I found it

It's not like anyone really care, but I found the IPOD. I am so happy. I could not get anything else done until I found it. The good news is that I cleaned my bedroom in the process.

Where is it?

You know how you lose something and you just keep looking until you find it. I actually get anxiety until whatever I am looking for is found. I can not feel comfortable again until I know where it is.

Well right now I am looking for my class IPOD. I use it for all the transitions in class. We even listen to YMCA at the end of the day. I cannot, however, find it and I feel lost.

The last I saw it was when I was getting ready for work on Wednesday or Thursday. I had it in my hand when I was getting all my things together to go out the door. But somehow, I ended up at school without it. I thought I would find it at school. I thought I would find it at school. I thought I would find it in my car. So far, nothing. I am so frustrated.

I never knew how attached to that thing I would be. I put all the versus of the Book of Mormon on it. I listen to a chapter or two a day. Then I listen to Enya as I prepare my room for school. I use Mozart as "brain food" when they are working on test that really requires concentration. Then at the end of the day we use party music to get ready to go home. It really sets an amazing atmosphere in my class. I really hope that I find it before Monday.

My Class Blog

I wanted to share my other blogger site with you. This is one that I made up for my class. I try to blog daily just to give parents something to talk to their kids about and to let them know what is happening in class. I want my class to feel like a communinty and I hope this will help. I would appreciate it if you don't comment on this blog just because they don't know about my personal blog. I don't want them to follow your comment to your blog and then find my blog, if you know what I mean. But feel free to comment here or through e-mail. Here is the site-
www.wantingmoore.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

Praise, Praise

I cannot give enough praise to the people that donated toward a document camera for my classroom. It was neat to see donations come in. It was fun thinking of the people as they donated. I don't know if they want to be mentioned here, but I just have to thank them. My cousin and friend Melanie, my childhood friend Rachael, my friend and neighbor Maria, and anonymous donor and my friend from when Don and I were newlyweds, Dayna were all donors. Wells Fargo and The Eccles Foundation selected my project and matched all donations.

The document camera has been purchased and is on its way. I can't wait to see what a difference it makes in the classroom. I already know it is going to help in so many ways. It will be fun to see the impact that it has. I had already started typing out assignments so that I could project them on the board. My students learn so much better that way. Now I can save so much time in that I won't have to type anything out anymore.

I just wanted to share a story about one of the donors, Dayna. Dayna and Adam were our neighbors in the downtown ward. We lived in an apartment complex with a cross-dresser, a thief and a bunch of newly weds. There are so many stories from that time, I could write a book. Adam and Dayna were our "Phase 10" friends. I would knock on their door and tell them that we had corn or chicken or whatever and ask what they could make to complete the meal. We would get together to play games and listen to Don play the guitar.

We moved and they moved, but we still remained friends. They seemed to "get us" which is hard with our weirdness. We started having kids and Adam joined the army. They moved with the army. Adam was even deployed to Iraq a few times.

When he was deployed to Iraq I had a hard time staying in contact with Dayna. I was so afraid he had been killed in the war and I wouldn't know what to say. I don't think Dayna knew that. I would check on the military website that listed the deceased from the Iraq war and I never found his name. Then Dayna started a blog and I was happy to see that he was home and alright. Just recently he was released from the military because of a war injury and post traumatic stress disorder. We are just glad he was released! He was about to go to Iraq for a third time. So I was so touched when Dayna donated towards the camera. I was even more touched when I found out she donated again to cover the last $203.

I could mention stories about all of the amazing women that donated. I hope they don't feel left out in any way. They each mean so much to me. I remember all the family reunions with Melanie, camping in a tent and talking till the wee hours. I remember growing up with Rachael and playing Strawberry Shortcake and Barbies. I remember going to "Twilight" with Maria for the midnight showing when it first came out. I have some great memories.

These are hard times. There are so many people struggling. I had to get a full-time job to help us get back on our feet. I thought that the parents from my classroom would have been the ones to get this project funded. Instead, it was some of my friends. That means a lot to me.

I also want to thank everyone for spreading the word. Katrina put in a great plug for the project on her blog. Many people were reached because of everyones' efforts. Thank you. I even had people call after it was funded to ask how to donate, not knowing that we had the full amount. I am sure there are many people that planned on donating but hadn't had a chance yet.

I don't want to become one giant cause, always asking for help. I just wanted to let you know that anytime you are getting rid of games because they are missing pieces or other things that you think we could use, I will gladly accept them. Thanks for always supporting me. But above all, thanks for your friendship.

This is the Life!

I know on Monday I complained about being home all day and not having the "break" by teaching all day. But boy, this is the life. Yesterday, my neighbor had a luncheon with some of the women and their children. We sat and talked while the kids played. I didn't get anything done. It was such a great day. We sat out in the sun and just enjoyed the company.

Today I went in for a couple of hours and prepared for my unit on insects and my unit on Charlotte's Web. I made all my copies for the next four weeks. The children came with me. They insisted on bringing the dogs, so it was a little crazy.

Later in the day we went to my mom's. We had a nice visit. I wanted to go to Utah/Idaho Supply while I was in S.L.C. My parents offered to watch the kids while I went. Ky ended up coming. It was still nice to get some shopping done.

In short, I have forgotten how nice it is to have days like yesterday and today. I love those days when I have free time and the freedom to plan out my day.

Meet Sammy

I would like to introduce you to a new member of our family. This is Sammy. Many people are wondering what would make us get a second dog. The truth of the matter is that Lexi really is just Porter's dog. We gave her to Porter on his birthday years ago and they have a special relationship.

Kyath has been struggling with so things lately. We fight to get him to school. We fight to get him to church. We fight to get him to do his homework. Many would say it is because we are bad parents. Kyath has always been hard. He is struggling with his emotions.

He has been asking for a dog ever since we got rid of Sammy (the miniature pincher). I just felt like we had enough with one dog. Kyath was looking for free dogs on KSL. I started to think how much having his own dog would help him. I felt like we should look into it.

Then Ky found a lab mix on KSL that was already neutered, potty trained, kennel trained and one and a half years old. We looked at his picture and saw that he was not a full sized lab even though he was full grown. We just felt like he was the dog. Oddly enough, his name is Sammy.

So we picked him up last night. He fits in perfectly with our family. Lexi isn't all that excited. But she will just have to get used to the idea.

Spring Break

This week is spring break for all of us here at the Moore household. You would think I would be excited. But I am going nuts! It is so hard staying home, doing laundry, cleaning and all that other stuff.

I feel bad for Don because I have spent a lot of time just taking a break.

Yes, teaching full-time is hard. It is exhausting to work all day and then take care of my family and house at night. It is hard to burn my candle at both ends. But I think it is harder being home. Psychologically I start going insane. What am I going to do over summer break?