Oh my! Has it really been almost a month since my last post. Do any of the rest of you just have this feeling that time is just slipping away too quickly this year? It seems like Aaron and I just started our respective school years and all the sudden we are halfway through October. WEIRD!
Well, we've had many adventures since the last time I posted. Aaron has surprised me with lots of fun dates. Many of them involved drives through canyons to see all the fall colors. Do I have the perfect husband or what? Our favorite discovery while driving through Nebo Scenic Loop was a random herd of cows. Yes, cows on the side of a big ol' mountain. Upon seeing the first cow we initially thought it might be a bear and were glad to see it was only a cow. Cows are far less dangerous than bears (insert DUH here) as long as you don't mention cheese or steaks!
Aaron and I have also been learning lots about Cub Scouting over the last few months. Yes, for those of you who don't know we were recently called to Cub Scouts...what an adventure. Even though I work with kids all day sometimes I don't feel like I do a very good job with these 8 year old boys. Both of us struggle to know what to do with 8 year old boys. Me....because I never was one and Aaron because its been quite a while since he was one. Although occasionally when I'm trying to go to sleep at night he acts a lot like my scouts (he he he). Some of the important things we've discovered so far include: 1.) It is impossible to look good in a scout uniform so just embrace the nerdiness and move on, 2.) Oobleck and 8 year old boys can be a dangerous combination. 8 year olds have almost no command of their hands or mouth and will want to play with the Oobleck, eat the oobleck, and throw the oobleck in their friends face and 3.) Scouting actually is a lot of fun and once again girls get the short-end of the stick. I have felt sorry for today's young women who get stuck tying quilts once again while the boys go white water rafting.
I suppose I can't close this post without giving a little update about some of my kids. Man, they are so much fun! I am really enjoying my new school and all the new special spirits I'm meeting. I have now been given new nicknames by the kids in one of the Autism units I work with. One of the little boys calls me "Mrs. Johnson Bubbles" because I made homemade bubble solution with him the first time we meet. Another boy calls me "Mom". Lets just hope his mom is pretty and doesn't have large amounts of facial hair...otherwise I'm not sure I'm all that flattered by the comparison. My favorite story over the last couple weeks comes to you via one of my older high functioning students. She is working on being positive about herself and the world around her. One day she was struggling and commented she had decided to give up and never try again. We then talked about several people who had to keep trying despite challenges. Some of the examples I sited were newborns learning new skills and Abraham Lincoln in his quest to enter politics. After what I thought was a particularly brilliant piece of advice she looked and me and said, "But Mrs. Johnson, I'm not Abraham Lincoln. I'm an 11 year old pessimist!" After having a really good laugh I told her the point was well taken and we moved on to another topic.
Happy October Friends!
