A cute story

My sister had this on her blog & I really liked it, so I copied it.  I think I might have to do this in my classroom some time soon.




One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in
the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and
as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper,
and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire
class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they
discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter.
The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with
themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet
Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that
special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin
before. He looked so handsome, so mature..
The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took
a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to
her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he
said: "Mark talked about you a lot."
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a
luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his
pocket "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that
had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher
knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed
all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.
"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see,
Mark treasured it."
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled
rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."
Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."
"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary"
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her
wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this
with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued:
"I think we all saved our lists"
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for
all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will
end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and
important. Tell them, before it is too late.

Remember,
you reap what you sow. What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.
May Your Day Be Blessed As Special As You Are

Look alike meter

I was curious to see how these would turn out.  Honestly, it was nothing like I had anticipated!  Fun though.

A random assortment of things...

I've decided that putting the pix from my phone on the blog is kinda like a "day in the life of the stay at home mom".  Why?  Because I'm always taking pix of the kids & sending them to Trav.  Some of the pix are completely random & others are just because the kids are being cute.  And, I've even taken pix of the kids to show Trav that they're being naughty.  Telling the kids, "Ok.  I'm taking your picture & I'm sending it to dad." generally results in, "NO!  I'll be good, I promise!  Don't send the picture to dad!  PLEASE!"  Even Caleb has resorted to this speech!

I took Brooke to the pediatrician a week ago & she had Bronchitus.  Since we ended up with a prescription I ventured over to Shopko.  Of course I had to wait for the prescription, so I walked around the store.  (Generally an excuse to spend money!)  I looked at purses because I have had the same one for like 4 years & it was getting pretty beat up and gross.  Much to my luck, I found this cute one.  It was originally $49 & I got in on clearance for $14.  Since I had a $10 off your $20 purchase, I bought a cute zebra wallet too & ended up spending less than $20 for both items.  BARGAIN!

This is Brooke's new favorite past time: eating her toes.  She's quite proud of herself when she gets them in there.  I noticed the other day when she was chewing on them that she had her little toe up her nose while she was chewing on her big toe!  Made me laugh pretty hard!

I can't believe how fast this baby girl is growing up.  She's so darn stinkin' happy & cute all the time.  Even when it's late she's still happy.  I can't be mad at her when she's still awake at midnight some nights because she's like this the entire time!

The other day Caleb wanted a banana.  So, I got him one & set him up to the counter.  Here's what I found a few minutes later:

 It's how he eats his hot dogs too!  Little weirdo!

Friday night I let Sam have a sleepover with her cousin Jade because Nash was gone hunting with Trav.  Caleb got into Jade's bag & found her headband.  A few minutes later, I see him walking around like this:

I was really glad Brooke was this happy they other day because Caleb was making me nuts & I was ready to lose it!  How can you still be mad when you have one doing this though?

Brooke got to have bananas this weekend.  She ate a big bowl of oatmeal & half a jar of bananas before she got full!  It reminded me of when Sam was little.  She shoveled green beans and funeral potatoes into her mouth faster than you could believe.  Brooke would see the spoon coming, get excited, flail her arms until she found my hand then grab my hand and shove the spoon into her mouth as fast as she could!  I was surprised she didn't end up gagging on the spoon!

We went down to my mom's the other day & she was making caramel apples (yep, did that later on).  I remembered that when Nash was little we'd sit him in the walker & hold apples for him to munch on.  He loved the green Granny B apples the most.  So, I got a slice of apple & held it in for Brooke to try.  I thought she might like it because she's teething & chews hard on everything.  Well, she rather enjoyed her apple slice.  She didn't bite any bits off & she slimed it quite good!

This is that photo for the day of "I'm taking your picture & sending it to dad."  He was on his way back from the end of the stair railing!  GRRR!  I told him the day before that if he didn't get off he'd fall & break his neck.  His reply?  "No I won't."  Well duh, not on purpose you won't.  So, I grabbed him by the arm & yanked him down toward the stairs to kind of scare him (he was pretty close to the beginning).  He just laughed & thought it was fun.  Great idea mom.  I'm afraid if I put up a baby gate across the stairs he's just going to try & climb over it and he'll end up going down the stairs head first.  Any ideas?

Today will be my first day with students at my new job.  I'm excited.  It's probably going to be crazy because it's a short day.  But, oh well.  I'll take what I can get!

Injuries, USU homecoming, lawn mowing & the tub

This week Caleb managed to injure himself...again.  He was out riding his bike & took a turn too sharp.  His lip was fattened before he even got into the house!

Today Samanatha was in the USU homecoming parade.  She's done the parade every year except once (because it was raining) since joining LaShars when she was 3 yrs old.

 She was excited that her cousins were doing the parade this year too.

Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris came to watch the parade too.  Despite his injured finger (from fixing the expedition), Grandpa entertained Caleb.

 Aunt Cass & Sunny Cakes waiting for the girls to show up on their float.

 The kids waiting for candy to be thrown for them to snatch up.

 Bob did good at the parade despite having Bronchitis.

 Yay LaShars!

Last week we were at my parent's house.  Here's Caleb & Charlotte mowing the lawn with Grandpa Larry. Caleb loves the lawn mower...weirdo.

 A totally random picture we sent our dad this week.

Adventures in Sanpete

We left home on Thursday morning to go down to Sanpete for Grandpa Charlie's viewing and funeral.  Although it was a sad occasion to visit, the kids had a lot of fun playing with all their cousins.  It was nice to go down and visit for Trav & I too.  We hadn't been since our trip to Lake Powell and prior to that it was Christmas!

Here are all the cousins entertaining themselves at the viewing prior to the funeral on Friday morning.  The service was nice.  Other than the rain, the graveside was nice too.

After the funeral and the lunch, we went back to Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Ingrid's house.  They have a built in swimming pool (I've never seen it filled).  Apparently the salamanders have taken over the pool.  All the kids convinced Uncle Robbie to go help catch the salamanders.  Guess that's what he gets for being the bug man!  Even though the salamanders creeped Rob out he was a good sport & caught a ton of them!  The kids were in 7th heaven!

There were seriously hundreds of salamanders in the pool.  At the deep end of the pool there is rain water that is just totally nasty.  The water had tons of salamanders swimming around in it too.  Since they can't climb out of the pool, there are going to be a bunch of dead salamanders once it freezes!

I told Nash I think they look like "boogers with legs".  All the adults agreed!

We spent the night at the farm with Grandma & Grandpa Bown.  Grandma Bown is a gaming playing maniac and my kids love every single second of it!  I know that is going to be one of their favorite memories when they are older.  Their dad takes after their great grandma!

Bob did great on the entire ride there and home.  She slept almost the whole way down & until Farr West on the way home.  She was just happy as could be the entire time and she was all by herself in the second row on the way home because we left Sam & Nash to come home with Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris on Sunday!

Friday night Grandpa Bown asked Caleb what they were going to do Saturday morning.  Nash & Samantha chimed in right away with "Ride the 4-wheeler & ride Misty (the horse)".  Caleb....Caleb just wanted to ride the tractor!  On Saturday as we were getting ready to leave Grandpa realized they hadn't rode the tractor yet.  He asked Caleb if Uncle Glade could take him for a tractor ride because he had just sat down & taken off his boots.  Caleb wasn't having any of that.  Nope.  A tractor ride without Grandpa Butter just would not do.  So, being the trooper that Grandpa is, he put his boots on, grabbed his cane & they hopped onto the tractor!