Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Greta Pearl

OK, so I have to post something then I'll go back and catch up with my blogging...

Our family decided to buy a dog. Why not? We're not busy...

We chose a weimaraner puppy (shout out to Ellie) who is currently six and a half weeks old. We purchased her for a fraction of the cost of a normal weimaraner because she's deaf...JUST KIDDING!!! Actually, she can hear just fine. So far she seems pretty normal (knock on wood.) The bargain buy was a result of no paperwork which we were fine with because we have no intentions of breeding her.

We decided on Greta after perusing a long list of female German names. Jonathan desperately wanted us to name her Pearl so we decided to keep it as a middle name. The name Millie was also tossed out there but Chris squashed it. Sorry Beth! I liked Molly but that was Greta's mom's name. Olga and Helga were never even mentioned...

She is a super cutie and I just wanted to brag a bit. Hope you think she's as cute as we do!





Sunday, September 28, 2008

Employed!

After finishing my Master's Degree in June Chris and I decided to "test the waters" by submitting applications to various school districts. Low and behold I got a call five days before school started asking to interview. They hired me the day I interviewed and I was officially back to work.

I really enjoy teaching again even though I've been struggling with time-management. I'm not sure how working moms pull everything together!

I am actually only part-time (yet I'm out of the house at least five hours every day...) so I get to be with the boys in the morning before heading to school. I can be home as soon as a half hour after Jonathan is done with kindergarten. My mom has graciously agreed to keep Drew when he is not in school and Chris is working.

I think we are all adjusting well to our new schedules.

These pictures were taken while Andrea and I were busy getting the room ready. As you can tell the building is really old!

There were countless bookshelves full of old textbooks and other unuseable items. I had file cabinets full of broken calculators, spare change, coffee mugs, and enough push pins to pin up my pi poster to the nth place value...(that one was for you Amber...)

My room formerly housed the same math teacher for all (or most) of his teaching career. Over the years he collected many (at that time) useful items. I can say with confidence that he was definitely a pack rat and doubt highly whether he ever threw anything away. No worries! I did it for him!

After two full days of purging and cleaning I finally felt better about my room. Granted, I only spend two periods teaching here but I wanted a place to call my own. I feel very fortunate to have been given my own room!

Besides the room pictured here, which is my high school room, I also teach for one period at the Jr. High building. I have not yet taken any pictures of that room because I haven't personalized it...unless putting mints in the top desk drawer counts.

In case you are wondering:

1. No, neither building has air conditioning.

2. Yes, I think graphing calculators are cool.

3. Yes, my students drive me crazy...but at the same time I'm really enjoying what I'm doing.

4. I leave my house between 9:30 and 10:00 each morning. My duty day starts at the Jr. High where I teach Algebra I to 8th graders. I arrive between 10 or 10:30 and that allows me between a half hour and an hour of prep time before I start class at 11:00. The class is over by around 12:10 and I have until 12:55 before I am expected to teach again at the High School. I teach two periods at the High School (Algebra II and I) that span between 1:00 and 2:30. My duty day is over at 2:45. There are times that I stay later but those are rare. By the afternoon I'm ready to go home and see my boys. I'm tired and I constantly wonder how I would do it if I were expected to teach full time. What a wimp.

5. Yes, the curtains in the pictures are old and crusty. My windows don't open properly, and my chair seems to be from the school's inaugural year.

6. In spite of all of my previous jabs it seems to be a great district with quality teachers and administrators.

This was the RIP cabinet. I found lots of old and outdated textbooks here, stickers from various collages (I'm assuming his students would come back and visit him and give him a sticker,) and other crappy things...

This picture shows a nice view of the broken windows and more crap.

More crap and empty bulletin boards. I ended up having Chris cover the front left board with white board and we took down a bulletin board that was covering a chalk board on the far left wall. The back wall was covered with yucky bulletin board space so we also covered that and divided it up into three separate spaces.

In order to work at my computer I have to have my back to the students...very wise...

I ended up making the board behind the computer bulletin board space as well.

The infamous curtains.

Every good teacher posts the standards in his or her room! Mine are above the back bulletin board.


One of the coolest things about my room is the clock. You can't see it from the picture but it's a unit circle. The kids say they can't read it...

I owe Andrea a huge thanks for helping me. I would never have been able to be ready in time without her! Thanks to Chris for being the handy man that he is, and thanks to the boys for being patient and spending lots of time in the room while I worked...

Cornhole

Chris and I decided to join the Cornhole bandwagon but refused to pay an arm and a leg for a store-made set. So...we purchased what we needed and I familiarized myself with duck cloth and the art of filling these duck cloth bags with just the right amount of corn.





Our set is still white but I hope to let the boys each choose a color and paint one of the boards.

I have to admit, it's a fun game that the whole family can play...

Zoo-pendous!

I know, I stole the title. Sorry...

Chris's sister and her husband accompanied the boys and I to the zoo. Jonathan's best buddy from preschool also came. The weather was beautiful but it was a little crazy with three boys...

This was a very stinky part of the zoo...an indoor rock climbing wall that required the kids to take off their shoes...need I say more?










I was impressed with this deer bonzai tree. Mostly I just wanted Chris to see the picture and make fun of it with him.





The Akron Zoo has a cool new jelly fish display. In spite of its size, the Akron Zoo provides some nice exhibits and has a nice assortment of animals.

Will You Give Me A Quarter?

The boys have discovered the coolness of Nintendo DS and desperately want one. Actually they both want one. Why do they think we have $260 lying around? Not to mention the $60-70 it would take to purchase a game for both of them!

So, Chris and I came up with a plan. We would allow them to use the money in their piggy banks but they would have to earn the rest! Well it didn't take them long to start asking to do odd jobs for money...I asked them to husk corn for me (for money) and they did an incredible job! I had to take a picture.



Besides asking us for money, they attacked my parents and my sister. I think we'll chip in some but we haven't decided how much yet. I'm anxious to see how long it takes them to earn enough!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Jonathan's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we had a busy day! After church he chose to go to "The Old Chinese Restaurant" for his birthday meal. He loves the fact that he can choose whatever he wants and feels big when he goes to the buffet by himself.









This was the tattoo Jonathan had painted on his arm at Kalahari. He wanted us to take a picture so we wouldn't forget what it looked like. He also wanted us to be able to re-create it!

After lunch we came home for cake and ice cream. He was also able to finally open the rest of his presents. After presents he, Drew, and Aunt Dee headed outside to play.



Once again, Andrea made Jonathan's requested cake...zebra stripes!























Chris had to go to work in the evening but we continued to party. We had hot sausage sandwiches with Papa Bobby and Aunt Beth for dinner. While Aunt Dee and I were preparing the food we found a smiley face hidden inside a pepper. Cool!



Chris came home in time to spend a few more minutes with the birthday boy before bedtime. What a great day!





I love you so much Jonathan! I am proud of the boy you are and the man you are becoming! Happy Birthday!

Getting Ready For School

Mom and I went on a shopping spree to get the boys ready for school. Thanks Mom!

They are going to look so spiffy!!! Jonathan got the backpack he's been dreaming about and the boys both got their hair cut.

Bye-bye beautifully handsome hair!




Doesn't Jonathan look super happy?

Here's a secret...I liked Drew's hair better long. Good thing hair keeps growing!!!

Wildlife Drive-Thru

Included in our package to Kalahari were four tickets to something like The Wilds down in Central Ohio (I think). We were able to drive around and see the animals, feed them, then get out and do a few more special things...















As you may have guessed from the pictures, some of the animals were a little too close for comfort. I'm surprised we came home with all of our limbs. Again, did you see how close those animals were? They could have swallowed our heads!

We definitely made some memories!