overheard (Primary edition)

When we sing the Hello Song to visitors, I often ask them if they know how to say "hello" in a different language to spice it up a little.
Amy: Do you know any other languages?
Visitor (4 years old?): Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
I had no idea how to respond to that, so we sang, "Twinkle, twinkle...we welcome you today!"

*****

Back in December, I had my sub teach the kids a little about musical notation (staccato vs. legato, pp vs. ff, fermata). It provides an easy way to repeat songs without the kids getting bored, so I used it again with Sr Primary a few weeks ago.
Amy: Do you remember what legato means?
Excited kid in back of room (I still have no idea who): Silently!

****

At the beginning of the year, I found a cute idea to help the new Sunbeams remember to stay in their seats. I put little paper eggs on their seats and told them they needed to keep the eggs warm so they could see what they were helping to hatch by the end of Sharing Time. If they did pretty well, I had little papers to hand out that said "I hatched a ______ by being reverent in Primary" (the blank had a picture of whatever bird or animal they hatched that week. The first week, I handed out the papers and heard a very excited little girl exclaim, "I hatched a chicken!"

*****

When I started teaching Children All Over the World, I wanted to emphasize the ways to say "thank you" in other languages first. To get the kids excited about it...
Amy: Do you know any other languages?
J (4): Dutch!
(His Mom, the newly-called 2nd counselor, burst out laughing and explained that he says that all the time at home, even though he doesn't speak a word.)

*****

I was using some pictures from the Gospel Art Kit (thanks, Mom!!) to teach Follow the Prophet. Holding up a picture of Adam and Eve walking through the Garden of Eden, I asked if anyone knew who it was. The kids (Jr) were, not surprisingly, having trouble identifying them. Suddenly, a younger kid raised his hand.
R (4): It's Adam and Eve!
R's dad (looking at R's mom - they teach another class): Did you teach him that? I didn't!

new calling

I was recently called as the Primary chorister in our ward since the previous one was moving. I actually found out about a month before I was sustained, so I was able to observe in Primary for several Sundays before having to do it myself. That was especially helpful since I have never had a Primary calling, haven't been in Primary consistently since I graduated when I turned 12 (I'm 28...) and have little to no experience with kids (youngest child who didn't like babysitting).

The previous chorister majored in dance and was just a fun little ball of energy. After watching her with the kids, I did have some good ideas but also felt I had some big shoes to fill. I've been doing a lot of research online, looking for fun ideas for teaching songs and other music activities. Here are 2 I've used so far that have been pretty popular with the kids:

Ellie the conducting elephant

I saw this idea when I subbed in Primary in the Worthington Ward (Columbus). It's a poster (foam board) of an elephant with a hole for the nose. The child puts one leg of a pair of tights on their arm and conducts the song with the elephant's nose. I'm pretty proud of my Ellie (definitely wouldn't normally call myself artistic...).

Primary remote control

This was more of a hit than I realized it would be. We were learning Baptism (the song for July) and I was trying to figure out ways to repeat it over and over without the kids realizing it and getting bored and rowdy. I came across this idea and thought I would give it a try. I just made the buttons out of construction paper, but I'd like to laminate them and reuse them since it was so popular (the Jr Primary especially loved it, which surprised me). Instructions/explanation below:

photo update

It's time to throw some more pics on here.

(8/5/11) Brian and I went camping at the equestrian site in Alum Creek State Park.

(8/5/11) We found this while exploring. No idea what kind of animal it came from.

(8/29/11) We had a lot of trouble figuring out what to put on the big wall in our living room. Finally, I decided to buy canvases and paint so we could make our own art. :) This was an FHE project.

(8/29/11) Brian's spooky painting.

(8/29/11) My painting. I decided to call it "Window to the Imagination."

(9/14/11) Some friends and I went and picked Honeycrisp apples (aka "Honeycrack apples" according to one friend, haha). I made some yummy applesauce and then used some of it to make apple butter. My first attempt ever, and it turned out to be delicious! (I did can more applesauce later but didn't document it with photos.)

(9/18/11) Another lovely product of the apple bounty. Shhh...I used a store-bought crust. It doesn't look very pretty, but I assure you it tasted wonderful. :)

(10/15/11) A.W. Marion State Park - ward campout. This place was beautiful!

(10/15/11) A.W. Marion State park - ward campout.

(10/28/11) Brian and I decided to check out the Indian mounds at Highbanks Metropark. These aren't the mounds, but I love this picture! It was a beautiful evening and a great hike.

(10/22/11) "I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat." This is how we dressed up for our ward's Trunk or Treat/Chili Cook-off. All the adults thought it was great/hilarious - we even won the award for "Most Original Costumes." (We were trying to compete with our friends, the Carpers, for the "Best Couple" award. They won it with their Scrabble piece costumes, but we were happy with our originality award.) The kids were enthralled by the game but had no idea what Wheel of Fortune actually was (which made me feel old...and sad). Also, remind me never to go blonde.

(10/31/11) We went to a Halloween party but everyone had already seen our Wheel of Fortune costumes, so we had to switch it up. I'm an imaginary friend.

Cleveland

In mid-April, we met the Wessmans (Brian's sister/family) in Cleveland because the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships were being held there. Mike and Marinda are really into the University of Utah gymnastics, and the team made it to nationals, so it was a good excuse to get together. I love watching gymnastics too, so I was excited to be able to see a meet in person. We went to the semifinals on Friday night, and Utah made it to the finals, so we all went again on Saturday night.

The Wessmans rented a house for the weekend instead of having to get a bunch of hotel rooms which was pretty cool. On Saturday morning, we headed out to Kirtland for a while to see some of the sites. Brian had never taken the temple tour or the tour of the historic sites, and he was almost giddy when he realized we could go inside the Whitney store and some of the other buildings. But enough talking...here are some pictures:

Brian outside the Kirtland temple. It rained a lot that day.

The Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland. I know pictures are generally more interesting with people in them (at least the ones I take), but I couldn't resist taking this because the light was really cool.

Abby showing me the "pretty leaf" she found at historic Kirtland. I thought it was cute.

Briton at the gymnastics meet. He's such a cute little guy.

Brian and me at the house we stayed at for the weekend.

I'm realizing now that I didn't take any pictures of Mike and Marinda or Hannah. Meh.

miscellaneous musings

1. Brian and I have been married for 6 months today. Wow! In some ways, it doesn't seem that long; in others, it seems longer (but only in good ways). I just love him. :)

2. I guess I never mentioned where I'm working. It's Yagööt, a frozen yogurt shop in the Easton mall. It's been fun so far. I trained for 3 days in Cincinnati and started at Easton last week. This week, I've been learning how to be a shift leader. I haven't done it on my own yet - tomorrow will be my first solo shift (as a shift leader). I'm nervous but excited to do the things that I've learned.

My uniform for work is khakis and a Yagööt shirt (plus apron, name tag, and close-toed shoes), but when I started I really only had one pair of khakis. They're nice ones too, and I didn't want to ruin them because we use a lot of bleach to clean around the store. Of course, my solution was to go to Goodwill (I miss DI) and get a couple pairs for work. I ended up with 3 pairs for $3.50 each - and they're good condition, name brand (one Old Navy, one Aeropostale, and one Gap)! I also got an OSU shirt for myself (I got Brian one for $5 a few weeks ago) for $2! I just love thrift stores. :) (I got a hideous dress there this week for my Halloween costume too.)

3. On Monday, Brian decided we would have a Halloween-y FHE, so we went to Halloween Express first to get stuff for our costumes. When we got home, we worked on carving the pumpkins we got last week at FHE (we went to a farm with a corn maze, hay ride, and other stuff - some people in the ward go every year and invited whoever wanted to come). Brian decided on a skull and did more of a 3-D carving than cutting it out. It looks pretty sweet. When I finally decided what to do, it was getting late, so I just drew it on the pumpkin and worked on it the next day. I wanted to do an OSU pumpkin (no one can accuse me of not being a Buckeye fan!), so I freehanded the official logo. It looked like this (the biggest one pictured):



Unfortunately, I didn't have the right tools when I was cutting it out on Tuesday, and I ended up breaking off pieces that were supposed to be attached. I gave up then but may go back today and start with a fresh design on the other side of the pumpkin.

5. We finally got callings! Last Tuesday, Bro. Boogard (ward exec sec) called to ask if we could meet with Bishop Nagle on Wednesday night. I was asleep on the couch while Brian was working, but I woke up a little when I heard him on the phone. Even in my half-awake state, I got excited about it. We were sustained on Sunday. Any last guesses? Drum roll please....we're ward missionaries! I must not have figured out this calling the first 2 or 3 times. ;) We're both happy about it though.

6. I made banana bread for the first time in my life this week. We had some very ripe bananas, and I figured that was a great way to use them. Brian approved too. :) It turned out quite well. I also made baked apples at the same time - we had a bunch of bruised apples that were going bad (because I didn't want to put bruised ones in Brian's lunch), and I didn't want them to go to waste. Mmm...I love baking (and its results). :)

I think that's enough randomness for now. We have a bunch of pictures to post (wedding, Disneyland, etc.) but I'm going to continue procrastinating that task.

church game

We've loved our ward so far. We moved in right as the bishopric was changing, so we've been waiting on a few things during the transition (our records haven't been read in and we don't have callings yet). That doesn't really bother us though. We've made up a new game: let's see how many auxiliaries we can get to fight over us before we actually get callings.

~~~~~

The first Sunday in the ward, we filled out the paperwork to request our records. While in the office, I met the Relief Society President, who mentioned to the First Counselor that she needed some more Visiting Teaching Supervisors. I piped up, "I've had that calling before - I love it!"

The second Sunday, there wasn't a chorister in RS, so I volunteered to conduct. They asked me to do it again on our third Sunday.

At our recent RS meeting, I stayed a little late so I could help with clean-up. I'm not sure why, but that's usually my favorite part of activities. ;) The "Meeting Coordinator" (aka Enrichment Leader) thanked me afterward and told me it wasn't necessary, but it was definitely appreciated.

Relief Society - check

~~~~~

One of our main goals since moving in has been to make friends. We got to go to the ward camp-out a couple weeks ago, and Brian suggested that that was a great time to make friends - by bribing them with homemade root beer. It was definitely a hit (especially with the kids - one of the teenagers warned Brian that he'll probably be called into the Primary now), and the Activities Committee Chair mentioned that they had been wanting to make it for the ward Halloween party. They hadn't figured out how and asked Brian to be in charge of it instead. Without even letting him respond, I happily told her that he would love to do it.

Activities Committee - check

~~~~~

I went to a little craft night two weeks ago. It was put on by one of our neighbors, and she invited any interested sisters to come bring their crafts and work on them while chatting. I'm certainly not crafty, so I mostly went for the socializing. There weren't a lot of people there, but it was fun to make some new friends in a smaller group setting. One of those sisters came up to me on Sunday after Sacrament Meeting. She mentioned that they were one person short in the Nursery and asked if I might be willing to come help the other leader. Even though I had no idea what to do, I agreed. It turned out someone else had found a substitute, so I didn't need to after all. But during Sunday School, one of the sisters from the Primary Presidency came and asked if I could come sit in with a teacher in her Primary class during the third hour. I was happy to help and stayed the whole time even though it turned out there were only two little girls in the class that day. Brian told me not to enjoy it too much. ;)

Primary - check

~~~~~

On Sunday, I came to get Brian after church and found him talking with another brother and the Elders. It turned out the Elders needed a ride to and from a lesson. The other brother was going to but had a wife and baby, so Brian and I volunteered to go instead. I was so excited to go to a lesson again! (I was laughing inwardly throughout it because the investigator reminded me of some people I taught.) We gave some input and helped bear testimony, etc. I had almost forgotten how much I love teaching the gospel in smaller settings like that. The Elders were grateful for our help and told us that was their best lesson with that woman. I was probably a little over-excited, but they seemed happy about how eager we are to share the gospel. We had them over for dinner on Monday, and they alluded that they might have suggested us as ward missionaries.

Ward Mission - check

~~~~~

I think that covers most of our bases. We aren't sure about Elders' Quorum. Brian has said the prayer multiple times by now (once it was opening and closing for the same meeting!). He also went to an activity they had over the weekend. And the EQP lives one building over from us. Who knows if he has any plans for Brian.

I'm interested to see what our callings actually turn out to be. ;)