finally folks.


after a long long time of wanting to see this, and a grand stroke of luck, we landed ourselves an undeniable deal and went!

we clean to this soundtrack so of course i was singing through it. and  we haven't stopped thinking about it since. so so so so good. so lived up to the hype. so worth every single second. absolutely amazing.

We finally got around to our Water Cycle model!

A 5th grade teacher on our campus came up with this brilliant idea to use a humidifier to represent evaporation in the water cycle. He made a mural-ish kind of model on his file cabinet and then used a clear container for the "water vapor" to condense into "clouds"....and I loved it so much we did our own version.

Here's what happened in our model:

  You can see our humidifier sitting on the stool. Since there was water changing from a liquid to a gas at THAT POINT one of my little ladies wanted to make a "costume" for our humidifier and turn it into a lake. We wrapped it in blue butcher paper and while we were working on something else she added waves and a sailboat. (ha!) Too funny.  So our water vapor goes up into the air and into (as much as possible) that clear container that is hanging off the ledge of my bookshelf. (oh! perhaps i should mention that this is a full sized bookshelf in my classroom. There are 8 crates that sit on this shelf so it's a pretty good size model. And hanging from the ceiling above it is a huge sun that powers the whole water cycle process.)

Back to the clear container and the water droplets accumulating into a cloud...

(a better picture of that is below)

So, inside that clear container I set a cookie sheet on the shelf. 

The cookie sheet and the inside of the container are actually having a lot of condensation accumulating. So I can slip the cookie sheet out and show them the condensation that has formed and show them what happens when a cloud is forming. Imagine how they react when water droplets start to drip down from that bucket like ACTUAL precipitation! They think it's the coolest thing ever. So we added to our mural different types of precipitation (just rain and snow, but they can explain that sleet and hail are also included). We labeled each phase of the process and then they explained what was happening there on index cards, which we also added to the mural. I just think this is GENIUS.

I'm so glad this 5th grade teacher shared his idea with me and that my people got a chance to really see how this works. 

I'm thinking we've got a good understanding of the water cycle...hallelujah!

oh, i found this!

this is the before pic...

i opened up this blog, and clicked new post.
i have writer's block.
i have share-your-life-with-other's block.
i have keep-record-of-your-life block.
i have it's-like-riding-a-bike block.

but i can tell you this...
things are okay.
we are cruisin along in life.
things are tricky and confusing
and simple and okay all at once.
we are actively working toward better.
we are making sense of things that boggle the mind and wreck the heart and that attempt to alter the spirit.

i have really good spiritual goals and they are my only focus in life,
other than this beautiful boy of mine.
outside of that, i work to provide for my family (i don't live for my job).
i clean and organize and get rid of and repeat to care for my family.
i work out (hardly ever but sometimes) to be better for myself and my family.
i read scriptures to understand myself and heavenly father's plan for me and my family.
i pray so that i have an actual, real, and personal relationship with god.
i live to be really in tune with the holy ghost so i can get some guidance and direction in life.
and i parent to love and nurture and provide guidance.
i have friendships to love and remind me what it's like to feel love.

i've been nominated for teacher of the year again.
it feels good to be recognized in the midst of flaws and imperfection,
and to feel like i'm still doing a good job in the eyes of my peers.
i don't know that it's possible to feel completely spot on in this job,
but i'm feeling okay about where i'm headed.

for now, that's my hello and my news and my update and my simple little insight to today.

Hey there!
So, my blog is dumb. How are you even reading this???  This is a place I go and gripe about life being weird. And you read it. Why?  Maybe you relate? Maybe you're curious to see how this all pans out? Maybe you want to see me quit complaining, pull up my boot straps and get it together. Maybe you want to see me do all the things I ramble about in my "want to do's" or quit blabbing about it and decide to be really content with where I'm at in life.

I have had a lot of really beautiful, motivating, spiritual experiences lately. I even attended a women's conference kind of thing over a weekend and when I got back home I knew instantly that I could not live in this space one more minute without making some major changes. People around me are doing all kinds of hard, life changing things and I act like I'm stuck, or I'm fragile, or like we'll crumble if anything is different. Next time you see me grab my shoulders, shake me, and if you deem necessary you have my permission to slap me. Seriously. I'll know why.

I often do get revved up to start changing and even know decided things like: exactly where to start, what changes to make, and what people to consult, etc. And then life is so blasted busy another week will pass and I'm back to another equally as busy weekend having done nothing different. So THIS WEEK people. Tomorrow. I'm going to go ahead and do some big deal things. Because I'm a big deal. And this boy of mine is a big deal. And this life we live/lives we are living is/are a big deal. And I don't want to waste another second.

Okay, another side note....I think I'm going to start another blog. Right after talking about wasted time, I'm sharing this with you. Ironic much?  No but seriously. You know how you are getting to post all these lovely pictures and posts about your children and your lives and I am basically just journaling because my child is soooooo private and uncomfortable with me sharing?  Well, since my point of sharing is to keep some sort of record of our lives in a way (not really scrapbooking cause I am lame at that), and to really talk through life so that we can understand snippits of our journey, doesn't it make sense to find a way to talk about what is REALLY going on in our world over here????  So I'm thinking about an anonymous blog. A blog that describes me and the teenager, but never divulges identity. No photos of us, and no inclination to our whereabouts, but all the gory juicy details breaking down the real life of parenting through the teenage years. REAL. Super real. I've already blogged (practically shouting) full posts to the world (in my mind) several times. Things that I'm going to want to know we experienced and navigated through. Things I'm going to want to remember how we felt and what remedies we tried. Things that combat insecurity, anger, hurt, first loves, temptations, friendships, whatever defines "cool", feeling misunderstood, feeling overlooked, and the awkwardness that exists inside an underdeveloped brain and a rapidly developing body. Honesty people. I need to break it down and give the world parenting a teenager in the most honest format I can give it. Since it's practically bursting out of me I am kind of feeling relief even just talking about it.

I should probably end with how much I genuinely adore my boy. I think you already know this though. He's beautiful (and smart) and kind and empathetic and fun and quirky and thoughtful and witty and cautious and logical and gentle and really a more than decent human being. He also makes decisions that dumbfound me. And so it is.

Okay, off to sleep. It's late, yo.

hey.
so, i love october.
i especially love the november weather  that october is bringing us. (november is my favorite)
it brings an especially sweet kind of feeling.

tonight i was driving and all i could think about again was how different i want my life to be.
am i so lame for always thinking about that?
i wanted to be sitting on the porch of my house. my thought was that if i had that porch we would read scriptures each night just as dusk hit. it's my favorite time of night and that seems like a really beautiful moment to have when we're home.

i want to freshen up our bikes and go on bike rides.
i want to have time for a much slower, more simple life.
clearly i need to work. and service is really important to me. working and serving take up most of my time.
which is good to have time taken since the boy is a teenager and he has his own agenda of sorts with school, sports, scouts, church, and a social life.
all these things make life so busy...you know this.  i don't even know why i'm explaining it...you do this too.

i just feel sometimes like i'm missing the point. the point of life is not this.
and then it's like i missed the actual thing i was supposed to be doing somewhere in the midst of choosing other things. only i still don't know what it is. maybe i'll never know. maybe i'll just fill up my life with all of these possibilities and live in a state of "not quite content" and that will be that.

life is tricky.
my job is tricky. the children (more their stories), coworkers, planning, stuffing a lot of good intentions into days where 1 of those intentions actually might occur, leaders, lack of leaders, turnovers, and caddy women...all tricky.
parenting is tricky.
co-not-parenting is tricky. we don't parent together, but we share a human, and that's tricky.
relationships are tricky.
families are tricky.
money is tricky. spending it, not spending it, earning it, all of it.
faith can be tricky. believing in something that you can't see. a story you only learn about through scripture and others. thankfully the holy ghost makes it a lot less tricky. but when those confusing parts slip in and faith is tested things seem a little out of sorts until the moment of clarity brings welcomed peace.

i want a house.
i want more space, less stuff, and a different place for us to us to call home.
i want more time. i feel like i'm losing my little boy.
in 3 years he'll be off to college. but this is when i need to tuck him under my wing and nurture him even more. when i need to help him understand himself and make sense of life so he is strong and healthy and good. i need to cram all those skills that help him to feel competent and knowledgeable and equipped. i need him to recognize and know love as beautiful, and not hurtful or confusing. i need him to know that fatherhood and family is also beautiful and he will get to make it his own. i need him to have a firm spiritual identity and know how to make that the foundation of everything else in his life.
i need to eat differently. my diet is similar to that of Buddy the Elf. and workout. and feel good.
and i want to travel.
i want to step outside of my little bubble and see the world. i need a shift in perspective.
and i want to rock babies.

so i think the moral of all my wants is to sell everything i own. buy a small, modest home.
travel the world with my boy and teach him decent things.
while we're away we'll visit orphanages and rock babies.
or i'll start volunteering at the children's shelter and rock those babies.
or i'll babysit.
we'll ride bikes and read scriptures at dusk.
and somewhere in that i'll start taking better care of myself with all that shift in perspective.
and perhaps there will be enough clarity in all that to know what it is i'm supposed to actually be doing. or maybe i'll finally realize i'm doing it.

for now, i'll go to bed and prepare for a 4am wakeup to start another day of the life i'm not really supposed to be living. on the upside, the weather will be lovely.