Where the heck did October go?

Hey everybody!
November? What's up with that? It's only supposed to be like July or something! Halloween was a riot at school. I dressed up as a 1920's flapper. Our principal was an awesome wizard (I'm still wondering if he ever got the long white beard unglued from his face....)Students were pretty wired, but all in all, behaved themselves well.
Yesterday, I went to our community college to observe a GED workshop that I may have the opportunity to teach at some point. In talking with the GED director, she also asked if I'd be interested in teaching an actual GED course starting in January. Well, most of you know I've been dying to get my foot in the door at the community college level for quite sometime! I of course told her YES and will see how things go from there! The director for scheduling at NAU also contacted me to let me know I'm on her "radar", keeping me in mind for an NAU class to teach as well. I'm very excited at this new development and hope I don't get TOO much to do next semester!
Our stake conference last night was wonderful! The boys were out at friends so I had some alone time before and after the conference. Actually, a visit to WalMart for groceries was in order, so that took place just before I headed for the church. We have some inspired leaders in our stake and it's always a pleasure to hear them. Now we await the broadcast coming up in a couple of hours.
Happy birthday, David! Card's in the mail!
I can't remember if I told everyone my new calling - teaching Relief Society. I get to teach the Ensign messages on the 4th Sunday.
Kids are doing well - Rachelle's understanding math, Mitch still works out and attends Taekwando, Dallas has about finished the book, Eragon.
Have a super week!

PS - What do you think of the photo?

A-"maze"-ing Fall

Hello all,
I'm hoping this little soccer picture comes out - I'm still kinda new at this. Dallas had a game Saturday. They lost but he did find out he made the all-star team.

Rachelle was home this weekend. I love having her here. She just needed a break and found some friends who were coming up the mountain so she hopped a ride. She and I went to a wedding reception of a young man in our former ward. While she hung out with friends, I went to a "movie night" with some single friends and had a great time. We watched "Calamity Jane", an old Doris Day movie - what a great flick!

Dallas is not only doing well in soccer, but is also fourth in his school on most words read for the Accelerated Reading program - he's read over 1 million words so far! Very cool!

Mitch is getting good grades in 3/4 of his classes. Chemistry is a bit challenging for him but hopefully he'll get it passed!

I'm loving my 4th graders. This week we will go on a field trip to a pumpkin patch, a maze made out of a cornstalk field, and a couple of museums in Snowflake. Should be fun!

The weather is certainly feeling like fall. Warm during the days, cool in the evenings. I think Dallas and I will go to a fall party this Friday night in Snowflake - have a super week everyone!

Soccer Mania

Happy Sabbath everyone!
This felt like a very long, drawn out week - by Tuesday, it felt like we'd already been in school a whole week! Can't quite put my finger on the reason why, but it just did! Dallas did have a soccer game Tuesday evening, in which he made the only two goals for his team in the game - I became hoarse cheering for him, yet he claims he can't hear me when he's out on the field - maybe a megaphone next time??



Parent/teacher conferences this week - I always enjoy meeting the parents of my students. I'll then take Friday off to just kick back and get ready to go to Flagstaff to take the notorious AEPA assessment. I'm hoping my friend Kem will go with me for company.
Have a great week everyone - later.

Back Into the Swing of Things!

Hey everybody - I still haven't done anything with pictures for my Blog, but I'm attempting another post.

We've been in school now for 3 weeks. Fourth grade really suits me. I'm beginning to really get to know the students and enjoy them. There are 27 of them - not a small number, but do-able! The last few days have been great and it makes me realize I love what I'm doing!

I don't know how many of you are familiar with NCLB (No Child Left Behind), a federal program to supposedly keep children in the school system and force them to succeed. Part of it, and Arizona is big on it, is making sure every teacher is "highly qualified" in order to be teaching in the classroom. A few years ago, I "passed" as highly qualified as a special education teacher but now that I've moved into a regular 4th grade classroom, I'm no longer highly qualified (even though I am DUAL certified, Spec.Ed and Elem.Ed, AND have a Master's degree AND have been teaching for over 20 years) - go figure! I now have to go take the AEPA - Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment. When I pass it, THEN I will be "highly qualified" - AGAIN! You know, Arizona is really hurting for teachers - this is not exactly the way to keep the good ones around! And life goes on..........

Labor Day weekend! Hooray (except for all the traffic)! I think I'll take Dallas to a show today or Monday - Mitch is hangin' with friends. I wish a great weekend to all of you! Catch ya later!

Hi all. I'm happy today.

Summer Relaxation

I love early morning church meetings, except when I stay up late on Saturday night, which I did!
My first week of summer vacation has come and gone and I must say there was very little done that I could call "constructive". You could say that I "constructively" put my feet up on the table and watched a few movies. You might say I "constructively" read a good book by John Grisham, one of Dad's favorite authors too! You could say that I "constructively" browsed the aisles at WalMart and KMart to see if there was anything I couldn't live without - there wasn't! AS you can see, it was a very lazy week, but a relaxing one!

Roadshow practice continues this week with the final performances being on Friday and Saturday. If you didn't know, I've been accompanying the music via piano for our ward's youth Olio from the 1920's. It has been a treat to see the kids really pull it together!

I took Dallas to the park a couple of times. I went to check on a friend who had chemo. One adventure yesterday - I was cleaning the dining room table and heard a huge CRASH in my bedroom. When I investigated, I discovered one of the shelves in my closet collapsed and everything on it was now on the floor - what a mess! So I cleaned up and tried to fix it but to no avail. So I've asked someone in my ward who has built houses and used to install cabinets to come and take a look at it to see what he can do. Sigh......such is life and it should be soon usable.

Have a super week!

OK - here's my first attempt at a post for my blog. School's out! Not only are the students excited, but this school teacher is as well! No real schedules to follow, go to bed when I feel like it, yahdda yahdda....works for me! Well, if you want to respond, go for it!