The Big Fieldtrip!

My heart is smiling alot because my class is going on a super duper moo-per looper fieldtrip! I am so excited!
That means that Ms. Clay gave us an important paper to not bend, or write on, or lose, or get dirty, or forget about. We MUST have our mom and dad read it and get all excited for us and then they can tear off the bottom and sign their names to tell our teacher that we will be very very nice because: YES, we can go! Then we take the bottom part and put it as quick as a winky dink into our backpacks and tape the top part on our fridges so we won't forget! But believe me...I WILL NOT FORGET! This is my big time to ride a bus and to take a special sack lunch (with dessert in it)!

I like field trips! Ms. Clay said, "Be sure to get to school very early on Tuesday." And I will. She said, "The fieldtrip is a "complete surprise"! That means that they still need to figure it all out I think. I hope we go to the zoo! I love to see all the animals and stuff. Maybe we will go visit a farm. There are lots of animals there too and they aren't so wild and so maybe we can pet them or milk a cow or make butter or something.

Oh! Good one Hadley, great idea: maybe we will go to the bakery! Marcus said his class did that once and he said they gave everyone a free cookie after they looked at all of the ovens and dough machines and stuff. Once he got to go to a giangantic park and they played on the swings and slides and ate their lunches on picnic tables. Oh! I just can't hardly wait!

Jayden was teaching me all about fieldtrips so I would be very prepared for morning. He was kinda telling my mom, but I listened real close. This is exactly what will happen: First thing, we will get on the buses. One of the teachers will climb onto the bus with a clipboard and a commission (that probably means she has a big job to do). While the bus driver is finishing his donut outside, that teacher will squint at us with her eyes and tell us all to mind our manners as she checks off her list with a sharp, very sharp, pencil. She will tell us that we better not litter, or yell, or wander off, or throw things around in the bus. (Whoa lady...don't give everyone ideas, I thought). Then Markus said that Everyone will be very quiet and she will tell us again that we better behave or there will be a big fat huge test for those who are not courteous. And that test will be during recess on the very next day. Then she will say: "Don't even think about opening your sack lunches on the bus." And then she will say: "Your parents pay alot of taxes for you to get to do these things and so you better mind your p's and q's or you won't deserve to go on this fieldtrip or any others in the future. I asked Jayden what p's and q's meant and he just sorta rolled his eyes and went on. I looked at my mom. Then I figured it out, all by myself! It means be 'polite' and don't get quilty! All the kids are like statues he said. They just want to get off the bus and go home. That part worried me about fieldtrips. But the next part is the good part!
Next, Jayden said that the teachers trade buses and start over giving their speeches about our day. You can't go until they do it, so just smile and nod and wait. He said that the other teacher gets on the bus with a giant smile. She just looks at everyone and tells all the parents who are going with us about how well-behaved these students are and how much fun we are going to have. She has been looking forward to it for a long time! Then everyone breathes again, Markus said. My mom giggled just a little bit. I hope I can hold my breath long enough to do it the right way in the morning.

Isn't that just life for ya? Everywhere I go, some people are happy and some people are grumpy. It isn't just kids, I guess. Maybe even big grown-up people decide to be nice or not. Anyway, I sure hope we get the smiling teacher on our bus! If not, then we will all sit and shake, Jayden said. I'm going to be a kind kind of person when I grow up! And I am growing up right now when I think about it.

Well, I guess I better go take a bath and wash my hair and set my clothes out and hug my mom and dad and say my prayers and go to sleep so I will be ready for my FIELDTRIP as soon as I wake up!!!

Maybe we will go to the chicken hatchery (OH! I hope so! Maybe they will give us a new little baby chick!), or maybe to the children's museum...oh that would be so great because you can hunt for dinosaur bones in the sand or play with the old kind of telephones about when they were invented, or climb way up on a fire engine! My cousin Mallory got to drive a real fire engine once! Oh! and McKenzie got to go see some Bees on a TV thingy in a storage room place or something like that! Maybe we will go up the canyon to collect leaves and see what plants not to touch like the poison ivy scratchy itchy stuff. (No...that's not it, because its all snowy right now, so that's not it!) Maybe we will visit an aquarium! That's where you get to look through the glass and try to name twenty thousand kinds of fish when they swim quickity slippidy past you. Or Maybe, we could go to the newspaper place! If we go there I can see how to make a newspaper, and that would be great because it is kinda like making a book...and when I grow up, I am going to write a book. Well, maybe I will write lots of books.
Ok, Hadley K, time to quit thinking and just OBEY!
take a bath,
wash my hair,
set my clothes out,
remind mom about my special lunch,
hug mom and dad,
say my prayers, (maybe I can ask if its okay if the kind teacher is on my bus).
and GO TO SLEEP so I will be ready for my big surprise FIELDTRIP! Where or where will we go? I can't hardly wait to know!

The Scripture Store!

So, we were having a yucky stucky time getting together for Family Home Evenings. And sometimes Markus just rolled his eyes at the very thought. He'll be okay when he grows up I think, but for now, he can't sit still very much sometimes. But, the best thing just happened today! My parents thought up the most excellent idea ever!

It's called the SCRIPTURE STORE! And we get to spend our scripture script (that's kind of like our own home-made money thingys). If we read our scriptures just a bit every day (even if its only a verse or a chapter or a story) then we get to have a student script on Sunday. And that is very good because I love to read about the stories in the scriptures. Like Daniel who was not even afraid of the Lions because Heavenly Father would make those lions into pets just like Scruffy, so they wouldn't hurt him at all, and they didn't. And Heavenly Father helped Esther too, only I can't remember the name of the bad guy in that story right now...but all I remember is that if I have faith like Esther then the bad guys will just go away.

If we write 2 paragraphs in our journals a week (which: if I think about it: I am already doing it right now!!!) then on Sunday I will get a scribe script. Maybe I will write about some of my favorite scripture stories sometimes.

And if I can tell my parents something that somebody did that was super kind during the week then I get a steward script...and steward just means that you took care of watching for good things and tried to do kind things for other people. It's not that hard. Sometimes it could just be a smile even. But, sometimes you have to do dishes or vacuum or take bread to the neighbor and stuff.

But, here's the best part! We get to buy real things with the script and then we can start all over with it again. We can save our script and buy something very big, like a coloring book, or new crayons, or even a new pair of shoes when we need them, and stuff like that. My parents even made a little store in the storage room. The deal is: they have the key. And the other thing is: we can only get the script things, IF we have Family Home Evening. AND something else: the store is only open for 20 minutes after Family Home Evening once a week! 
                                   
I DON'T WANT TO MISS EVEN ONE!                                                                   
So, I have to plan it all out and think ahead. This week I am definitely going for the Zagnut candy bar...because I really really like Zagnut candy bars. They are the best ever! It will cost 2 scripts...so I can't forget to write a note to remember to be nice and to read my scriptures. Even Jayden thinks this is a great idea. He saw a football key chain in that store and it cost 3 scripts so he has to be pretty kind all week long.  Oh Yeah!

I am so excited about this whole brand spanking new idea! We can't even wait for everyone to be home for family night now. Plus, inside of me feels like a giant smile. I think it's because our Prophet said to always have a night just for our family to talk and learn and play games together. He said we can invite other people to be with us sometimes too. I think Luci would like this script thing too! I'll ask mom if she can get another Zagnut candy bar in there for Luci.
Well, that's my "two paragraphs or more" in my journal for this week. It's one of my very best weeks ever in the world cuz' now we have a real scripture store! That is a very very important idea that my parents thought of. Way to go Mom and Dad!

C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G

CHEATING! That's exactly what Regge was doing. I was sad to the middle of me and back. At first, I thought, maybe he looked at my paper by accident. Maybe he was stretching and looked by mistake or something. I think everybody is trying to do their very best. Why not? It is sorta why we came to earth. Who would even try to do something wrong on purpose and get their book all messed up...because when I think about it, our books (up there) tell us what we get and where we go forever and ever and ever and ever and never quits. That is way past and beyond me!

But, Regge looked at my paper twice and then again and that does it! He was CHEATING on purpose. SAD, SAD, SAD. "Regge, quit looking on my paper," I whispered sharp. He just laughed at me while I squinted at him. And just then Ms. Clay said the last word for us to spell and so I hurried and piled all of my books and my dictionary and my backpack and my pencil holder in front of my spelling words and covered my paper really really good and scooted my chair way-away from him so that the angels don't write anything about that cheaty thing in my book! All day long, I worried about Regge.

Our teacher has a pretty rock collection in the back of our room. I bet it was Regge who showed Ricky and Karen the fool's gold rock and promised them that it was real gold. At recess, I saw Regge cut in line to kick the ball ahead of Justin. OH MY! His book must be stuffed with yuck. How disgusting. I don't even want my desk to be next to his desk.

There are some really cute boys in my class. I wish my desk was by theirs. Like Jonathan, he is fun and includes everybody and he would never ever in a zillion years cheat on a test. Nathaniel is kind and shares with everybody and would never cheat or crowd in line. Samuel is a good sport, everybody likes him too, and he wouldn't cheat either. Now those boys are my kind of people... they are smart, and nice, and handsome to the max! I was thinking to tell Luci about how yucky Regge is. Maybe I should warn everybody.

At recess, I said: "Luci, I have to tell you something about Regge." Just as I was about to tell Luci every little dreadful detail about the boy, a little thought came to my mind about my special Christmas gift, which is really a promise, which is also my New Year's Resolution thingy because it all works out that way... and so just then, I remembered to think about the good instead of the bad things. So I stopped right there. "What about Regge?" Luci asked. "What did you want to tell me?"

"A..well...I wanted to tell you that...a well...I think that Regge is sad." "What?" Luci blinked like a frog who didn't even believe my words. "Well...I think that maybe we should ask Ms. Clay to help him with his spelling. "What, are you kidding me, Hadley K, he got all but the very last word right on his spelling test! That was better than me, I missed two, what about asking teacher to help me!" "Oh, yeah." I mumbled. "Come on, no one's on 4-square," and I started to run.

After recess, I wrote a little note to Ms. Clay and I told her that Regge probably needed some help on spelling, but maybe he was too shy to ask. I didn't think she would know who wrote the note, but after school she asked me to stay and visit with her. Oh yeah, I had written the note with my blue pencil and she knows that is my most favorite color. Plus, I had a smiley face at the bottom and she knows about my smiley faces. "Well, I think Regge is sad because he tried to copy my words to feel better about his paper, and so maybe you could help him learn to spell by himself and then he would be happy." That was all I could think of to say. She thanked me for telling her and said that she would try to help him more.

It still bothered me all day about the Cheating thing. Mostly, because I don't even want to be anywhere near Regge or his cheaty desk. But, then I thought about my part. I was judging him and mad at him and that is bad too. Maybe nobody would want to sit by me either if they could see my mind all mad and judging. But cheating is way bad. But judging is way bad too. But cheating is way way bad. I was mad at him because judging is in my book now, because of the cheating in his! I'm not sure how to fix that.

And then something important happened. Margaret accidentally knocked Ms. Clay's vase off her desk when she was handing in her late library book. The vase went crash-bang-into a million pieces and Margaret started to cry. "Oh, Ms. Clay, I am so sorry." And you know what my teacher said? She just gave Margaret a little hug and said, "I am sad about the vase, but not about you Margaret. I am not mad at you. Come help me sweep up the pieces if you would."
That is very very important what Ms. Clay said...and it fixed my problem too.          I wasn't mad at Regge. I was mad at the cheaty thing.   And cheating is something to be mad about. Wow! I felt much better! So I jumped right up from my desk and helped Margaret clean up Ms. Clay's flowers from the floor while Ms. Clay swept the bazillion pieces of vase. And then I marched back to my desk which is right next to Reginald G's desk and put away my books and dictionary and pencil case and waited for the bell to ring.

Her name is Scruffy!

My puppy has a name! Nobody even helped me. It is a great name, and I thought it all up myself. My puppy is (da da!):

Kaisa K Scruffy Shay! That is a terrific name! Maybe people will want me to help them name their dogs now...so I chose the very best one first because she is the very best dog in the whole world! We just call her Scruffy.
When I say: "Come on, Scruffy!", she wags her tail 100 miles an hour and so I know she likes her name alot.

But sometimes I think other people think that they have the very best dog in the world, even if they don't, and so it all works out. Its good that everybody see things a little different. Because Mrs. Merzolot two streets over has the real most ugliest dog I have ever seen...and I mean E-V-E-R seen, but she thinks it is just as cute as a button. I have never seen a giant bulldog button before, but I am happy for her, I really am. When I look at Mrs. Merzolot's dog, I see a big fat bulldog with drooling and grumpy and bowl-legging stuff...but she sees her best dog in the world. Maybe all the people with blue eyes see things different than all the people with brown eyes and green eyes. I will have to figure out, about that, on Saturday. All I know is that I am sooooo glad that I have green eyes and that my dog is the best in the whole wide country world!

The last two weeks have been the best! But in two days school will start again. I am sorta ready and sorta not. Life is like that. I want to tell my friends and my teacher about Scruffy...but I don't want to leave her home. I wish I could take her to school and let her sit right by my desk. But, She might eat the principal's shoes and chew up my best crayons and jump up on the lunch table and eat everybody's lunches in the whole school. And then she would be the biggest fattest dog in the universe and everybody would look at me like: 'You know that you can't bring a dog to school Hadley K and now it ate all of our lunches, including our dessert!' and I would just look down at my shoelaces because they are right, I do know that dogs can't come to school. But if I train her to be really nice and to stay and to sit and to crawl and to shake and ESPECIALLY: to go outside when she needs to be outside (if you know what I mean)...then it will all work out.

Today is the day, that I clean up all the bits of color from my bedroom floor. I know today is the day because when we were having our oatmeal this morning, my mom said, "Hadley K, today is the DAY!" and I knew EXACTLY what she meant. It will take about 3 years to clean my room and then tonight, I will train Scruffy to be nice. My mom thinks I should train me first...and when I thought about that...it is a really really great idea that she said. I really can learn to obey fast if Scruffy can, because when I think about it...I am a person and Scruffy is a dog and so if a dog can learn to obey first off...then I can too. I like that alot. At first, the thought of obeying about my messy room made me sad...but then I remembered my gift about choosing to be HAPPY...so I figured out to make a cleaning game. Yeah, okay, pick up all the red papers and red socks and red shirts or pencils or anything red in my room and put it all away before I count to 24! Then I think I will put away everything that has pink on it next! HEY! maybe...I should call Luci! She will think my game is like a genuis game!

Well....OR NOT. I guess it is mine to do all alone. Drats! OK. Here I go, just smile and nod, just smile and nod, just smile and nod. READY...SET...GO! Pick up everything with POLKA DOTS ON IT FIRST. Then STRIPES! Then every paper that measures under 1 and 1/2 inches long...YEAH! And while I am in the garage getting the measurer thingy... I will pet the best dog in the world: SCRUFFY!