Success

My profession is one in which there is rarely tangible evidence of success from the outside. I give out the grades, and, besides the many times I get to see lightbulbs go on for kids, hard-data success is rare. But today I got results for our school for last year's MAP. Communication Arts is such a huge deal for 3rd grade, so I spend most of the year (I've already started this year) doing test prep of some sort. Generally it's boring, repetitive, formulaic practice... a regression to "drill and kill." But it's nice to know when that has paid off, when it has had some kind of impact. My poor 3rd graders stress and worry, and spend an entire week testing, and I hate doing it to them. But today CPS released preliminary MAP scores for the district, and Midway was the 4th highest elementary school in communication arts. We had 71% of our kids at proficient or advanced (2 highest levels). I was so excited when I saw that; I know that it's all 3 grades (3-5) put together, but if our average is that high, none of the grades can be very low! So today was a day that I felt like I had really taught something, and I am so proud of the kids. Of course, in 8 years (by 2014) we have to up that percentage of kids to 100% at proficient or advanced, but I'm kind of hoping this legislation goes by the wayside (or I stop teaching) between now and then! So I'm letting tomorrow take care of itself, and patting myself on the back for doing something right!

Closet Crisis

HELP!
I left for the day and my closet vomited itself all over my bed... wait... maybe that was from my closet crisis this morning. Every person (or at least every female person) knows about those mornings when everything in her closet sucks. Every single piece of clothing you own is too small, too big, too short, not the right color, and, of course, makes you look fat. So you try on outfit after outfit, getting more irritated and later to work with every outfit that doesn't work, until by the end of it you decide to call in sick (is ugly-clothesitis a disease?) or go to work in a burlap sack. Well, I (clearly) had that kind of morning this morning. Poor Josh, I don't act girly very often; I don't spend hours getting ready or fixing my hair in the morning... most mornings I don't even spend one hour. So when I morph into high-maintenance mode he's totally unprepared to handle it. I mean, every morning there is the requisite question ("Does this look ok?"), to which he usually responds "It looks fine" without turning his head. Unfortunately, this morning, that just didn't cut it. I must have tried on 15 different things, and asked him "How about this?" at least 43 times. By the end he was barely speaking to me. When I came downstairs in an outfit totally opposite from the one I'd started with (start: black capris, blue tank top, black sandals; end: green pants, red top, brown slides) he was smart enough to not say a word, and tried his best to hide snorts of derisive laughter. But, when all was said and done, he mostly understood, and called me beautiful several times throughout the day. So here's hoping that by tomorrow my clothes have returned to their normal size, because I can't be late to school twice in one week, and I don't know if my marriage could survive another morning like this one! :)

Old Dog, New Tricks

Onery as my dog may be, she is a pretty smart dog. And, not to be oudone by her cousin, Sarge, she told me that she could learn "high-five," too. So I taught her last night, and decided that I needed a picture to put on the blog. I think it was easier teaching her the trick then it was getting a picture of it. I love the first picture, where she's looking at Josh like, "Geez, Dad, how many times do I have to do this before you get it right?!" But, finally, success! And I'm reminded again of how smart she is, because I didn't even have to teach her, and she started differentiating between left hand (right paw) and right hand (left paw) high-fives. Sometimes it's fun to have a smart, energetic dog. Sometimes it's not so fun, like when she decides that her "job" for the day is to eat your wicker lawn furniture... but I guess we gotta take the good with the bad! :) 

Visits

Well, Jess and Mike came in for a visit this past week. I wish they could have come the week before, when I didn't have to work, but we still had fun. Saturday morning Jess and Ruth came over with Sarge to play with Sarge's cousin, Isa. Unfortunately, Sarge's cousin Isa is a poorly behaved canine, so they didn't get much playing done. Isa rolled Sarge on his back about 4 times, and we finally said enough is enough! So she had to go to her kennel in the house while Sarge got to play outside. Which he found his new favorite toy, a soccer ball! He even managed to pick it up in his mouth, although he couldn't hold it for long. It was quite entertaining because he would "talk" to the soccer ball as he rolled it around with his mouth. Sarge is such a well-behaved dog. I'm pretty jealous that I didn't have Isa as a puppy, becaues I think she could be such a wonderful dog and while she's still a wonderful dog, she just isn't so well-behaved, particularly around other dogs. We did take both dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, and that was fun. Clearly, we wore Sarge out... unfortunately for Sarge, his cousin Truman didn't want to play with him. I've never seen Truman get as big as he was while Sarge was here! The funny part was that if they were both downstairs Sarge would be sleeping, and totally ignorant of Truman, and then Truman would meow and Sarge would be up in a flash. If Truman had just kept quiet, he would have been fine!

Well, despite how it sounds, the humans did actually get some time to visit as well. We had a great time Saturday night at the MHBC Youth Putt-Putt night. We took 19 kids and the whole Price/Looten family to Perche Creek. Mom, Dad, Jess, and I played a round of putt-putt poorly, but we had a lot of fun. Sometimes we kept it on the correct hole. I did learn that Charlie is a giant putt-putt cheater when he came and took over for Jess on the "back nine." Dad, of course, won, but nobody's scores were scores to be proud of! I know I have some great pictures, but they're on Ruth's camera phone, so I'll have to post them if she ever figures out how to email them to me (HINT, HINT). Afterwards we went out for ice cream (Thanks, Mike) and just talked until Dad couldn't hold his eyes open anymore! We had a good visit, and I can't wait until Thanksgiving, when at least Jess will be back... Mike, stay as safe as you can! We love you both! 

Feature Blog

Ok, so this is a "Featured Blog" on Blogger right now, and it's so cute I couldn't resist putting it on mine, too! :)

http://cathcat.blogspot.com/

Enjoy... makes me want another kitten!

Back to School, Back to School

Well, I know everyone has been wondering... the first (and second) day of school went just fine. My class shrunk from the 24 or 25 kids it was at the end of their 2nd grade year to just 21, which is wonderful. I had no idea where I was going to put 24 or 25 bodies; 21 I can handle! There don't seem to be any out of the ordinary issues with this class. The boys all have a lot of personality, so I actually know all of their names already (never a good sign); I'm still working on a few of the girls. So far we have mostly done the typical beginning of the year stuff, but I am actually excited about some of the long-term plans I have made in reading and writing (not my favorite subjects to teach, which is ironic considering what a reader I am, and that I seem to like writing, at least on here). Anyway, I start off every year with great intentions to be stricter and tougher and more consistent; this year is no different. Whether I stick with them or not remains to be seen! Either way, I feel much more at ease in my classroom and much more confident in my abilities as a teacher. It is frustrating having a new teaching partner; she is very nice, but she is not very comfortable with technology, and that is a huge focus for our school. It's especially important to 2nd and 3rd grades, since we have the Tech Enhanced Classrooms (that means we have 7 or 8 kid computers). Oh well, I guess she'll learn quickly! I've been trying not to push too much at her because I know she is overwhelmed. It hasn't been that long, I remember that first year when you don't know anything about how the district works. Anyway, the start seems to indicate a good year for me, so here's hoping and praying that it keeps up!

*If anyone's interested, here's my classroom website. It's not too interesting right now, but there'll be kid stuff up there later!* www.columbia.k12.mo.us/mwe/llooten

Wasted Money

After all of the money we spent on toys for our wonderful pets, what do they like to play with? Curling ribbon, baskets, empty soda bottles and newspapers... should have just saved all the money and gone "shopping" in the dumpster! :)

The Classics Never Die, Part II

So, last Sunday Dave was sick and needed someone to cover Sunday night service. Since Josh already had a lesson planned for the youth, we decided that the adults would join the youth for Sunday night. And, we decided to truly make it the adults joining the youth, so we did our typical youth Sunday night service, complete with game! We did choose a classic game, Red Light/Green Light. The sad thing is, all of the adults knew what Red Light/Green Light was, but no one younger than Josh and I had ever heard of it. So, apparently, somewhere between Charlie and I the game went out of style. Well, we brought it back into style in a very rousing fashion! We played Red Light/Green Light with 40 people, some youth, some adults. And we learned a lot... like Leland is a big cheater (he kept grabbing people's ankles) and Danette is VERY competitive! Later we even learned that she's a Game Nazi like Mike! No one would have ever suspected! However, it was a blast, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to have the adults with us, actually... I think it was good for them to see what a Sunday night is like. I am really proud of what we (or what God, through us) have done. It's exciting to see youth really get into Sunday nights, it's exciting to see Charlie and James take charge of their respective parts and become leaders. It all makes me excited to see where God takes us over the next several years! 

Summer Storms

Well, our plans for last night were to go home, eat swiss cheese fondue and watch a movie. Everything was going according to plan, the movie was started and the fondue was awesome. But then it started storming. A good summer storm, too, with lots of lightning and thunder. Which, of course, made the dog lose her mind! I actually thought she was going to come through the sliding glass door a couple of times! When we finished eating we brought her in and let her sit on her rug while we continued our movie. Not too long after that, however, and everything died. No power at all... it came back on, then immediately went back off again. So we decided to sit on the porch and watch the storm for awhile. There was some pretty amazing lightning, so it was interesting to watch, and some of our neighbors were driving by and stopped to talk (they were driving because they wanted to listen to the Daniel Boone World Series baseball game), but eventually it got dark outside and in, so we had to find something else to do. We hunted all over the house and lit every candle we could find and brought them all downstairs. Not sure what to do, we decided to try to play a board game. Our choices were limited, since most of our games require either a large group (Imaginiff, Catch Phrase, Cranium) or power (Scene It) but we decided to break out Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. And, despite the fact that I got my cheese totally kicked by Josh, we had a really great time. The power even came back on before we were finished, but we kept playing by candlelight anyway. So a messed up evening became one of the most fun and relaxing ones we've had in a long time! Funny how things work that way... Unfortunately, I haven't looked outside yet, but I get the feeling our backyard has become a mud volleyball court, and our dog has been replaced by a mudball with legs... oh well, we needed the rain!

 

Never Long Enough

Well, it had to happen eventually, and today was the day! :) Summer ended and I had to go back to school today. The kids come next week. Today we had a short meeting, then we actually had most of the day to work, which is a refreshing change. Usually the district keeps us busy with meetings. My room was clean and (mostly) put back together, which is a miracle in and of itself! It looks great, because the ceiling tiles are all new and clean, and they really brighten up the whole room. More importantly, it feels great, because now I have air conditioning!! Yay! Tomorrow we have meetings all day at RB High, and then Monday we have a half day in our rooms again. That is going to be a crazy day, because there's still lots to do, and we have Open House that afternoon, starting at 4:30, so my room has to look presentable! My teaching partner is new this year. She has several years of experience, just not with CPS. I was helping her today and it reminded me of how much I don't miss being a new teacher. Even if it's just new to the district, it's a big deal! Linda asked if I would be her mentor, if the district decided she needed one, and I thought "Wow, this is the first year I haven't had a mentor of my own!" But since she has so many years of experience on her own, I doubt they'll make her have an official one... and I knew I'd be an "unofficial" helper anyway. Anyway, it was a pretty good first day back, but summer is still never long enough!

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

I'm so glad my "kids" get along so well. Isabelle just wanted to say hi, I'm sure! :) I hope my real ones are better someday!

Notice Isa still has one foot on her rug... "I'm still on my rug, Mom, honest!"

50th Anniversary

The second half of the weekend was spent in Illinois for my grandparents' 50th anniversary. I really liked how we celebrated it. No huge party, just the whole family making it a priority to be there, going to church together Sunday morning, and then out for lunch afterwards. We really did have a good time just visiting and catching up. I wish we could have been there earlier- it seemed a rather short trip, since we got in at about 1:30 Sunday morning, and left again Sunday afternoon! It had been a long time since I had seen this side of the family, and I got to introduce myself to the newest members of it! That is Aidan that Grandma is holding... he is my, well, I'm really not sure. He's my cousin's son, so I think that makes him my second cousin, but I'm not sure. He's pretty adorable, either way. He's a very serious baby, and he watches everything. Apparently, he is also a puker, which I didn't know until I held him for the first time and he let loose with a string of white baby spit-up all down the front of my black shirt... just in time for family pictures! :) I also got to hold my new cousin, Max, who is the redhead in the picture. Most of the time I saw him, Max was sleeping. But his red hair is really cute, and he's apparently a hard sleeper, because we passed him to about 4 different people and he never woke up! :) Anyway, I had a good time visiting with aunts and uncles and cousins that I don't get to see very often. That side of the family is so big that we are rarely all together, and this weekend we had almost everyone. We were all bummed that Jess and Mike couldn't make it, but who can blame them after their hellacious trip home from London! This is a bad time to have to be traveling! The really good thing about the weekend, besides seeing all of the family, was that I actually got the frames I was working on finished, and I think everyone liked them. I had everyone mail me pictures, and I put pictures of the whole family into two frames for Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa Hook always had one of those above their organ, and I thought it was so cool to see the whole family all together. So it seeemed like a good 50th anniversary present! Anyway, it was a great, if tiring, weekend... Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa, and thanks for everything you have done and been for all of us! 

Crazy Hat Day

One of the recurring themes from Six Flags was trying on whatever ridiculous headgear we could find. My personal favorite is the Superman visor-with-cape that Charlie is sporting. Quite fetching, don't you think? :) 

Six Flags

Well, we made it to Six Flags this weekend. I love what Josh and I do with the youth group. I know it is what he's called to do, and I love helping him. But, man, sometimes the logistics of youth outings make weekends less restful than weekdays! Oh well, we actually had a great time. As of Wednesday night we had about 26 people going on the trip. Friday night (before leaving at 7 am on Saturday) we added 4 more! So we ended up with 30 people headed to the theme park; 22 kids and 8 adults. A pretty huge group for us! We were worried about being able to get the extra concert tickets, since we'd only ordered 20 tickets! It's no big deal to buy extra theme park tickets, and since we had our reciept they even gave us the same group discount, but we knew the show was sold out except for standing room only tickets, and getting those usually involved standing in a huge line. But we got there, and Josh went the tent to pick up the tickets we had ordered at will call, and the guy told him "Hey, I have extra tickets to the show, how many do you need?" So just like that we could give the kids their theme park tickets, send them off, and we didn't have to wait in line! Amazing how God provides! It always cracks me up because we get in the park and the kids disappear, leaving the adults to walk around together. And that's pretty much what happened... It ended up being Josh, Charlie, James, Mark, Danette, and I walking around with 2 "kids"- Sam and Ruth. But we had a great time! We tried out some of the carnival/challenge games (see Josh trying to make his way up the twisty ladder), and only rode one ride with a ridiculous line: The Superman Tower of Power. It pulls you up into the air and then drops you straight down. The twist is that you don't know when you're going to drop- there are 6 little cars up there all at once and they drop in a random order. Not my favorite ride- I love roller coasters, but I hate the first hill where it feels like your stomach is going to exit your body through your skull, and this ride was nothing but that hill! Still, I'm glad I went, it was pretty fun. Danette, Mark, and Sam didn't ride this one with us, Sam and Danette don't like rides, and Mark doesn't do lines- certainly not hour-long lines! But they were great sports and didn't mind waiting for us to ride it (there's some great people watching at theme parks). We did get everyone on The Scrambler, though I think Danette almost had a heart attack, she certainly doesn't look very excited in the picture! :) Other then that, we rode The Ninja (old school roller coasters are still fun), played video games in the arcade, and tried in vain to win Sam a Yankees jersey. Josh was in heaven with all of the Superman and superhero stuff! We met back with the group at 6 to head to the concert, which was a little rough since some kids didn't make it until 6:20! But everyone did find us, and we headed to the concert in one huge group. It was at this time that I switched into "Border Collie" mode... have you ever tried to herd 22 youth in one direction as a group? It's not fun, although it was funny! Mark, Danette, Ruth, and I were walking behind the group, rounding up strays left and right! We'd be walking along, and the group would make a right turn, and suddenly 6 kids would simply go left... it was like herding cats through a forest! But everyone made it, and the concert was AWESOME! We saw Casting Crowns, who I just recently started listening to, since we were going to see them. They are amazing! They are a group of youth leaders, and their music is very much message-based. I only have one of their cds, but every time I hear a new song it's my new favorite! My actual favorite is "If We Are The Body," which is all about reaching out to everyone, and not judging people, or picking and choosing who "deserves" to be a Christian or be in your youth group or church. Pretty powerful stuff. Anyway, after the concert, we headed back out of the park (in Border Collie mode again, which is much more difficult in the dark), got all of the kids loaded on the bus, and they headed home. Meanwhile, Charlie, Ruth, Sam, Josh, and I headed towards Illinois, because our weekend had just begun! :) 

An Isa Story

A story from Josh about his morning run with Isa...

We went running this morning and it was starting out as a very normal run. She was a little spastic but that was normal for her. Part way through the run I noticed that she was running with me a little more and I was actually gaining on her. In fact, she was within reach. I thought this very strange but an excellent chance to play my favorite game...tag! Ever so quietly, I reached down and yelled "tag!" as I touched her right above her tail (which she hates). She went into a tailspin and almost fell over. I laughed and we kept running. Sure enough, after a few minutes I was gaining on her again. "Tag!" I got her again this time, she flipped around and tried to jump (and tag me back) but since we were running she missed and we kept going.

It was on the second lap that all hell broke loose. We were rounding the bend on the final stretch of road before you reach the house when she suddenly when nuts. I grabbed the leash on my belt in order not to be drug up the hill. I looked up and saw 4 deer standing in the yard of one of our neighbors. Isa was locked on and ready to herd. I know enough to know that you don't get between any mother and her young (3 of the deer were fawns), so I just stopped. After a few seconds their tails turned up and they rain for the woods. Isabelle wanted to be in hot pursuit but she had a 195 lb man strapped to her that wasn't going to let her go anywhere. It was like having a bullet strapped to your waist and then fired. BANG...........PING! She did it about 7 times before the deer were out of sight and we could start running. She still wasn't calm and she kept trying to pick up their scent and run off again, BANG.......PING! Now I know God has a sense of humor because as I am trying to get the dog to calm down, I look up to see another guy walking his dog. They saw the one animal commotion that was strapped to my waist and his dog started to freak out too. By the time we passed each other, we both had our dogs on lock down and were walking on opposite sides of the road. I decided that Isa was done getting exercise for the day. If you have had back trouble just strap our dog to your waist and show her a deer or a rabbit. She'll either pop it back into place or she'll snap it in two.

I know you agree with me... there's no way this adorable dog would do a thing like that... Josh is such an exaggerater! :)

 

Duh...

Ok, so I went and got my oil changed today and was giving the lady the information on my car (year, make, model, etc) when I remembered a definitely blog-worthy event that I never posted. So here goes...

I was getting a new tire for my car in a small town, and the lady behind the counter asked for the year, make, and model of my car. So I said "It's a 98 Mazda 6-2-6." She typed in the necessary information, and then looked at the screen with a very puzzled look on her face. "What was the model again?" I said "6-2-6." "Does it go by any other name?" she asked. I said not that I knew of, so she grabbed a list and showed it to me, "These are the only Mazdas it lists." I looked down at the list, and then pointed to where it said "626." "Oh," she said "The six twenty-six. Ok, we'll have it done for you." I just shook my head, thanked her, and walked away.

Fat Cat in a Little Bag

Does this post even need words? Apparently Truman thought he could fit into my prescription bag... And so he tried, with great vigor, to ram his entire body in there... this is about as close as he ever got! :)

Tab

Josh and I got to go see Tab Benoit (Ben-wah) last night. He is a favorite artist of ours; we saw him once while we were dating, then we went there on Valentine's Day right before Josh left for Germany, and we danced our first dance at our wedding to his song "Georgia." His songs are Cajun Blues, from Louisiana, and he's really fun to listen to. We haven't seen him in a couple of years because they started putting him at Mojo's, not The Blue Note, and he always came on Wednesday nights. Since Mojo's is so small, you had to get there ridiculously early to get a table, and since we have church on Wednesday nights, it just wasn't worth it. So we were really excited to go last night, since it was a Thursday night and he was at The Blue Note. Neither of us had been in there since they redid the balcony, no more tables and chairs up there, they put in theater seating. And there's no smoking in the balcony, so it was less thick up there. It was a pretty good show. The first set was mostly songs we didn't know, but Tab is fun blues to listen to whether you know the songs or not; he can do amazing things on his guitar. Then the second set he came out just him, without the rest of the band, and just sat on a stool and played by himself. He played several of our favorites then, and sounded awesome. By that time Josh and I had gone to stand on the floor for awhile, so we were really close to the stage. The coolest thing about Tab's concerts are that he attracts a very wide range of fans! Most of the people there were 30's or 40's. But there were lots of couples our age, there was one kid who looked about 3rd grade standing right next to the stage, and sitting in the row in front of us in the balcony was the cutest old couple. They must have been 80 or 90, and had trouble walking down the steps to get to their seats, but once they were seated the old man played drums on his knees and bobbed his head along with the music and had a great time. So cute! Anyway, it's always interesting to people watch there.

The one part I wasn't too happy with was in the middle of the second set when Tab talked for 5 or 10 minutes about the government abandoning Louisiana, and how wrong the war in Iraq was, etc, etc. That wasn't much fun, but then the guy lives there, so I imagine he sees a side to it that we don't. He was very funny, though; he told everyone to go take a vacation and spend their money in New Orleans because that way they knew the money was staying there... Anyway, overall it was a great show, and Josh and I even managed to stay until the end (way, way past our bedtime). Didn't hurt me too bad, I slept until 10, but Josh was a little slow getting up for work this morning! Oh well, the price you pay for good entertainment! :)

My Life as a Cat

Having been home the last week with nothing to do, I've been able to observe Truman in his daily routines... which mostly include fending off killer ponytail holders and holding down assorted furniture. In any given day he holds down the bed, the green chair, the coffee table, and the computer desk (see picture). And does a fabulous job of it! I joined him this week, and have been holding down the couch most of the week. I've made one decision... in my next life, I'm coming back as a housecat! :) 

Why Do I Torture Myself?

So, I was driving by the library today and there was a sign outside that said "Book Sale Today." Like an alcoholic driving past a bar, I couldn't help but switch lanes and head inside to spend what was left of my allowance. It was an "Old Book and Classic Stories for Adults and Children" sale today, and I am a sucker for old books. I love books that look cool, with gilded covers and old styled fonts. They may not be worth anything, but I think they look cool on the shelf! One of my favorite places in Germany was the library at San Souci. It was floor to ceiling shelves filled with books like these (only I'm pretty sure they were worth something!), I could have spent hours there. Anyway... so I browsed through the books, actually ended up leaving with only a few, and only spent $5. Go me!
One of the books I got was a short John Steinbeck novel. I like to read novels and authors that would be deemed "classics," I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it's the desire to seem "educated," especially considering most of what I read is on a 3rd grade level, occasionally I need a little neurological stimulation! :) Anyway, John Steinbeck is one author I can only rarely pass up, partly because many of his novels are short, and a partly because I am searching for a story of his that doesn't make me want to crawl into a dark hole and never come out. His are not stories to read when depressed! So I picked up another short story of his, The Red Pony, and settled down to read it this afternoon, hoping to find some ray of sunshine in his dark, dismal world. Well, it sure didn't happen this time! I mean, I guess the main characters are no worse off in the end then they are in the beginning, which is an improvement; usually several family members and/or loved ones have died before Steinbeck is satisfied. Like several novels of his that I have read, this Steinbeck followed much the same format... the main character has a great thing happen: it seems as if all of his or her dreams have come true, then the rug is tragically ripped out from under them and they end up destitute, depressed or dead (or all of the above). In this story, the little boy gets a pony from his dad (yay). Then (shocker) the pony dies (crawl into a hole). And the boy's father offers to give him the colt that their mare is about to have (yay again). And there are complications during the mare's delivery, and she has to be killed (back to the hole). The colt is born by c-section, and laid at the boy's feet. For a second or two I thought that the book was going to have a happy ending. But that's the last you read of the colt, and the book ends with a meaningless chapter about the boy's grandfather coming to visit, and no mention of the colt. So I put the book back down and wondered again...WHY DO I TORTURE MYSELF WITH HIS BOOKS?! It's ridiculous! I'm sure there's a deeper meaning that I'm missing, but it just doesn't seem worth it...
I have much higher hopes for another book I bought... it's called The Egyptian, and I bought it solely for it's cool, old-looking cover, and because I opened it, read a sentence, and was intrigued. As I am intrigued by all things Egyptian. So here's hoping that next time I can put the crack pipe down, and leave the John Steinbeck on the shelf... and tomorrow I'm going to go back to reading uncomplicated 3rd grade books where everyone lives happily ever after!