Mystifying Day

I woke up this morning to snow. Not too uncommon in the middle of winter but I was a little disappointed. By noon, the day had gotten above freezing so the snow was almost gone. Now, it's two-thirty in the afternoon and it's snowing again. What a mystifying day. I know, not what you all tune in for but that's what I think about in times like this. I'm bored, I have finished yet another good book, cleaned my house, watched my DVR shows that I missed during the week and still have a few hours of daylight left. I refuse to go outside in cold weather like this. I much prefer the heat and I'm looking forward to summer so much. So I'll sit here at my computer, waiting for Ryan to call or text trying to find something interesting to do online.

I do have a report on the work situations you were all kind enough to comment on. The five year old was suspended from daycare for three days so I won't have him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of this coming week. Good news for now but doesn't help the situation in the long run. The boys mother has been offered numerous resources from the school district but refuses to accept them. It's really sad when you come across children like this because it becomes undeniably obvious it's not the child's fault. There should be a test you have to pass to bring children into this world. Oh, that I could make the rules...

The Vietnamese boy, Ta Blut, has made progress! One of the other teachers was working with him on Thursday and trying to get him to say the letters of his name. After about six or seven times of her saying the letters with no results, he began to repeat what she was saying. He made it all the way through his name with no problems! He said the letters very plainly and clearly. We were all very excited. It's so nice to see the positive result of all your efforts. Well, that's it for today. Hopefully tomorrow holds more excitement for the Sams family.

New hope

So this last week was a little bit crazy. I encountered a most infuriating situation at work. I teach the little guys, two and a half through three (when they turn four they move up) but lately I've had to take on a five year old who can't control himself. Why he became my student I have no idea but I can't argue, I'm not the boss. He disrupts my class and picks on the smaller children constantly. Well on Thursday, I sat him in time out for running around the classroom, yelling and playing during the learning activity. I was instructed by my boss that I was to "let him play. You won't get anywhere by putting him in time out so you should just give him what he wants so you can go on with the rest of your class."! I was speechless! How can you reward this five year old child for bad behavior and expect him to learn anything?! You're teaching this poor kid that throwing a fit gets you what you want and you don't have to behave well to be rewarded. Is that really the message we want to teach? Not only this but now I have 9 other three and four year old's asking why they can't play too. How do I explain to them that he only gets to play because he was bad? I can't understand this logic at all and I don't agree with it either. It's ridiculous.

This week we also got a new student, he is 4 and Vietnamese and VERY cute. He's not in my class but has bonded well with me so I get to spend a lot of time with him. He speaks no English so we communicate through pointing, gesturing and nodding or shaking of the head. He is learning to recognize words and gets excited when he does. He loves to learn and does a victory lap around the room when he finally understands something. He is learning so quickly and it's so amazing to watch him. I cannot wait to hear his first English word. I have a hunch it will be "truck"! He loves to play with trucks. He gives me new hope for the year.

New Year!

This has been a great year so far for Ryan and I. We celebrated Bella's 1st birthday on January 10, her actual birthday was the 7th but she didn't mind. We're slowly but surely getting the second bedroom organized and empty. We have plenty of room in the shed for everything but we can't bring ourselves to put away boxes that we don't even remember what's in them. So the process has taken longer than we thought. Oh well. I got my hair cut yesterday! It's really short but I really like it. So far I'm hearing that other people seem to like it too. They could be lying though, you never know. We are going to go to the temple at the beginning of March!!! I cannot wait for that. I'm so excited. Our anniversary is coming up, February 17! Hurray for February. We are also going on a baptism trip on January 24. It will be Ryan's first and he's very excited, as am I. We are planning one sometime soon where we can go and do the names we've found from his side of the family too. We've got like six generations of Sams or something and that will be awesome. I have a great feeling that this will be the best year ever for us! We have so many plans and hopes and I have no doubt they will all be reality very soon. I've included some pictures of the last couple weeks. We hope all of you are having as wonderful of a year so far as we are! Much love and blessings to you all.

Sarah and I

Ryan and I in front of the tree

Ryan with his mom and Nicole

At a friend's going away party

Bella's Birthday

My short hair!