4/30/16 In Field Homerun

     Today was the annual Staff vs Seniors softball game. Some were calling it the Seniors vs the Seniors game. Last year the students won the game so the teachers wanted to win back the title. The students got off to a solid start. They stopped us from scoring our first at bat and then dropped 5 runs on us. We were worried it was going to be a long game. Then I got my first at bat. The picture above is of the first pitch. Heidi gets the photo credit. It went right to a sweet spot and I smacked it over the short stop and it lined drived past the left fielder. I ran past second as they were getting control of the ball. I rounded third and the ball was still in the outfield so I hustled toward home. As I approached the base I saw the ball in the corner of my eye so I slid. The tag missed me and I scored the first run for the teachers. I was winded and added a small hole to the knee of my pants but otherwise appeared to be whole. The teachers went on to score three more runs that inning. We then held the students scoreless in the bottom of the second. Over the next few innings we took turns scoring. The students had some kids from both the baseball and softball teams. They hit several all the way to the fence. Mr. Hembold (sp?) the drama teacher hit a grand slam with two outs for the teachers. In the end experience won the day and youth and vigor were defeated. The seniors played hard but made some youthful errors. The last out the boy had refused to accept the walk. He took one more pitch and hit a fly ball which David Bear the Junior High Science teacher caught to end the game. Final score 21 to 16. I don't think I've played this well since Kailua II won the stake softball tournament. I told Mr. Hembold it hurts whether you win or lose so you might as well win if you can help it. 

      The rest of the day I spent reapplying icy hot to, hopefully, minimize sore muscles tomorrow.

   We went to goodwill and got some clothes for the kids. The kids played in the grassy field. Matt, Lucy and Alex came over to play and so did Lauren. I did my best to take it easy. My experience in the past is that it can take a day or two for my muscles to notice I've done some exercise. We'll see how it goes. 

4/29/16 A Little Big Cheeseburger

     David has created another clay food item. Last time he made a clay pizza. This time he made a clay double cheeseburger. It looks good enough to eat. It's fun to see David's creative side. 

      This morning Papa and Becca B and I jump started the Motorhome. It needed a little more time than usual this time but eventually we got it started. 

       Later on Heidi's folks stopped by for a visit. 

     In the evening we went to Costco for dinner. It counts as a special treat for our family. We had a fun outing spending time together. We even splurged and got a couple of those ice cream drinks they make for dessert. 

4/28/16 8 More Days

      It's hard to believe that I only have 8 more teaching days at Heritage. It has gone by so fast. Today Heavenly Father blessed me in a roundabout way. Last night I prepared for my lesson from the syllabus that Eric Parker gave me. This morning I felt like I should make sure that I knew how to solve all the problems in the assigned work. When I did so I realized that I had skipped a lesson the kids would need to be able to do the homework. Quickly I was able to readjust and instead teach the earlier lesson. The net effect is that suddenly I'm ahead on my lesson planning. That was a nice surprise. 

     The kids were really fairly mellow today. I don't think I can take any credit. Teachers have pointed out to me that some days the kids come ready to learn and some days they can't sit still. Today was a mellow day for some reason. We had assembly schedule which cut off 20 minutes from our usual time. This meant that we had to skip our quiz. We did have enough time for the new material though. It just means I'll use the quiz next week. Another blessing of unexpected advanced prep. 

     This evening at the grassy field Rebecca wanted to try batting practice. She was patient as she missed several in a row. Then she started connecting. We were both very pleased. Her willingness to try, I think, made it easier for David to take a turn. He was surprised to see how well he did. TJ took a turn as well. We'll need to try again sometime with a lighter bat. The one we had was a little too big for him. Another fun time with the kiddos. 

      Heidi had Roundtable tonight. She got an award for recording her visits. It made her happy she'd taken the time to do that this morning. She is very diligent in her callings. 

4/27/16 A Change In Planning

      This week Heidi and I have been trying something new in our planning. It seems to be working so far. Instead of planning for the day right after the kids leave for school we've been trying to plan for the next day at 4 pm. That hasn't worked so well on school days where I don't get home until after 5 pm. However, even with that said the results have been far better than our morning attempts. This method of planning allows us to start the day doing high priority work at a time when we still have high energy and focus. Somehow we also get more planning done. We are able to move things that need to be moved and check things off better. We used to have a long list of "late" items. These were mostly low priority things that we meant to do but didn't get to. It takes time and effort to either reschedule them or drop them. This somehow has been easier in the afternoon. We'll see how this goes. 

       This morning Heidi went to the temple. Heidi and I talked about setting a goal to alternate weeks going to the temple. As we hoped the challenges of getting to the temple weekly in April were far less than the blessings of increased peace of mind. I'm looking forward to renewing our goal for May. 

     This evening after dinner we walked over to the grassy field. We took some baseball stuff. Saturday is the Heritage Staff vs Seniors Softball game. I wanted a chance to practice a little before the game. I hit the ball a few times. Michael Hallsted even pitched me a few. Then we played catch. It was fun. 

4/26/16 Gifted and Talented

     This year David and Rebecca have continued participating in the Gifted and Talented program at Entz. Above you can see David is about to learn if his boat is sea worthy. Below that picture you see Rebecca and her partner with the bridge that they designed. They have been learning a lot through this program. Recently Sarah was recommended to take the test to see if she qualified to be part of the program. Well, she too has her Mother's genes. We received a letter in the mail that she will be starting in the GT program when she starts the 3rd grade. (3rd is when the program begins). We are proud of all our kiddos and we're glad the school offers this chance for them to stretch.

     In other events of the day, it was a Heritage day for me. The students did OK with the new material. It continues to be a balancing act trying to figure out how fast to go. There are always some with that dear in the headlight look no matter how slow I go.  Today I also got to face to boys who got all but one of the test answers the same (both right and wrong). The story they gave is that they study together so they would know the material the same. Angela Parker, the Math Chair doesn't buy it. I'm giving them a chance to retake the test to show me that they did not cheat. Crazy.

4/25/16 Family Home Evening a Day

      Today was an unusually low key day. I had the usual staff meeting at Empire. In the afternoon I distracted the boys while Heidi got some work done. We did our planning in the afternoon. That seemed to go very well. We'll try that again soon. We're always trying to find ways to work better or smarter. 

      This evening we played the game "Imagine If" for family home evening. It's a game that works well across all our ages. We had a fun time. 

     The picture above is something created by Rebecca. Her artistic talents are showing through. 

4/24/16 Anniversary of Heidi Saying Yes

     

    Heidi reminded me that 13 years ago on the 4th Sunday in April I proposed to her. This continues to be the best thing I've ever done. Heidi and I decided to say a prayer together about what to do for our summer plans. She was going home to work and I had school. We wondered what the best thing to do would be. As soon as I started praying all I could think to ask was "should Heidi and I be married?"  This was a surprise to me as we'd only officially been dating a week. I figured I couldn't say that, Heidi would think I was crazy. I ended up saying something that must've been pretty incoherent because I couldn't get that question out of my mind. When I stopped I was stunned and didn't know what to do. I thought maybe if Heidi said a prayer next that would clear things up. So when I opened my mouth to say "Heidi would you like to say a prayer?" What came out was "Heidi would you like to marry me?" In my mind I thought "oh my goodness I've just proposed". And then an even bigger surprise happened, she said "yes". I thought "oh my goodness, I've just proposed and she said yes!" That is one of the happiest days of my life and has lead to many more happy ones. I know that with Heidi there are many more happy days to come. 

      Here is a happy moment. Heidi caught me reading to some of the kids TJ's new birthday book. TJ is the one behind the book. Sarah, Joseph and Peter listened in as well. 

4/23/16 Sarah's Baptism Day

     Today is a special day for Sarah Mei and for our family. Today Sarah was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She did great. I was privileged to be the one to baptize her and confer the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Her two grandfathers were witnesses. Uncle Matt and Uncle Doug got to stand in the circle during her confirmation. Sarah's teacher, Sister Payne, kindly gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

     After the baptism the extended family came to our house for sandwiches. It was a nice visit.

     Later on several of the kids went swimming. The grownups watched from poolside. The water's still a bit chilly for my taste but the kids had a good time.

     Heidi decided to take advantage of the opportunity to ask Papa to take some family photos. The picture above is one of the better ones. We're grateful to Papa for taking some nice pictures.

4/22/16 A Visit and Some Art

     This morning Heidi and I went to visit Gram and Papa and Becca B. There was no shortage of things to do. We knocked a few things off this list and had fun visiting. 

      This evening Sarah was playing with some clay. She decided to make some clay letters. You can see above what she chose to spell. She is excited for her baptism tomorrow. 

4/21/16 Quiz Day

      On Thursdays I've been giving the students a quiz. The idea is to give them motivation to master the masterial by a deadline. Some kids seem pretty unmotivated right now. They seem to feel discouraged about learning math. It doesn't help that there are only a few days left in the school year. I need to find more ways to keep/make it fun. Kelly recommended a site called teachers pay teachers. I've found some ideas there. There's only 3 days left for teaching new material. Then I'm supposed to have a last mid term and then review for 2 days and a 2 day final exam, yikes! All told 10 more days in class, including the last day of school. Crazy how fast it's going. 

     This evening I finally got to grading the exams from last week. Thanks to my TA for grading late homework I'm now caught up. Hooray. Bad news is that the kids are struggling with a new concept and with an old one. No one came for help after school. Gotta keep trying to find stuff that works. 

     David and Lincoln went and helped out at the pack meeting last night. They made musical instruments. Loud but fun. 

4/20/16 Temple Wednesday part 3

     Today Heidi and I continued our goal for me to go to the temple once a week for a month. I slept through my alarm so I missed the early morning window. Instead Heidi dropped me off in the afternoon. It was a little bit challenging making it work schedule wise but it worked out. The idea is that if we can do it for a month maybe we can make a goal of making it to the temple more than once a month more regularly. Line upon line right?

       This morning Heidi tried out a new service from Wakmart. You pick your groceries online and then set up a time to pick them up. They have them ready for you when you get there. So far no charge for this service. It worked pretty well. Heidi is thinking this will save her time wandering through the store with crying children. It means that you don't have the benefit of seeing something in the store and remembering you need it but that could be a plus as well. It could help people stay more on budget. I know stores profit on those impulse buys. 

        Last night David and Lincoln Phelps went to the school PTO meeting for their Citizenship in the Community merit badge. Lincoln is staying with us for a few days while his parents chaperone the 7th and 8th grade trip. Lincoln is a good kid. We've enjoyed having him. 

4/19/16 Math That's Almost Fun

     Before I tell about my day I have to show off this scripture tote that Heidi made for Sarah. It's a gift for her baptism day. That's coming up on Saturday. We're all very excited for it to come. 

     Today at Heritage we finally have a topic that isn't killer hard for the kids to comprehend. I even found a math worksheet online that made the lesson into a game of tic tac toe. I called it trig tac toe. We're learning the basic trig identities and while few would admit they were having fun several expressed a good feeling. It feels like solving a sudoku puzzle. Don't tell anyone but I think some of them had fun. There were certainly more smiles today than I've seen in a while. Hopefully it holds. There's only 11 more math days before the end of the school year. 

      This evening the kids played at the grassy field. Heidi taught a Scootbook class. She's really getting good at it. It's going to help a bunch of boys advance and better track their progress. 

4/18/16 Quiet Day

     This morning I went to my usual weekly meeting at Empire. Michael went over the monthly production numbers. 

      This afternoon Heidi did some more training with Vickie. I spent the time helping with Peter who has learned he can get a lot of attention by shrieking. We're trying to teach him he doesn't need to do that. 

      This evening our kids and the Hallsted kids played in the grassy field. Kailyn and Zander and their Dad came to the park as well. They also live in the neighborhood. 

      For family home evening we talked about the 4 R's of repentance. Recognize, remorse, restitution and resolve not to do it again. It was a good discussion and a good quiet little day. Nice to have one for a change. 

4/17/16 Stake Conference Sunday

     Today the prep for the conference broadcast continued to be challenging. However, once the event started things seemed to smooth out. Jae, one of the other stake techs, commented that it was as though Satan was trying hard to thwart the broadcast. In the end Heavenly Father guided us to success. He showed me another webcast tool through the Red Mountain Stake. If we had not used it there would have been no broadcast today. At best we would've had an audio only feed. The church's own webcast tool did not work for us at all today. If we hadn't had a backup plan we would've been out of luck. It helped as well that we had a solid team who put in countless hours of prep time. By myself I put in 30 hours this week and there were 7 other people who worked on the broadcast. It was the toughest conference I've done yet. The result is that people watched conference and did not notice the broadcast. It makes me so happy. That is our goal, to help people focus on the message not the technology. We've been trying for that for years and we finally hit it for the members. I hope we didn't cause the stake presidency undue concern. With all our tech challenges they may have worried. I am so grateful that things worked out. Mark Davey, another tech team member, pointed out that we have a pretty fragile system. Parts of that system we have no control over. Anyhow, glad we made it through. 

      Heidi was my hero through all of this. She took care of the kiddos while I waded through one tech challenge after another. I could not have done what I did without her help both with the kids and with the tech. 

     

     Here are some pictures she took of the kids yesterday. 

    Some fun adventures. I'll have to catch them next time. 

4/16/16 Two Down, One to Go

     This morning when I expressed some concern about how stake conference testing was going Heidi asked "well, did you burn down a tabernacle today?"  I said "no" and she said "well, it could've been worse." You can see that Heidi is always looking at the bright side of things. 

      Heavenly Father helped us work through a number of tech challenges. We made it through Priesthood Leadership with only minor glitches. The adult session had fewer mistakes. Now we need too remember to say our prayers so  that tomorrow goes even better than today. 

     Heidi took the kids to visit Gram and Papa today. They and a good visit. I'd love to write more but I've got to hit the hey. 

4/15/16 A Little Devine Tech Help

      This morning I went out to a client meeting with the Alcantars and Michael at WAP, one of the up line brokerages. It was a good meeting for getting on the same page. Sal had me drive his truck back so he and Ange could ride together in the minivan. That allowed me to have a good chat with Michael. 

      This afternoon the fam and I headed over to the Stake Center to set up conference. We were having tech trouble when Jae asked if we had started with prayer. I had forgotten to. We stopped and prayed and almost immediately I was able to identify one of the problems. There is still some work to do to fix things but now we know what the problem is. So grateful for prayer. 

       Heidi was a great help with both the kids and with tech. She is a wonderful blessing in my life. 

4/14/16 A Date to Little Women

     Heidi took this fun picture of some of our kids and the Hallsted kids playing at the grassy field. They are pretending they are riding on a train. It's fun to see the kids use their imagination. 

     Today was exam day at Heritage. It seemed to go well. Most of the Precalc students finished and all the General Math kids finished. We even had time to play a review game. 

       This evening Heidi and I got to go in a date to this year's Heritage Musical "Little Women". There are several kids from my class and our ward performing in it and working behind the scenes. It was quite the production. Heidi was beaming as she watched. She's read the book and seen the movie. Each scene seemed to bring back a happy memory for her. I enjoyed getting to see another side of my students. I was impressed by how well some of them can sing. 

     Anya Merrill babysat for us. She had three kids asleep by the time we got home. That's pretty good for this house. Rebecca was holding Peter. She is so good with him. She'll make a great baby sitter when the time comes.  

4/13/16 A Successful Test

     This morning I went to the Temple. I felt like the place I was supposed to be. As I walked up I remembered that I was out of family names to take through. Just then a man coming out of the temple stopped me and asked if I would do a family name for him. It made me feel like Heavenly Father was watching over me and knew where I was. 

      While I was there Bob and someone from FM fixed the Internet at Des Moines.  Tonight we retested the webcast and we are good to go. 

     I also got to help Brian Jensen with wireless mics and a projector for the YW Camp Kickoff. That's always a big production and this year was no exception. They had a funny skit involving princesses explained why camp is so great. So fun for our stake young women. 

4/12/16 Exam Review and Broadcast Test

      Today at Heritage I started my General Math kids on the Arithmetic mission on Khan. It's review for most of them but they need to be able to do it quicker. It seemed to go well. It was sort of a confidence booster for kids who think they are not good at math. In Precalc we reviewed for the exam. It seemed to go pretty well. The proof will be in the exam results. 

     This evening we did a second webcast test. Adobe building checked out but Des Moines has terrible internet speeds. Bob is going to put in a trouble ticket with Facilities Maintenance and we'll test again tomorrow.  

4/11/16 A New Hire

    Today I met with the Alcantars as usual. Things seem to be going well with them. It was a good meeting. Afterwards Heidi and I met with Vickie Rock. She is a member of our ward. She is the Relief Society 1st Counselor and her husband is the High Priest Group Leader. They are a couple of pillars of our ward. Sister Rock was also one of Heidi's Young Women leaders. Vickie is now the newest member of the Valiant Accounting Team. We are super excited to have her aboard. We've been needing some additional help and now we have it. We did some paperwork and some initial training and she is hitting the ground running. One big goal for us is to train Vickie to do some of the work Heidi is doing so that Heidi can focus on being a full time mom. Heidi does a great job of balancing her time doing accounting and being a mom. Still, the kids are our top priority and we feel that this will help show that to them. Some of the kids feel that Heidi is "always" working. This is more true than they know because it is work to make their meals and help with homework but we want them to feel our love and know that they come first for us. Anyhow, we're excited to have the additional help on board. 

     This evening Heidi did a wonderful lesson on the gift of the Holy Ghost. After FHE I fell asleep on the couch. Time to get to bed. 

4/10/16 Sarah's 8th Birthday

     I hope Papa doesn't mind me borrowing these two images from his blog. Be sure to check out his post for more fun pictures. The3auswanderers.blogspot.com. 

     Today is a special birthday for Sarah. This is the year she is old enough to be baptized. We are proud of her for making the choice to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She had her interview with the bishop to make sure that she is ready today. He reports that she passed with flying colors. 

     After church Gram and Papa stopped by with gifts for both kids who had birthdays this weekend. TJ got a Thomas the Train DVD. Sarah got a fun animal game for the Wii. They were both very pleased. Gram and Papa also pitched in to help cover swim lessons this summer. We live in a land of many pools. It is an important safety measure that they know how to swim. 

     Later on I did another webcast test with Bon Rhyne. Little by little we are getting prepared for Stake Conference. 

4/9/16 It's a Zoo

     This morning Rebecca, Joseph and Peter and I went to the Motorhome with Papa and Becca B. Heidi, David, Sarah and TJ visited with Gram. The Motorhome crew charged the RV battery and ran the generator. These two things need to happen periodically or they might not keep working when they are needed. 

      After the Motorhome our family went on a fun outing with my Gram, Papa and Becca B to see Zootopia. I was surprised by how fun and also how nuanced it was. It felt more thoughtful than the usual "underdog tries really really hard and succeeds despite all odds" story. In this case she needed help to succeed and she found it. Plus the animation was amazing. Just the creativity of the design of the city with its 12 ecosystems in one was a sight to behold. Better still, it held the kid's attention. Heidi and I got to watch the whole movie and not make 14 potty stops. In our house that's a sure sign of a successful movie outing. 

    In the afternoon I was involved in preparing for the stake conference broadcast next week. The complexity is higher and that showed in our test. We also have untrained team members and that added some time. By 9:30 pm we had packed up and gone home but we did not have time to test it all. I just felt we needed to let people get back to their families. So more testing will be needed. 

4/8/16 TJ Turns 6!

     Today TJ turned 6! Sarah will be 8 on Sunday so we had a double birthday party. Somehow we ended up with 16 kids in the grassy field by our house. It was a little crazy but I don't think that anybody got hurt and they all seemed o have a good time. Heidi got the great action shot of the 2 of them blowing out the candles. 

     In the morning Heidi and I went to the bank to learn what we need to do to qualify for a loan. We're not quite where we want to be yet but we're getting there. Joseph and Peter were not up to sitting still so I took them outside. They had a blast playing with this bike rack. That's one thing I love about kids they can find enjoyment in some very simple things. 

        While we were with Gram and Papa we ate at Panda Express to talk about future plans. It was a nice treat. Peter has been in this "shrieking all the time" phase. Not one of my favorite phases but I hope he will grow out of it soon. I figure one day soon I'll miss the time when he was so small and cute. They grow up so fast. 

4/7/16 Long School Day

      This morning TJ let me know that his birthday is tomorrow. I think he's excited. I love that kid. He has such an infectious smile. You almost have to be happy around him. 

     Today I made a goal to get all my school stuff done today so I can focus on other work needs on other days. It means I'm up late but I got my goal done. Now I can wait until Tuesday to work on school stuff. 

     David did his try out for band for next year. He made the cut. We're proud of him and he hard work he's been putting in. 

4/6/16 Learning to Run a Business

     Today Heidi and I spent time sorting out priorities for our business. There is much to do. Being down a person hasn't helped. Still, we're lucky to have good people like Megan and Michael Hallsted aboard. 

      In the evening we went down to the grassy field. The weather is so nice right now it's a lovely place to be. It is one place where Peter hardly cries. He is an outside boy for sure. 

4/5/16 Teaching Day

      Today was the first time I took away a citizenship point from someone for talking in class. It was lame but it did allow us to make it through the lesson. I had one kid come for help after school and one call with a mom about her son. It felt good to be able to help them out. Only about half my students turned in the homework today. It took me awhile to master the material to teach it so I'm sure it's challenging for them. I'm not sure why more people don't come in for help. I just remembered that another student came in the morning so that makes 2 asking for help. Alma is one of my "A" students and his proactive attitude is why he has an "A". I wish more of my students were like that. I have to remind myself that being proactive is a learned skill. It has taken me a while to learn it and it is a skill that I continue to work at. There are things that I procrastinate because they are hard for me. Perhaps it is time to learn to teach time management skills. 

4/4/16 David and the Mesa Honor Band

      First of all I mentioned that David made a nice sign for his Mom and me. Here it is. David is becoming more thoughtful all the time. He must get it from his mother ;)

    As I was snapping that last shot Peter came up and said "cheese". That's a new word for him. Joseph needed to be in on the action as well. 

    Here is David at his concert. He is the first Trombone player from his school to be accepted to the Mesa Honor Band. What a neat honor!

    Sadly Sarah was sick today so I stayed home with her and Peter and Joseph. Heidi kindly took pictures. Here are some of David's biggest fans, Rebecca, Lauren and TJ. His Mom and I are his biggest fans. Grammie and Grandpa Mangum were also able to make it out. Heidi reports that the band sounded great and it brought a little tear to her eye. She remembered fondly her days in band. 

4/3/16 Loving Family

      Twice today this little guy ran up to me to give me a hug. One of the times he said "there he is" like he'd been looking for me. It made me feel very loved and brightened my day. Later on David made a big heart on our white board and a note that says "I love you Mom and Dad". It's often easy to see how much our kids need us but not as easy to see how much I need them. Both of these things cheered me up when I was tempted to feel discouraged. You know you must be doing something right when your kids tell you they love you. 

     General Conference was great, as expected. I can't wait until the audio versions are available online so I can listen to them again. 

4/2/16 Saturday General Conference

     Today marked the start of April General Conference. We filled out white board with questions and the Apostles and Prophets provided answers. It is a neat experience. Jae Heiner took care of setting up the Stake Center so that people who wanted to could watch from there. 

      In the afternoon, after the afternoon session, Heidi took the kids swimming. This the pictures above. I got cleaned up and went and set up for Priesthood session. It was another great one with many talks about the family. 

     Afterwards I picked up some toppings for ice cream. Heidi was on the same wave length and we had a family treat. Oh we also had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Thanks Heidi for taking care of us in the food department. 

4/1/16 A Date with Heidi

     This morning Heidi and I had a nice visit with Gram and Papa. We talked about future plans. They talked about when they are thinking of heading north. Heidi and I talked about our goal to own a home again. We are hoping that we'll be able to convince a banker that we're a safe bet to give us a loan. We'll see but it sure would be nice. 

       This evening Heidi and I went on a date. We have a client called Fiiz Drinks. We decided to try them out. They sell drinks with many different mix and match flavors. It was kind of fun. We decided that it would be fun to stop by an old friend of Heidi's from her high school band days. They are selling their five bedroom house. It's probably way early to be visiting houses, we don't even know if we can qualify for a loan. Still, they are nice folks. It doesn't hurt to start getting an idea of what we want. They have a great big yard which would be awesome for the kids to play around in. Oh well, we're probably getting ahead of ourselves. It is nice to dream. It was also nice to be out on a date with Heidi. She is a fun and special lady. We had a good time just being together. 

3/31/16 Citizenship Points

      This week I am trying something new with my math classes. The syllabus already calls for points for being a good citizen in class, I just haven't had an idea of how to award them. The new plan is that each student starts with 10 points. The points represent 5% of their grade. If I have to remind the student about being a distraction in class I write their name on the board. That is just a warning but if I have to address them again I start taking off points. Since students are taking time from the class they need to make it right with the class. They can earn lost points back by coming in after school and tutoring kids who are struggling, helping grade papers, helping keep the room clean etc.  Many kid's excuse for talking during class is that their neighbor was lost and they are explaining it to them. I want kids who have questions to raise their had so that everyone can benefit. If one person has a question it is likely that many people have the same question. So far so good. I've had to write a few names up but so far no points have been taken away. Hopefully it keeps working. As one teacher told me today "teaching is fun, policing is not fun". I'm with Mrs. Fairbanks, I came to teach not to police the students. Today brought some of the fun back. If we can get past the behavior issues and focus on learning we can all have so much more fun. 

      Aside from school Heidi had her monthly Unit Commisioner meeting. The kids are really good for me. Peter loves running around the grassy field by our house. He would do it as long as I would let him. At bedtime Rebecca was a big help with Peter. He was not ready for bed so she distracted him quietly so that we could listen to a talk from the last General Conference. We listened to Elder Eyring's talk "You Are Not Alone in the Work". It is comforting to know that Heavenly Father is there helping out. I needed that today.