Doing Time in Nursery; Update

I am working in our ward's nursery and having a ball. It doesn't hurt at all that I love my co-leader, who was just released as my VT companion. Anyway, I have to tell a couple of funny stories from nursery this week (and I will probably have one every week).

Beware: To protect the identities of our class members, I will just use first initials to identify them. Parents will know of whom I rat out.

Snack time. All small people (7 total) around the table. Nineteen month old A. looked interested when I asked who would like to say the prayer. I asked if she would like to, and she, being non-verbal at this point, grunted in what I interpreted was the affirmative. So she folded her arms and everyone, sort of, finally did the same. I whispered rather loudly in her ear, "Dear Heavenly Father..." A. remained silent. After a long pause, while I was deciding to just proceed, T. across the table repeated, "Dear Heavenly Father." "Thank you for this nice day..." I whispered into A's ear. "Thank you for this nice day," quietly repeated T. Into A's ear I stage whispered, "Thank you for our snack." "Thank you for our snack," again from T. I ended the prayer the traditional way, as did T. And my co leader and I had a giggle while we had snack.

I have to confess it is fun to see K., who is tiny, grab something off the fake stove that H. is busily setting up, and run like heck away from the action. She loves being naughty!

And E., who has only qualified to be in nursery for 2 weeks now, nearly jumped out of her diaper when I shot the (soft)ball into the little basketball hoop. You can sure tell she has brothers.

It has been a while since I have taken the time to blog. With taking the Master Gardening class and doing the reading and homework, I find myself with significantly less discretionary time. I have learned a ton, though. Every time I walk outside, or even glance at a houseplant, I see it all with totally new eyes, horticulturally speaking. I even have a plan to improve the lawn!

Silas began school again a couple weeks ago and seems to be adjusting well. He struggles with getting up on time, and we are working together to have better mornings. He begins 2 sections of auto shop tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how he does in that class. His educational experience hasn't included much practical hands-on work like this.

Our weather has been marvelous the past few days. In my past, when people have discussed weather, I have felt like it was a lame excuse for conversation. But here in the Great Northwest I have noticed that the weather is a great and interesting topic of actual conversation. Do people in other areas of the country/world do this? Is it because I am from the Los Angeles area, where the weather is pretty nice most of the time that this is kind of funny to me?