January has been packed with all the things, starting with Arthur’s robotics competition the Saturday morning after Kevin and I returned from Hawaii.  He had been meeting with his team two mornings a week before school to design and build their robot, and it was finally time to compete.

The competition was an adventure, and Arthur loved it, even if they didn’t place.  When they arrived, a team made up completely of sixth graders with no experience, it quickly became apparent that some of the older more experienced teams were much better prepared.  That said, they paid attention to what made the other teams successful, and according to Arthur, are redesigning their robots to make them more competitive.

School has been a bit of an adventure.  Being out of town the first week the students were back from Winter Break was not the best timing, even though it was unavoidable.  When I returned, they had been well taken care of by my awesome sub and friend, Jamie, but I still had a ton of catching up to do.  And not just figuring out where they were academically.  I was super behind in my planning, and was still suffering from crazy jet lag.  Luckily, there is always time to squeeze in a random dance party – ha ha!

And sometimes the impromptu dance party happens because of a social studies lesson about Davy Crockett, which led to you singing part of the theme song from the old TV show, which leads you to play them the whole song, and soon you have a conga line going through your class singing, “Davy! Davy Crockett! King of the wild frontier.”  It was awesome.

The Monday following the week I returned from Hawaii, was Martin Luther King Day, and so to prepare for it, I read my students the book, Martin’s Big Words, and we talked about the importance of what he did and what he stood for. Because of that, I have spent a lot of time over the past few days thinking about the bravery and amazing contributions of Martin Luther King Jr. I find myself feeling overwhelmingly grateful to all the men and women throughout history who have given so much, even their lives, to take a stand against evil and injustice.

Last week I had some amazing conversations with my fourth graders about equality, acceptance of differences, and racism. And it was especially powerful as I read them the book “Martin’s Big Words,” and quoted to them the line from his “I Have a Dream” speech: “I have a dream that one day . . . little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.”  After I read those words, I stopped and had my students look around the room at each other – at every shade of tan, brown and black – and I began to cry as I asked them how Martin Luther King would feel if he saw our classroom. That we are living proof of his dream fulfilled.

My heart is full. I think about my sweet students from all over – from India, Sudan, Kenya, El Salvador, Mexico, and more. I know our world isn’t perfect, and I know our country isn’t perfect, but my prayer is that we can unite for the good of all and “go up together.”

Another thing that happened over the past little bit, was that our weather turned cold.  As in, very cold for San Antonio.  And crazily enough, it called for snow.  As I mentioned in my post about our trip to Idaho, they canceled school for the Tuesday after MLK day in anticipation of the storm (which was a huge blessing to me), and crazily enough, it really did snow!

It was barely a dusting, but enough that the roads were coated in black ice, and so it was a good thing school was canceled.  That tiny bit of snow meant that I was digging out the bin of snow clothes and hunting down things that would fit Arthur so he could go out and play.  And play he did, for quite a while.  He had a blast, and meanwhile, I was inside staying toasty warm and working on getting caught up on tons on grading and lesson planning for school.

Later that week, our painter stopped by and painted a sample on the house to test out the paint colors I selected.  They look so good, and I am super excited for March when they paint the house.  It is going to be transformational!

Another wonderful thing this week, was making some time to spend in the House of the Lord with both Derek, and my sister, Wendy.  I love going to the temple, but it is even more special with family.

On Saturday, Arthur had the District finals for the middle school UIL competition.  He had placed first in the two previous qualifying competitions, and we were beyond proud of him for getting second place in the district for science UIL.  In fact, he was the only sixth grader from Bush Middle to place at all.  Wow!  Amazing!

And not to be left out, is our Lily.  She is back in the thick of things at school, and freezing her tail off in the frigid temperatures of Rexburg, but she is still managing to sneak in some fun.  In fact, her ward had a sledding night, and she had a blast making new friends, even if it was so cold, she is wearing two coats in the picture – ha ha!  Love that girl of ours!!