Taste Test Tuesday

This Tuesday we explored a new grain - quinoa.  It worked out perfectly because quinoa is harvested mainly in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.  We study these countries in sixth grade and I was able to give them a little history lesson during our tasting.  The Incas had a big celebration centered on quinoa where the King planted it with a golden trowel, but the conquistadors saw it as a threat to their power and made them switch to planting wheat.

I took in plain quinoa with milk and cinnamon and sugar, a summer quinoa salad with blueberries and a lemon vinegarette, and ham fried quinoa with soy sauce.  They licked the platters clean.  The winner was the ham fried one.  They all copied down the recipe.  Taste Test Tuesday is also a big winner.    

Summer of our Discontent

Bry is going through it.  It's never easy and usually pretty ugly.
Brent and Krystle need new jobs and have big decisions to make.
Stace and Mike are in a small 2-bedroom apartment with 4 kids.
Ty continues to rehab.

We're going to have to make our own fun if we're going to make it through the summer.

Funeral

I took the afternoon off to help attend a funeral and help at the family luncheon after.  The music at the funeral was beautiful.  All her nieces and nephews (45 of them) sang an arrangement of "I Am a Child of God" that I'd never heard before.  The sister missionaries and two women from church sang a hymn in Spanish. Her sister-in-law and our former bishop spoke.  They both were perfect.  

It always amazes me how quickly women volunteer when I send out an e-mail about a service need.  The food started coming into the kitchen and kept coming all afternoon.  Everything looked so good.  The tables had potted pansies and Hershey kisses that she always handed to people.  Terry and I stayed until 6:00, cleaning up.  The extra food was handed out to family and the pansies will be planted in the widowers front garden bed.  The whole day felt good.  The service was lovely and serving felt good too.

RS Service

I haven't been to a Relief Society mid-week activity for quite a while.  This month we combined with another ward and focused on several different ways that we can serve various organizations in our community.  I took my sewing machine and worked on an assembly line that made drawstring backpacks for the kids at City of Lights.  They'll use them for a summer program and have them filled with snacks and books.  It was fun.  We made about 50!  I want to make some for all the grandkids.  I could fill them with snacks and books and they could have their own summer program.

Taste Test Tuesday

Today was all about veggies.  We had four colors of peppers, English and regular cucumbers, raw sweet potatoes, kohlrabi, and turnips.  They devoured everything.  The veggies were every bit as popular as the fruit.

Accept maybe this kid didn't like it.

Brynklee Hayden

Stacey got up early on Sunday morning so she could deliver a beautiful, healthy, baby girl.  It took her about an hour and a couple ibuprofen.  She's amazing!

Sunday, April 19th

Brynklee's pretty amazing too.

 

Trip to Meridian

We made the trip to Meridian on Saturday to watch Hadley play soccer, 

She's a goal making machine.

Red hair, red face.

and to check on Stace who is a day beyond her due date and she's use to delivering 8-10 
days early.  She's amazing.  They're getting everything moved out of their house, into a 2 bedroom apartment on the third floor, and she's cleaning and organizing everything.  Terry took his tools and installed GFI switches for them.

We missed Hudson's baseball game, but needed to get over and deliver his birthday gift (2 days late).  He wanted Pokeman, which is something Ty would have wanted 20 years ago.  They're still around and going strong.  Stacey had his birthday party early this year, and sometime between soccer, baseball, giving birth, and moving, she'll organize everything for his baptism!

Freak Condition

Ty called on Tuesday to tell me some good news.  HE HAS A BLOOD CLOT IN HIS RIGHT ARM!  The good news is that he caught it.  He went into the health clinic on campus because one arm was a different color than the other one.  They sent him to get an ultrasound and see a specialist, and from there he went to the emergency room to get injections of heavy-duty blood thinners. 

Ty called his dad on Friday, because he thought I'd freak out if he talked to me.  They had admitted him to the Springfield Hospital (he had to ask the nurse what the name of the hospital was) and he would have to stay for a couple nights because he needed to be monitored closely in case he started bleeding internally.  When I called and talked to him, it slipped out that HE WAS IN THE ICU!  Everything was fine though because his friends were coming and bringing burritos and the NBA playoffs were on!

Now he is scheduled for surgery, and another night in the hospital, to have his first rib removed, which is pushing on the vein, which is causing the clotting.  We don't want this to keep happening.  Apparently, there is only one vein in your right arm, and it would be pretty debilitating if it wasn't healthy.  

He doesn't want me to come.  He thinks his roommate will drop him off and someone will give him a ride home when he's released from the hospital.  I'm not convinced that's the best plan. We'll talk some more, but I can go to Eugene anytime I want!  I'm his mom, and I don't think he knows about having a rib removed and the recovery process.  I'm his mom!

SBAC

I should know what those letters stand for, but I don't.  They're the big long tests that the kids need to take that assess their knowledge of the Common Core.  (They used to be the ISAT tests, and when I was a kid, they were the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills.)  This is the second year that the kids have taken them in Idaho, but it was my first year giving them.  We use to hire a sub for the month and she would proctor all the tests.  Last year we weren't suppose to be there when our own class was taking the test, so we used student teachers.  This year we had a 20 minute training on how to get everything going on the computer, and then we were suppose to be good to go.  I wasn't.  It was a rough start and I had to call the principal to come get us going.  In the end, all but three students were able to finish.  (Not sure how they did.)  We have three more sessions to go.  I think I'll do better.  Hope the kids do too.

Stake Conference

I love our stake presidency.  President Scoggin, Bates, and Christensen are impressive.  Of course stake conference was good and the satellite feed to the church where we attended worked perfectly.  (That has not been our usual experience.)  

There were a lot of good speakers, but my favorite thoughts came from an older man, Brother Orrin (I think).  Here's a few that I wrote down:

• On forgiveness - Our preoccupation with hurt or wrong doing gives us selective memory.  It takes neither strength or intelligence to brood in anger or hang onto a grudge.
• On trials - Things happen in our lives despite our wanting to do what is right.  We think that following commandments will always bring happiness, but that is not the promise. We've been promised opposition in all things.
• Indian's given names - We give ourselves names like "Man Who Fails".  Our Heavenly Father has given us other names like "Child" or "Daughter".
• He told of a young child that had been awakened by a nightmare and came to his parent's room for comfort.  The parent told the child to pray.  Heavenly Father would protect him and the Holy Ghost would comfort him.  The child replied that what he needed was someone with skin on.  Sometimes we need to be the person with skin on.

Brother Eric Nielson spoke on Home and Visiting Teaching.  He said that your family comes first, then HT/VT, then your other callings.  His key point was getting to know your families. It takes time, but that's when HT/VT gets to be fun and the duty part evaporates. That's what I need to work on.

It was a beautiful day, and the blossoming trees along Lake Forest were spectacular even though it had rained hard the night before.    

Taste Test Thursday

Our Triple T didn't happen on Tuesday this week because we had testing to do instead, so we postponed things until Thursday.  I had a mom who had just returned from Singapore, and she brought things for the class to taste.  She had tried to bring something like pork jerky, but it was confiscated at the airport.  So we ended up with....

Mangosteen is a type of fruit.  The left corner of the package shows the purple fruit.  You twist the green stem part off, and then you see the mango colored flesh with the white flower like thing inside.  Very interesting.  They tasted just like good butter cookies to me.  They were in the shape on the merlion.  I think he lives in the sea, just outside the harbor.

Not sure why this one is turned, but I'm too lazy to fix it.  These were something like veggie sticks, made from purple potatoes.  They were a hit too.

The mom also brought in little pieces of expensive and smooth chocolate.  She brought me two pieces.  The kids had pieces cut in fourths.  It was too good to waste on children.

We projected all her pictures from her i-phone onto our screen and learned a lot about Singapore.  It was a big success!

Track

The elementary schools had their first track meet of the season.  Since our school hosted, I was one of the volunteers that gave out ribbons.  I love seeing all the smiling faces and the foot races.  You get all shapes and sizes competing.  This was the first year that we didn't have anyone running in jeans.  Every team seemed to have team T-shirts and good shoes. The past two years we've seen a lot of neon colors - socks, shoes, shorts and shirts.

This kid in my class is an amazing runner.  He runs the mile and usually laps most of the competition.  He loves running and without even breathing hard he runs a 5:30 mile.  I'm excited to see him break the record at the city meet.

The track program is so fun for the kids, and big things can happen.  I get updates on one of my Jefferson kids that ran track.  He was an average student, but a little lazy.  He just signed a letter of intent to go to Purdue University.  He doesn't run anymore - just jumps, long jump and triple jump.  He could be my first Olympian.

Conference Study

I seldom watch or listen all sessions of conference on conference weekend.  I'm still trying to get things done on Saturday, and might try to work in the kitchen or do ironing or run a quick errand and end up missing several talks.  That's how it worked this session too, but I always listen and read them again and again before the next session.  I often listen to the talks in the morning while I'm exercising or getting ready for work.  

This time I have a new plan that will stretch me beyond just listening or reading.  A senior missionary from our ward recently had a mission conference with Elder Bednar.  She shared his study method:

Elder Bednar’s pattern of General Conference talk study (from before he was an apostle)-

Take the talks of the fifteen prophets, seers, and revelators and make a chart of each talk with the following categories: 

What is the doctrine? What am I invited to do? What is the promise?

I'm going to try it.  I mean, if it's good enough for Elder Bednar, it should be good for me.

What Nerdy Dweebs

I took this picture while I sat in my chair, with my laptop on my lap.  Terry is in his spot with his laptop on his lap.  We spend a lot of time (daily) in our assigned seats with our laptops on our laps.  

That's my foot behind the laptop, in the same slipper-socks I put on every evening.

Easter Sunday

We invited all the kids (minus Ty in Oregon) and grandkids over for Easter breakfast and the morning session of conference.  It ended up being a good idea and the start of a new tradition, I think.  We started at 9:00, and everyone seemed to arrive just as more hot waffles were ready.  I wish I had taken pictures of the food.  This was the menu:

• fruit (pears, nectarine, grapes, fresh pineapple, strawberries)
• egg casserole (with sausage and hashbrowns)
• bacon (thick sliced and turkey)
• waffles (regular and spiced ones that are like cookies)
• maple syrup and buttermilk syrup
• yogurt and granola
• chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice

Everything worked out great.  Nothing burned.  Nothing spilt.  And Stacey said pineapple is suppose to make you go into labor so she ate up and took home leftovers.

Stacey had brought conference Bingo Cards and that kept the kids tuned-in for about half an hour.  They played with toys and goofed off afterwards.  It was a little noisier than church, but not much.

Hads in her Easter dress (with matching sandals).

The boys rough housing.

Usually they're more like this.

I-guy brought his monster pillow that we gave him for Christmas.

Cute couple with a photo bomb kid.

I just started the blanket for the little girl that might be here next week.

It seems like I never have pictures of Maycee.  I wonder if her parents feel the same way.  Poor 3rd child.

Coloring

I think everyone had a good time.  It was good being together.  Terry and I spent a quiet afternoon watching conference and snacking.  I think this is the 2nd time we didn't have an Easter dinner.  Today we didn't even miss it.  (The last time was on a Spring Break trip to Portland and for some crazy reason, we couldn't find a restaurant.  We finally ate at a dirty Red Robin.  This was much better.)

Saturday

About seven years ago, a friend and I joined Boise Fit Club to train for a marathon (we just walked).  Every Saturday we met on the greenbelt and walked, and walked, and talked, and talked.  It was great therapy and a lot of fun.  Now my friend is going through a miserable divorce and we're back for more greenbelt therapy.  We'll be meeting every Saturday morning.  I love the walking, and the scenery,and my friend.  I can't think of any other way to help her right now, except be there, and listen, and maybe say something funny once in a while.  We had a great four mile walk.  This will be good.

I cleaned house, did wash, and went grocery shopping, while trying to watch conference.  I didn't get too much out of it.  (I'll watch, listen, and read it again later.)  Then I went to JoAnn's to buy yarn for Stacey's baby blanket, and out to Marie Callender's for pies.  It's become a tradition for the guys to watch the priesthood session at our house and have pie afterward. It's also a tradition that I stop and share pie with Mom and Dad on my way home. Three guys do not need to eat two pies (plus ice cream)!  It was good to visit for a few minutes, and I left with another book.  Seems like I always leave with something. 

We had a good talk after the conference session - just me and the guys.  I needed to get to bed early, because I had invited everyone over for Easter breakfast.  It was a long day, but went by too fast.  

Today we sent home report cards and I had two students crying when they saw their grades.  Hmmmm?  Maybe they should put more effort into their work.  My class is not that hard!

Blooming Beautiful!

Boise is blooming!  I want to sing praises and give thanks every day as I drive around town. All of the trees are BEAUTIFUL!  The flowering pear are my favorite and you can't beat a drive down Harrison Blvd. (How do you spell that?), but here are a few more favorites:

• Timberline High School parking lot (all pink and white)
• McDonald's on Vista and Kootenai (thick, heavy, dark pink branches)
• Apartments on Boise Avenue right after Leadville (same as above)
• The Bunn's house on the corner of Constitution and the cul de sac (flowering pear)
• Lake Forest Drive by the soccer fields (mixture of pink blossoms and evergreens)

I wish I had pictures of them all.  I did take this pic of the tree right outside my classroom window.  I get to look at it all day.

 

Moving In

A new student joined my class today, from Alaska.  I thought he'd be a little timid, but when I asked him to tell us little about himself, he came to the front of the room and proceeded to talk for 15 minutes, then answered questions.  We learned all about the geography of Juneau, the glacier, the islands close by, bear hunting, and wolves.  There aren't any moose in Juneau.  He also played on his middle school's championship football team, but they only played three games, because they couldn't find any other teams close by.  His name is DeVaun, which is French.  He has two sisters at our school.  I talked to one of the other teachers and apparently the sister in fourth grade couldn't quit talking all morning.  These kids are just happy to be in a big city where they have plenty of people to talk to.