Bickmore Buzz April 24, 2016

By Lesley - April 24, 2016

This week:

I came down with Laryngitis on Wednesday. I took the day off on Thursday to rest my voice. Friday was a quiet day at school because the students had to really listen to hear what I was saying.

Isaac has had a lot of meetings with companies about his robot project and has received a lot of good feedback. He's nailed down his topic for his dissertation and is working hard on his dissertation proposal. He is staying consistent with his daily exercise.

I had a memorable moment with William on Friday. Friday was Earth Day and we were having a class discussion about ways to save our planet. The subject of cars came up. I asked the kids why we should drive our cars as little as possible to save the Earth. Their answers were way off base. Responses like, "You shouldn't text and drive," or "You can get in an accident and you might die," I redirected them and asked the question again. William raised his hand and he said, "So, cars give off this smoke and it goes up in the air and that's called pollution. The pollution makes the earth warm and soon the penguins and polar bears in Antarctica are going to die and the water is going to cover up all the little islands." I couldn't say it out loud, but I was thinking, "That's my boy!" I further explained what William was talking about with why we need to protect the ozone layer so that the ice in the poles doesn't melt and make the oceans rise.

I love our earth and I hope Will's generation will take better care of it than my generation!

Van was excited that I was his primary teacher today at church. I love primary. It was nice not having to worry about all the behind the scenes stuff. I could just sit with the class and teach the lesson. The lesson was about following our Savior. It was nice teaching principles that are close to my heart instead of the first grade core curriculum. Tonight, during the family prayer, Van said, "Thank you that mom could be my teacher." Aww! That made me feel good!

We had an awesome weekend! Friday night, we went to Greta Botts's 3rd birthday party. We gave her one of our spiderman costumes and she was sooooo excited. She held it up and yelled, "Ya ha ha!" Once when she came over to play, she dressed up in the superhero costumes with Will and Van so we figured she would like having one of her own to wear. Saturday, we went to the new Kiwanis park in the morning for our ward's picnic. William invited his friend Isaac to come. After the picnic, William played at Isaac's house. Then I took the boys to the library. We checked out the BFG on CD and a few other books. I found a new novel for myself. Then we went swimming at our pool with Justin Bird and his boys. After swimming, we went to the mall and saw Jungle Book. It was a great movie. During the part where Kaa the snake was talking to Mogli, Van said, "I'm scared!" so I sat him on my lap and we cuddled for the rest of the movie. A couple of times he put my hand over his eyes, but only for a split second because he wanted to see what was happening. It was the perfect adventure movie and we had a lot of fun. Plus, who doesn't love popcorn for dinner?

Overheard at our house:

Van, "I've been waiting for years for this Lego underwear. I'm so glad that the Easter Bunny knew dat." Yes, the Easter Bunny brought our children new underwear and socks, which Van desperately needed. When he said this, it reminded me of the episode in Malcom in the Middle where Dewey says:

Dewey: [on a microphone] Hello, my name is Dewey. The man with the balloon is my father, Hal.

Hal: [in a spotlight] Dewey?

Dewey: I'm the youngest of four kids, and I always get the short end of everything. I've never had a hot shower or a bed to myself. I'm the third person to wear this underwear. And yet, I've never complained.