Beer Rebates

Today I am entering a contest for an i-pod on Pinching your Pennies SO THAT I can enter enough posts on Pinching your Pennies that I can get BEER REBATES!! (Never thought you'd hear me say that did you??) :) (Long Story.)

Hope!

What a miraculous March we are having. I think Cache Valley must be in a Robin flight path!

The other day I saw a multitude of Robins in the tree at school and yesterday I heard the sound of bird song outside my bedroom window as I was getting ready for work. Curious to see the source of such a commotion, I went out on the deck to investigate.

I was thrilled as this scene met my eyes...and this was just one tree of several that were graced by the lovely red spots.

To see this beautiful sign of spring amidst such a wintry backdrop seemed somehow a metaphor for life. To me it said, "There is hope!

A Tree Full of Robins!

Today I saw a tree filled with robins! There must have been at least thirty! I love to watch birds and I have never seen robins in groups of more than two or possibly three. They were flying in the branches, and hopping on the ground around the trunk, and generally enjoying life. I hurried and gathered the kids who were waiting for me to return for ABC Club and brought them to the doorway to watch. They too were in awe, although I am sure they just saw a flock of birds, not the amazement of so many robins. We watched for several moments until, alas, one of the boys bonked his head on the glass of the door and the birds lifted into the air as one and flew away. The kids returned to their studies, but I for one, hope to never forget that tree filled with the hope of spring!

Highlights from Sunny Saint George

Raechel and I took off for the weekend and enjoyed a perfect weekend in sunny St. George!
High lights of the trip were -

• 

• Singing songs, eating junk, and reading books on the way down south.
• Wondering through Ancestor Square (pictured on the left)
• Totally enjoying the "Life is Good" store...I could have happily spent a grundle there!
• Dinner of Chicken Alfredo Pizza and the most amazing bread sticks you have ever seen...twisted on a foot long stick and served like a bouquet in a pewter pitcher...it was awesome!
  
• Laying around the motel room until midnight watching HGTV...it's a girl thing. :)
  
• Breakfast at Village Inn...with Hollandaise Sauce mm,mm
• Laying in a deck chair by the pool and reading a good book while soaking up the sunshine...on the LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY!
• Shopping the outlet stores...shopping the mall... shopping Kohls...shopping the Tai Pan Trading store...shopping...well I think you get the picture.
• NOT deciding as we went to sleep that night what time to get up and what time to head out...it just depended on when we woke up. :)
• Stopping in Cedar City and enjoying the spirit of at a random sacrament meeting.
• Coming home to David who was ready with a big hug and dinner on the table!

Life really is GOOD!!!

Help! I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!?!

At lunch time I work with a group of kindergarten children to provide extra help with pre-reading and beginning reading. There are three teachers and nine kids in each session.

Today I was merrily working with my three little boys, when I glanced at one of the other teachers and saw one of her boys with his legs threaded through the back of the chair he was "sitting" in and his torso sticking out the front and kind of leaning on the table. Miss Meghan, his teacher was trying to pull the chair off his legs.

I went over to lend a hand and soon I was holding a small boy in the air while Meghan was trying to shimmy the chair down over his legs. The fit was so tight I was worried he might loose his pants along with the chair when it finally came off. How he got into that position in the first place I cannot imagine, but you know, "Kids do the darndest things!" Oh, how I wish I could have had a video camera close at hand! I laugh every time I think about it.

Working with five-year-olds is the best!

My trip to Jeannetta's.
(It sounds like an essay on "Summer Vacation.")

Things I loved... (Besides eating M&Ms all the way there and back.)

• Seeing Jeannetta's great new house and neighborhood. It is just right for them!

• Staying with Alana in the nursery on her very first day! It is great being a grandma in the nursery!!!

• Dominick and Gabey "sleeping over" with grandpa and grandma by sleeping on the floor in the basement by us.

• Alana repeating three sounds when I would say to her, "I love you!" and she would repeat uh, uh, uh...or thereabouts.

• Bobby giving David and I our regular "cell phone seminar" from an expert. You have to admit we've come a long way from, "No I do not ever want to own a cell phone!"

• Riding there and back with David and listening to The Rainmaker on CD. (I think it must be the first fiction book David has listened to from cover to cover without being forced to. Although I will admit he was sort of a captive audience...and he really liked it.) I think we will do it again.

• The beautiful spring-like weather we enjoyed.

• Dinner at Carolyn's.

Things I didn't love...

• Having to say good-bye.

• Driving through Spanish Fork Canyon in a blizzard.

• Going back to work the next day.

Ah well...

Just Start !

I don't think I will ever have anything profound to say, so I guess I'll just say something.

My favorite moment today - sitting with David at the Pita Pit unwinding after a long day of work.

The funniest moment of my day - working at the library where a mom told her young son that in four months he would turn five and be able to get his own library card. He lit up and immediately responded with "And can I drive a car!?!"

My tenderest moment of the day - when a young six year old boy I was working with at school told his friends to cover their ears and then whispered conspiratorially to me that tomorrow (Valentine's Day for the school) he would be bringing hearts for all of the kids in his class and he was putting candy in them. He was so proud and so excited! You gotta love working with kids.