Sunday, September 11, 2011

Hello all.  I just couldn't bring myself to do an entry this week - with the news of Grandpa's passing and Dad leaving for Canada, I just wasn't in the mood to do much of anything.  I was grateful that the week went pretty well at school - Baylee was away one day and that made for a peaceful day (or rather, a more peaceful day than when he is here) and Brayden did very well, considering.  The vp came to me on Tuesday and told me that I had a new student starting right away - I told her that was fine as long as it was a girl. :-)  It was - yippee - and so now we have added Emma to our class.  The girls were really great in making her feel welcome and showing her all around  and playing with her.  Mia was happy because now she had a buddy to walk with around the school (her previous one, Bailey, left a while ago).  So, having a good week with the kids made things a little easier.

Dad's flight to Sydney (via Brisbane) went fine and the hotel stay went without a hitch.  Lunch was Hungry Jack's (Burger King), supper was KFC and breakfast the next morning was McDonald's - good eats, eh?   Dad was hoping to sit up front on the way to Vancouver as there were two seats open, but two passengers put in upgrades, so poor dad had to sit in the back for the 14 hour flight.  I am hoping that, since he will be able to choose the date of his flight home, he will be able to get up front coming back here.  I have been in touch with Dad since he left here (I have learned out to text on my phone - pretty good, eh? :-)  and we even got to Skype today which was really nice.  I was able to talk with Krystal and also with Grandma. 

Everyone said that the funeral went well (for a funeral) and Grandma told me today that Grandpa actually planned his own funeral last week.  Doug gave the eulogy (I am going to ask for a copy of it and I will pass it on to you all) and a friend from Grandpa's work spoke for half an hour about Grandpa's contribution to Canada health.  Krystal said that it was standing room only in the chapel where the service was held.  She said that Grandma held up really well, considering.  Dad said that there were a few teary moments. 

Most of the visitors are leaving tomorrow - Dad will be driving Aunt Cathy, Curtis, Tricia, her husband, Tom, and Julia to the airport tomorrow morning.  Kathleen and Rob will be leaving soon and Krystal, Jesse and Dominic will leave on Monday.  Krystal, Jesse and Dominic are staying with Doug and Sharon right now, but will come to stay with Grandma tomorrow after everyone has left.  That way, Grandma will have some time with Krystal, Jesse and Dominic.  I asked her to make sure that she gets a four generation photo with her, Dad, Krystal and Dominic.  Jackie will be staying on for a month as well as Dad.  I think Jackie is staying at Grandma's other unit in the complex, but I'm not sure where Dad is staying.  Erika will be back at Grandma's since she will be back at university and Grandma will have her own room, so Dad might be staying on the couch like we did when we were there earlier this year. 

I have been taking care of a friend's dog this week and last night (at 3am), she started barking.  Luckily, I woke up (you know how deeply I usually sleep) and I ran outside to calm her down.  I can't stand hearing a dog bark late at night, so I didn't want to bother the neighbours.  I ran outside without anything on my feet - it's cold on the patio at that time of the middle of the night.  Anyway, I ended up calming her down and putting her back to bed.  Too stressful for me, I'm telling you - I don't ever want to take care of anyone's pet ever again - when Josie (the dog) couldn't stand on her front paw earlier this week, I started worrying about what I would do if it didn't fix itself.  So, I am glad I could help these friends this time, but that's it for pet sitting for me.

I spent Saturday doing school stuff (planning my 'community helpers' unit for next term) and then I finished up doing the Sacrament Meeting Presentation outline so that I could hand it out to the families today so that they could practice it during the month of September.  We will start our rehearsals in October and we perform it on October 30th.  Today, at church, the theme was 'joy'.  We had three really good speakers and they all touched on the importance of looking for joy in your life - that no matter what the challenges, joy can always be found.  I love the difference between happiness and joy.  I love how, even though life might be tough at times, the gospel always brings joy in our lives.  It really does have to do with one's attitude.  I know that throughout my life, whenever something negative or sad has happened, that there has always been a 'silver lining' which has helped me to deal with the challenge.  I love how the gospel can buoy me up and help me to see the blessings I have in my life, which really do bring me joy.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

We've actually had a nice relaxing three days - minus the work. :-)  I actually had a good on Friday with the kids at school.  I wonder if, after ten weeks, things are looking up.  I think that I will just enjoy the next two weeks if they are anything like this past week, and then see how things will be after the holidays.  I am sure that I will be having to retrain them after the holidays again - hopefully, it will not take me too long to do that.  Dad spent Friday working hard on census stuff - he is working as many hours as he can on it so that he can finish up asap.  He feels really happy that the end is in sight, although he wishes that some of his collectors had been a little more careful. 

We were planning on sleeping in yesterday morning - then, we got a phone call at 6am - of course, we wondered who could be calling that early - we were both fast asleep.  Dad got up wearily and answered the phone.  It was a friend from church - Dad still hadn't clicked - Christine said who it was and then said they were at our front door.  Finally, Dad clued in - they were dropping their dog off at our place for two weeks.  We knew they were coming on Saturday, but had no idea they were coming that early - people in Hervey Bay have no idea about sleeping in on Saturdays. :-)  Josie, the dog, has been easy to take care of - she mostly just lays in her bed.  She has whined a couple of times, but only when I first come out after she hasn't seen us in a while.  If I give her a little pat, she settles right down.

We decided to take it easy once we got Josie settled - we really like Saturdays as they are often our only relaxing days.  It's great to just hang around the house doing nothing. :-)  We went to the library later on and then to a school fete (carnival) at Kawungan.  We had seen a sign in town saying it was on and I told Dad I would like to go to see all my teacher friends back there and to support the school at the same time.  It was great talking to many of my friends there - some of them even saw me before I saw them and came over to say 'hi'.  I had a long talk with Bronwyn and it was really nice to see her again.  I told her that Chantelle wants to get together with her and me again and so we are going to set that up one day soon.  I made sure to say 'hi' to the VP, too - not only to say 'hi', but to make an appearance just in case they have a teacher spot for next year. :-)

We spent the rest of the day doing school stuff and census stuff.  I am working on a plan for a social studies unit for next term which begins after the holidays.  We are going to be doing a unit on 'Community Helpers' - I am having to find the stuff on the net - if I was in Canada, I could just go to 'Scholar's Choice' and get a book on it. :-)  I have also redone my class schedule - again - to make sure that I can get in enough time in language and math so that the students are ready for grade one.  I actually hate doing this because it's against what I believe in (which is that kindergarten should be play-based - I should not be teaching them to read), but I have to do it and so I thought that I had better really focus on making sure that as many kids know the basics as I can help them learn.  I am going to have to provide activities for those children who have already completed the kindergarten curriculum as outlined in our goals - they will be having to work independently as I work with those who are having difficulty.  I still have two boys (both sweet) who haven't been able to learn to recognize their numbers to 10 (the goal is that they should be able to learn to recognize numbers to 20).

Today, at church, I was doing triple duty - neither of my counsellors were able to make it today, so it was just me and my secretary, Denise taking care of Primary.  We only had seven children there today, so it was pretty easy to manage.  We are still with only one teacher, but there is hope - today the bishopric member in charge of  Primary said he would be calling a new teacher (for the Sunbeams) soon.  The missionaries told us today that they wouldn't be here in HB for dinner on Wednesday as they would be in Bundaberg - then later, Elder Johnson (from Calgary) came up to me and asked if they could come to dinner on Friday instead.  I told them that we were having guests for dinner, but then thought, why not add two more.  Elder Johnson said he was really glad because they were thinking of coming back early from Bundaberg just so that they could have dinner with us.  How sweet is that! :-)

As soon as we got home from church, Dad set up the computer so that we could Skype with Grandma Martin.  She wasn't home, but we did get to talk with Jackie and Scott.  We asked how things were going and they said that Grandma and Tricia were over at the hospital with Grandpa.  Jackie had had the night shift (from 11pm - 7am) and said that Grandpa had been a bit out of it.  She said that Grandpa seemed to be rambling about where he was and it almost seemed like he was going between this world and the next world with some of the things he was saying.  Dad will Skype with them tomorrow and see if he can talk with Grandma and get her opinion as to how Grandpa is doing.

Dad and I were both tired today, so after church we had a lovely long nap - the alarm went off after two hours, but neither of us was ready to get up - Dad hit the snooze button  four times before we actually got out of bed. :-)  Even though Sundays are very busy during the morning, they are relaxing afterwards. :-)

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Well, I can say it's been a very busy, worrying and tiring past four days since I last wrote in this blog.  I can't even remember explicitly what I've done in the past four days.  Of course, top of our mind are Grandpa and Grandma Martin.  Our feelings have been up and down over the past week - with Grandpa seeming to be not too bad while Terri-Ann was there and then everything seeming to fall apart with his health with his admittance into the hospital.  Now, we are taking things day by day as to how the medication he is receiving will work. 

Then, there was the worrying of Terri-Ann getting back home.  We knew that she was glad she had gone out to see Grandpa and Grandma, but we also knew how much she needed to be getting back to James and the boys.  Dad and I both worried as every flight went by and she couldn't get on.  We kept praying for her to get  a flight home.  A little light showed when we thought about her getting to another airport and flying home from there.  We were dashed when nothing seemed to work (the flights were just so full).  Then, a very kind passenger service agent told her she could get to Victoria, sleep overnight and catch a flight the next day home.  How grateful we are for those people who were looking after Terri-Ann and so happy that she was able to make it back to her family safely.

Of course, there is always school and my cold to affect me as well - Dad is over his, but now his back is bothering him - gee, it's tough getting old! :-)  Anyway, things are going better at school - or maybe I'm just getting used to things and not stressing out so much - I don't know which it is, but I am glad that I am less stressed.  I am looking forward to our two weeks of holidays in two weeks.  Dad and I were going to go away for a few days, but we are going to stay close to home now so that we can keep in touch with Grandma Martin. 

Dad has been busy with census stuff - just trying to spend as many hours as he can going through his collectors' books and making sure that everything has been done correctly.  He has found some  mistakes and has had to spend more time than he hoped reconciling everything.  He is down to checking two more of which he has already done - they were his first two, but now that he has done the other five, he wants to recheck those first two. 

The rest of our week has been as normal - me staying late at school - the missionaries over at our house on Wednesday night for dinner - Dad out to SES tonight - me researching stuff for next term - not too exciting, eh? :-)  Oh, I just thought of one thing which we did - I applied at a local christian school for the coming school year (beginning in late January) - I got a phone call today which said it was a private number which we thought might have been from the school, but there was no message left, so we don't know who it was.  We'll see if they call me back - you never know with teaching positions whether they have someone in mind or not. 

Sunday, August 28, 2011

What a busy three days and what a relaxing three days - how does that work? :-)  Well, I started off by being busy, but being a relaxing busy at school on Friday - if only every day at school could be without students!   It was great being able to work in my classroom - I spent the morning cleaning and tidying up.  At lunch time, I went up to the staff room with Natasha (who's on a contract in grade 3) and we sat and chatted while we ate.  While we were there, a former science teacher came in and we talked with her for a while.  In the afternoon, I was able to do some preparation getting ready for Monday.  It felt really good to get so much done - it's so hard to get the nitty gritty stuff done on a regular basis.  I think that we need one of these days every week. :-) 

Dad picked me up just after 1pm, so he didn't have all day to work - he spent the morning doing more census stuff - he worked on his second collector's book and was able to complete that in a couple of hours.  He's hoping that the rest of the collectors' books will be as fast and as easy to check.

In the evening, our friends, Robyn and Geoff came over for dinner.  We've all been so busy lately, so it was nice to slow down and have a nice meal and chat together.  Dad cooked up some pork spareribs on the barbie (after boiling them) - he actually found some rib bbq sauce to use.  Geoff had never heard of boiling the ribs first - here, they just throw them on the barbie and cook them without the bbq sauce.  We had some corn on the cob with it - yummy! :-)  We then went and sat on our new lounge room furniture and was it ever comfortable!  It was such a lovely evening just sitting there and chatting - so relaxing - I loved it! :-)

We slept in on Saturday and were totally lazy.  Dad was originally planning to drive to Bundaberg for his flight lesson for SES (search and rescue), but that was called off due to bad weather (grey skies and raining) and so he had the day off - a nice treat after being so full-on for the past while.  Around 10am we went downtown and did some errands.  When we got home, we got right into our work - Dad doing census stuff and me doing school stuff - Dad also helped me do some school stuff which was great.  When I am doing stuff which isn't exciting, it's nice to just have Dad hanging out with me. :-)  We spent the evening watching 'Air Crash Investigations' and doing church stuff - Dad had to do his lesson for the High Priests and I had to do a Primary lesson for the Sunbeam class.  We were both tired and ready for bed when I remembered that I needed to do a cover letter for a job I wanted to apply for.  The closing date for applying for the position is tomorrow  and since I didn't want to work on it today (Sunday), Dad and I stayed up late last night working on that.  I finally got it all together and put everything into an envelope and Dad will take it over to the school tomorrow morning.

Things were really busy at church today.  We started off at 8:15am at our usual ward missionaries meeting and then had Sacrament meeting.  The theme for today's meeting was about the importance of families sticking together - one of our youth, Jordan, spoke first, and then Debbie, my first counsellor in Primary, spoke second.  The Bishop actually spoke last today - he rarely speaks and I was very interested to see what he had to say.  He basically talked about obedience and what that means as members of the church.  He went through a list of things we should be doing as latter-day saints - it was a good reminder to 'endure to the end'. 

After Sacrament meeting, I asked Amanda, our CTR teacher, if she could take our only Sunbeam today into her class - I figured that rather than teach just one little girl myself, that it would be nice for her to go in with some other children.  I still am not feeling up to par (cold symptoms), so I thought that during class time, I could meet with my counsellor and secretary rather than after our meetings.  When I talked with Amanda, she told me that she was going to take her daughter home because she wasn't feeling well and could I teach her class.  So, there I was teaching all the children in Primary (only five here today) and then afterwards, I conducted Sharing Time. 

After the meetings, Dad went to choir and I met with Debbie (our secretary, Denise, had gone home to be with her family who were visiting from out of town) so that we could discuss our outline for the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation which is at the end of October.  I wanted to share with her the ideas I had found on the net and get her ideas about what I had found.  We spent about a half hour going over things and I think we have the program basically worked out.  I spent some time this evening typing it out and will complete it tomorrow night after I get some papers from Denise tomorrow.

We Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa and Terri-Ann after church - there were a lot of people there when we were Skyping:  Tricia and Courtnay, Doug, Sharon, Erika, Christopher and Zachary and Jackie.  We had a little chat with most of them and it was good to see them.  Grandpa is looking very weak - he was laying in bed and talked a little, but didn't have a lot of energy to talk much.  Terri-Ann is going to try and get a flight out of Vancouver on Monday.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

I am sure feeling better than I was on Tuesday night - what a day that was.  Dad got sick on Sunday (remember I said I brought him home after Sacrament meeting?) and then on Monday, he got even worse.  Well, he is such a nice guy, he passed it on to me. :-)  So, I am 24 hours behind him on this cold.  Yuck!  I thought my head was going to explode on Tuesday.  It was so bad, I even started taking some Sudafed to see if it would help.  I also went to bed at 8:15pm on Tuesday night and slept through until 6am Wednesday morning and then went to bed early again last night.  It's been a rough slog at school and Dad has been picking me up early (at 4pm) each afternoon this week as I was just too tired to stay there any later than that. 

Some news about Brayden: his mom told me that they took him to someone 'like a pedicatrician' and that she said that he is too young to diagnose.  Sheesh.  This 'doctor' watched him play on his own and talked with his mom about his behaviour and then the doctor said he is 'normal' in his behaviour.  Gee, has she ever thought about coming into the classroom to see how he interacts with others, listens while the carpet, follows instructions, etc. -- NO!  Man, it's  so frustrating.  So, nothing will be done about his behaviour other than mom (bipolar) and grandma and grandpa trying to work with him.  Who knows what actually happens at home, though - I reckon there's a lot of talk and not a lot of walk.  Oh, and get this, the 'doctor' says that one reason for Brayden's behaviour is likely that he has a 'new' teacher - I have been his teacher for nine weeks now - I hardly consider that 'new'.

Some good news....for me, anyway.  Teachers in HB worked an extra day in January before the children came to school and so have a day off tomorrow.  I was told that I might be able to go to another school to do some planning/preparing if I wanted to get paid OR I could take the day off.  I didn't want to give up the money and so I chose to go to a different school (all the teachers in HB who did not do that extra day were going to meet at that school).  Anyway, Neil (our acting principal) told me today that I could come into our school and work in my classroom.  I was so excited about that as I can have time to organize things right there instead of having to drag everything somewhere else.  So, I will get paid for doing things I would be doing at home anyway. :-)

Dad has been busy working on census stuff - checking out the collectors' books - it took him hours to go through the first collector's book, but now that he has done that, he said it's been easier to do the second collector's book.  He will have five more collector's books to do this week - he has to be completed all of the checking by September 7th, so he has told his collectors that they need to have their books to him no later than Monday night.

On Tuesday night, Dad set up things so that a live webcast could be received in our chapel from Brisbane.  It was about the 'I am a Mormon' campaign which will begin in Australia in September.  The purpose of the webcast was to let everyone know about the campaign and also to let them know how the campaign went in North America (it was a resounding success there).  The campaign will consist of tv ads and video profiles on mormon.org.au and facebook, youtube and twitter. 

Tonight at SES, Dad practiced ladder hinges and ladder slides (yeah, I had no clue, either, but then Dad told me what those terms meant :-)  Basically, these are two ways to get a patient on a stretcher, either up or down a cliff or from a basement of a house which has collapsed (no stairs to climb up).  They used mannequins as the 'patients' and, in their shed, they have a second floor and so they transported the patients up and down between the ground floor and the second floor of the shed without using the stairs.  They don't practice this procedure very often because  normally the firies would do that, but they do need to learn how  to do it and to practice it once in a while. 

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Yay for the weekend!  Friday was another one of those days - it was so good to be done for the weekend.  Baylee had not a bad day, but Brayden was in full form.  I ended up having to put him on a Slip 1 because of a situation which occurred in the classroom.  He went and hit this boy on the carpet and told him that he was not supposed to be talking while the kids were reading.  During  D.E.A.R. time, they are not allowed to talk except to themselves as they are reading.  But this was during free time.  Anyway, I told him that he had to be put on a s\Slip 1 because he hit someone.  I talked with Brayden's dad after school and told him what had happened and he spoke with Brayden about it - told him it wasn't acceptable.  I'm not sure whether he will follow  through at home, though.  However, it now means that Brayden has to 'be good' for the next week; otherwise, he goes on a Slip 2 and eventually if it keeps going on, he will be suspended.  I told his dad what the consequences would be if he didn't start following the rules.  We'll see what Monday brings.

Dad spent the day at the Family History centre Friday - not by design, though.  He was only supposed to be there for a couple of hours, but  ended up being there all day.  He went in to help out a lady who had been at the FHC on Wednesday night and needed some more help - and those who were manning the FHC on Friday didn't know how to help her, so they called Dad.  He had just finished helping the lady when a fellow walked into the centre and asked for help - it turned out that Dad knew the guy from SES - and Dad ended up helping him 'til 3pm when the centre closed.

Friday night was so relaxing - I love Friday nights - after we went shopping, we came home and did nothing all evening except watch tv. :-)  We have been watching a show called 'The Glee Project' (like American Idol, kind of, but the winner gets a four episode guest spot on the tv show 'Glee').  After that, we watched 'Law and Order UK' and then 'Law and Order' - a lovely way to spend the evening after a busy and stressful week. 

Neither Dad nor I got dressed on Saturday - lazy, eh? :-)  It was actually really nice.  We started our day off with a lovely, but short chat with Terri-Ann and our boys - it was wonderful to see everyone and to find out a little more about what they are doing this summer.  Dad spent the day continuing on with census stuff - going over one of his collector's books.  I spent the day laminating and cutting out resources for my classroom.  Since they want me to teach these kids grade one stuff and I haven't taught that grade in ten years, I didn't have a lot of stuff which I felt I need for teaching what they want me to teach to them.  I am also having to get some things ready for those in the classroom who don't even know the names/sounds of all the letters of the alphabet.  We spent the evening watching two episodes of 'Air Crash Investigation' - we had seen both episodes before, but it was long enough ago, that we couldn't remember everything about the crashes and so we watched them again - we love that show.

Today, Dad wasn't feeling too well, but decided he was well enough to go to church.  The talks at Sacrament meeting today were really good.  The topic was about strengthening your testimony through prayer.  My first counsellor, Maureen, the Bishop's wife, Diana,  an our friend, Goff were the speakers.  Dad started looking not too good during sacrament.  His nose started running and his eyes, too - he reckons he caught something from someone who was at the FHC on Friday.  Anyway, I asked him if he would like me to take him home and he said 'yes'.  I returned to church as I needed to be there to conduct Primary. 

After church, I drove over to Christine's (my visiting teaching companion) for a luncheon she had organized for a couple of our sisters we visit teach.  So, we ate and talked with Amanda (and her daughter, Talia) and Robyn (Geoff's wife) - as usual, I had a lovely time talking and getting to know the sisters better.  We have six sisters on our list which will be quite a feat visiting every month (along with another sister which my friend, Denise, and I will visit), but I will do my best to visit every sister visited every month.  I have always loved visiting teaching - I remember  going to see one sister (Margaret Vinand) every month when I was in the Toronto 1st ward and living on Jackman Ave (Broadview and  Danforth in Toronto).  I had to walk to the bus stop, take a bus to the subway station, then take two streetcars, another bus and then walk to Margaret's house.  My companion and I went every month - I didn't even think about how much time it took to get to Margaret's house.  I just loved visiting with her and sharing a message with her. 

When I got home, Dad told me that he had talked with Grandma and Grandpa via Skype.  He talked with Grandma for about ten minutes before talking with Grandpa (who is now staying in the big bedroom of their unit (where Erika was staying during the school year). After talking a little bit with Grandpa, he asked Dad if he could get a tour  of our house, so Dad unplugged the computer and walked around our house inside and out to show it all to Grandpa.  Grandpa says our house looks really nice (we love it! :-)

Our friends, Christine and Chris, from church, dropped by tonight for a quick visit and to ask us if we would take care of their dog while they are away for two weeks in September.  I was not fussed on it, but couldn't think of how to get out of it.  Dad reckons he will be okay to look after the dog during the day - the dog stays outside all the time, so that won't be an issue.  I told Christine and Chris that if the dog, Josie, started whining or barking, though, we would be calling them to come home (Chris is going on a course for a few days and then they are going to check out a house they own up near where the floods were earlier this year). They assured us that Josie would not whine or bark and that we wouldn't have to take her for walks, either.  We'll see how this goes - they were the ones who let us use their granny flat when we first got here in '09, so we felt like we should return the favour.

We watched a movie tonight called 'Under Siege' with Steven Seagal and Tommy Lee Jones.  It was a really good action movie - the only stupid part of it was when the main character used an exotic dancer character to help him shoot up the ship - I hate it when they feel like they have to add a female character to the movie which doesn't make sense at all.  Sometimes I wonder who thinks that this is necessary to add to the movie.  Why can't we just have a good shoot-em up with guys.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sorry I didn't write on Tuesday night, but things were just so depressing about school and I just couldn't bring myself to write about how miserable I was that day.  So, here I am writing on Thursday.  Not much new to report re: school, though.  Chantelle reckons that her kids are getting worse this term.  Brayden has had the worst week yet this week - Dad says it was a full moon week - that explains it! :-)  We teachers always use to blame the full moon when the kids were 'off' in Canada.  The three star system seems to be working for some kids - but, it's definitely not working for Brayden and Baylee.  All the teachers were so happy today that it was Thursday cuz that means that tomorrow is Friday and that means that another week has passed and we are one day closer to being on holidays for two weeks. 

Today, I had an idea for working with Brayden: We have 'Show and Tell' at the end of the day (by which time Brayden is ready to escape out of the room because he has to sit still and listen for ten minutes), so I thought I would ask him to clean up the mess on the floor from our craft time earlier in the day.  I figured that if he was busy doing that, he would be okay.............NOT.  He just made noise and was running around at the back of the room and disturbing others, including bothering one of my sweet boys who (for whatever reason) was at the back of the room.  Anyway, I spoke with Brayden's grandfather today and he said that Brayden's mom (who has bipolar) is very scatterbrained and unfocused like Brayden.  I mentioned that his wife had told me that Brayden's mother was going to get Brayden to the doctor's so that a pediatrician can look at him and the grandpa said that their daughter says one thing one day, but then the next day, she  forgets what she said she would do (distracted).  Sheesh!

I'm very busy doing school work in the evenings.  I am still trying to figure out what to use to teach these Prep kids.  I have tried to do grade one stuff with these kids, but they haven't had enough Prep preparation and so it's really hard.  There are some children who are doing well, especially one young girl named Kayla, but there's enough who are just not.  So, I have asked what we need to report on so that I can fine tune my program and not worry too much about trying to do so much with the half of the children who are not ready for the 'grade one' program.  Why try to get them to read when they don't know the letter names/sounds.  So, I have been researching games online that I can download (like sound Bingo) which can help the children learn the letter names/sounds and hopefully that will lead them to understand the books that I have for them to read.  I tried using books which are rhyming books, but even that is too hard for a few of them.  So, back to basics for them.  I have been doing math centres and decided to do them ability based and that seems to be working well.  I will continue to teach them various concepts and have math centres where they can practice these concepts in a fun way.

Dad has been having a bit of a slow week re: census until today.  The collectors have been finishing up the collecting of the census forms.  They have to go to each house five times until they can 'call it a day' and then they just write down that there was no response from anyone at that house.  Corrie, his collector extraordinair,e had over 600 houses to enumerate of which 100 were e-census so she didn't have to go back to those houses, but she did the other 500 already and only had 5 which she received no responses from.  I told Dad that he owed her big! :-)  The other collectors are on track to finish on time and have also been reporting good numbers.  Now that their job is almost over, Dad's is just beginning.  Now, he has to go through each of the collectors' books and make sure that the job has been done correctly.  He spent a couple of hours today going over Corrie's books and still did not finish.  So, he will be spending a lot of time, it seems, in the next two weeks or so going over the rest of the collectors' books.

We had the missionaries over on Tuesday night for supper - four of them, as the Bundaberg missionaries were down visiting with our missionaries.  One of our new missionaries, Elder Johnson, is from Calgary and is a big Flames fan, so he and I spent a lot of dinner time talking about hockey. :-)  I can't believe that the Leafs traded Matt Stajan to the Flames, but it's also amazing that the Leafs gained Dion Phaneuf - man, that's gonna make a difference, I reckon.  I have to say that other than Luke Schenn, Kulemin and Kessel, I didn't recognize any of the other names on the Maple Leafs roster.  I feel like I have been away for ages when it comes to the Leafs.  Oh, and a sad sideline: I found my Maple Leafs license plate frame and it doesn't fit the license plates down here. :-(  Dad says he is going to put it up on one of the garage walls.

Tonight at SES, the 'firies' (what they call firefighters in Australia) came to visit.  First, they did a kitchen fire demonstration (what to do and what not to do when a fire breaks out in the kitchen) and some other general household fire safety items (eg: electrical fires and what kind of fire extinguisher is the best to have).  Then, they gave the SES people a tour of the firetruck and showed them all the equipment they carry on it and talked about what they use the various pieces of equipment for.  Dad really enjoyed the evening - he found the firies very interesting and very friendly.