Movin on uuuup!

*Not exactly to the East Side though...

I'm officially moving next door to the special education room for next year. I'm so excited and nervous and worried and thrilled, etcetera! My job was posted last week, so I know it's official. There have already been applicants and it's a bit wierd, but I'm also excited to pass on info. about the foreign language job because I have loved it so much. However, as it is my last week as Mrs. J., the World Languages teacher, I thought it would be fitting to post a top ten list.

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad I'm Done with being a Foreign Languages Teacher:

10. It is really tough fitting in four languages in nine weeks.

9. Keeping four languages (well five really) straight in my mind so that I can help my students keep them straight gets confusing! But learning them has been great fun!

8. Being a part of the Super Nova team - I have really enjoyed it, however, the meetings are once a week and some of our group members are just such... downers...

7. Teaching the same. thing. every. quarter. I feel like an 8th year teacher. This, however, is not such a bad thing either.

6. Getting to know students better -- not just for a brief time thoughtout the year.

5. No more just using my minor. Time to dig out the ol' master's work.

4. No more explaining to people how exactly I teach four languages and how I am not actually fluent in five languages.

3. Not so much correcting!

2. NO MORE BREAKFAST DUTY!! Yes, this one got two exclamation marks. It was a close second.



and... #1. I don't have to teach the German word for fat to 6th and 7th graders any more! (it's dick.... yeah....)

SS's Bachelorette Party

A supersweet para at my school is getting married this summer and a few fellow paras decided to throw her a bachelorette party, which was so kind. SS is not from here and was excited that people would get together for her. We met at the Blue Moose for a few games and appetizers. It is always interesting to see people outside of work. Some people, like WS, who had a whole bottle of wine to herself, were interesting to say the least! She kept calling the waiter, "Hey Cute Boy!" He dished it right back however. SS is definitely naive (in a sweet, Christian way). The first game we played was Their Story, Mad Libs style. It was a great game and very fun to hear their story, even if it was a bit distorted. SS asked people to share their stories too. JS shared how they had known eachother in high school and she had gotten some notes that she still has. NM commented under her breath, that she still has the kid her (now) husband gave her. : ) Then she opened presents. SS tried hiding half of the gifts she got, but people helped her show off the candy garter and bra top for example. For the next game, SS had to answer questions that her fiance had already answered. If SS got an answer wrong, she had to pop one of the balloons from the table decorations. Inside the balloons were "dares" to do at the bars later that night. Poor SS had to pop all of the balloons! She kept saying, "I know him better than he does!" Considering SS didn't know what a shot was, much less a body shot, I was interested to see if she completed her tasks (I ditched the group when they headed for the bars). KJ, one of the organizers, said that SS didn't quite complete all of her tasks, but SS seemed to be having a good time drunk people watching.

Adventures with the crazy, redheaded J's

Our friend RE first introduced us to the crazy, redheaded J's. They are a half-Canadian half-American bundle of energy super close family that we have gotten to know and love. The oldest, P, is a mechanical engineer working in the cities. Next is brother M, who is an electrical engineer working in Duluth. After that comes sister C, quite possibly the craziest of all, who is an architect in Chicago. And last but certainly not least is brother G, who just got his degree as an electrical engineer. If you can believe this, at one time all four lived in one house during college. Now, just G lives in town and we're thankful that he is continuing his education so we have some entertainment still for a while. His whole family was in town for his graduation this weekend. Thus, the adventure begins...

We decided to go mountain biking. With my new bike, I was superpumped. It was a b-e-a-u-tiful day - not too hot but sunny and lovely. We rode to Turtle River with P and C. C was suffering from, ahem, that special time each month - she was suffering very loudly and publicly, so I'm not worried about posting about it by the way. Finally she said, "JJ, you're going to be a doctor, what should I do?" Her brother P chimes in, "Well, you could just get knocked up and that'd take care of it." I just had to quote it because it exemplifies how they are not quite your ordinary family. : )

So, we get to Turtle River, get all checked in and stretched out... (I even have a picture of G stretching on P.) Then, we actually have to start biking. We start out pretty nice and easy. I'm really enjoying myself. Then, all of a sudden, an incline. My first one. No one tells me about switching gears or any of that jazz. I get to a point where I can't peddle any more. It's kind of embarrassing to have to get off of my bike and walk it up the rest of the way. I don't feel so bad when I see others doing it from time to time. Buddy JP especially sticks with me and offers tons of encouragement. Constantly, I just look to make sure I can see her bright blue shirt up ahead of me. Then, under the direction of GJ, JP and I accidently get on a different trail. It's really difficult. Like too difficult for my first time. I start kind of having anxiety attacks as I look doooown to my left and then to the little trail to my right. Eeks. I start slowing down, which makes turning trickier. (side note: When I had gotten out of this trail and could clear my head a bit - I compared it to snowboarding. Like I tell newbies -- you just have to go fast. It's so much tougher going slowly.) I seriously almost wiped out majorly twice. One time I ended up hanging on to a tree - otherwise, I would've gone dooooown the side. Another time, I started falling down - but was able to get off my bike in time to let my bike lay down so I could get back up to the trail. So, I make it out of the trail. JP does the thing that is the deal breaker for me. She offers sympathy. That just opens my flood gates and I start bawling. It was so embarrassing. G felt like a Jerk (with a capital J) and I felt really bad. Even P was a bit caught off guard. Poor guys. So, I compose myself and we set out to find C and JJ, who had taken the easy trail to the side of this advanced one. We find them tooling around and later JJ asks how things are going. Of course the floodgates open again. Grrreat. But, after some better (read: easier) trails, I regained some confidence and am really excited to get out there and try again. The J's mother had made a full homemade delicious dinner and we were invited over to eat. What a great end to a wonderful, albeit emotional day! Then, we got to see P and C load up P's camry with two motocross bikes and one mountain bike. Did I mention they are the crazy redheaded J's?

And can I just say that really? Really is Coco Crisp his real name? That might be my favorite name next to Lovie Smith.

Shhh! It's a Surprise Party for JP and CA!

I have just finished making the little favors for the surprise co-ed wedding shower for JP and CA. And, to borrow and rework a phrase from Larry the Cable Guy, "If you don't think these are cute, there's something wrong with you!"

We were planning for a wonderful bbq outdoors. But, the weather isn't quite cooperating. And by cooperating, I mean it's SNOWING. Yeah. We'll still have a wonderful time. JJ is making naan and tandori chicken and CA and MA (our Bible study host couple) are making hotdogs and hamburgers. Yum! And then of course the usual games and amusements.

Laaaast Track Meet

We had our last track practice yesterday and today was the last meet. It has been a really enjoyable season, but it is wonderful to have some free evenings. So funny stories from yesterday:

The kids were just a teensy bit crazy yesterday. They had trouble sitting still. They had trouble listening. They had trouble moving during the game (c'mon - it's track practice - expect some exercise!). This led to some of the coaches being a little on edge. We played flag football. Coach S. was saying he totally could've used flag football in 7th and 8th grade... "C'mon, I was just reaching for your flag." In a totally joking manner, Coach S. swung his keys at another coach Coach H., and it ended with a kid saying, "You just hit him in the bonkers!" It was funny. And then, Coach H. was by the equipment box waiting for the kids to be sent to him to put their flags from flag football in the bin. Coach H. happened to be wearing his flag football belt. Coach S. chatted about the track meet and then sent them away saying, "The first kid to get Coach S.'s flags off is the winner." The funniest thing was that Coach H. had no idea. So all of a sudden all these kids are running at him with their hands outstretched toward his ... "bonkers".?. The quickest one gets there and Coach H. kinda freaks and tackles the kid going at his bonkers. It was HIlarious. Coach S. and I left the kiddos to Coach H. who was staying late that night. I was still laughing so hard I walked right into the building with Coach S. and realized that it was the guy's locker room. Oops! (No one was in there, don't worry!)

Track meet today: Last one and a middle school was caught cheating. In two different ways. Really? I mean really? A middle school track meet? Alrighty then.

Oh! And I am officially a new special educator at my school. I have my first meeting tomorrow to find out who's on my caseload, etc. How exciting! Plus I don't have breakfast duty because of it! Double bonus!

Princess-Niecey L

I thought maybe I should wait for my SIL, Lyz, to post about this weekend. She is the MOB (not mother of the bride, but rather mother of the birthday girl) after all. Oh well, I guess I beat her to it! So some highlights from our weekend:

*Friday, we finished Sholay (a Hindi movie) with CA, JP and S?. And ate some gumbo made by JJ (yum!).

*Saturday we made it to AJ and LJ's (BIL and SIL) house in time for mini LJ's princess party. She was allll dressed up in a pink Sleeping Beauty dress made by her G'ma CM. She was so excited it was hillarious.

*Friend #1 comes. Niecey LJ yells "A's here - get a blower!" (One of her party favors was a little princess themed noisemaker.)

*Then, someone suggested she put her crown on. She said she couldn't until her party started (at 10:00 am and not a moment before).

*Lil' LJ and little bro BJ go downstairs to play with the friends who are there while waiting for the rest to come. LJ says, "Let's go on a princess adventure!" Someone says, "Yes!" with an arm raised triumphantly in the air. Any guesses who was so enthusiastically behind the idea? Brother BJ! Ha!

*SIL LJ has tons of games arranged -- she was so organized it was delightful. The kiddos had a blast with lots of different princess-themed non-competitive events. The party ended with foam crown decorating, eating a beautiful cake decorated and shaped as a princess crown and ice cream, and of course gift opening. LJ had an awesome idea to have two "thrones" - one for bday girl LJ and one for the person giving the gift. Niecey LJ knew who the gift was from, could immediately thank (and hug) the friend and the other girl felt superspecial.

*I helped SIL LJ at her MOM's Club rummage sale. When we got back, I triumphantly told JJ I didn't even buy anything! Of course, I'm not pregnant and we don't have any children, so it wasn't too much of a stretch...

*Later, the family bday party - complete with brinner! (Breakfast for dinner - source: Scrubs) We had pancakes - yum - and then LJ opened the rest of her presents with her cute quips "She's so clever!" when she opened her Great Gma's present, for example.

*We got lots of hang out time with AJ and the fam. It was fabulous! We got home this morning in time to go to Church to the latest service. It was about the Holy Spirit. I so enjoy Pastor Paul and the worship team at Hope. Yay Hope!

*Today, Sunday, the weather was so beautiful. JJ had to go study at the Union... boo finals week... but we walked there together and then I went for a jog (help work off all that delicious cake and ice cream!). Then, back to the Union and I finished correcting almost all of the papers that have piled up from this crazy, hectic last week.

*Now, finally, I have my feet up and my laptop out -- ready to scan facebook, get out the new book I'm reading, and get ready for tomorrow!

Why.... thank you?

So, more track stories. I got the pleasure of riding one of the busses today (my turn, darn!). We get on the bus and are waiting and waiting. The other bus leaves and we don't move. I'm like, what is going on? So I get up from my strategic middle seat -- right in the action -- and ask the driver if he needed something. He didn't realize I was a coach..... wait a second.... was I just mistaken for a seventh or eighth grader??

And that reminds me of another story. When I was doing my resident teacher internship in W, Our State, at an elementary school, one of the lunch ladies thought I was a student. Hmmmm, so there I was mistaken for a sixth grader or younger! I know I'm short, but c'mon! Hopefully people can guess within ten years -- especially when the teen years are in between!

Back to track, I just thought I'd update on the discus drama. So today the added danger was the high school team was practicing on the same field the shot and discus were being thrown. They did their warm-ups, and then guess, just guess what they decided to practice. Javelin! IN MY DIRECTION! I was like wha?? So now discs are being thrown to my front and javelins are being thrown to my back. What is this track world coming to? Of course they never even got close to me, but just knowing they were back there scared me!

Tomorrow I get to be Mr. BH, one of the gym teachers. What shall it be? Mat ball? Dodge ball? DDR? The hokey pokey?

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!