Celebrating life

About noon today the air outside my classroom filled with my favorite aroma, second only to roses - that of rain. There is a storm moving through Cedar which should eventually turn to snow, but for now it is raining, and that always puts me in a good mood. So, since I'm in a great mood, I thought I'd share some of my favorite things :)

This is my favorite Catie - my adorable two year old who loves to smile for the camera, and give squishy hugs, snuggle with her blankie and watch Dora.

This is me playing with my fun loving quickly smiling Ellie who tells the best stories. I think if I ever get around to it, her stories would be great children's books.

Here is my favorite Will - the meticulous, studious, fun loving, energetic kid. (At the park this day Will and I were playing chase through the playground equipment - too much fun) And here is my great family - playing Holiday Yahtzee while I was making some home-made turkey soup. What a great bunch of people!

Yea, I know I'm incredibly biased - that's my job as a mom - in my mom contract, it says, "Pre-requisite - must be biased toward the children which will no doubt be incredibly adorable and a husband who is great, hard-working and helpful - especially when he runs to Subway because I can't break away for lunch because I have frantic freshmen in my classroom typing their little fingers to the bone to get their major writing assignment for the quarter in, without which they don't pass the class and therefore can't graduate from high school, and he knows that when I don't get lunch and a diet coke, I can become the reincarnation o f the wicked witch of the west on steroids. (WHEW! How was that for a description!) :)

So I hope whomever the very few people who are reading this may be, that there is the great smell of rain in your neighborhood and that you get a few seconds to celebrate life!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Today started with me being wide awake at 6:30 am and thought it would be a good day to go get in a good workout before eating, but upon arriving at the gym, I found it dark and locked. So to make up for plans that fell through, I stopped at Maverick on the way home and bought a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I know, makes perfect sense, huh. Just another way that my justification is a bit askew.

The kids are watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - I think the Rockettes will be on in a few minutes, which means I will have a four year old imitator all day (which I think is fine, and Enoch still can't believe that he has a dancer for a daughter) We will be sure to record the Packer's game before we leave as it is on during our drive to Redmond, UT (small town outside of Salina, which is a small town outside of Richfield) My mom's sister is hosting dinner today. I think I should have two sisters there and my little brother who is still in high school. This may be a two post day just to recapture the events (hopefully good eventful not bad eventful) :)

Having more fun than an English teacher should be allowed

We are currently reading And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie in my freshman English classes and for those of you who aren't familiar with the book, it starts with ten people on an island and then there were none. Since I only have a classroom set, with the exception of making copies of some of the chapters, we have been reading it in class. Today I was reading out loud and the students were following in their books. We have been averaging about two chapters a day, but had more time today. When I stopped reading, I asked if they wanted to stop or keep going and there was a resounding "Keep Reading!!!" Ah, comments like that are music to my ears. This is currently book three of three that I have had someone beg me to please not stop reading - the other two were Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Now if I could just get them as excited about writing, although with the assignment to write a mystery, there has been more interest.

In our creative writing class, we are currently learning about poetry and today they are going to read their poems based on an imagery practice and write celebrity slam poetry - it should be a great deal of fun.

Two more school days till Thanksgiving break - I'm just keeping class fun at this point and enjoying every minute.

Working out of perfectionist tendencies

I have in my mind this idea that if I'm going to post on my blog, it needs to be a well thought cleverly worded post full of wit and wisdom. But as I sit in the middle of a messy desk in my classroom, I realize that I've acknowledged the futility of perfectionism at all times, so why am I still holding on to the notion with something as simple and informal as a blog.

I have been having a blast with my kids lately. It seems that now that they are a little older (6, 4 and 2, I know, not a great deal older, but they don't require as much intense take care of time). We snuggle and talk and read books. Will has been practicing better now - if I can just get him in the habit, when the girls have the chance to learn how to play the piano, it will already be a family habit, which is always good.

Enoch's birthday is coming up on Monday, Nov 19 - we are going to see a play and out to dinner the weekend before to celebrate. Those of you who know Enoch know that when it comes to him choosing where we are going to eat, there isn't anything in this town that even comes close to the memphis dry rub ribs at Chili's. There may be times when he switches and adds a half rack of some other kind of rib only to find himself disappointed at the result. So that Friday night, I'm planning on eating at Chili's. I don't know what I'm getting yet, but know that the birthday boy will be happy, and that's what will be truly important.