School Days

So I have been doing a lot of substitute teaching lately. Interesting Job. And in the process I have discovered a magnificent way to improve our school systems. I think every parent should legally be required to be a sub at least once a year. I'm not joking. Parents need to see first hand what teachers do and more importantly what they put up with each and every day. It would give parents a whole new appreciation for teachers.

I have also noticed that in every classroom regardless of age there seems to be the same array of personalities. I often think about my own children and sometimes smile, sometimes grimace as I realize what category THEY would fall in to. Then I think about myself in school and which one I fell into to. (Again sometimes smiling, other times grimacing). So here is my breakdown. Anyone brave enough to disclose which one YOU were in school??

Brown-noser: Does anything to please, always right in your space asking for attention
Brat Face: Typically girls, constantly rolling their eyes at each and everything you say.
Tattle-tale: Oh, yes happens at all ages. Constantly surveying the room for anyone to tell on.
Whiner: Whines about everything!!!
Jokester: Wants to be the center of attention. Does not know when it's appropriate and when it's not.
Needy: Regardless of task they need your attention, approval, and recognition.
Cop: The one who is constantly on everyone's case
Recluse: Never makes eye contact. Keeps to themself. Does not want to engage in anything or with anyone.

And then there are those precious few:
Everybody's Friend: Say's hello to everyone who walks in the door. Constantly pays compliments to others.
On task: They come in , they do their work and they do it well. No fanfare. Just gets it done.
Trustworthy: You know you can ask them a question about how things are done and they will give you the honest answer.

There are always a few of them in every classroom. The problem is sometimes it gets too crazy to even notice them. I try to find them. I really do. And when I do I always pull them aside after class and let them know what a great kid I think they are. My favorite is in the middle schools and high schools. Truly class acts. Especially when they are boys. I was about brought to tears last week when I watched a cute, "popular" BOY readily give out sincere compliments to each and everyone he interacted with. It was amazing!

I come home everyday drilling Hallee about what kind of a student she is. Do you whine? Do you tattle-tale? Are you a good friend? And then the lecture begins as I "teach" her and Hope about what kind of student I want them to be. I hope they have a good attitude and take care of themselves. I hope they stay on task and are honest and responsible. And I pray that they are the type of person who builds up everyone around them. Probably a lot to ask considering that I was not always that kind of student myself. I guess I can only hope.

PS. Send a teacher a thank you note and treat today. They deserve it!!!

Happy Mothers Day to Me!

So Hallee helped Troy pull it off. The best Mother's Day ever! It started with a gourmet breakfast in bed with pancakes, eggs and toast followed by a plethora of handmade gifts from the girls.
The girls have been whispering secrets all week and working frantically behind closed doors on their craft projects just for me. You can't really see it from the picture above but there were A LOT of pictures and projects. Hope made me an entire book but my favorite is the one below. When I asked her what it was she said, "It's you mom. You're golfing." Ahhhh. Makes perfects sense. (Since I have never picked up a golf club in my life.)

Troy took over the duties for the day and let me indulge myself in laziness. He cooked all the meals, cleaned up afterwards, kept the kids busy and happy and anything else I chose not to do today.

Hallee is now the official party planner and kept Troy on his toes all day making sure they did any and everything to pamper me. In fact, Hallee even fixed me a diet Coke and had it sitting by the computer when I went upstairs to blog. Love it!

I am truly one lucky mom to have such an amazing husband and children who went above and beyond to make sure I had a wonderful mothers day. And wonderful it truly was! The only thing that would have made it any better would be to have been to share it with our own mothers who are both amazing women! We love you both and wish we could have seen you today. Happy Mother's day!

Lagoon!!

Hallee had her dance competition at LAGOON yesterday and as far as the competition went...not so hot. Lagoon however was a big hit as usual.
We had to have Hallee AT Lagoon ready to perform by 7am Saturday morning. This meant we had to get all the kiddos up at 5:30am! It was freezing and total chaos. To make a long story short the girls were rushed on stage and looked like they were in a state of confusion. Not their best performance but they still had fun.
Our friends little girl woke up in the middle of the night with a raging fever so Troy got to live out his dreams with two wives and five daughters for the day :)

Caymbree is completely terrified of rides (including the swings at the park) so anytime we got her even close to a ride she would start to come unglued. Finally after watching her sisters do the bumper cars she got brave enough to go on one with Hope. Then she got a little braver and decided to try it by herself. What a mistake. Every time the ride stopped and we tried to get her out of the car she would kick and scream through the entire line until it was her turn again. Luckily, the lines were short.

Most of the time she would just turn in a circle over and over and over again. But she never got bored with it. I think we ended up going on this ride at least five times.

Towards the end of the day I tricked Caymbree onto this ride. As soon as we sat down she started screaming. I think she held her breath the entire ride! Once we got off I asked her if she had fun and she said, "Yeah." But when I asked her if she wanted to do it again it was a definite "NO!"

It ended up being the perfect temperature and the kids loved it! And I quite enjoyed the toe touch contest that Troy and Tara decided to have in the middle of the park. For more pictures you can check out Hallee's blog here.

Hello Sun...we've missed you!

Ever since the sun has made its debut my girls have been BEGGING to turn on the sprinklers. Let me remind you...sun does not necessarily mean heat! For the past month I have had daily conversations with the girls about how 60 degree weather is not conducive to water fun! Finally, yesterday I had heard enough and let them have at it.

What posers!!!
I was convinced that they would be complaining about it being too cold within a matter of minutes but they proved me wrong. They loved ever second of it!

In Loving Memory

Bunny Stinker passed away on Sunday, May 3rd due to unknown complications. He lived a short but adventurous life full of trips down the slide, walks to the park, jumps on the trampoline and rides in the bucket of Caymbree's car/stroller. He is survived by his loyal friend and companion Diamond Lesha as well as his three greatest fans; Hallee, Hope and Caymbree. Burial services took place later that evening at the Hodges residence.

Ok. So really - it didn't go down quite so peacefully. The girls and I were in Logan all weekend while I was judging a dance competition. We pulled into the garage Sunday morning and the girls were eager to see the bunnies. I got to them first and saw Diamond Lesha resting her chin and paws on Stinker and of course I say "Oh, that is so sweet!" Then I realize that Stinker is not moving and my heart sinks and I have to start fighting off the tears. And then the girls realized what was going on and the flood gates opened. Hope didn't believe it and kept asking Troy to hold it. We took the girls inside and then watched in anguish as they fell apart. Hope took it the hardest and it was hard to get her over it. She just kept saying , "I didn't want Stinker to live with President Hinkley." Funny that was her first thought.

We finally got them composed and I sent them to church with Troy so I could finish getting ready. I was worried about Hope getting to primary and falling apart but Troy knew she was fine when she walked into church, saw one of my friends and announced "Stinker died. My dad put him in a box. Do you want to come see him?"

I felt like my emotions were right at the surface partly due to an insane weekend of a 14 hour judging day on Friday, five hours of sleep, and then a 13 hour judging day on Saturday with another extremely late night. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when I walked into Relief Society saw all my friends who started apologizing for the loss of Stinker that I easily caved and had an emotional meltdown right there in the middle of RS. Lovely. And on top of that, most people probably think I was in pretty extreme mourning over the loss of a BUNNY! (Although I will miss the cute little thing :).

Now I hold my breath each morning as we walk out to where the cage is. I have tried prepping the girls that it might happen to Diamond Lesha as well. Oh, can't wait for that day.