Clean House, Cute Kid

Aaron's been doing a good job at keeping the house clean. Yay!

Yesterday at Primary, when I showed up one of the girls in my class handed me the picture below that she drew. It is so cute I had to share. I asked her if it was for me and she said yes. I pointed to the girl and asked, "Is that me?" and she said yes. So cute that she would draw me a picture. Maybe that's why she thought she could get away with running around during class *palm forehead*. Oh well. She's still cute and do you really blame kids for being antsy after 2.5 hours of church.

Update: Primary Class

So I've officially been teaching my Primary class for 4 weeks. I think I'm getting into a groove now. It's interesting: out of the 4 weeks, we've only had 2 kids come more than once (they both have come 3 out of the 4 weeks). We've had 6 other kids only come one time each in those 4 weeks, so if they all came, we'd have 8 kids in class, but the most we've had at once is 4 and last week (Memorial Day weekend), we only had 1! 

So yesterday we tried something new. One of the kids in class (we'll call him Wiggly Coyote), the only boy , incidentally, cannot sit still! I can't decide if he's ADHD or just really active. One of the girls says he's not like this at home; I assume that's because he doesn't have to sit relatively still at home. So Husband talked to his mom (because his step-brother is ADHD) and she suggested using Play-doh. 

So yesterday we offered the Play-doh to each of the kids. We told them that they had to follow the rules for the Play-doh or we'd take it away (i.e. still participate and pay attention, only play with in your hands, don't mix yours with your neighbor's, etc.). It went really well. It was mostly for Wiggly Coyote, but we didn't feel it fair to only give him the Play-doh. But Coyote was actually answering questions and getting something out the lesson. He also did not bother his neighbors very much (where last time, he was constantly distracting them by poking them and talking to them and such). Overall, I think the kids got about the same out of the lesson, yet had more fun. Hopefully this will encourage those who don't come often, to come more.

SUCCESS!

Pictures, Wedding, Dinosaurs, and Primary

So this last week was quite busy.

On Wednesday, Aaron and I had our anniversary pictures. I know what you're saying, "But your anniversary was in March!" Well, you're right. We held off on the pictures till after Aaron's semester was over. I think overall it went well. I'm not very happy with my hair cut, but I made the best and I think mostly it looked okay. There were some pictures where the angle or something made my bangs look funky. We went to JCPenney and I found out that they have gone digital. The plus side: We got to have lots of pictures taken rather than the 12 limit they had when they used film. The down side: They got rid of most of their backgrounds so we only had one background (don't ask me why. What does that have to do with digital) and they no longer have stools and such to sit on, so all the pictures were either standing up or sitting on the floor. Weird. Also, they no longer have a sheet that has a 5x7 with wallets, only two 5x7s. I really wish they would have the option of one or the other. Having two 5x7s on a page would be nice if you want multiple for parents and such, but isn't so much when you just need one, and wallets would be nice to give out to family. Whatever.

But the photographer was really fun and we did some fun poses. She didn't always follow exactly what I wanted her to do (and, of course, I didn't know till afterward when we looked at the proofs), but overall I think she did a great job and I think the pictures turned out well. They'll be put up online soon, and when they are I'll send out an email letting people know how to view them.

On Friday, my cousin Josh was married to Katie. Very exciting. You could tell when they looked at each other that they are very much in love, and I'm so glad that Josh found someone wonderful to marry. The reception was quite an experience. I've never been to one that had real plates and waiters and such. The food was all right, but a little fancy for my taste. The desserts were interesting—they came on plates about an inch square. I needed three of them to feel like I actually was eating anything.

I got to see my grandma, which I was glad of. She's real sweet and an awesome grandma, I think. I'm glad she was able to come from Oregon for the wedding.

One thing that I really liked at the reception was that they had a photo booth where you could take your picture (the old fashioned kind with four black and white pictures on a stip). You were suppose to take your picture then paste into a memory book for Josh and Katie. It replaced the registry book. You could also take extra for yourself to take. I was so excited about this, and then forgot the pictures there. I could kick myself.

On Saturday, I went to my aunt's to see my grandma and spend time with her before she left (and my aunt and uncle as well). They were headed out to the dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving Point, so I tagged along. It was pretty interesting. They had a lot of dinosaur skeletons, including two T-Rexes and two Supersauruses. I have to say, I thought the T-Rexes were bigger, from what they looked like on Jurassic Park, but they were probably onl 15 feet tall (and not the 25–30 that I was thinking). I'm glad I got a chance to there and see it.

Then Sunday I had my first time teaching my Primary class. I was called to teach the CTR 6 class last week. We only had three kids in the class, so it wasn't so bad, but they were pretty wiggly. One of the girls in the class impressed me. I'm not sure if she is 5 or 6 years old, but she can already read most words (not just the basic cat, ball, Jane, etc.) and she knew a lot of answers to the questions. It was pretty fun to be in Primary rather than Sunday School and Relief Society. I just stress about giving lessons to kids because I don't really know how to make it interesting and not bore them out of their minds (although, I know that participation and activities help). I think I'll like it better than when I was the Primary Chorister. At least as a teacher I have a lesson manual. Plus I only have to worry about a few kids rather than 20–30.

Taught Primary Class

So on Friday I was asked if I could teach a CTR 8 class. The teachers are having health problems. So I prepared for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday morning. When Aaron and I finally figured out where to go to teach, I found out that we onlyhad one student. I had No idea when class was suppose to end, so I had no way to gage how much time I had to waste, or whether I needed to hurry. So the lesson ended 30 minutes before the end!

I guess when you have one student, who is very quiet, you don't get much discusson. The last time we taught, we had the 4-year-olds and there were like 10 of them. Right at the beginning of class, they all wanted to go to the bathroom and get drinks. I think we spent half of class just doing that, especially since only one of us could go with a couple of the kids while the other stayed with the rest of the class. So we only got through half the lesson that day. I think we also had less time (like 40 minutes, rather than 55), and so when i prepared the lesson, I wasn't worried about not having enough to do.

So after we finished the lesson, we talked about the Friend magazine, which I had brought and went through a couple things in there, a story and an activity. Then Javiera, the one student, suggested playing a game of hangman. Then finally it was time to go into sharing Time and Singing Time. What a relief! I'm just glad this happened with an 8-year-old, and not 4-year-olds.

My Adorable Girls

Things are going better for me as the Primary Chorister. I am getting the hang of how it works and now that we are done with learnign the songs, we can now just have fun by playing games that practice the songs. I am starting to learn more of their names, which makes me connect with the children more and they have more fun. Yesterday we played a board game where each square had an activity for them to do, like one children quacks the tune of a song while the rest of the children guess what it is, or having one of the children lead. It was really fun and overall the children liked it. Yeah!

So in a month or so, our Ward will be having their annual Primary Presentation and being the Primary Chorister I am in charge of the music for the presentation. I decided that it would be fun to have a small group of girls sing one of the songs and a small group of boys sing another song, you know, to add variety to the presentation. I had announced it last Sunday at the end of our singing time, and so this Sunday those who had volunteered stayed after to practice. You should have seen them. They are so adorable! There is this one girl, Abby, who wanted to do it who I thought would be too young (she is only 6). But she did wonderful. I had them all sing by themselves so I could get a feel for their voices and this little six-year-old sang so sweetly. And she was really well behaved and obedient as we practiced. So cute! I wish I had pictures to share to show her cuteness. I had a lot of fun practicing with them and I am so glad I got a good-sized group to volunteer (I've had 8 volunteer so far). No boys have volunteered yet, so I asked the Bishopric to sing it with they're sons and they seem up to the challenge. Each one has one son that is still in Primary, so it works out great.

So overall things are going well for me and the Primary choristering. I am so glad that I'm getting the hang of it. It really is a reward to work with children!

Church Singing

So again I don't have much to report. On Sunday I again did the Singing Time for Church. I always get really nervous before Singing Time cause I worry about whether the kids will participate and whether they'll have fun. On this day, I decided to play hot and cold with them (they sing loudly when the child searching is near the hidden item and softly when they are far away). The children participated well and they had fun. I think it went well. Afterward, I was in the hallway when one of the girls passed by me with her family and said to me, "I like your singing." I am not sure if she meant my singing in particular or just Singing time, but it was awfully cute and I told her thank you. Later when my hometeacher came to teach us, I asked him if his children had said anything about Singing Time at all (whether they liked it, etc.) and he said that they hadn't, but his niece, who has been visiting them all this month, has been singing the songs around the house. He also said their family doesn't go to church, so this is her first time learning these songs. That made me happy. Yeah.

This I still get nervous before Singing Time though. It is pretty nerve wracking for me. I am just glad that the new Nursery leader is a music person and so she is going to do singing with them so I don't have to. That really helps!

Aaron's family is going to be here soon (I think within the next week!). Yeah.

Called to Be a Primary Chorister

So I was called last week to be the Primary Chorister for my ward. I have to say that when the councilor in the bishop called on Saturday night and wanted to come over (we got the message around 9 p.m., but he still wanted to come over even though it was late) I thought that somehow we'd gotten ourselves in trouble. I couldn't really see how, but it sure seemed that somehow we must've, cause why the urgency? Well, it was just to ask me if I'd be the next Primary Chorister. I guess they'd been without for over a month after the last chorister moved away and so they wanted to get someone in as soon as possible.

I was surprised and elated that they would want me to do it (and more importantly that God would want me to do it). I love music, and I love children. I was really nervous though. In fact, today I actually did it for the first time. Last week I watched as another sister in the ward did it, so I could see what she did. It was very nerve wracking and overwhelming. But even so, I know it will get easier and that God will help me get better at it. It's a much bigger calling than I knew. I mean, you have to plan twenty minutes of singing every Sunday (practically) and all you have to go on is that the children need to learn a song each month for the program in the fall. Oh, well. Pray for me!