My Van, Substituting, FHE and a Project

We just got our van back! It ended up being the starter motor. Our friend and neighbor who is a mechanic came home from work tonight and fixed it. Yeah! So...I'm back in business and can go where I need to. It's amazing the plans I made in my head to go here or there and then had to remind myself that my car was broke. The things we take for granted...

Today I substituted for a 3rd grade class. They kids were really good. In fact, when I asked a question they answered in a whisper. I had to encourage them to speak up. Here's a bit of the life of a 3rd Grade student with a substitute:

*We talked about recognizing the subject and predicate in a sentence. I don't think I ever knew the basics of this as a child. I always heard the terms but never realized what the "predicate" was. So, the subject is the thing the sentence is talking about (the noun) and the predicate is what that subject is doing.

*We talked about capitalizing Days and Months and City and State in a sentence and where the commas go.

*We had social skills lessons on listening, following directions and getting the teachers attention. The steps to listening are 1) Look at the person talking, 2) let them finish 3) restate or acknowledge you heard and 4) ask questions if you need clarification. The steps to following directions are 1) look at the person 2) signal you heard the direction (nod, say okay, etc.) 3) do it right away and 4) ask questions for clarification if it doesn't work the way you think it is supposed to be done. I wish I could teach my kids these skills. I'll have to make a point to talk to them about it!!!! Oh, the resources I can get from substituting!

*We had teacher reading time where we read out of "A Hundred Dresses" (finished the book).

*We had Computer/Prep time (the kids were gone for 45 minutes).

*We had a math pretest.

*Practiced handwriting.

*Worked on a fire safetly booklet.

It was a full day but no problems whatsoever. I am really enjoying this job!!! It is so great to be recognized by the kids around the school. It's great for my psychie (is that how you spell that?)!!!

Family Home Evening went great tonight. We talked about peace in our home. This is something we struggle with lots around here. I shared the scriptures Mosiah 4: 13-15:

"And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."

We talked about making this our family scripture for a while. We've had our old one (Helaman 5: 12) for quite a while. This one just seems to fit the needs in our family at this time.

We talked about having a "Work it Out, Sit it Out" place where the people involved in quarrelling will go to work out their issues.

We will also have a "Peace Offering Goodie Jar" filled with candy. If someone has offended someone and they feel bad about it they can take a piece of candy from the jar and put it on that person's pillow. It can either be done anonymously or they can write a note of apology. This is what we will work on this week.

Hopefully we will follow up next week and talk a bit more about this subject. I didn't come up with this stuff myself. I got these lesson booklets from the company "Once Upon a Family". Each booklet has a value for each month with games or other activities to do that will reinforce the value. This company was formed with ideas from the movie "The Ultimate Gift". If you haven't seen this movie, it's a must-see, life-changing...highly-recommended by the Barnes Family.

I always have projects to be working on. My latest is to clean up my recipe box. A few years ago my neighbor, another friend and I put together monthly menus and typed up tried and true recipes to go along with the menus. When we typed the recipes we copied and laminated them. I love the size of them and the fact that they are laminated and can't be ruined in the kitchen. The problem is I have lots of little pieces of paper with recipes from people that are not this standard size or laminated. So...I decided to type these up so all of them will be the same size, etc. The other perk of doing this is that I can save them on my computer and refer to them if, by chance, one gets lost or someone needs a copy.

So, that's my life for Monday September 22, 2008. It's been a great day!!!

Carolyn

Tyler

Tyler had a birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday to you!!...........He is now 15 years old. He thinks he is ready to get his learner's permit. Ugh! This mom doesn't want this baby of hers to grow up so fast! Not to mention the fact that it has been a standing rule that the Scout Eagle Badge has to be complete before they drive. Tyler has been done for quite some time, except for his Eagle project, so we're waiting. . .Hopefully it will be done in the next few months since the law says he has to have his permit for 6 months before he can get his license.

Other than being sick, with sinus problems, on his birthday he had a pretty good day. Eric's tradition is to make "birthday breakfast" so he obliged and made french toast. Tyler had free reign of the TV in our room so he was in heaven for the day. (We have a TV timer so they have a weekly limit). We took him to Costa Vida for dinner. (Love it!) After dinner we went to Target so we could shop for gifts. We sent Tyler to the car to listen to music so we could shop without his eyes. When we got ready to go the van wouldn't start. Lucky for us the guy parked directly in front of us came out so we asked him for a jump. Poor Eric had to stand in the pouring rain and the dumb car wouldn't start! We ended up calling a tow truck and towing it to a neighbor's house so he could fix it. Not something we planned but that's the way life is, huh? Tyler got the new book "Brisinger", the 3rd book of the Eragon series. It was released on his birthday!!! He also got an ultimate frisbee and surprise of all surprises, a cell phone. He was shocked!!! His first words were, "I Love You". After hearing "you hate me" for the last few weeks those were some sweet words to hear!!!

So, let me tell you about Tyler. He is in the 9th grade at FFJH and doing well. He loves being an AL (Autonomous Learner -a teacher's assistant that gets Honors credit) for Mrs. Nelson (a Science teacher). He frequently stays after school for one reason or another but most of the time he hangs out with Mrs. Nelson. She is such a patient, awesome teacher.

He is also part of the Show Choir, Rhapsody in Blue. They are putting on a Mini Musical, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" in November. He found out Friday that he will be "Marquis La Pathetique" (in a french accent). He's been talking about the play all weekend. He gets to scream like a girl, yell at someone and sing a 10-page song (not a solo)!!! Sounds exciting and fun to me!!!

In addition to his school classes he is doing Honors English which entails going to a regular English class during the school day and then doing extra things at home to get honors credit. If that is not enough, he is taking Financial Literacy as an online class so he can have room for electives in high school and because he heard it is an easy class to take online. So...this kid is busy trying to keep up with it all. It's all good though because he needs to be kept busy. He goes stir crazy with nothing to do.

Tyler has finally hit his growth spurt!! Yeah! We (including him) were afraid he would always be short! I'm not sure he will be super tall but at least he will be average.

Tyler is a great kid. He is passive and is easily passed over because he doesn't make a lot of noise unless you ruffle his feathers. I feel bad that he doesn't get as much attention so I want him to know that I love him greatly and am glad he is my son. I know he will go far in life if he will put his mind to it. He is becoming more social and is a great friend to girls and guys alike.

Well, that's a long enough post for now. We have Jared's 18th birthday on Wednesday so I'm sure I will post then.

Carolyn

Hello!

I've decided that I really like reading blogs. I love to read about the lives of friends and people. People have always been interesting to me. So...I've decided to start my own blog. I need to be better at journaling my life so this is a great way to do it.

Life is crazy in the Barnes household with 5 busy kids, a lawyer husband and a Mom (me!) who has to try to keep up with it all. I wish my house was cleaner, that my kids would listen better, that they were more kind to one another, etc. Isn't that the wish of all mothers? We do our best and hope it is enough to make great people of our children. I wish I was more patient, more spontaneous and fun, more spiritual, more loving...there's always something that can be improved. I know that we spend our time and money on what we feel is important. Hummmmm. Maybe I should evaluate especially how I spend my time......Just a random thought.

I am serving as the Secretary/Personal Progress leader in Young Women's. I LOVE my calling. It has been such a blessing to me to hang with the girls. They are such great examples. They are firm and steadfast. They "get" the gospel. They have great testimonies and it shows in all they do. I sure love them. Today we talked about Dating in our lesson. The girls were so excited because it was the closest to the "chastity" lesson they would get this year. Believe it or not, that is their favorite lesson of the year!!! They even requested that next year they need to have "that" lesson before they graduate from High School and they move on with their life. Too Funny! I'm sure you will hear more and more about the "girls" as the months (and hopefully years!!! ....I know, wishful thinking....) progress.

Eric is the High Priest Group Leader. He was called in June of this year. It is amazing to see him become more organized and really loving the service part of the calling. He's already done some amazing things as he's visited and talked to many ward members, active or not, and invited them to go Home Teaching, come to church or whatever. I think this calling is just the thing he needed in this time of his life. The Lord surely knows what he's doing.

Eric is still working hard at keeping the business afloat. He's struggled for the last little while with making ends meet. There have been some rocky roads the last few months. He is really learning to make his time work for him and managing all the stuff that can suck it out of him. I'm proud of his efforts. I can tell he is becoming more disciplined. It's cool!

Eric is also an avid bike rider. I can't believe the miles and miles he puts on those two wheels. He goes riding probably 3-4 times a week for about 30+ miles each. He has finally found something he really enjoys. On Saturday afternoon he went out to the new Legacy Highway and rode the stretch down and back (14 miles each way) in addition to the miles it took to get to the trail head. He fudged a little because it was before the highway was officially opened and he wasn't supposed to be there. He got pulled over by a highway patrolman, when he was almost done, who asked him if he was exiting. (A polite way to say...get off this road, Dude!!!) I guess the guy was really nice though.

Anyways....a huge fringe benefit of this hobby of his is that he's lost a bunch of weight. He had a goal to lose 35 pounds before his birthday in May. He made that goal and now would really like to be training for a triathlon but he hurt his foot and can't run just yet. As his wife, I'm just loving that football butt of his!!!! I'm sure he will eventually do that triathlon.

I, on the other hand, need to lose weight but have not been a very good girl the last few months. I'm working on training for the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer in November but, but, but..... I need to get my act in gear!!!!

Well, I guess this is enough rambling for my first post. I'll have to tell about the kids in the next few days.