From a 7 yr old Piano Student

This makes my heart smile.

(today I did good)

In honor of the release of the last movie

Enjoy some FUNNY Harry Potter youtube videos!

Kids are so stinking funny

I love my job. It is challenging, it's enjoyable, and so rewarding. I was asked this week how many kids I have. I don't like that question, but I am getting used to the fact that as long as I am a teacher, it will be asked.  My new answer is " 94: 49 piano/ music kids, and about 45 primary kids."  I will be a mother some day, I hope.  I love my 94 kids, they help to fill the hole in my heart.

Here are some funny things that happen while at work:

Luke(5): "Stefanie (his nanny) if we have time can we get Shaylee a coffee or something?" apparently I was looking tired.

When I give him a new song we find the hand position, he will look up at his song , then at me and say "I don't think I can do this"

"I didn't play that last song too good, do I still get candy?"

"Shaylee, I think we have too much fun in here sometimes."

Every time Luke comes to a rest in his music he stops, turns his head and says "rest". It makes me laugh every time.

Little Mozarts (3-4 yr olds):  how old are you? How old do you think I am? 4! Hey, I'm 4!  Oh you must be 5 then.

"what? It's time to go already?" I love that one, so much better than are we done yet!

"We should do this everyday not just one time a week"

Isabella (6): This song was too easy, you should give me a harder one, not too hard, just hard enough.

(the next week) these songs are great, they are good fit songs.

Olivia (9): "woah! your hair grows fast! Now promise you won't cut it off again, okay?"

Mohamed (7): hey this song is about a princess, like you. Wait, you're not a princess, you don't wear dresses!

"I'm learning to drive a car!" He then proceeds to stomp on the pedals and yells "get outta the way!"

Stephen:(7) "you know pokeman?" no. "well there is a girl named Shaylee in pokeman" cool.

Jennifer (15): "My brain is literally exploding right now"...."ahh, my brain!"

My thursday Mozarts all left vowing to bring me special pictures that they will color just for me. So sweet!

Little Mozarts: I told them it was almost one to leave and they went over to the piano and started yelling at my clock! "Stop or I'll put you in time out/ jail".

Sometimes I have to be a mean teacher. I love the reactions when I tell one of my students that I do not have to be nice. I am getting paid to teach them how to play piano and I don't have to be nice to do it. I hardly ever raise my voice or use my authoritative voice, but when I do, kids definitely pay attention. I just consider those times mean mommy in training moments.  And I do consider myself a mommy-in-training, an my students give me lots of practice opportunities.


Now for some pictures to make this long post more enjoyable. 

Sometimes my kids get creative with their practice charts.

Cute right?

 Post nap hair...

Me on Halloween...

post #300

I wish that I had something amazing to say, or something to announce for the 300th blog post, but I don't. Happy 300th, now for some pictures. Before and after of my studio and my hair.

Before:

I had chairs and occasionally tutus stored in my studio. But now, I use my room to teach Music for Little Mozarts and need more space. So I did a small make over, thanks in part to Hobby Lobby (sales and coupons!) and Mom who came and helped me with the heavy lifting.

After:  (still a work in progress...)

I have a tree to go in the corner where my office chair is, and a new clock on the piano...

The boom box is now where the tissues are, with some hand sanitizer.

And this board is covered in beautiful artwork and cards from my students

Before Hair: super long, been growing it out for about 2 years (with a few trims)

please excuse my ipod pictures, that's all I had on hand...

20 minutes and 8 inches later...

 After with glasses, they are new.

Please excuse our Absence

We meant to update but life has been insanely busy.

Here's a break down of recent events and future events:

First he Internet wasn't working, the repair man came and fixed it, then Dad unplugged the "do not unplug" plug. And then we upgraded our modem and router to a combination modem and router. Yay for fast and reliable Internet!

Joseph had a neurological appointment in Spokane that I could not take him to (long story, and I was upset!) Thank goodness Mom and Dad were available and they took him.

 It went well, he is trying some new medication for his walking and we are looking into physical therapy. We will be calling around for pricing.

Preparing for the primary program, that was today! Its my big responsibility as 2nd counselor in the primary presidency.

I now have 37 students and I am adjusting to my new thursday schedule. I am gone from 10 am until 6pm, with a couple breaks, but no long enough to go home for. So I hope those openings get filled soon.

Joseph substitute taught for seminary 4 times this week! 

Those students love him, when we run into them at church, school or at a store they are always saying "hi Brother Mecham!". It is really sweet.

I have been playing piano at the school more often because the concert is on the 26th, wednesday!

We rearranged our room because we finally got to wall mount our tv. Dad did it for us, he needed a project. He got it together and on the wall pretty quickly. It's amazing! That gave us the room to move our love seat in from storage! Yay!

Speaking of storage we will be re-packing and reorganizating most of our stuff in the storage. 

Some of our boxes have fallen apart a little. So we bought uniformly sized boxes and we were supposed to be attacking that task yesterday but it was crazy windy.

We are waiting for one of my paychecks (from the highschool) to come and then we will be getting a new car battery, new tires and windshield wipers. Ugh, but it gives us time to shop around to get the best deals.

We also made a trip to DSHS to turn in the paperwork that we sent in this summer after a lot of phone tag we were told that they didn't receive it. Not true, and we were able to find out that our "household" is just Joseph and I, so we sorted through all of the paper work again and made copies again.But this time we hand delivered it. Now we are just waiting to see.

This last week my Dad lost his job. It has been very interesting in the Swanger household and we hope that Dad will find a job soon. We'll have two men going crazy at home with no job. 

Please keep our family in your prayers and thoughts.

Thank you.

I am not...

just the second counselor in the primary presidency.

I am Shaylee:
The following are real quotes that I have said, some more than once!

Sunbeam Wrangler extraordinaire:
"Let's see,  do you want to sit in the blue chair or the green chair?"
(They're all yellow)

"Look you have front row seats!"

"Okay, you're a robot (or dinosaur), can you be a reverent robot (or dinosaur)."

"Get your: arm, leg, bum, tongue, face, elbow, nose or face off your class mate please."

Tantrum Tamer:
"Jesus doesn't want you to yell in His house."

"Do you want me to hit you because I am unhappy with you? No? Then don't hit!"

"You don't want to sit with your class? Well lets go out the in the hall and learn how to be reverent."

Accomplished Confiscator of Contraband:
"We do not bring: toys, garbage, lipstick, candy, legos, coin collections, rocks or treadmill keys etc. to primary." (Yes, I have confiscated all of these!)

Champion of Chairs:
"If you tip your chair back again & you will stand until the end of primary."

"Four on the floor!"

Defender of Good Posture: 
"Your head doesn't belong there, put your bum on the seat."

"Feet on the floor, not the seat."

Master of Manners: 
"That's not how we talk to one another, let's try that again."

"(Child's name) Do we talk while I am talking? Please be quiet and listen."

"What do you say? (please, thank you, sorry, excuse me etc."

"That's not nice, we don't want to hurt her feelings do we?"

Whispered "If you can hear me, touch your nose, touch your ears, turn them on for listening, touch your mouth, turn it off .  It's time for sharing time/ closing exercises."


And most recently, baby handler. Our primary music leader was put into the relief society presidency, 4 weeks before our program! But luckily we just got a new family in the ward, and the wife was just called to replace her. She is awesome, and she has a 5 month old, so cute, red hair and bright blue eyes.  I got her to sleep in like 2 minutes, asleep and snoring. Then I got to sit and cuddle,well that and handle a kid that got sent into see me, unofficially I am "the enforcer", I am totally a mean mommy in the making.

Being in the Primary presidency is a hard calling, not because of the kids, more to do with adults.  But it is so much fun, so much work and Sunday is definitely not a restful day for me while at church. I love it, I love being in there with Joseph & my Mom who are both teachers in Primary.

Jobs

Joseph had a job interview last week for a front desk position at an auto repair place. Please send prayers and positive thoughts his way. He was one if three people who interviewed for the job. We should find out soon if he got it or not. Shaylee's job has expanded!! Her boss asked her this summer if she would be interested in teaching a music class. Well that started last week, 2 classes with 3-4 yr olds, and 1 class of 5-6 yr olds. The class is called music for little Mozarts. She also has 30 piano students! On the first day of classes she had 26, (that was Aug. 29th). So things are looking up for Shaylee at work. We hope and pray that Joseph gets a job soon! He needs it, we need it. Pictures coming soon of Shaylee's studio makeover.

Update

Sometimes I scan through my blog list & get frustrated - no one has updated! Then I think, oh yea, I haven't updated my blog either... So you might be checking my blog and saying the same thing, Silly me. I have really been meaning to update, but either I didn't have time to update or chose not to. Partly because I felt like I didn't have anything nice to say or because I'm worried people will misunderstand or misinterpret especially when discussing the struggles Joseph and I face. But I've gone to the conclusion that people will judge no matter what I think or do & I blog to share, and more importantly to journal. So I will try to update more soon, sweet or sour. Updates on jobs, funny things kids say, DSHS, and more!

When we went to Spokane....

We stayed in this hotel! 

All expenses paid,

 pretty great hotel and great location in downtown Spokane.

We were on the 8th floor. With a great view of the Spokane River.

What did I tell you? Great view! 

The only downside to staying on the 8th floor,

 was if you rode up in the middle elevator, 

it was a little nauseating. 

Our hotel was wedged right between the convention center,

 and performing arts center.

And a block away from Riverside Park.

I love Riverside Park!

This is a slide! And a happy part of my childhood memories.

(I managed to use the branches to hide people, this was never sans people)

And the garbage goat! 

Push the button on the wall and hold garbage under it's mouth,

 and the goat "eats" it. 

Joseph was at "boot camp" and I went exploring. 

Or swimming, or reading...

I was at Riverside Park.

While taking these pictures I had an adventure.

I was taking pictures of little waterfalls,

 and I saw this homeless looking old man,

 and he was fishing off of the Spokane power tower.

It cracked me up. His line was soooo far down! 

So I snapped a picture. 

A few minutes later, that man yelled at me.

I was still on the bridge but pretty far away.

Also I was near a Grandpa with his grandsons,

who stepped defensively in front of me when the homeless man yelled at me.

I turned to look at him

and saw this...

He had caught a fish, and so I took another picture,

 and gave him a thumbs up.  

And continued on my way.

It was a funny adventure!

I laughed pretty hard. 

Joseph had a good time at bootcamp.

It was comprised of 14 people, and 5 vocational counselors from DSB.

4 people there were completely blind,  

the rest were varied levels of legally blind,

all semi-employed or un-employed.

I sat in on the last day and it was wonderful.

Joseph has been given new insight and tools to keep up his job search,

network, and how to sell himself to an employer better. 

He has been busy, with his "homework" since returning home. 

It was a mini-vacation, 

(when we were together)

We had fun, 

ordered room service 3 times

ate at a crazy expensive, dress for dinner- type restaurant (in the hotel)

still all paid for, we did really well sticking to the food vouchers 

and the last night we ate in the bar at the restaurant,

you don't have to "dress" for dinner, and it was half off.

We learned that drunk people are really loud, and really really friendly.

At least the people at the hotel were.

Overall it was an awesome experience for Joseph,

 and a welcome break from our live's stresses,

it should have been longer!

much longer.