March Madness 2016

March 1st I had a very interesting subbing job at Lake Norman.  The entire Junior class was taking the ACT test and I was assigned the Multi-Purpose Room.  Since the classes are mixed at the high school and several teachers were tied up with administering and proctoring the ACT that left odd groups of freshmen, sophomores and seniors that had no where to go during the testing time.  They all ended up in the MPR with me.  At one point I had about 60 students.  They all had assignments they were working on for their individual classes so it turned into a huge study hall.  I just had to make sure they stayed on task.  Not difficult at the high school.  They are fairly focused and self-controlled.  This would have been a completely different scenario at the middle school which is why this scenario would NEVER happen there.  It was a fun day.  I only worked half day since it was also a half day for CMS and I needed to be home to get Naomi off the bus.  All in all, very enjoyable.  

We also got Jeremy signed up to take the SAT in May.  He will be tested out by the end of the year, but his toughest year in high school will be over as well.  I was also able to help finish up finding the last part of our take away for New Beginnings.  We all got a tree charm at the women's conference with Neill Marriott and I thought those would fit perfectly with what the Beehives wanted for New Beginnings.  After all they are in charge and I am there to help them put all the pieces together.  Nick and I drove to the South Charlotte stake and picked up some of the left over charms that weren't used at the women's conference.  YAY!!!!

March 2 was the Duty to God dinner for the Young Men.  Our YM presidency is really trying to make the experience the boys have with the YM program a good and memorable one.  All the boys who will turn 12 this coming year were invited as well so they could learn about the YM program and what it can offer them.  Fathers were invited to attend as well.  I heard excellent remarks from everyone who attended. It was a success.

March 2, 3 and 4 I got to sub in the library at the middle school.  It was incredibly busy teaching Digital Citizenship classes and keeping everything running, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!! 

March 5th was a great soccer game.  Naomi had one of those moments that would have been a great picture.  She was standing in front of the goal and her team mate kicked the ball to her.  It bounced off another player and was mid-air when Naomi took a flying kick and made a goal.  It was amazing.  She was on a high for the rest of the game.  

March 6th I got to teach the lesson to the YW.  The lesson was on how the atonement can help us through our trials.  I learned a ton while preparing this lesson and I hope the YW liked it as well.  (When asked by the stake, during ward conference, what our last lesson was about, the girls remembered, which I took as a good sign).  

March 7th I finally had time for some much needed housework.  I scrubbed the kitchen down from top to bottom.  Nothing got missed and result was stunning.  I also managed to get some grocery shopping done as well.  That night Nick and I went to the high school to learn how to pick his classes for the coming year.  He is excited to be in high school.  

March 8th I got to sub in the library again.   I worked on more signs for registration night and got them all laminated and ready to go.  Nick appeared after school with an ASD (after school detention) form.  He was not happy, but it was his first for the year and he promised he would be on his best behavior from now on.  That night Steve, Jeremy and I were back at the high school for a college information night.  Little by little Jeremy is making decisions about what he wants to do after high school graduation.  Meetings like this one help a lot. 

March 9th was New Beginnings.   We met as a presidency during the day to set up and decorate.  Celeste and I also got the take home gifts put together.  I was very nervous about the night as we had started planning New Beginnings only three weeks before.  There was no need to be nervous . The girls came through brilliantly.  The skit was fun.  The Beehives introduced the new girls (which everyone loved).  The song was perfect.  At the end of the night, everyone was happy and that was the goal.  

March 11th Steve left for a weekend with the OLS (Outdoor Leadership Skills) program.  He was in charge this year and excited to see how things turned out.  Enrollment was up and the weather even appeared to be cooperating.  I spent the day subbing at the middle school for 7th grade social studies.  The two classes were combined as the classes were watching Gandhi.  Even with two teachers in the room the kids were kind of crazy.  I felt bad writing down names for the teacher (which I rarely do), but these kids were out of control and blatantly not following the rules.  It was crazy.  There was even a fist fight outside my door.   In the middle of all of this, I got an email from the vice principal at the high school telling me that Jeremy had an ASD for some inappropriate comments about weed in Spanish class.  FULL MOON!!!???!!!!

That night was the church prom dinner.  The bishop has a tradition of taking the kids out to dinner before prom.  This year he took them to Ciros.  I had called the chef the night before and worked out with him how Jeremy should order.  Everything went very well and Jeremy really enjoyed himself.  

After dropping Jeremy off at the restaurant, I took Nick to a teachers quorum activity and them Naomi and I went out to dinner at Chick-fil-A and then to Kohls to get some needed items.  Naomi bought her first bras.  OH MY!!!  Where is the time going?  We were just checking out at Kohls when Jeremy sent me a text telling me they were done with dinner.  We ended up taking Justice Stewart home and so I got all the information on the night during the drive.  They all had a great time.  Not too long after getting home from the prom dinner, I went to pick up Nick from his party.  He had a great time as well. 

Saturday, March 12th - Ready! Set! Go!  We all slept in.  I took Nick to the mall to check out the ProActiv product.  Nick needed some extra help with his acne (he is very aware of his appearance and is trying to be his best).  Julie, "the hot girl", at the ProActiv kiosk answered all our questions and Nick is hopeful that his face will clear up if he follows the directions.  Back at home we ate a quick lunch and I dropped Naomi off at soccer and took Nick to Matt's house.  On the way back, traffic was backed up because a little old man had wandered out of his house and had collapsed in the middle of the road. We called 911 and help got there amazingly fast.  I helped that we were less than a mile or two from both the police station and the hospital.  The police and ambulance got everything under control and I was back at Naomi's soccer game by half time.  I am glad I was there for the second half because Naomi took a hard hit to the ankle and went down.  She could not even walk on it.  I had to carry her to the car.  Back at home, I got Naomi situated with some pillows and ice on her ankle.  Jeremy got ready for prom.  He looked so handsome.  The whole stake was meeting at the church and taking a bus to Hickory for the prom.   We were supposed to be there by 4:30.  Naomi opted to stay home with her ankle up (still not able to walk).  On the way to the church Jeremy and I talked about having fun and dancing and talking to everyone and being social.  Last year he struggled at prom and didn't have a great time.  This year he was determined to make it a better experience.  He was a little sad because he and Khristen had broken up about for weeks before (and I was just finding this out!!!! He still talked about her so I thought everything was the same)  He said it was a good thing and they were still friends, but...  To make matters worse, the YM president had told the priests that he expected them to make sure the laurels all had dates for the prom.  This is a problem in that there are three priests and only two laurels.  Jeremy was the odd man out and he was feeling bad about that (which is how the subject of Khristen came up).  

Handsome Jeremy

Ready to go!

Hamming it up for the camera.  

Jeremy, Audrey, Justin, Justice and Sam.  

I love this picture because it really shows their personalities.  They are a great group of kids.  

Outside the church.  

Justice, Jeremy and Audrey.  

One more silly picture before getting on the bus.  

Jeremy was at least smiling when they boarded the bus.  I said prayers all the way home that he would have a good time.  Back at home, I got Naomi up and at least walking a little bit.  With Steve being gone for the weekend it wouldn't have surprised me one bit to end up at Urgent Care.  Luckily it appeared to be a minor injury.  She was able to walk with only a slight limp by the end of the night.  She did lose a tooth during all of this as well.  Julie and Kathryn both texted me pictures of how Jeremy was doing.  Julie knew something was up when Jeremy arrived at the church with such a long face and told me she would look out for him.  He had met a girl, Elizabeth Ehlers, from the Harrisburg ward.  They were having a great time talking and dancing.  YAY!!! Nick got home from Matt's house about 9:30 and I was at the church at 11:00 to pick up Jeremy.  

Jeremy and Elizabeth at the dance. 

Elizabeth and Jeremy on the bus on the way home.  

The whole ride home was filled with how much fun he had and how nice Elizabeth was.  He even sang some karaoke on the bus on the way home.  I am so glad my prayers were answered.  He really needed this boost.  

Steve came home from OLS energized and with many fun stories to tell.  Scouting such an outlet for him.   Oh, and Naomi was outside running around with her friends the day after her injury.  All is well.  

Deep Thoughts, By Nicholas Cannon - If the elemental name for iron is FE then technically wouldn't a female be Iron Woman?  Hmmmmmmm!

March 14th I subbed for one of the EC teachers and had a long break over the lunch period.  I had just sat down to eat when Mrs. Shipman in the main office called and asked if I would assist in the lunchroom handing out hot lunches.  One of the ladies had just walked out leaving one person there all by herself.  No problem.  It was fun to help out.  I love that they trust me enough to ask me to help out in an emergency.  

March 16th Steve went to another Eagle Scout of the Year dinner.  He is loving that his troop is finally catching the vision of scouting.  

March 21st I joined Naomi and her class at Biztown as a volunteer for their field trip.  When I first arrived I was amazed at this little city they had created.  There was a medical clinic, utilities, a radio station, a newspaper, manufacturing companies, real estate, travel, a bank, etc.   My station was the bank.  I was to help everyone stay on task and make sure the crowds were under control.  At lunch time all the kids came to the bank to cash their paychecks and to withdraw some cash.  It was hectic for a bit with 200 kids to get through, but our crew handled it very well.  

Naomi was the CEO of the manufacturing company.  She had to make sure that the company applied for and received their loan, made their payments on time and had product to sell during lunch break.  She also had to give a speech at the start of the day.  

Naomi giving her speech.  She introduced her company and what they would be selling at lunch  She did an amazing job  

The bank, where I was stationed all day.

Naomi at "work".

In the office with her employees.  

At the end of the day all the kids had a better appreciation for what their parents do when they go to work.  They learned a lot and had a ton of fun as well.

March 22nd Naomi was home from school with a sore throat.  Standing out in the cold waiting for the bus the previous day had gotten to her.  That afternoon I took her to LNC to get her officially registered for 2016-2017.  She was so excited to pick out her classes.  She wants to take band and play the clarinet.

March 25th was the first day of Spring Break and we celebrated by sleeping in until 7:30.  It was glorious!!! Naomi's friend, Anusha, came and spent the day with us as well.  They had a great time with all the kids in the neighborhood and it was warm enough for a water balloon fight against Nick.

Nick is a good sport.  They all had such a good time.

March 26th the weather and schedules finally cooperated.  Kev and Steve were able to finish his fence at his new place.  The kids and I represented our family at Jeff Maughan's birthday party since Steve was tied up with the fence project.  He did get there about an hour and a half into the party.  Naomi wanted to stay for the Easter egg hunt so she stayed with Steve while I drove Jeremy to his friend's house for an afternoon of video gaming.  Naomi and I attended the General Women's Conference that night.  The Stake Relief Society presidency had asked me to help out with a game during the pre-conference social.  It was kind of a mix between Simon Says and Mother May I.  I was the captain of the ship and gave orders they had to follow or they were out of the game.  My favorite was shark attack.  They had to make a fin with their hands on top of their heads and swim around.  The talks were very good and mostly about serving those in need.  We were all challenged to find out about the refugee situation in our cities and help where we could.

March 27th was Easter and the program in sacrament meeting was really good.  All the groups had been practicing for months and it sounded great.  I was part of the ward choir and the Relief Society choir as well.  One of our young women played the clarinet while her mother played the flute.  It was beautiful.  Naomi was so excited to hear that Kaylee would love to teach her the basics of the clarinet.  The Smith family is one of the most musically talented families I have met . They all sing and play an instrument.  Brother Smith is the Director of Bands at UNC Charlotte.  Naomi will be in very good hands.

March 28th Nick wanted to go bowling for Family Home Evening.  We definitely need some practice.  Steve had the high score at 130 with me trailing in second with 80.  We can only get better, right?  It is okay because we had a lot of fun.  Afterwards we went to Ritas Ice for a treat.

March 29th Steve and Jeremy drove to Knoxville to pick up a bike from Bradden.  Jeremy needed the driving hours towards his license and Steve had a day off.  It all worked out very well.   Naomi went to see "Zootopia" with her friend, Emily.  Nick was at Brady's house playing.  I had the house to myself.  I spent most of the time catching up on my Book of Mormon reading.  Back in January our stake president had challenged all of us to finish the Book of Mormon before April conference.  I was doing so well at first and then got really busy with substitute teaching and my church calling and fell behind.  After the movie, Naomi and Emily came back here and played for a bit.  We took Emily home after dinner.

March 30th we had a youth activity at our house for any of the youth that were still in town during the break from school.  I was surprised to have 8 youth show up and make s'mores with us.  The boys even got into an energetic game of football.

March 31st I woke up and immediately got to work on finishing the Book of Mormon.  I am happy to say that I reached the goal!!!!  This is only the second time that I have completed the entire book in such a short period of time.  It is such an amazing story.  I am so glad I took the challenge.

That night I was in charge of soccer practice as Coach Riggins was out of town.  We only had three players show up, but we ran some passing drills and then Nick and I took on the three of them in a scrimmage.  We played for about 20 minutes until the sky opened up and it poured rain.  We were soaked, but we had so much fun.    Steve got to go see the new Batman vs Superman with the Elders Quorum. It was fun for him to spend time with Jeff Maughan and a few other guys from church.

Now you can see why I called it March Madness.  Another thing to consider is that I only told you about a few of the days I subbed.  Most days are uneventful and don't make the cut.  I only had six days that I was not subbing.  It is busy, but oh so much fun.