2/7/10-2/13/10

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Morgan impresses me every day. Today she gave a talk in primary. She did it in English but I was so pleased that she was able to get up and do it. I had to play the piano in Relief Society so I left right after her talk. She told me later that she also got up and bore her testimony in Spanish! I think I could put a few thoughts together to do it myself but I don't think I'd be brave enough to stand in front of people! It's hard enough to do in English for me!

Well, today was the Super bowl which means that we got to finally meet the Thomas family. I was so surprised to see how much everybody had in common. The kids all hit it off right away. They played from 4:30-8:30! There was a ton of food...football...great converstion....etc. It was great to get to know the Thomas family. There aren't a lot of people who truly understand what we are going though here. We will definitely need to get together more!

Monday, February 8, 2010

After all of the fun yesterday, everybody was a little tired today. We ended up doing school all day long. I'm shocked that the kids don't get bored or sick of doing school work. I'm ready to quit before they are! Morgan and Cole are really enjoying the technology and computers section.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

O.K. I have a little gripe.....Why doesn't anybody ever comment on the blog? It sure would be nice to see what everyones reaction is to what we are doing!!

I spent 4 hours at the church today. It began with a baby shower. I sat in the back with Emiliana and Paola's mom. They were both very patient while trying to help me understand the games. I get to cheat a little because most of the games are ones that I have played in the states. One game was bingo. There was a huge list of baby items and we had to put them on our own bingo card. Emiliana tried to explain what everything was for me. I actually already knew several of the words!! The hard part came when I thought they were playing the "guess when the baby will be born" game. I put my name up for Tuesday. (I later found out that it was a volunteer list to go in and help the new mom after the baby was born...not when she was going to have the baby! Oops) Then after that, they passed around a cup with names to draw. Apparently there was a Valentines card exchanged that I didn't know about. Everybody was exchanging cards and I had nothing to give! I had to tell the person whose name I drew that I would bring it on Sunday!

After the shower, I had my first day of the ward piano class. EEK!! There were 8 people who came and I was trying my best to do the class in Spanish. I didn't really have any other choice since there were no English speakers to help me out! It was fun and I learned some new words. This class will probably be more of a help for my Spanish than anything else.

The piano class was followed by choir. I was definitely ready to go home by the time I got done! As tough as it may be, I really enjoy the group of people at choir. They are so supportive, grateful, and patient!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Since the kids aren't getting much social interaction with doing homeschooling, I decided to do a swap with my friend, Lily. She is teaching a preschool in her house so I dropped Alysa and Laina off today. In exchange, I brought her three boys back to our house so the older kids could play together and I gave each one of them a piano lessons. The lessons went really well and the boys seems to be progressing. When I went to pick up the girls, they didn't want to leave. They had so much fun at the preschool. Lily told me to bring them back more. She said that the other kid doesn't listen but when he saw Laina and Alysa doing what they were supposed to, he followed along! Next week we'll try the swap twice and see how everybody does.

Teaching piano is so new to me but I think it might turn into something that I might continue to do whenever we decide to move back to the states. Being able to play the piano is so appreciated here whereas it is often taken for granted in the states.

Tonight we headed back to the Orellanas again for a birthday party for Fernando. (Lily's husband) Something hit me when we were sitting with several other couples and I couldn't follow the conversation. I have had such a strong desire to understand Spanish and it just isn't happening as quickly as I had hoped. Anyway, I ended up having to leave the room several times because I was so frustrated and disappointed in myself. I just couldn't control the tears! Other than that, the party was great. We had a little cookout with hot dogs and marshmallows. The other families that were there are great also. I just wish that I was able to express my thoughts so that they could understand who I really am. Sometimes I just don't feel like I come across as the person that I am.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We did our schooling today, make sugar cookies for Valentines day, and had an overall boring day.

Friday, February 12, 2010

We had such a great afternoon. We had a homeschooling activity and invited the Thomas family and the Orellanas over. We had cookies, banana bread, pizza, and 12 kids playing everywhere. It was reassuring for me to sit down and talk with Lily and Melody. I completely lost track of time! We are going to have to continue these activities!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Chris had to substitute for an institute class this morning at 6:30! There is an English class for returned missionaries to keep up with their English. The guy that works for the church is the teacher but he is out of town so lucky Chris got to fill in! If you can't tell, I am not one bit envious!!

While Chris was at one church teaching, I was taking Morgan and her friend, Xela, to another building for the primary Faith In God activity. Cole wouldn't go. Apparently there is a boy that laughs at him and teases so Cole won't go anymore. Morgan and Xela jumped right in though and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I spent the entire time practicing the piano. (It is so different playing a piano than a keyboard! It's much more enjoyable!)

After teaching, Chris and Cole did a little shopping for the girls for Valentines Day. They came home with a vase of roses for each girl and a big bouquet for me. Each girl got the same number or roses of the same colors so that they couldn't argue!! I have never seen blue roses before. I'm sure they were just dyed but they look pretty cool. I love the bird flowers. I hadn't noticed but we have these in our backyard!! One just opened this past week!

What a thoughtful husband I have!

Alysa's

Morgan's

Laina's

Mine

I love the bird flowers. (No, mom, I don't know the real name of them!! Flowers are not my area of specialty!) - Chris just told me that they are birds of paradise.