So at lunch that day she came up and asked if I'd ever had pink ice cream. I said yes and then she asked if I'd ever had blue ice cream and I said no. And then she told me that once she had had pink ice cream and it made her throw up. Oh, the conversations I have with first graders! They are so funny.

Fifth Grade Math: I teach the fifth graders math while the fifth grade teacher teaches the sixth grade math class and the sixth grade teacher does either administrative stuff or teaches a public speaking classes at UVU. There are 12 fifth graders and we work well together. I enjoy them most days. They can be really chatty but then again, sometimes they will work really hard for me... usually when recess or a lack of homework is being held over their heads. Most of the students understand math pretty well but a couple of them really struggle. So far we've covered basic arithmetic, measurements including converting measurements... something I don't remember ever learning, and now we are starting into fractions. We also learned a really cool way for checking multiplication, division, and addition. It's called casting out 9's. I'll have to show it to you sometime. It's baffling at first, but it works and I really like it.

Kindergarten Science: My kindergarten science class consists of nine rambunctious five year olds. They are an interesting group. I originally had ten. Two of those tens were twin boys and those boys were nearly impossible to get anything done with. They hated taking any directions and were basically out of control constantly. I knew it wasn't just my problem, because I work very closely with the kindergarten teacher. Eventually it was decided that they were not ready for kindergarten yet. (It was only two weeks until the decision was made but that was a LONG two weeks!) So that dropped us down to eight and then a couple weeks ago we got a new little girl... so now there are nine. Last year there were 14 kindergarteners and they were EASY compared to this group of nine. They are getting better though. We are working on following directions and taking turns. I think we actually made it through an entire class where I didn't have someone throw a tantrum once so far. (And that was yesterday!) I am coming to love the kids though. It's hard to resist when they come up and hug you around the waist (or knees). Also when they see you and get a huge grin and yell, "HI, Miss Palmer!" even though they are supposed to be being quiet.

In Kindergarten the topics we learn about in science coincide with what they are doing in their class.... and that changes each week. Lately we have been learning about Pets and Fall and we had a little safety and health mixed in there. Next week we are going to start on the senses. We will learn about the sense of sight next week. The week after that is the sense of taste, and we are also learning about pumpkins... yeah, so science is a bit sporadic and spontaneous. The activity can change from moment to moment and sometimes I will just pull something out to keep them entertained, but that's how it is in kindergarten.

A cute kindergarten story: The other day one of my kindergarteners fell asleep during my class. This little boy's dad is in Iraq so his mom is trying to raise her three kids (him being the oldest) and run a restaurant on her own. So I just let him sleep and we continued on in our activity. A few days later the little boy didn't want to leave the kindergarten classroom at the end of the day and the Kindergarten teacher (Sherry) teasingly suggested that he would be sleeping in the classroom. He thought about it and said, "No, sleep in Miss Palmer's!" Sherry had to come and find me afterwards and tell me about it.

First Grade Science: Eighteen first graders in my tiny little classroom is always an adventure. They are pretty good kids though. I just have to make sure that certain ones don't sit together.
In science this year we started out learning about our different Body Systems. The kids were really interested in learning about bones and muscles and the circulatory system, digestive system, and nervous system. Then for October we have been learning about the three states of matter (ie Solid, Liquid, and Gas). I made up a song to the tune of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" and we sing it each time they come. We made examples of solids out of play-dough one day and this last time I used a solid and liquid to make a gas. (I put vinegar in an empty water bottle, baking soda in a balloon, and then put the balloon on top of the water bottle, and dumped the baking soda from the balloon into the vinegar. They reacted and caused a gas to fill up the balloon... the first graders were very impressed.

Funny story: One of the first things I did was have the first graders tell me what they knew about their bodies and what they wanted to learn. One little boy wanted to know how a cord could connect a baby and a mommy.

Second Grade Science: I have ten second graders and they are one of my favorite classes. Three of them are new this year and the others were all here last year. I love this group of kids because they are pretty well behaved. They also get really excited about whatever we are learning about. We spent September learning about the Digestive System. At the end we talked about eating healthy. Currently two of the little boys have become my "lunchroom monitors." They always come up and see what I'm eating. If it isn't healthy they say, "Miss Palmer, you is that healthy? You shouldn't eat that!" When they see me eating an apple or carrots they always tell me good job. Lately they have been asking if I am exercising each day. Sometimes I shake my head and think, "What did I do to myself!" but they are good kids and they are watching out for me.

We are now learning about rocks. They have become really interested and have started bringing me the "cool" rocks that they find outside. I even teach them the rock cycle, so that when they get into fourth grade they'll already have a basic understanding of it.

Funny Story: In the first week of school the entire Lower School (Pre-K through 6th) goes on a hike. This year we went to Cascade Springs which is beautiful and a pretty easy hike. I went and while I was there one of the boys (who happens to be one of those "lunchroom monitors" now) turned to me and told me that I was his favorite teacher. I smiled and said, "You say that to all the teachers don't you." In all seriousness he stopped and looked at me and said, "No, I don't!"

Third Grade Science: There are 12 third graders and most of them are pretty good. I'm not sure what happens at this age but the "I think it's cool to be snotty" starts coming out in some of the kids. Fortunately I know the parents of the ones that do this most often and can talk to them about their child's behavior. In third grade we are learning about sound and the anatomy of the ear. It has been pretty fun. I played my guitar for them and we discussed that. I have had them do some different experiments with hearing. And the nice thing for me is that I already have the anatomy of the ear pretty much down since it's been covered in at least four of my college courses so far. We'll be talking about Alexander Graham Bell this next week and then after that we'll finish up this unit and move on to learning about magnets.

I can't really think of a funny story to go with this class right now. I'm sure they have done something to make me laugh, or at least smile, but I can't think of anything at this point.

Fourth Grade Science: I have sixteen fourth graders. They have been learning about the rock cycle, soil, and fossils. They work best when I do something "boring" in order to earn a fun activity. This next week we will be making fossils. It should be fun.... and messy.

Fifth Grade Science: Again, there are 12 fifth graders. I talked about them above in fifth grade math. They have been learning some basic Geology and now are learning about Cells. They will be doing a "cell project" soon which I'm excited about. They have to make a representation of both an animal cell and a plant cell. It should be interesting to see what they come up with.

Sixth Grade Science: I have ten sixth graders and they are like a gift sent from above. Eight girls and two boys, and they take school seriously and want to do well. We have been learning about microorganisms and then I realized that they didn't have the background about cells that they needed. So we are learning about cells right now (just like the fifth graders.)

We grew mold on bread and bacteria on potatoes. It took awhile and was pretty gross, but I enjoyed it. I had the kids rub their dirty hands on the bread or rub the bread on the bottom of their shoes, or spit on it. Amazingly the bread with the worst mold was just from some water. I guess that the spray bottle was not clean because the other bread that had been sprayed with water didn't get any kind of mold on it.

I also had the sixth graders each do a report on a different microorganism. It was interesting to learn about e. coli and anthrax and some of the other things out there.

After school I go out and supervise the playground for ten minutes and then I tutor one of my fifth graders in math for thirty minutes and then I come home. My life is very busy as you can tell. I teach each science class twice a week, which means that I have three classes each day except Friday when I have only two and then get some time to prepare for the next week.

Marnie's birthday party

Pictures from Marnie's birthday party this morning are now on my personal blog here. Enjoy!

Fall Break

Today and tomorrow I don't have to go to work. It is our "fall break" and I have been VERY much in need of it! Unfortunately I have a mile-long list of things to get done over the weekend.

My car needs it's oil changed, tires rotated, and it needs a good cleaning... I want to go through all the papers and stuff that gets stashed in there and throw out the stuff I don't need. Poor Petey has been neglected lately. Part of the reason I'm needing to do that is because I'm going to be giving a couple of my students rides to and from school (and getting paid some gas money for doing it! Woohoo! The way gas prices are right now I'm in serious need of help with gas.)

I also need to get my apartment all cleaned up. Not for any particular reason other than that it's getting messy and I need to clean it up. (Messy being defined as dishes sitting in the sink and the bathroom really does need to be scrubbed down.) And I need to do several loads of laundry. And it would be nice to go through and clean some stuff out of my room and organize things.

Other than that I need to make sure I have lessons planned at least for this next week of school. I want to try and have things planed out from now until Thanksgiving, but I don't think that will happen. And I need to grade some math papers and get my on-line gradebook updated.

And I also want to be able to relax and have some fun... I am supposed to go out to eat with my friend, Laurel, at some point either today or tomorrow. I'm also going to go see a play with my friend, Janee, on Saturday evening. That and just chilling at home and reading a book or watching a movie and knitting (I'm currently working on Rosemary's blanket.) Oh, or practice my guitar!

I need to get as much of the above done today and tomorrow because on Saturday I have a retreat with my choir. Did I tell you that I tried out for a choir? We do firesides, though apparently not any until January. I had to audition for it. It was the first audition I have been to in six or more years... it was pretty nerve wracking. I got in and I'm very excited! I've been needing something more in my life, some way to share my talents and express myself, so I'm excited about this.

So all of that is my fall break... which is just a four day weekend! I must get busy on things soon. And I'm watching my friend's two pet rats for her while she is in St George for the break. They are named Niya and Flower. They aren't to bad, just wake me up with strange noises sometimes, but I'm dealing with it.

Christmas reunion in DC

First of all, I'm not suggesting this be in 2 months, or even next year. But eventually, I think it would be awesome to do a Christmas family reunion in DC. Check out all the awesome stuff there is to do in DC in December ...

- the DC Temple Visitor's Center to see the billions of lights, the international Christmas trees, the collection of international nativity sets, and there's a music performance every single night of December. Last year, we went to a bell choir.

- the White House with all the Christmas decorations, as well as all the Christmas trees out on the Ellipse, with the "national yule log" (a big fire pit that is great when it's freezing cold) and lots of miniature trains around the base of the main tree.

- the miniature electric trains at the National Conservatory.

- the military band Christmas concerts at the Daughters of the American Revolution concert hall

- the "Messiah" sing-along at the Kennedy Center. Wouldn't this be the most AMAZING thing to do????

And it's all FREE. Free free free.

There's also a candlelight tour at Mt. Vernon which goes into sections of the house that are not open the rest of the year, but you have to pay admission for that. And Colonial Williamsburg is also supposed to have a ton of really neat Christmas stuff that you also have to pay for.

We haven't done the Kennedy Center yet but it's definitely on my Top 100 list. I don't think we're going to go this year because of having to be there 2 to 4 hours early just to get in the door, and then the 2 hour performance, etc ... It's 2 days before Christmas and I won't ask anyone to interrupt their own holiday to watch our kids for so long. So we'll just wait until they're a little older. I am going to try to get tickets to the DAR hall for the Navy Band concert this year - the tickets are free, they're just for crowd control. That one is on the 20th this year, which is also the last day of law school for Adam. Definitely a day to celebrate.

You all have to wait until we actually have a big enough home to fit everyone for a few days, but I just thought I'd throw this out here since I was thinking about it.

Mindy's classes

Doctrines of the Gospel - an excellent class, touching on the main points of the gospel. My teacher has us read a lot of articles along with reading the manual. Our tests are all open book, as all of his questions are directly out of the chapters or specified sections in the scriptures. Some can be a bit tricky, and force us to read things very carefully to help us understand things better. I got 100% on the first two. This week we've been talking about the Atonement and it has been amazing. If anyone can get on Gospelink or find the book called "Broken Heart" by Bruce Hafen, the article (or chapter?) there is called "The Atonement is not just for Sinners." It is excellent.

Social Dance - We've learned the foxtrot and swing, and this week we start cha-cha and waltz. It doesn't help me to know all the steps if I don't have a guy leading me who knows them to, so I look forward to being able to teach Aaron some of this stuff. For the end of the semester, I have to know the names of all 30 guys in my class .. which I did by the third week. It's a fun class with no stress.

Design and Color - this is probably my favorite class, so far. My teacher is always very impressed with my work. He gets to put favorite examples of work from each assignment, and mine has been out there every time so far (twice, woohoo). I did post one of my assignments up on my website, but I haven't had the chance to photograph any of my others yet. We just started painting this week, but we're just doing value scales, so nothing to show off there. I'm learning though, and having a lot of fun.

Old Testament - We started in Abraham, but now we're up to Genesis 24 or so. We talked about Isaac yesterday, and Rebekah. There aren't as many assignments due in class for this one (although I did get an A on the one paper we had to write), but there's a lot of studying we're supposed to do on our own. Lots of scripture reading, of course. And, instead of taking the final, we can do a "scholarly project" throughout the semester. I'm finding Ensign articles on the topics we are studying, and reading those to gain more insight. I look forward to getting a copy of the Ensign every month (once I'm settled down enough to actually get a subscription). Oh! That's what I should get Aaron for Christmas! HAHA!

Graphic Design - This is my most demanding class. I've gotten B's on both of my assignments thus far, but I'm actually okay with that. I'm going to rework my first one, and hopefully get a bit better (instead of an 82), but considering how many C's he says he gives out, I'm happy with the B. The teacher is very intense, but he's very real and practical. This week we're starting our logo project - a reptile themed exhibit (of our choosing), that we're creating a logo for. I'm thinking of doing a reptilian art exhibit, but that might change. I'm learning a lot, and surviving this class might determine if graphic design is really what I want to do (along with taking illustration classes).

Art History - besides a little bit of outside studying, this is one of my least involved classes. Sit, listen to the lecture, take notes, and focus on remembering what pieces go with which period. Our grades are entirely based on our tests - and I got 100% on the first one, and just got a 92% on the second (that we took yesterday). He said that the second test was usually the hardest, so I'm not worried. Besides, we take 5 tests and get to drop the lowest score (or not take one), so I'm good to go.

Celebration

I'm ready to celebrate. I am finally done canning pears, (and everything else until my apples are ripe enough). I was given several boxes of Bosc Pears and just got the last of them canned and I've filled every jar I own. I'm not sure what I'll use for the applesauce. Maybe I'll have enough empty jars by then.

I have also purchased my plane ticket for Texas. I'll be there Nov.1 thru 15. The baby should certainly be born before I come home. She'll probably arrive before I leave here. I'm excited to see them all again.

Now that I can take a break from canning, I should be able to get busy making the blessing dress. Then I'll start on my Christmas projects. I have plenty to do.

I may even have time to post on here, occasionally or to update some pages.

Love ya,
MOM

But Of Course

Yes, I'm in on the Christmas gift exchange and the theme of "Memories".... I'm the one who came up with it. I guess none of the boys or Mom or Dad are interested.... since I posted about it on September 21 and they still don't seem to know if they want to do it. Or if they do they aren't saying anything. Maybe it will just be a "sister" gift exchange.

I will be typing up something for everyone regardless.

Tawnia

Memory Exchange

I vote a big YES on the memory exchange for Christmas this year. Whether it is specifically of Christmas memories or not (I vote not), I'm ALL about hearing from everyone! I also think it'd be nice to gift exchange, with the name drawings. I like the idea of using the memory theme along with that too. If Trina wants to do the official name drawing, then that's cool by me. So you know, Trina and everyone else, I'll be up in Canada for the holidays, and the few months after. It's my break from school, and that way I can just drive ONE direction during the winter, instead of home and then north. I'll be living with Aaron's mom, and working closely with her on the book I'm illustrating (since she's the author and publisher). I found out that I might be able to use that as some internship credits for school too!

In other news, I'm doing well. My classes keep me busy with lots of homework, but I'm enjoying it. Design and Color is probably my favorite class, although Social Dance is entertaining as well and has a lot less homework (none!). I've done well on all my assignments thus far, and the B that I got on my Graphic Design project can be redone as many times as it takes until I get an A. (The teacher is more focused on actually getting us to LEARN than the grades.) When I'm not in class, I'm usually doing homework, or working at Payless. Occasionally I find time to sleep, and make late night runs to Dairy Queen with my roommates. (If you haven't tried their pumpkin cheesecake blizzard you REALLY should!)

back to Christmas

I was scouting out Christmas gift options for the girls this morning when I was at Toys R Us to get Marnie's birthday present (a little piano). And it occurs to me that I should get crackin' with my Christmas memories letter to the whole family if that's what we're going to do. So ... are we? I'll do the name draw again if everyone wants to do something.

Also, to Eric/Jared/Nathan - do you want to do the book exchange with the kids again? I really liked that and would like to make it a tradition for the next few years at least (until it becomes totally unwieldly, but that won't be for awhile). I don't mind if people want to make little story books instead of buying anything to save on cost that way. Either way is fine with me.

I have pictures!

Hey all,

I decided to finally upload all our pictures from the camera from the last few months, and so I've updated my picture calender now to include stuff from August and September.