Bickmore Buzz April 2, 2017

By Lesley - April 02, 2017

Yay! Another week closer to summer break. It's going to be a busy summer and we're excited to start a new chapter in Missouri! I've submitted my leave of absence. The student teacher on our team is going to replace me. She'll do a fabulous job. We met with our realtor on Thursday. She gave us a list of what we can do to make our home show better. She's also working on figuring out the price we should sell it for.

Last Friday at school, our staff made a video for the students to help them get fired up about their testing. We had a lot of fun making it. The poor students and all this testing--I feel so bad for them. Here is the teacher video.

Isaac is working hard on his dissertation. He is making good progress. He is still teaching his Digital Hybrid Lab three days a week and is also helping the school in Scottsdale with their robot film festival. The festival premieres at the end of this month. He goes with our Bishop at least once a week to visit people in the ward. It was our LDS general conference this weekend which means he didn't have any meetings today. Woo hoo!

Speaking of conference, I really loved all the talks. The two things that I want to work on are recognizing the promptings of the Holy Ghost and see/treat the people around me as children of God---seeing them the way Jesus does.

After conference yesterday we went to Kiwanis Park. These college kids set up this giant slip n slide. They were using inner tubes to slide down. They let Isaac and the boys have a turn. Van fell off at the bottom and kind of hurt his leg, but he was okay. Today after conference we went hiking at South Mountain. We hiked the Mormon Trail Loop, but weren't able to do the entire loop. We want to go back again, maybe Saturday right after breakfast, and hike the whole trail. We're trying to squeeze in as much Arizona fun as we can before we have to say goodbye to this beautiful state. We HAVE to see the Grand Canyon before we move. We haven't been there yet and it would be a shame if we don't go.

We started an incentive chart for Van. He has been really difficult lately. I told him he does not get to play the Wii U until he fills up his chart. He earns a star when (1) he is kind and (2) when he says "okay" to his family when we ask him to do something. For example, when I say, "Van will you please put your homework away?" He'll yell back, "Ugh! But you didn't sign it!!" Then I have to exercise all the patience inside of me and say, "Well, you need to use kind words like, " Okay mom, but will you please sign my homework first?" Or tonight when we finished reading scriptures, he got upset that he only got to read one verse. I've been telling him to use positive self talk. I said, "Van, instead of getting mad, just tell yourself, 'I read one verse tonight and I hope I get to read two tomorrow! And if not, that's okay!" William is very patient with him and sometimes just can't stand Van anymore and loses his cool. I wrote him a note earlier this week, thanking him for being such a kind and patient brother.

Overheard at our house:

Lots of whining and hemming and hawing. LOL