Media Monday 8/1 - All About Teaching

This blog entry is all about my CHOSEN profession, teaching.

I am including my 2 FAVORITE videos about teaching. One is VERY new and one is pretty old, but they are both amazing and powerful. One is by the son of a teacher and one is by a teacher, both are heartfelt.

This past weekend, Matt Damon - the son of a teacher - said some AMAZING things at the Save Our Schools rally in DC. His comments about the current state of teaching are right on target. I have to admit, I got a little teary listening to it. It's good stuff!



Taylor Mali is a poet and a teacher. This is a cute video someone made to accompany one of the best descriptions of teaching I have ever heard.

Sunday Summary! 7/31/11

Congratulations to us! Today is Jay and Stacey's 12th anniversary! And it is hot as crap just like it was 12 years ago. No, I think it was hotter then.


We went out Friday night for some family fun. We had dinner at our local diner - The Star Diner - where they know us pretty well. While eating we decided we needed an adventure. What to do? How about some duck pin bowling?!?!?! The alley was pretty empty and we had a blast. Mommy won the first game and Jack won the second.


Saturday morning began with Stacey's weigh-in at Weight Watchers. I'm down another 2.8 this week!!!! This is almost 45 pounds total since I started.

After WW we headed out for our weekly farmer's market trip to Rockville. The peaches, green beans, corn and tomatoes looked fabulous! Can't wait to dig in!


Saturday was also the Mary of Nazareth "Taste of Maryland" picnic. We bought this dinner at the MoN gala in March and most of the price we paid went to the school. It was just a cool opportunity to get together with 10 other couples - and no kids - and hang out and eat good food, like CRABS!!!! Having our trusty babysitter made it easy to relax and have fun.



Sunday was a laid back day with each of us spending it doing stuff we love - just not necessarily together. Jay cleaned his car, took a 4 hour nap and watched some baseball. Stacey cleaned her car and watched an "Iron Man" double feature. Janey and Jack played with their friends. THEN we all got ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. It was a pretty good day ;)

4 Things Friday for 7/29/11

Here are 4 cool things this week:

1) Tuesday night we went to the Kennedy Center with Jay's mom to see "Wicked" the musical. OMG! it was fantastic and amazing and funny and wonderful! As you can see, we liked it.

2) Wednesday, Stacey got a bit of "me" time when she had her hair done. Ralph, the hair stylist, said that I needed cool new hair to go with the cool skinny me - so I became a red head! Super fun.

3) Thursday, Janey got to have a play date and sleep over with her friend Jessie. She had a blast! They went out to dinner, went to the pool, made arts and crafts, and played with Jessie's dogs Bear and Goldie!

4)While Janey was having fun girl time, Jack and Mommy did back to school shopping. Holy Crap was that expensive! $300 later all of the school supplies for Janey and Jack have been bought. Pencils, markers, index cards, paper, pens, dictionaries, flash drives, back packs and a million other things - but at least its over!

It was a light and fairly uneventful week - that was a nice change!

Wordy Wednesday for 7/27

Wow!

That is about all I could say when I finished the Dickens novel "A Tale of Two Cities" While I had been avoiding it and had no real desire to read or teach it, my move to teach AP Literature next year made it a mandatory summer read. The reason I say that "Wow" was all I could say was because I was too busy openly weeping to say anything else. If you've never read it or haven't read it since high school - try it again. It is a beautifully constructed piece of literature.

For book club this past month we read "Breakthrough" about the discovery of insulin. I read it aloud to Janey and we LOVED it. It lent itself nicely to discussion - is the gain we make through animal testing worth it? would you jump your child in ne for a new drug if it meant she would live but another might die? Good stuff and a fast, good read.

I am now falling (or sledding) into the depths of despair as I reread "Ethan Frome" by Edith Warton. This is another AP text; the difference here is I read it in college and hated it. Hopefully I will like it this time.

Last, but not least, I am reading "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Running" in preparation for my 5K in September. Learning lots of cool stuff and worrying lots too. I hope I'll be ready....

Happy Reading!

Summary Sunday 7/24

This weekend's highlights:



Yes, that's 102 on the car dashboard!

1)Friday we got a blessed break from the crazy heat (it was only 89 degrees) and met up with Cub Scout Pack 76 at the Frederick Keys game. We Won!! There were fireworks! And the kids got to run the bases after the game! A super fun time for Jay, Stacey and Jack!

2)Saturday we picked Janey up at Lion's Camp Merrick in Nanjemoy, Maryland. She had tons of fun, but a broken camera means there are, sadly, no pictures except the couple Mom took with her phone at drop off. She did give us some cool details:

a. Her best friend while there was Maddie, they exchanged numbers and we hope to get the girls together before camp next year.

b. She won the award for amazing archer. Who knew she could shoot a bow and arrow.

c. She was asked to the Last Night at Camp Dance by "Nate" - he was a nice boy and there was plenty of space between them during the slow dance so we don't have to break his kneecaps.

d. Her team won "color wars" which is a game we have not quite figured out.

e. She has all these new hand clapping games she keeps trying to teach us. We are not very good at them.

f. She wants to go for 2 weeks next summer and she wants to be a counselor when she is old enough.

3. We went over to the neighbors house for a combined dinner last night and ended up staying for a viewing of "Smoky and the Bandit" which was hilarious. We love the Leacock family - which is a good thing since Janey and Adam are best friends!

The 4 Amigos
Jack, Jane, Adam, and Deane

4. We visited 3 farm markets today to get lots of yummies. We got cantaloupes, corn, green beans, tomatoes, peaches and watermelons. Ahhhh, I love summer!

Tune in next time for more of our adventures!

We're Baaaaaaacccckkkk!

So after several requests from people in the last few days, I will start blogging again.

We have been VERY busy since I last wrote to you in June. Here are some of the highlights:

1) Jack had his tonsils out. That made for a ROUGH 2 weeks, as he did not/would not/could not really eat or drink. Not even ice cream. So our little guy became a littler guy when he lost 7 pounds over the course of 2 weeks.



2) Our little guy got the OK from the doctor to be active again and started FOOTBALL CAMP! He got suited up with a helmet, and pads, and cleats in the 90 degree heat for full contact tackle camp! He told the coach it was the best week of his life. He was hot, sweaty, sore, tired and SUPER HAPPY! He did a great job, but has to put on some weight to be ready for the fall football season. Go Rockville Bears!



3) Stacey finished up her 15th year of teaching with Montgomery County and is now half-way to retirement! She also took a week long graduate class to be certified to teach AP Literature - a college level course taught in the high school. It was a rough week and continues to be a busy summer as she reads the 10 novels, 8 short stories and bazillion poems to be ready in August.

4) Stacey also had to buy new clothes as she no longer fits in 22, 20, 18 or 16. She sold all those sizes at the yard sale and bought 14s. She is down a total of 40 pounds this year. 40 more to go, but the running she is doing to get ready for the 5K on September 2nd will help with that. Stacey now says she will always be a member of Weight Watchers and looks forward to making her weight goal.

5) Jay has been AWOL at home a lot recently because of a busy work schedule. We did all take time out to do some fun things like:

Geocaching




A Frederick Keys Game




A trip Kennywood




and some crabbing




Look here soon for the debrief on Janey's week at diabetes camp. We dropped her off on Sunday and she will be home Saturday. We miss her but know she is having a BLAST!!!! Jack says this week without Janey is his second favorite week of the year. Ah, sibling rivalry at its best.

Speaking of Janey, she has been riding Sunny every week and is doing a great job. He is a kind and gentle horse and Janey keeps asking if we can lease or buy him - every girl wants her own horse, I guess. She has walked, trotted, jumped and cantered on him and has only fallen off twice. This makes Janey happy and irritated - you see a "real rider has to fall off 100 times to be a real rider" and she has 98 more to go.

Janey Trotting on Sunny



Janey with her Show ribbons.

So, as you can see, we have been busy and having fun. TTYS!