Well, it's Sunday morning and another Spring Break has come and gone. Overall, I'd have to say it was a fantastic break. We didn't travel anywhere or do anything huge. But we had a good time staying close to home and relaxing. Below are some pictures of the highlights.
As I was looking through some old posts, I realized that I never updated anything about our possible move to the Philippines. We spent a lot of time praying and thinking through everything and decided that it would be best for us to wait a year to go. It was a tough decision, but we feel like we made the right move for our family. We're still hoping to go next summer and we'll be in constant prayer about it over the next few months. Thanks for all of your support! We'll keep you updated.
Last week, I plopped down on the couch and pried open my laptop expecting to check my email and do some other kind of general surfing, when to my dismay I got the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD)! For those of you not lucky enough to have experienced this on a Windows machine (Mac users leave your snide comments to yourself), basically instead of seeing my desktop, I see a blue screen with a bunch of gobbly-gook telling my what my problem is and how to fix it.
ack to life in a more simple time. We've started doing things the old fashioned way once again. Sarah is churning our butter, we're washing clothes by hand, after supper we listen to radio programs on the radio, and we sit around by candlelight at night and tell the stories that been passed on from generation to generation. We tried lighting a fire in the fireplace, but those silly stone logs just would not stay lit no matter how much lighter fluid I used. It's probably best because there isn't a chimney for the smoke, so it would have made our house a little smoky.As I'm sitting here sipping my homemade Americano, I can't help but think that this is my 3rd favorite part of being a teacher...Spring Break! At the end of last week, I was feeling ragged, worn down, and generally exhausted. Teaching is a tough gig, even if we do only have to work 9 months out of the year. And the job is getting tougher every year. The government and administrators heap on more expectations, requirements, and duties. Parents generally become more demanding and unrealistic. And to top it all off, many students are becoming less responsible and more apathetic. I've only been in the game for a few years and I can already tell that public education is in big trouble.
I've had the privilege of working with some very experienced teachers on the verge of retirement after teaching for 30ish years. Several of them have tried to convince other young teachers and myself to seek out other careers for our own mental health and well-being. They've seen education change so much and they can't imagine getting started now. The average new teacher only lasts about 3-5 years in the classroom these days.
I hope that I can still be standing in 30 years as a teacher because, after all, I do love my job. I love seeing kids learn how to read and write. I love walking kids through all the drama that comes with being a kid. I love sitting down with (most) parents and trying to figure out how to help a kid learn. I love teaching kids life lessons. It's the best job in the world! Hopefully, someday, someone with the influence to change things will realize that the Powers That Be are sucking the joy out of a tough job.
"So Peter," you ask, "if spring break is your 3rd favorite part of teaching, what are your 1st and 2nd favorite parts about teaching?" Good question, I'm glad you asked! Number two is Christmas break and Number one is summer break! Like I said before, I love my job...but I do love taking time off to be with my family and friends even more!
I had another crazy dream two nights ago. For those of you who know me well, you know that Sarah and I are slightly addicted to watching American Idol. We start every year with the plan to watch the auditions, but get sucked into the rest of the season.
My dream began with me making it into the top 10 on the show! I was doing well and having a blast out in LA. Everyone knew I wasn't the strongest performer, but I got through on my personality and boyish good looks. Actually, I made that last part up. I probably had more of the gray-hair Taylor Hicks appeal.
At any rate, I must have reached my apex because I botched my next performance and forgot some of the words to the Backstreet Boys song I was singing! Looking back on it, I'm sure Simon would have blasted me on my song choice...why the Backstreet Boys??? In fact, if I got to choose a song from my birth year like they did last week, I would have probably chosen "My Sharona," "I Will Survive" (but I would do the version by the band Cake), "YMCA," or "Knock on Wood" which were all released in 1979. Man, 1979 really was a good year!
Back to my dream. So the day after my botched performance, I did just like any other contestant on American Idol would do...I went to church with my wife! We were walking around and I felt kind of down because I knew I was going to get cut from the show later that night. But then I got even more depressed because nobody at church even recognized me. I thought for sure that people would be coming up to me saying, "Hey! Here's that guy from American Idol!" Nobody knew who I was. Then I woke up.
It actually took me about 30 minutes to shake off the feeling of both excitement and disappointment that I felt in my dream. I guess even if I would not have gotten cut that night, I wouldn't stand a chance of winning against David Cook, who happens to be my favorite contestant right now. I like him partially because he does some really cool rock versions of unsuspecting songs like "Billy Jean," and partially because he reminds me of my friend Kip from Los Angeles.
I installed my first ceiling fan in Avery's bedroom this past week! The best part is...nothing caught on fire! I've never done much electrical wiring before so I was a little nervous, but so far, so good! One room down, three to go!
I just woke up from a very odd dream. In my dream, my grandparents had bought a roadside stand that sold all kinds of Virginia Tech gear - shirts, hats, blankets, stickers, you name it. They were oh, so proud of their little store! My grandmother gave me a call and invited me over to shop. She inquired as to whether or not I'd like to have my inheritance in the form of VT wear! How funny! The crazy part about it? I said yes...
I don't know if you've ever watched the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, but I love it! We don't have cable, but I catch up on the show through the website. I think he has the funniest show on TV! Anyway, if you've never watched it, below is a clip from his segment called, "The Word" from the show last night.
In the latest issue of JPG Magazine, they had some great ideas on framing these collages made out of small photo cards from moo.com. I went to their site and found that they have a lot of creative things you can make with your own pictures including sticker books and post cards. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I thought I'd share. Here are some shots of their products:
Anyone who knew me back in the day should be quite surprised that I teach math now. Especially Mr. Hesbach , my senior math teacher. At any rate, Friday was March 14, 3/14, which is officially known as Pi Day. For those of you who may have forgotten, Pi is 3.14 (and my nerd math friends will scold me for stopping there because it goes on for a bajillion more numbers after the 4).
So, my co-teacher and I decided a celebration was in order (except we had to celebrate on Thursday because of the field trip). We had people bring in pies and we measured the diameters and calculated the circumference and area (I know that is lame, but we had to make it somewhat educational). Then we ate pie and it was good. On a funny side note, the same boy who flushed his glasses down the toilet (see that post) decided he would brave his first taste of a pie on Thursday. How his mother let him get to the age of 12 without eating pie, I will never understand. Anyway, he got a one-inch triangle slice and cautiously inspected it. Finally, I convinced him to pop the whole thing in his mouth. When he did, his eyes bulged, he leaped out of his chair, and started running around like a man on fire. He finally flung the door open and sprinted to the bathroom to spit it out. I guess he didn't like it. At least he came back from the bathroom with his glasses this time!
Anyway, for all my math-lovin' friends, I've also posted the video we showed to our class below. It is a spoof on Eminem's "Lose Yourself." The rap is done by a guy named Pi-Ditty and it is called "Lose Yourself in the Digits." Enjoy!
(Warning: the video you are about to watch contains explicitly bad rapping by a bunch of geeky white kids who love math way too much. The owner of the blog had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of the video. He simply thought that some of his friends might think it was funny. Consider yourself warned. Oh, and for some reason, the video appears twice below and the owner of this blog couldn't figure out how to get the second one to go away.)
For those of you who don't know, our youngest daughter Avery (20 months) has been battling with severe eczema since the summer. She is allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts, she has digestive issues, and she hasn't gained much weight at all since she was about 8 months old - she's only weighing in at 20 lbs or so.
At any rate, her eczema had pretty much cleared up over the past few months and we thought we were ready to start moving on...I don't think anyone can fathom the stress that goes along with a baby with severe eczema until they've lived through it. It doesn't sound that rough, but it has beat us up pretty bad as we've watched our little girl miserably scratch her arms and legs until they bleed and we've listened to her cry inconsolably and we've watched Kyla sit on the floor with her fingers in her ears so that she won't have to listen to her sister cry. I know some people have it pretty rough with kids that have life-threatening ailments, and believe me, not a day goes by that we don't give thanks that we're not dealing with that. However, this has been the reality we've lived in.
So, I'm not trying to complain or throw a pity party. I started this post just letting you know that I took today off of work. But then I felt the need to explain why.
Anyway, so Avery's eczema flared back up again on her arms, legs, and ankles and even a little on her neck this time. She had bronchitis a while back and is getting a few new teeth - and we're learning that stuff like that will make it flair up again. The past two days were a nightmare for Sarah - Avery pretty much cried all day long unless she was being held. And of course, with a four-year-old at home, Sarah has a few more things to do than sit around and hold Avery.
So, I took today off to give Sarah a break and to spend some time with the kiddos. Sarah got to take Kyla out for some much-needed mom/daughter time and they headed to a friend's house from church who has a beautiful garden where they had a tea party and ate muffins. I stayed home with Avery, who seems to be doing much better now that her teeth don't hurt as much. It was pretty hilarious because she was falling asleep on my lap while I was reading on the computer about planting a vegetable garden (future posts on that to come) so I laid her down on the couch.
Now, mind you, this is the child who required a pitch-black room with zero noise to fall asleep for the first 18 months of her life. Not today! Two hours before her nap time, she conked out on the couch in broad daylight while I talked on the phone and went through a ton of papers! Anyway, the rest of my day included a trip to the park, hiding Easter eggs in the backyard, cooking chicken chili, baths for the girls, and bedtimes. Now, I just realized that I'm 12 minutes late for American Idol! Gotta go make sure Dave Cooke and Carly make it through...
So you might notice that I said that I posted a few photos below and there are no photos! I'm not really sure what happened, but they were there one minute and gone the next. When I get a minute, I'll get back to it and actually put the pictures up. Sorry about that!
This Friday, I'm headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a day trip with 460 of my closest friends...well actually it's 460 sixth-graders! Yep that's right, my first field trip. I somehow managed to sidestep all field trip responsibilities for 3 years as a high school teacher, but I scored big on this one! We leave at 6:15am Friday morning. Then we head to Medieval Times for lunch followed by a trip to Ripley's Aquarium. It should be a fun time, but I'm sure I'll be ready to be home by the time we make it home that night! I'll let you know how it goes!
The kids are in bed early tonight, Sarah's out with some friends, the evening is cool, the stars are bright, and I'm loving wireless Internet on our back patio! We weren't really able to enjoy our patio and backyard very much when we first moved here because it was so blazing hot this summer. Then when it got cooler, we were having so many health issues with Avery, that we weren't able to enjoy much of anything! The thought of sitting outside at night last fall was nearly impossible because of Avery's poor sleeping.
Now that Avery is better and sleeping great, we're hoping to enjoy many of these beautiful evenings!
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