The Lightening Thief with a Chance of Meatballs and Titans?

   

January 17, 2010

“How to tell if you are a real teacher”

Real teachers never sit down without first checking the seat of the chair.

Real teachers know the best end of semester lesson plans can come from Blockbuster.

Real teachers cheer when they hear April 1 does not fall on a school day.

Real teachers have never heard an original excuse.

Real teachers buy Excedrin and Advil at Sam's.

Real teachers hear the heartbeats of crisis; always have time to listen; know they teach students, not subjects; and they are absolutely non-expendable.

I wish people really knew how hard we teachers work. I literally spent 12 hours straight yesterday working on this 3 day observation. Make a point to listen very carefully on January 27 at 1:20 and you will hear my universal scream of relief. Tell me if you hear it!

Children know more than we think they do:

Lately Alayna has not wanted to go to school. I suspect it’s because her awesome teacher will be going on maternity leave soon. The other day I asked her why she doesn’t want to go and she said, “Well, you don’t like to go to school and I don’t ask you what the heck is wrong with you…” Touché my dear, touché!

(Alayna at “Great to be 8”)

Cosmic pinball:

Tyler had his school science musical this week and I got to see the whole thing. It was awesome! He was very animated and dramatic. I am REALLY hoping he tries show choir next year. Hopefully Bob can post some of it that I taped.

The Lightening Thief with a Chance of Meatballs and Titans?

We watched “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and it was absolutely adorable!! I can’t wait to see it again. I think the kids movies lately have become so awesome! The movie “Up” was wonderful too! How do they keep coming up with such great stuff?

 

Tyler has been whizzing through the “Lightening Thief” series. He sent me to the store to get the rest of the series, but they didn’t have the last book. He is a few pages from finishing the 3^rd one and begs me on a daily basis to read the first one. We just saw the trailer for the movie today and we are TOTALLY stoked. We also saw the trailer for the new “Clash of the Titans” and we are so excited!! Anyone want to go with us?

Electric violin?

Marisa was asked to perform with the high school show choir this week. She got to stand on a box, on the risers, and play an electric violin! How cool is that?? She played for their concert on Thursday night and their big regional show choir competition on Saturday. I heard she was awesome! Wish we had gotten a picture to show you.

Now who’s hogging the art genes?

It’s no secret that I didn’t get any of the art genes. My brother, Jonathan, hogged them all. My students mock me on a daily basis because even my stick people are crooked. Kayla just finished up her art class at school and I was surprised by how awesome her artwork was. I have taken some pictures to show you. I see another emerging artist…

(Kaylas art)

Saturday is a “friend day”, it’s the day we “get out of moms hair” day!

As I said before, I worked 12 hours straight on work stuff. So, I let everyone have a friend or 2 over. Kayla had two friends over. They made brownie bites, “wordles”, and makeovers. Tyler had a friend over and they played computer games and wii. Alayna had a friend over to play barbies, dress up, and hide and go seek. The funniest thing was when Tyler was playing with them and he couldn’t find them anywhere. He was getting really frustrated and then Brie’s mom came over and we couldn’t find the girls anywhere!! After a good 10 minutes, we found them in the garage hiding in Bob’s car. How’s that for a first impression with a mom you have never met before. “Um, I think your kid is here somewhere but I cant find them…” Yikes!

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(Kayla with friends Katie and Morgan)

(Wordle)

24 starts tonight!!! Woot woot!!!

2009 Year In Pictures

Our 2009 Year In Pictures slideshow is finished and ready to view.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum?bm=67415

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If a fairy died every time a teenager rolled their eyes…

then we would have fairies dropping like flies over here!  It’s almost comical.  I can get at least one teen to eye roll no matter what I say or do.  I told them if they keep it up, then their eyes will get stuck up there.  That launched into a giant discussion about all the “lies” we told them when they were younger like: “if you keep crossing your eyes, they will stay that way”, “if you swallow gum, it stays in your stomach for 7 years”, etc. 

You will never guess what we got this week…MORE SNOW!  Is anyone surprised??

Creative Boredom:

What happens when the temperature and wind-chill are so low, that it makes going out to build a snowman impossible.  So, you must become creative with your indoor activities.  Actually I would LOVE to try being bored again.  I have forgotten what it is like.  Anyway, here are pics of this weeks “creative boredom buster”!  They will make you totally wish you were here!

Other Happenins’:

 

I FINALLY OFFICIALLY completed my professional portfolio.  You would be shocked if I told you how many hours it took.  Once I finish my huge, scary, intense 3 day observation I will be in the home stretch.

Tyler’s musical (where he has a main part) will be this week.  I hope I can get some pics of it.  They have been working hard on it and he is so excited.  He also discovered the “lightening thief” and hasn’t been able to put the book down.  I had to go buy him the next book.  I hope to read it soon too. 

My school “required” that we all do the 10 tutorials over the NWEA testing.  To make it “fun” they made it into a contest: whoever did all 10 tutorials (took about 15 hours) and does it the fastest wins.  Apparently, I won.  I was supposed to be “crowned” on Thursday during the staff meeting, but it was cancelled due to the early release.  I hear the crown “sparkles and bedazzles”….

Marisa and I started a wellness challenge with her friend, Desi.  I also entered the wellness challenge at work.

Well, I guess that’s about it for this week of adventures.  What will next week bring?  More snow?

You might live in the Hart household if...

January 4, 2010

If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly', you might live in Iowa
Who knew that I would actually find 10 degrees tolerable?? When we left to church this morning, the wind-chill was -28! There’s nothing quite like driving to church with the sun coming up and the snow glittering like sparkling diamonds…only those sparkles are screaming at you “We could TOTALLY freeze your butt and face off in a matter of minutes!” Granted I wouldn’t mind my butt disappearing, but I prefer that it not get frozen off in the Iowa wasteland I now call Siberia! (The heat never turned on in the chapel.) The other day temps got up enough to turn the snow into a little slush and I was loving it so much that I didn’t even wear a coat! That probably won’t happen again until May.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Iowa
You might think that anyone who would wear an outfit like that in Iowa would be completely daft. However, I can’t tell you how many times Tyler has worn that to school. I finally had to hide his shorts so he would quit wearing them in the dead of winter.
Then this morning, Marisa walked out in a t-shirt and knee length skirt! Um, hello…its winter here people! She wore gold slip-on shoes. When I asked why she didn’t wear the warm, cozy boots she has for winter, she stated (while looking at me like I was an idiot) “They don’t match my outfit”. You should have seen the look on her face when I suggested she wear tights! I’d wear a fur-lined body suit if I could get away with it.

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you might live in Iowa
I do have them, but I still don’t know how to use them. We almost had to today because Bob’s car froze to death, protested, and wouldn’t start. Bob had to open the hood and shake the cables to wake it up enough to start.
If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in Iowa
Even though we are past Halloween, we still have to worry about what will fit under a snow suit. When I dressed Alayna on our first major snow day, she looked like the kid on “A Christmas Story”, I kid you not! When we got her in the car, with her backpack on, there was no way the seatbelt was going to go over her. She looks like a giant blue Michelin man!

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you might live in Iowa.

If you are so bored that you have nothing better to do than to see which members of your family can fit in the dryer, you might live in the Hart house
Alayna somehow came up with the great idea to see if she could fit in the dryer. (Don’t worry, we covered safety procedures as well as shared the story of the dead cat) Soon, Kayla and Tyler decided they had to try. We took pictures to document and prove that they could do it.

In other news unrelated to our unrelenting weather:
We had a fantastic vacation but it passed way too quickly. I assume that’s it’s a bad sign that we are counting down the days until Spring Break?
Marisa had some friends down to visit from Fayette (you may have seen the picture of John on facebook in a pic with Marisa) John and his sister came over along with another friend named Alex (part of the snowman crew). They played games, watched movies and hung out. I wanted to get pics but I didn’t want Marisa to die of embarrassment, so I refrained.

The girls had several friends over for a slumber party (They didn’t go to bed until 7:00am!) They played all sorts of games and watched Night at the Museum 2 (which has some brilliant lines and interchanges in it!)
We watched the Bourne Trilogy, Gilmore Girls (All of season 4), and I found a new favorite show “Criminal Minds”. We also had several Phase 10 tournaments (I swear Kayla cheats), game nights and Tyler and Marisa went with me to see “2012” which is the most awesomest disaster movie EVER! What a way to start out the new year!

Merry Christmas!

Making sugar cookies

Marisa and Alayna