"When I was in second grade my teacher, Miss Maxwell, read from the Harmony Herald that one in every four children lived in China. I remember looking over the room, guessing which children they might be. I wasn't sure where China was, but suspected it was on bus route three."

-Philip Gulley in "Home to Harmony"

FYI:
The final Mitford book "Light from Heaven" comes out on November 8. My dear mother and I won't have to wait too much longer.

A new name for our blog? Say it isn't so! Paul and our landlord, Larry, redid the front of our barn in TAN metal siding. You can see that the barn doors will have windows in them to let in more light. We think it will make our little barn more cozy in the winter. The rest of our barn is still red, but I'm seriously considering a name change. It's time for something new. Side note: It makes me really nervous to see Paul on high ladders. I stayed in most of the evening. The top window where he is working is our loft-style living room.  

Paul helping with the metal siding. 

We went to the Puyallup Fair today and Paul had his eye on turkey leg. He said it was very good. I must say that he looks a little caveman-ish (ala Fred Flintstone). Some of our favorite things were the photography, quilts, canned goods, vitamix demonstration and produce display. 

Looking for other MBC bloggers? Check out the Multnomah blogospere project:

http://www.mbcblogosphere.blogspot.com/

This weekend I have watched almost the complete first season of "Monk" - a non-scary funny detective show. I love mysteries but can't handle stuff like CSI or Law and Order because they give me bad dreams, I am a little bit of a sissy. The "Sixth Sense" really freaked me out (my brothers rented this one time and I made the mistake of watching it). I got the first season of Monk from the library - I love this because they really do have some great movies and I can have them sent straight to my school since we have a branch in our school library. Paul got me a DVD player for my birthday. I have a bad cold and I always love to watch movies when I have a cold. Happy Autumn everyone!

Grandpa Paul Robinson, my Paul Robinson and Mark Robinson on a trip to Mt. Ranier a couple weeks ago. Grandpa is visiting from Mission Viejo this month. 

Paul and I walked around Port Townsend and looked at the old buildings there. This is a church with a neat red door. 

Paul on board the Lady Washington when we went to visit Sarah and Paul in Port Townsend last weekend. 

Our garden produced A LOT of greem beans this year - so I canned them. I sometimes felt like I was burried in green beans. 

Since I can't show you a real class picture, here's a fake one.

"Teacher, did you know that my mom has an inner voice?"

First Grader

I have a mixed age class this year (blended, looped, whatever). I have my first graders (who I had as kindergarteners last year) and a new batch of kindergarteners. There is quite a difference in ability (from not knowing letters to knowing how to read). The first graders have done a good job so far of encouraging the "youngers" (we call them olders and youngers). Today a first grader came up to me, pointed to a kindergartener who was "reading" a book upside down, and said, "Teacher, do you think you can teach HIM to read like me?" I assured him that I felt pretty confident that I could.

"Teacher, my arm is beeping." (what he really meant to say is that his arm was throbbing)

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. "

Marianne Williamson

Sarah has a great picture on her blog concerning the price of gas. The other day I left my car running in the parking lot while I read my mail. It had never occured to me before that I was wasting gas. I guess it should have. It has made me more aware of the resources I use.

What's happening at our house on Labor day weekend? Much relaxing, that's what. The most work I am going to do is go fishing, and can some pears (I actually find canning and cooking to be very relaxing). After two days of school I am exhausted. I only had ten kids in my class last year, so 21 feels like a really full house to me. For my brother Kyle's birthday he got some pearl jam tickets (a band he has wanted to see since junior high). And (bienvenido daniel) my brother Dan is home from Mexico for good. I am at school and need to finish up and go home. Have a great Labor Day weekend.

The First Day of School

1. Getting used to students calling you mom.
2. "Oh, thank you for the (what is it?) it's beautiful."
3. "Here, my mom told me to give this to you."
4. "When is lunch?" every five minutes.
5. "When is recess?" every five minutes.
6. "Last year I went to God's school."
7. Stomach butterflies
8. I love the smell of crayons.
9. I hate glitter.
10. Ahhhhhhh.
11. "What was your name again?"

This is the picture I have as the background on my computer to remind me of the great summer that Paul and I had. It's hard to be gone all day even though I am having fun at work. Tomorrow school starts!