Free falling

Tonight, driving home from school, "Free falling" by Tom Petty came on the radio. Pretty soon Michelle was singing/counting to 100 to the beat and tune of Free falling. "One, two, three and four. Five, six, seven, eight." Too cute. I was laughing.

Have I mentioned...

that I love my neighbors!!! I seriously love where I live. My house is not the newest or biggest. I don't drive a fancy car. But I live in the best neighborhood. I feel safe. I feel cared for. I love it here!

Here are a few reasons to love my neighborhood:

1. My kids have lots of friends to play with. Today the girls had two different friends come over to play.

2. Today I posted on Facebook that my sink had broken and Alfredo is out of town. A neighbor called this afternoon and came over to fix it. Another neighbor/friend offered to have her husband come over tonight to fix it after he got home from work. (Thank you for the offer Shannon!) My dad also called to see if I needed help.

3. My block always has a Christmas party. It is so much fun. We go to 3 or 4 different houses for salad, dinner, dessert and a white elephant gift exchange. We laugh, we visit, we have so much fun sans kids. We look forward to it every year. We were so sad that we couldn't make it last year. It is really a lot of fun. It's in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

4. Another neighbor/friend asked if I wanted clothes for Michelle that her daughter had outgrown. She brought over a big bag of adorable clothes and shoes today. I've had 3 or 4 different friends pass on clothes to us.

I know I have said it before, but I am so grateful for such great friends and neighbors!!!

Eavesdropping in the car

Michelle read her homework book in the car. (She often does but reads it at least once to me at home as well...she is supposed to read it aloud to a parent 2 or 3 times each night and as many of her books are very familiar to me, I can help her even if I'm not sitting next to her...and she's reading on grade level. Anyway...)

After she finished, she totally switched into "teacher" mode and began calling on students to tell what happened "first" "next", "then" and "last."
She said, "So, let's talk about what this book was about. First, the boy and the dog see a flood" and she began to tell how the beginning started. She interrupts her own retelling, changing her voice a little and says, "What is the boy's name and the dog's name?" She answers back, "Sam and his dog Spot see that the yard is flooded."

Some more of what I overhead:

"Jasmine, next." "Good job, Jasmine."

"I'll take students who are listening. NO hands right now. Show me that you are listening. Shayla, what did I say? No hands. Okay, Mia, you are listening. What happened then."

"Good job Mia."

"I would call on Michelle because she is listening, but she's already had a turn. Oh, okay Iree. Go ahead."

How darling is that? She could be the teacher. She has it down.

Other things that have impressed me. One day I taught her the generalization "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." I explained that usually when there are two vowels together, the first one is a long vowel sound. About a week later, she saw a word on a sign and said, "Oh, look that word is ____. I know because it has an oa and so the o says long o."

About a week ago, she was reading. She read a sentence that ended in a question mark. She stopped and said, "Oops. I didn't read that with expression. I have to go back and read it again like I'm asking a question." (She reads it again.) "Did I read fluently Mommy? Did you hear how my voice went up like a question?"

She is a little writer. She goes through so much paper writing notes to friends and family, writing notes about school, taking pretend spelling tests, and writing stories. She really, really loves to write. She writes much more in English, but I do find Spanish writing as well.

Anyway, I was chuckling to myself as we drove home today. She sounds just like her teacher, I'm sure. She sounds an awful lot like me when I am at work. ....

Glad to live Now!

My lesson for Primary this week was on Winter Quarters, where the Saints camped/lived through the winters of 1846 and 1847. There were about 4,000 people living there in 1846. Most of them got sick. Partly from malaria from the mosquitoes, partly from the lack of fruits and vegetables, partly I'm sure from the rough living conditions. Anyway, about 600 people died. I was stunned by that number. I have read a lot about the Mormon pioneers that traveled across the plains, and I know that many people died on that trek. I hadn't realized so many died from illness then. More than 1 in every 8 people. That's overwhelming to contemplate.

It made me, not for the first time, very grateful to be alive today. We are so lucky to have the medical advances that we have. Most of us will live to be in our 70's or 80's or older, and we will primarily experience the inconveniences of relatively mild illnesses. I am not trying to downplay the seriousness of trials that we can and do face or saying that we shouldn't worry about illness at all. But I am truly grateful for modern medicine.

Thank You

My friend Brandi had a beautiful post dedicated to Veteran's Day. It is late and I'm tired, but I do want to say how grateful I am for Veterans and soldiers, past and present. My grandpa fought in World War II. My cousin is a chaplain now. I am so grateful for the men and women who have fought, past and present, to protect our freedoms. We are so blessed to live in this land.

Ella

(This picture really isn't related to this post. I just thought it was cute.)

Poor Ella had another cavity filled on Monday. That makes 4 cavities now. Really, we do brush. Michelle has never had a cavity and Ella has had 4. Last time they had us go to Primary Children's and sedate her. This time, they did it in the dentist's office. (His office, by the way, is amazing! The whole office is decorated like an undersea adventure with fish, sharks, whales, etc. There is a huge play area and they get to ride a merry go round with sea creatures when they are done. They get to choose a toy from a treasure chest. We love our dentist.)

Anyway, she got some valium an hour before the procedure and then some laughing gas while they did the filling. Then of course they numbed the area. She did pretty well during the actual filling, but cried for nearly an hour afterward...she hated the numbness in her mouth and just hated the whole experience probably. Anyway, for some reason it got me thinking about my little four year old and all her experiences with drugs. I really think she has had more drugs in her four years than I have in my whole life. She was sedated at least 3 times to have echocardiograms done. Then of course, she received a cocktail of drugs before/during/right after her open heart surgery. Then six months ago, she was sedated to have a tooth extracted and a couple tiny fillings filled. Then she had laughing gas and Valium on Monday. I know I've had morphine and one epidural and I got some kind of pain meds after my wisdom teeth were pulled but I only took one. I'm pretty sure I've never had laughing gas or Valium or been totally sedated. And poor Ella has had all of these. Let's hope that most of the need for these kinds of medications is done and she will go on to have a healthy, (mostly/totally) cavity free life.

Nativity Book

My Aunt Elaine came over yesterday and did the neatest project with my girls. Michelle and Ella each made a nativity scrapbook. Elaine had these cute cutout figures of baby Jesus, the wisemen, the shepherds, the star, King Herod and the animals (camels, donkeys, sheep).


The girls got to decide where to put them into the book and also added pictures of themselves to the book. They turned out darling, and the girls had so much fun, and it was a wonderful chance to review the story of the Savior's birth. Each of them will have this wonderful book to look at throughout this holiday season and years to come.

This was so thoughtful. The girls enjoyed the process. Elaine borrowed Michelle's book and Michelle can hardly wait to get it back. Ella and Michelle looked through Ella's several times yesterday and again today.




(The original idea came from www.scrapbook.com and is also featured here.)