A FAIR WEEK

Routine
By now, things are settling down into patterns. Analiese has college classes MWF, work TTHS. Ken works M-F, but the hours fluctuate. Jonathan is all over the board, but we take things a day at a time cuz Ken doesn't know his hours until the night before. CRAZY! How does one plan?

But Seminary is daily, with one or two VK classes right afterward. In the evening, I have one or two during the weekday, with three or four on Friday and Saturday evening. Saturday morning is usually filled up with at least four classes, too. Then, there's YW for Analiese and BoM class with the missionaries for Ken on Wednesday in the evenings. Saturday evenings, Jonathan has been gone of late...on dates. (Raise eyebrows here). When he doesn't have to work, he's with said girl at the YSA ward in Norman (Raise eyebrows more). Tonight, he picked her up so they could watch a YSA online fireside together with the sister missionaries. (Raise eyebrows higher!)

VK
Kind of a fun week. Monday was Teacher's Day in China. One of my students sent me a special e-card to celebrate the day. I was touched. She always seems a little "too good" for my class, so it was a surprise!

Friday was Mid-Autumn Festival (much better than that silly Friday the 13th/Full Moon nonsense. It's popular in many Asian cultures, but more so in China. I enjoyed sharing rewards with the kids based on the festival (lanterns, moon-watching) and the food (mooncakes...look them up on Pinterest, they are beautiful!). I would tell the ones in the morning to eat a mooncake for me! If I could have found an Asian bakery close by, I might have been tempted to purchase one. But...they are very decorative and expensive in very fancy boxes. People give them as gifts during the festival.  I also asked my students afterwards what kind of mooncake they ate. Some have savory fillings and some have sweet fillings. Some are called snow skin mooncakes - they have a rice casing instead of pastry. They come in different colors and can be quite beautiful.

Teacher Michele Bitmoji holding a mooncake

Kids are back in school in China. This also meant that some of my regulars who were gone visiting or vacationing for the summer came back! My beloved Ivy returned, for new lessons and stories of her visit to her grandfather's house. King was back, and all the fun that comes with him. I really look forward to our classes. Also Sky, my very first student, is back from summer and enjoyed me with those wry, tolerant smirks he gives to my humor! I love my kids, can you tell?

All's Fair
It took a big of figuring and moving things around, but I made time Saturday mid-day to go to the State Fair with Ken in OKC. It meant getting a lot of work done on Friday (pushing) and as much Seminary prep as I could Saturday morning, but after we took Analiese to work at 11:30, we went to the fair!

We've always loved the fair, ever since we were in CA. We used to go for free as homeschoolers and it was my birthday present every year to go as a family. We would go and stay all day. Analiese & I went a few years ago to the OKC fair, but haven't been back since. With her and Jonathan working on Saturdays, it only meant me and Ken (harbinger of the future...).

Gosh, the fair's expensive! Free LA County (through the education/homeschool network) had me spoiled! The parking was $10, the entry was $12/per person. Food was outrageous...Ken saw a smoked turkey leg wrapped in bacon for $12.00! We purchased a couple bottles of DP when the day got hot and we got thirsty...they were $4.00 a piece! We had squirreled away enough, or so we thought, but ended up eating outside the fair afterwards. Argh!

It was plenty hot, so we tried to stay mainly inside (with everyone else...the crowds!). We enjoyed the vendor halls; we're great window shoppers. In particular, we like the cultural and hand-crafted booths. The commercial business ones are boring! LOL I can't handle the scented candle/soap ones anymore, they give me headaches. Though, I do like the smell of the leather booths!

Also, we went to the big barn to see the animals. 4H & FFA were showing sheep and cows today. (Aside: I showed Sky a picture I took of a cow from the fair and he though it was a dog!

LOL) Some sponsored groups were showing Percherons and other draft horses and carriages. They were so beautiful!

In a smaller area, they had educational animal stuff for kids. Goats, rabbits, chickens & chicks

...and pigs with piglets! Those baby pigs were so adorable, feeding off of Momma. Too bad I couldn't get close enough to get a good picture! We looked at a bunch of 4H displays too, and found some from our old friends in Jackson County (Altus)!

But the heat, the walking, and my feet gave up on me and eventually we left. We grabbed a bite to eat (OUT of the fairgrounds) and got home in time for me to relax a bit before evening classes. I don't think I like going on a Saturday. It was very crowded. Plus, they said there was a Renaissance village there somewhere, but we didn't find it. Still, we had a nice enough time and at least we were together!

On the Horizon...getting older...
Yep, next week it comes. The dreaded b-day. It's not too bad unless someone points out my elderly-ness. Thanks a lot!

I got a present, early. From my best friend ME. It's a wonderful biography on President Nelson, our prophet.

I'm already half-way through it (with all the stuff I'm busy with) and I only got it Friday. It's so inspiring, interesting, and even funny in parts. I've been reading bits and pieces to my family. We're all really enjoying it and it is a wonderful prelude to General Conference in two weeks!

So, I've got plans for my birthday (next Thursday, if you need to be reminded) but I won't reveal them until next week. This is because I am sharing my birthday with someone else, only they don't know about it yet. No spoilers!

Grandma-in-Training, Mom-in-Training
I was asked to watch someone's 8-month-old baby while she went to the dentist Thursday morning. Sure, except they were dropping him off at 7:45, and I had an 8:30 VK class. So, Analiese got another lesson in how to care for babies.

And he was NOT happy. She had him in the living room so it wouldn't interrupt my class, but I could hear him. She tried feeding him the cereal/applesauce mix the mom had given us, but ended up having it bathed all over her and him. It was probably the longest 30 minutes of her life.  She was very grateful to have me finish and take over.

She was also disgusted, because I had him calmed down in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, I couldn't deal with a cereal-smeared baby. I like my babies clean! So, he got a bath. It was a little cooler than I & he would have liked, and he got a little scared when it was slippery in my tub (no baby-proofing here!) that the bath was short lived. I don't think I got it all out of his hair, but for the most part, he as clean...er.

I didn't have replacement clothes or a baby blanket, so I wrapped him in a towel and rocked him to sleep. Gee, that rocking chair hadn't been used for that purpose in many years! But I finally switched us to the recliner to make us more comfortable as he napped on my chest for about half an hour.

Analiese caught us in in-action!

He did a little floor time...he's an alert and usually pretty happy baby.

He got frustrated and hungry (for real) after a bit and so I fed him the rest of the cereal on my lap and another small cup of applesauce I had in the house. He was hungry and ate it all! He was fairly mess-less, too, except his face where I cleaned it. I think I disgusted Analiese. It's all in the experience, baby. Time will teach all!

I was cuddling with him in the recliner again when his momma came to get him. He'd given me a couple of slobbery full-mouth baby kisses earlier, but boy! Did he smother his momma when he saw her! I think he'd had enough of us!

Study-o-saurus

Study in the morning, Study in the evening, Study at suppertime...
It feels like all I do is study.
Study for Seminary.
Study for VIPKid.
And now...study for tutoring.

Studying for VIPKid is usually not difficult, especially when I've taught that particular lesson before. The only ones I really have to do a lot of prep for now are level 4, because it's a new level. Most levels 1-3 I've already done most, if not all, of the units and lessons.

Studying for Seminary, well, that has taken up time, mainly because I am going deeper into the scriptures, reading footnotes, and reading up on "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage. A lot of extra thinking is going into them, along with extra prayers. It probably takes up the majority of my study time.

But tutoring is brand-new. I don't have a set curriculum, and - depending on how the assessments go - I have to figure out how and what to do. I would like to work along with the student's assignments for school, but school has barely started. So I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants here. I spend a lot of time on the internet and Pinterest, looking and thinking. This one makes my brain hurt.

Tutoring
Oh, my! I've tutored English before, no problem. My first student through EPIC is another story. Why do I always get the hard ones? This kid is autistic (highly functioning, thank heavens), has ADHD and possibly ODD. His problem is writing and it's mostly because he doesn't care and doesn't want to. Ay ay ay!

It is going to take all of my tricks and powers of persuasion to get him going. I've had an initial consultation and an assessment. Now comes the hard work. The poor mom is at the end of her rope. She pulled him out of public school because he wasn't getting the help he needed and she's still working to get EPIC to get him help. I am not trained for all the special ed/disability stuff.

VIPKid
Classes have gone way down, mainly because Seminary has taken the place of most morning classes. I can try and fit in an 8 and 8:30 a.m. class, but that will be ending soon. The Ministry of Education in China doesn't want children having extra classes/lessons after 9 p.m., Beijing time, on weekdays. This restriction began with new students in September, and my old students will be affected come November. So I'll only have weekends and evenings, except on holidays (in China).

I've had a lot of fun with my little ones in level 1. Emma is a spunky kid: she loves to say "I'm a boy!" She also sings the alphabet all mixed up - on purpose! Her mom speaks English, so Emma is already pretty good. Oh, but she hates to say goodbye! "No goodbye, teacher!" I nearly want to cry. She just loves class!

Amy is another level one. She's just a sweetheart and will do whatever I tell her. She giggles at my funny faces. She is very smart!

I have a newer student, Ricky, who's only seven, but already in level 3. He's so cute! He can read very well and his pronunciation is great! When I first greet him he says, "I'm very well, teacher. How are you today?" Knowing I'm going to teach Ricky always makes me smile.

There are other students, some okay, some not-so-great. But the good ones make up for them all. I get excited when I know they are coming up. I love thinking what I can do to reward them. For instance, I know Abby likes Hello Kitty. Her stuffed Kitty always comes out at the beginning of class and talks for her! I like to use online Hello Kitty rewards. This week, I found a Build-a-Pizza with Dino reward. All my kids loved that! They know what pizza is!

Seminary
Of course, these kids are great. In our small branch, I know all of them, even the newer ones, pretty well. One is a good friend of Analiese's. She is wry and funny and is quite tease-able.

This week, we had a three-way birthday cake: for two students who's birthdays were in the summer and a third student who's birthday was today (Sunday). I made chocolate with chocolate frosting... can't go wrong there! Analiese was affronted that I used a cake mix and canned frosting. Surely, I could have put it some creativity (Ken's birthday cake - Earthquake cake - was amazing!) I promise you this...when HER birthday rolls around, she may not appreciate the "creativity" that goes into her cake!  LOL

This week we've talked about miracles and parables of Christ. Friday, I had them draw out the parable of the sower/the four soils. They love doing it, and I think it helps the imagery and symbolism hit home better. I did it the last time I taught New Testament and it went over great. No exception here!

Everything else in between
Let's see, a new young lady has entered our life. Her name is Allison and she's a fairly new convert to the church. She goes to USAO and is a math major (she offered to help Analiese with math if needed!) Jonathan thought she should be invited to go to the YSA ward in Norman, so we had her come to dinner with the missionaries on Thursday so he could meet her and they could talk about it. She's cute and he got shy, but the next day she asked me for his number so they could text and arrange Sunday.

After church on Sunday, he brought her back to the house, where she stayed until 9, playing games and enjoying our company. Monday, Ken had invited her, for Labor Day, to come and enjoy smoked beef (a new experiment). She did and stayed again until 9, playing Magic with Jonathan. He took her back to the dorms...and asked her out!

They went out Saturday, went to church together again today, and are going out next Saturday. He was such bundle of nervous energy Saturday and so excited. I guess she was excited, too, because the sister missionaries knew all about the date from her! I try not to say anything, but Jonathan says he can see the mischief in my eyes. Hey, I'm happy he's getting some experience. He took her to dinner and then they looked at stars in the park. Next week, it's a picnic dinner at the lake!

Pretty Pink Crepe Myrtle, just outside my front door!