Back in the day...

...I was a fourth grade school teacher. Today I was cleaning out an old drawer when I found this note. It is too good not to share. To give you some background, I was trying a form of discipline where my kids had to write "lines" whenever they broke our class rules. The line that had to be written was something like, "I will respect others' right to learn." In this case, the student writing was a little girl who NEVER got in trouble. She was quiet, obedient, hard working, a teacher's dream. :) However, this one fateful day, Amanda broke one of our rules. I wanted to overlook it, but I was trying to be consistent. So she had to write "lines" like the rest of them. Here is what she turned in:

I'm pretty sure she was mortified. I know I have vivid memories of those few times I got punished at school. I wish I could show it to her today. Who knows, maybe she reads my blog.

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Ryan turned 28 on Thursday. This is his first birthday since starting grad school, so I thought we'd celebrate some of his memorable professors (in both good and bad ways) in anticipation of what he might become someday.

The first honoree was Dr. Rowley. At one of the Chem E. banquets I attended, the students presented a music video entitled, "Rowley Tried" i.e., we'll never get this stuff, but he did try to teach us. Ryan actually really liked this professor for his clear way of teaching, the subject matter was just hard. So we likewise, made a music video.

Next we celebrated Dr. Wheeler who loved to make water rockets. In preparation for the day, I found that lots of 13 year-olds make videos about how to make water rockets and post them to youtube on those lazy summer days. Thankfully some of the videos were pretty good and about my skill level. The rockets were a blast. :)

After dinner we remembered Samilla Nichols, Ryan's technical writing teacher. She avoided giving (and grading) a final by assigning a group project, for which Ryan's group created an eleborate game of Jeopardy. In honor, we played Jeopardy. I downloaded a trial version so we had sixty minutes of heart pounding, key board buzzing, trivia spouting fun. It's too bad we got timed out of game two because I was winning.

The last professor was more a what NOT to do example. Ryan took History of Civ from Professor Herberston at the Salt Lake Center. His teaching style was akin to the History teacher in Ferris Beuller's Day Off and a he showed a movie - grainy and hard to hear - every class period. My original plan was to finish off our day with a movie, but we were just too tired. All in all it was a great day. Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

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What activity would you do to remember your (not-so-)favorite professor?

Happy Birthday!

Well, it's my birthday, but I hope it's happy for you.

Never Never Land

Tonight while doing the dishes, I listened to Marielle "read" the story of Peter Pan while flipping through the pages of her Disney Classic book. My favorite part when like this, "and then Peter Pan took the children to a far away land...JERUSALEM!"

Backyard Camp Out

The 1st Mullen family camping trip was a success...and a failure depending on which of our two kids you talk to. Marielle & I set up the tent yesterday afternoon on our lawn during MK's piano lesson, while Jenna happily played next to us on a blanket. Our tent is HUGE! One neighborhood kid declared, "You could fit 24 kids inside!" We didn't test that theory, but we did put Jenna's pack-n-play along with our sleeping bags and still had plenty of room.

We all went to bed around 8 and MK read Marielle bedtime stories by flashlight while we all were "cozy wozy" (Marielle phrase) in our sleeping bags. Marielle's bag even has a little pocket that she can put her glowworm Glowie inside. Jenna wasn't quite ready to sleep yet, so MK came back inside to do dishes and let Jenna play. When they came back, Jenna was dressed in her snowsuit to make sure she was warm enough. We put a big blanket over her, too, but she had a cough that made us nervous. By 11:30, MK's mom instincts took over and she brought her coughing child to sleep in the warm house.

Marielle had a much better experience. I brought her in around 4:45, so I could use the bathroom, and she snuggled in bed with Mom. I wondered if we should go back out to the tent, b/c it was 39 degrees outside, colder than we expected. But when Mom asked Marielle, "Do you want to stay in bed or go back to the tent?" Marielle said, "To the tent!" And she must have been warm enough cuz she slept all the way til 7:10. Next we'll have to camp more than 30 seconds away from our front door.

Thank you Doc and Shula for the great camping gear!

The Gospel of Marielle

Today was Marielle's first day as a Sunbeam. Ryan & I find it hard to believe our little girl is getting so big. We asked Marielle several times what she learned in Primary today, but the best account came during our family testimony meeting:

Marielle (Me): Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's Ghost doesn't have a body yet.
MK: No, he doesn't.
Me: He's just a hand.

I figured out the object lesson, but Ryan was confused until I explained. Can you tell what lesson Marielle's teacher gave?

I'll post the answer as a comment in a few days if no one else outsmarts my PhD husband.