Tag... you might be it!

Here are the rules for playing.......the rules of tagging if you are inclined to following rules
{if rule following is not your bag, do as you please, but heed the warning: the next time i am at your house i will dip my finger into your peanut butter jar. it will be awkward for all of us.}

1. link (there ya go Lyz) to the person that tagged you.
2. post the {very important} rules on your blog.
3. list 6 very unimportant, random nothings about yourself {should be an easy one}


1. I am the oldest of two and my husband is the youngest of nine. I love how unique and different our family experiences and get togethers are.

2. My first job was working on race cars and I played hockey but I am a super girly girl who loves shopping and crafting. Go figure!

3. I first went to college to be a pediatrician. My husband first went to college as a slacker. I left with a special ed. master's and my husband will be a surgeon in.... a while...

4. The sand volleyball team we've been on almost all of the years we've lived here is named "Team Sunshine" (JJ hates it). We started a new team (and are still on the old one as well) but our new one is "Partly Cloudy". : )

5. I am terrible at telling stories. My staff at the college I worked at as a hall director even came up with "the basket". If stories were put in the basket, they could not come out again. For example, we were doing a friendly competition and I wanted to friendly taunt the other team. In the end it came out something like "You might as well not wear pants at all because we're going to kick them off of you. You know. Kick the pants off of you." We made shirts for the competition to commererate my babbling. I have trouble because it's not always appropriate to wear. On the front it says, "Leave your pants at home."

6. My all time favorite chore is laundry. Seriously. I just finished six loads (can you tell we live in an apartment).

Oops, looking back some of these things are important to me. I guess I'm not quite the rule follower after all. Lyz -- you wouldn't like my peanut butter anyways -- I dispise chunky pb! : )

Ok, your turn!!
TA
LC
Pastor Paul
BH
big C

Life of a blogger...

Now that I am addicted to reading blogs and updating my blogs, I seem to scrutinize everyday situations for blog-worthy information. I mostly love funny stories or occurrences. I wish I had a better memory! I don't know how many times I've overheard something funny a kid has said or had something silly happen to me that I think "Oh! That'll be perfect for a blog post!" I think I need to keep a writer's notebook like I did when we had to for my elementary method Reading and Writing ("TEAM") class.

Here are two recent ones that I can still remember:

*We have triplet boys at our school - I've had one each quarter for the last three quarters in class. The B's are great kiddos. They are also excelling in track. Today, all three boys came walking shyly over to us coaches about 30 minutes before the end of practice. They said they had to leave early. We asked what was going on to determine if it was excused or not. They said they had to get their hair cut. It was pretty funny and the other coaches gave them a bit of crap for it. We also insisted they didn't all get the same cut as two of them are almost identical. : ) We have to be able to tell them apart!

*My friend TA and her hubby MF were up for the weekend (cancelled bike race) and were in the kitchen having a little sorta newlywed (I can say this as an almost four and a half year veteran) argument. MF said, "Oh come on." to which TA retorted "Don't come on me." ooops. heehee I probably wouldn't've noticed if TA hadn't burst out laughing and restated her funny comment!

Bike Race

This weekend was the date of the big bike race (40 miles) JJ and I were going to be in. Only one problem. We got tons of snow Friday night/Saturday morning. Yeah, did I mention it is still the end of April here too. My friend TA came here to visit and has been preparing quite extensively for the race. She trained so hard, we were a bit disappointed that the race was cancelled. We did, however, make the best of it with TONS of stamping! I'm talking like spread all over the kitchen table for all of Saturday afternoon and some of Sunday. I'm talking I made 41 cards and TA made something like 36. It was fabulous! I love, love spending time with TA. We don't get enough TA and EJ time anymore. It was soooo much easier when we lived next door to eachother!

Sioux-per Respect Rally

Friday morning we had a Respect Rally and it was fantastic. Maybe the best one yet. It started off with the jazz band welcoming us in - for middle schoolers, they did an outstanding job! Then, the National Anthem from our choir kiddos followed by a little song from the 6th graders with some great soloists. Then, Mrs. T. the health teacher stood up and walked to the podium and in her geekiest voice said, "Today kids I'm here to talk to you about spirit." Then, she reaches for her pom-poms and starts ummm... enthusiastically is such an understatement... cheering:

Get up on that Spartan train,
Jump on it, jump on it!
Get up on that Spartan train,
Jump on, jump on.
We don’t need no ticket,
All you need is pride
So get up on the Spartan train,
And ride, ride, ride!

Then she calmly walked back to the podium and back to geeky voice said, "Thank you for your attention." It was so fun! At first the kids were like wha? But then they got into it. To be sure, I heard it in bits and pieces throughout the day (as well as other catchy tunes such as "$5, $5, $5 foot loooong." and "Freee credit report dot com." Somebody should give those marketing people a raise or a swift kick in the pants.)

Then, we had Miss Our State chat with our students about how the little things every day either bring us closer to our goals or farther away - likewise what we do brings the people around us closer or farther away from their goals. I don't know if the kids got any of it, but the guys especially were paying attention with her tiiiight little skirt and like seven inch heels prancing around all over the gym floor.

And, then, the moment a lot of kids were waiting for, we had a little pentatholon with two guys - Jake Marto and Robbie Bina - from the Sioux hockey team. It was funny because they spoke a bit about respect and about how they have to respect their coaches (like when their coach flips off the ref?) and other teams (like when they take them down and beat them up?). Anyways, it just cracked me up. It was great for them to be there, but the whole respect tie in was a little lame. Each event had some students, a teacher, and the two hockey boys competing against each other. The kids were just thrilled (I don't know how many times different kids came up to me - were you at the Respect Rally Mrs. J? Did you see me?) and it was great.

First event: shooting hockey pucks at the two upper targets in a net/winner: Mr. B the teacher who teaches next to me, who incidently was Mr. Hockey in '97.

Second event: pitching - Mr. C. our counselor and emcee had a radar gun to do the scoring/winner: tie between Jake Marto and Robbie Bina at 79 mph.

Third event: shooting three-pointers around the world in 35 seconds/winner: student J.R. with 8.

Fourth event: slam dunk contest/winner: Mr. C. when he pulled out a trampoline and mat.

Fifth event: tug-of-war - first between the two 8th grade teams, then winners took on the teachers of their gender/winners: female teachers and male teachers --- the kids really think they can beat us, but in weight alone we kick their butts!

Just to clarify...

We had a track meet yesterday and it was a lot of fun! I left during 6th period, and as I was announcing to my kids that I better hear a good report and blah blah blah, I told them that Mr. T. (student teacher) would be coming in to take over when I left. They started cheering and it was so funny because one kid, my funky, quirky chicky raised her hand and said, "Just to clarify, we aren't cheering because we don't like you, it's just that Mr. T. is so cool." : ) Thanks for clarifying A. Now back to me threatening you within an inch of your lives. hehe, I sound so mean, but hopefully everyone who knows me knows how exaggerated that is!

The kiddos did a great job for their first meet. Some of them didn't get that they had to keep track of where they should be and what events they were in on their own... hopefully that will be better for the next one -- this Friday. When I got there I was assigned to the discus pit. So let me tell you a little story. I've never even SEEN a discus. And certainly never seen one thrown. The main guy helping (phew... I was just his assistant) was like, so did you throw in high school? To which I replied, nope, but I've done it on the wii (which JJ later informed me it is the hammer throw... close enough!).

This wii business kind of reminds me of those commercials from Holiday Inn Express. "Doctor, can you perform this surgery?" "I'm not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night." When we went to play tennis last Saturday, I seriously figured my game got better from playing it on the wii..... nope.....

But I digress! So I get to the discus pit or whatever it's called and the guy's like you're going to be the measurer. Ok, sounds great. The kids warm up and we're ready to go. I'm standing next to him waiting patiently and safely for the kid to throw. The guy's like, ok, you've got to be out there. What?? So just to clarify, you want me to be out there where they'll be throwing at me? Haven't you just had a safety talk with this group about being behind the mesh because these things can seriously do damage? Hmmm, alllrighty then. I'm sure he was like where did they get this one to help me? But anyways, I went out there and did not get hit once. Yay! And one guy threw it like 110 feet (as an 8th grader). It was pretty cool.

Indian Experiences

CA, the friend whose wedding both JJ and I will be in this summer, is marrying JP, who happens to be from India. We have been thoroughly enjoying some new Indian experiences through JP. For example, Bollywood videos are awesome! I just love the bright colors, predictable story lines and of course the songs and dancing! I consider myself quite a good Hindi dancer (ha! Notice how I said "I" because really it is only me who feels this way!). We have also been enjoying the fabulous Indian dishes. I have quite the Norwegian taste buds (which JJ would say is another way to say I like bland and dull food, but have definitely found some things I enjoy within the realm of Indian food. Naan for example is absolutely delicious! JJ has taken to making tandoori chicken on the grill -- yum-o.

So, the funny story that was the reason for this post:
The other night we went to Applebee's to celebrate JP completing his final OPR on his way to getting his doctorate in organic chemistry. On the way home, a driver buzzed through a red light in front of CA as she was about to turn. She yelled, "Foreigner!" which totally cracked JJ and I up.

Gotta love 7th grade girls...

(No, not you CPJ.) heehee

Overheard at our practice track meet before the first real one:

Girl P: "What should I do if I'm scared to do the hurdles??"

P's buddy Girl M: "Ummm.... I think you just jump over them."

This set off my fellow track coach, BH, with "What should I do if I don't want to do the long distance? I suppose I'll just run it. What should I do if I don't want to do the shot put? I guess I'll just throw it." Etc!

Group projects = slacker teacher?

The guy who teaches next to me (Mr. B) cracks me up. Today he stopped by my room to "borrow" my tape (later he told me he hoped it was ok if I didn't get it back) and saw my kids were working together in group projects. He was like, "You've discovered the ol' spring fever group projects, huh?" Well, let me tell you that he sure has! It seems that his kids are either sharing current events, watching a movie, or doing group projects. It totally works for his class... it just wouldn't work for mine.

Also, group projects just give me a headache. I'd way rather do other kinds of activities. Group projects involve selecting just the right groups with just the right topics. Not to mention getting the rubric set up, the directions laid out with all of the what ifs included, things to do for early finishers, ways to work around kids who aren't finishing, blah blah blah. Ok. I'm a control freak. I do realize this. That's definitely part of it.

But back to my buddy Mr. B. He is also the guy who is completely jealous of me because my husband is on his way to being a doctor. One day he said, "I married a teacher (dripping with disgust). We'll have to work the rest of our lives." Also, "You're not going to be one of those people who works even if they don't have to - they do it because they love it. Makes me sick." Ha!

Pet peeves I didn't even know I had....

I have learned a lot about myself through this process of being a teacher. Here is a (short) list in no particular order of the top pet peeves I didn't even know I had:

1. People who underachieve.
Really people, in my class if you do work you'll get an A. People fail my class and I don't get it. It bothers me! There are only so many reminders I can give. If the homework isn't turned in, I can't grade it. I know my class isn't on probably most of my kids' priority list, but I like to think it is a useful and enjoyable class. If you ace the quiz, you can do the work. So do it.

2. People who are disrespectful.
I make a big deal about respect on the first day of my class. Respect can be shown in a number of ways and should be shown to everyone in class. It bugs me when people are talking when I'm talking but it bugs me more when kids disrespect other kids. Learn to deal with different people. We don't all have to be best friends, but we have to be kind to each other.

3. People who try to be clones of their "friends".
Oh my word. Get a life people! I have noticed this with a couple of girls in my classes, but in one of my current classes I have the worst case and it is a boy. I have student (A) and then student (R) who would like to be the clone of A. It is pathetic. Right now I have them on opposite sides of the room thinking R would learn to intereact on his own. Nope. Now he just cranes his neck to see what A is doing. And there is lots of talking across the room. Arrgh.

4. Negative people.
I know this post is basically all negative, but people who see the glass half empty ALL THE TIME in EVERY SITUATION bug me to no end. Get over it! Don't sweat the small stuff. When students complain excessively, I give them more work. The end. We're playing a game called I win. : )

5. What am I supposed to do??
I've learned to say, "Ask a friend who was listening." I know some kids have CAPD, ADD, and a whole host of other learning disabilities, but really folks, it's written on the board, it's on your worksheet, and I've said it at least twice now. In life you have to put forth at least a little effort on your own.

Ahhh, I feel so much better.

JJ's Buddy

JJ's friend TB has two adorable kiddos (JB and EB - and a wonderful wife BB). They live upstairs from us and we have begun to spend more time with them. At first JB (age 2) was scared to death of JJ. This is a very unusual occurance for JJ. Kids usually flock to him. In Church, for example, he's usually in a stare down from some kid over a parent's shoulder. One time when we were visiting the B's, we just entered the house and JB started bawling. Poor thing! When she settled down, JB and I were chatting (at times with the help of translator mommy). She was showing me her new baby and wanted to give me a better peek, but I was sitting by JJ and so she made a WIDE path around any time she was near us on the couch. We believe this whole thing started when JJ came to get TB to go to class and was dressed in his full winter get-up - basically covered from head to toe. Not to mention that his visit resulted in JB's daddy leaving. So anyways, to help JB get over her fear of JJ, TB and BB gave JB a pic of JJ to get her used to him. NOW, the opposite has happened. NOW, she has a little crush on JJ. After giving her the picture, it was time for lunch and BB told JB she had to put the picture down, to which she replied, "Not my JJ!"

Who's the April Fool?

I thought I was soooo clever. Sooooo funny. I planned a little April Fool's joke on my buddy TAF. I even went so far as to not post it on the 1st so it wouldn't be so obvious, a little cheaty I know. I should've known that my blog is not well-read! : ) I called TAF later in the day on the 3rd to find out if she had received any calls. She was like "No, why?" and I was so disappointed! : ) I spilled the beans in case she DID receive any future calls. She told me I should've posted it on facebook or something, but I didn't want it to get too out of hand. So anyways, I just want to clear the air of anyone who actually took me seriously. TAF is not pregnant. But, I do think they'll be awesome parents and I WILL spoil any children they may have in the future! : ) Have a happy April!

Congrats TAF and MF!

People always made a competition out of who would have babies first - my best friend TAF or I. Well, I bow to her first place victory. Congrats TAF (and MF!), you guys will be awesome parents. I'm so excited for you two and can't wait to spoil your little one ... in a while! : ) Love you guys!

I'm not atheltic per se...

... but of course I signed up for the staff vs. students basketball game. Last year I got a basket and was thrilled! Last year I also accidentally passed the ball to the ref. (a fellow colleague, c'mon, easy mistake!). This year... this year - no basket (but I don't think I attempted nearly as many this year either) - and an embarrassing pass to a kid on the other team. Boo! But, I had a wonderful time and the kids really really have a blast, so it's worth it. We had some guys on our team that were really good -- think college-age bball coaches. Towards the end of the game, I found myself out on the court with the kids' all star line and these good "adults". I called to one of the good players on our team, "You should be out here. Why am I out here with all these people who can dribble?!" Yes, that quote kind of summed up my game. : )