Joys of Being a Teacher

Many of you have only small children and live in a big city so you don't get to experience the joys of Homecoming!!! There is so much school spirit from pre-school to senior citizens in this community - or any IA community!!!

We had a week filled with chaotic children, candy, parades, pep rallies and to end it a big football game - which I am almost sure we lost. We made it to half-time before the squirming of the kids were too much for me to handle. Jason hadn't been to a high school football game since my days at Johnston!

I didn't get crazy this year for dress-up days, but a few of my fellow co-workers were in rare form. Blast from the past was the fun day where we had the late 80s to early 90s covered!!! Kate is sporting her tight rolled jeans with her cut-up sweatshirt and side pony tail.

This picture is not a head-on one, but these two get the award for the day. I can't believe that Amanda or Steve had any of these clothes left in their closets! Steve's jeans were authentic stonewashed jeans with tapered legs. He calls them his "two-story pants" since he had to jump to get into them. He wore a plaid flannel and white t-shirt to hide the tightness in the butt area! The picture doesn't do the color scheme of Amanda's pants justice. They were florescent yellow and she had a fluorescent orange sports bra on also!

Come join the fun at your local school!

The Nose Pick'in Fort

After almost an hour of sitting in her 'fort' doing nothing, I asked Ally if she was having fun. She said 'yes.' I asked her what she was doing. She said, 'picking my nose.' Then I went on to ask her if she had really built a fort just to pick her nose in. Her response...'No, I'm using my finger.' I decided not to ask anymore questions. --Jason--


(Please click on the picture to see it more clearly - it makes the post so much more funny!)

Sweet Prayer

Tonight Jason and I got the privelege to share our story with the college kids. Before they start, they fellowship all around the house and our kids LOVE it!!! Last week Ally sat down with her Bible and read stories to Betsy. Tonight she found Betsy tonight praying with some girls. She joined hands and prayed with them.

We love this group and pray that they will be bold on the U of I's campus.

Side note: For those of you is STL, if you know the Kruse's - this is Luke's girlfriend.

Small Group

I'd like to say I have a good excuse on not blogging in the last week, but I have nothing. I'd like to say that I am busy, but so is everyone else.

Last night was a monumental point in our journey to our new home. We started our small group. We have started with four couples - one being very old. (that's Uncle Dale, Britt!!!) An elder at our church has helped us start this group out with the plan that he steps aside next summer and we continue going.

Pray this group will gel and will become a family. We are the only ones with small kids and we have a baby due in the group in 9 wks!

I was flipping through files to find a info card last night and came across this picture of a close family two days after our newest member had been born. When asked what we wanted this group to become I thought of this picture and the one hanging on the wall of a super bowl party at the Hilson's. We want a family that is there to support, love, care and keep us accountable.


God will do great things with our new group!

Side note: I wanted to ask for a picture for the blog, but I don't want them to know quite yet that I am crazy!

We are also going to have to work on what everyone brings to the table for small group. We have a foam seller, video game designer, map maker, construction dude, teachers, and a soon to be mom. Who am I going to go to if I need a knee or hip now????

Bapoleon

I've mentioned that my husband is a bad influence on my kids. FYI - If you are a parent of a pre-schooler or small child - watch what you say. Why you ask? Because they take your words other places. For example - Pre-school.

I walked into the office last week to find Ally's teachers. When I walked in - they started laughing and said, "You'd never believe what Ally did today." Today being the key word, they love to talk to her because she has a weird philosophy about everything that makes you giggle - but me embarassed!

We have started eating tator tots that influenced a post a few weeks ago. They were having tator tots at school and all said in distress, "My daddy makes me laugh when he says something." She puts her hand to her cheek in deep thought and remembers - "oh yeah, Bapoleon!"

Amanda, her teacher, says, "you mean Napoleon?"

Ally, "Yes, Napoleon give me you tots!" She yells at lunch.

Now every time anyone mentions tator tots we have two kids that yell, "Napoleon give me your tots."

I am waiting for Jason's next mistake in words to come back to get me at school. Drew has the "Surf's up" penguin toys and Jason keeps calling them ducks. On the way home from school, Jason was making fun of Drew because he was hiding his ducks in his pants. Can you imagine how this sentence might come out to Ally's teachers???

Another Girl!

Welcome Lauryn Christine Klaassen!

at 3:24 p.m. September 18th
weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz! (don't think I am willing to try and out do that one!)
21 inches
brown hair - but not very much - baldy til 2 like all the others!
very awake and alert

Mommy is doing great and looks like she didn't work at all today! (according to Grandma Rhonda)

I am so excited and wish I could hold my sweet niece. I will add pictures when my mom sends me some!

75th Anniversary

Today was our church's - Parkview - 75th anniversary. It was a big weekend with a barbaque on Saturday night with activities for the family.

The LaPointe's went with us expecting not to know a soul since they moved back into the state less than 3 wks ago. But like any Iowan, they found lots of people they knew. Nick's old choir director, friend from HS and another music friend. We always say that if you have a connection to Iowa, we can find a common friend/accaintance. Allie did dress the boys in conflicting clothing. Poor Mboy had to wear the losing Hawkeye colors while Gman had the Cyclones on. They are a household divided!

It was fun to walk by the college students that are now dreading walking into our Cyclone house on Tuesday. Last week they had no doubt they would win the game! One guy asked if they really had group at our house - he isn't sure about coming back!

On Sunday church was great and about how the church is missional. The church has always been and will always be about spreading God's word - to the Iowa City area, the University campus and to the world. This weekend was about celebrating HIM.

Now for the humorus side note: Church was packed and we ended up scooting next to an older woman (probably in her 50s - don't yell at me - she wasn't a college age girl!). Jason (and me too) usually enjoy a seat in between us for comfort, but that wasn't an option today. Well I guess during the service the lady laid her head on Jason's shoulder twice. Now once I can understand - falling asleep, but twice hummmmm. Jason was very uncomfortable - I never noticed, but he was quite swirmy towards the end! (Good blog material - I thought when he told me!)

Luke and Betsy some college students came over for lunch and for some baseball. Luke went away happy since his stinkin' Cubs won again. At least we didn't have to watch the Cub announcers!

Cy-Hawk Trophy

Today was the big day in state football. Iowa State might look like they are not very good, but somehow every year they pull off a good game for Iowa. To be honest - which I hate to be but I predicted a 45-13 ISU loss. I figured that if I posted a victory for ISU I would get crap for the rest of the year. I also didn't believe that it could happen. Five field goals is one way to win a football game. It was ISU/Iowa day at school and I think there were a mere 10 ISU people dressed up (and we make up 3 of them!) I did get one girl to dress up for ISU (even though she claims the other side) so that she could be my favorite for the rest of the year. Way to go Sydney!!! She out did herself and definitely got noticed! Ally and Reily (our principal's daughter) were in their cheerleading outfits. I didn't get down to the preschool early enough to get their picture. Here is my little football player and cheerleader playing on the computers before school. We also treked down to the office before going to class so that Mommy could show them off. They were impressed by the copier and how fast it could spit the papers out! I guess Jared there is a possibility for ISU to go 10-2, but I wouldn't bet too much on it!

Lake Iowa Again

We headed out to Lake Iowa for our annual class trip. Lake Iowa is in the middle of no where but is a beautiful park and lake. You can't ski but fishing is allowed. We had a blast! I did have a lot of fun last year too! Each grades activities are different so by the time they go through 3 years at our middle school they've all types of experiences!
This year we got to kayack, insect identification (not my fav), lake and river fish, water clarity adn testing and our service project was clearing an area of brush so that the sun light could get to the forest floor. That was a little scary. I wouldn't particularly give a saw to any of my kids for fear of hacking off someone's body parts. They did good!

We did get to watch the naturalist and "fishing dude" let out 4000 catfish that they had been growing. They were born in Jan/Feb. They were brought out to the lake in May and put in 7 big cages. They fed them every day and now were big enough to let out.
We ended the day with swimming which was a great team building activity. Teachers didn't swim we were too tired and sat on the beach!

Bad Influence

I have found lots of stuff to blog about, but I am going to focus on one update a day! Jason is starting to become a bad influence to our children - he is bringing in STUPID movies to our household. What does a mom do when the tator tots come out on the table and the first thing your daughter says is this....



Also - Jason did her hair.

Side note for those who can't understand 4 year old jibberish - Napoleon - give me some of your tots.

A Little (or a lot) Prayer Needed

All my dear readers that faithfully check this site daily - I have been absent from the blog but it is out of pure business. I know that you all are busy and feel no sympathy, but that is my excuse. This past week has been filled with Jason being gone in in PA and a lovely outbreak of e.coli in our school - more specifically our preschool/elementary. There are 4 confirmed cases and 2 suspected. It sounds like there are others in the community.

You know e. coli from the taco bell lettuce but that is not where we got this from - they don't know yet what it is from. What I need is prayer for Ally and Drew (and me). They don't have it but the incubation time is up to 9 days. I would feel confident that they are safe if we could get through this weekend and no more kids go home from the preschool. The last kid to go home with confirmation of having it was last Friday. It is spread by poop and not having good hand washing - which you can guarantee that we have been doing regularly.

I was reminded by our asst principal Friday night at the game that I needed to pray. He is a Christian man - wonderful!!! He told me that my kiddos are surrounded by a hedge of protection and that I needed to trust God. Smack in the face - Brenda you aren't trusting God! I need to remember that he is in control and has all our days mapped out - e. coli or not.

Also pray for a little girl that is in the hospital and not doing well - one of the side effects is kidney shut-down.

So wash and scrub your hands!!!

A Day at CCAMS

I wish I would have had my camera because we must take pictures to document our life on the blog, but I was too freaked out today to go get my camera phone!

Every year we have student council speeches for president and vice president. Every year they drone on about getting the gym floor changed - we merged schools a few years ago, alternative lunches, snacks, recess, comment boxes, ketchup dispensers...This year we had a little excitement!

Mrs. Brack was trying to keep herself awake during the speeches. She was fixing the tornado/fire evacuation sign on the gym door. She couldn't get it to stick since something was on the back of it. She pulled it up to find a SNAKE (alive don't you know) stuck to the back in the duct tape. AHHHHHHHH Of coarse trying not to make a scene we (teachers) wanted to know what the heck was going on. At first we weren't sure of the dangerous level - it had red on it (bad sign), but after much debate and consulting of our "experts" (aka science teachers), we are pretty sure that won't kill us.

I still -12 hours later- get chills up my back thinking something is slithering in my hair!

Jason mentioned that it was probably placed there as a practical joke by the kids - but our kids are not quiet and can't keep a secret from anyone. If they did tell, it would spread and everyone would be trying to check out the gym door to see if it was still there.

Don't you wish you could be a teacher and have this much excitement in one day.

24-7

I'm not sure how many shoes are there, but tonight starts our 7 weeks of hosting the college leadership team from our church. We are thrilled to have a small part of helping them share the gospel to the university campus. I know their task is difficult while they try to balance being a good student, working and building relationships, BUT their reward will be great in heaven.

In this group of "kids" is Luke Kruse from Calvary. He has really blessed us by mowing our lawn while Jason was on the DL. I remember 3 years ago emailing Andy Campman (24-7's leader and one of Jason's old friends) about this freshman that needed to get plugged in. It is amazing to see how God has changed Luke who is looking at going to be a missionary after he finishes school. God is great!

Pray for these guys and gals as they spread God's word to the campus. They meet on Thursday nights at 9 bells for worship and teaching. They have all signed a "contract" to wear their red 24-7 shirt for two weeks STRAIGHT!!! They have definitely got noticed on campus.

Summer is Over

Even though the hot, humid and sticky are not gone, we consider the summer gone since the pool is down. I hadn't put chlorine in it for awhile and it was turning pretty shades of green. The last few weeks have gotten quite chilly at night and never got back up to "swimable" temperature for Jason and I. I think that Ally would have swam in ice - but she would be swimming alone!!!

We managed to distract the kids for the first couple hours while we scrubbed the bottom, but once they figured out that water was involved the job became much more difficult with their "helping" hands.

Labor Day was full of labor. We both wish that we had more 3 day weekends. It was hard to go back to work today!

2007 Iowa State Fair

This should have been posted a LONG time ago, but there were so many good pictures to choose from that highlighted our day. We had a good time with my parents, Rachel, and Jared and Allison. It was HOT - Jared said it was a beautiful day, but it was hot and sticky!!! I had never been to the state fair (and I know why - you shouldn't take your kids to enjoy all the good stuff!) before I met Jason. I think we went together the first year we were dating and I don't know if we have missed one yet - except a couple years while we were in STL.

Highlights of the fair:
1. Riding or pretending to drive all the new tractors
2. Varied industries building - lots of "innovative" stuff that you don't need
3. Craft buildings that show all the cool stuff that you could make if you had time or talent
4. 4-H building - I have to put that since Jason was in 4-H. I looked for some of my kids' projects but the building is sooooo big and I didn't know what they had brought.
5. Beef tent, pork tent, beer tent - opps sorry I didn't mean that one - I don't drink but there were enough people that were to make up for me not!
6. funnel cake, egg rolls, turkey legs, HUGE corn dogs, euros...
7. Doll houses - so cool and intricate
8. butter cow - it's an Iowa thing
9. ICE CREAM - real or nitro or dippin' dots all are good
10. Slide
11. finding cheap parking in someone's lawn and hoping that your car is there when you get back and not dinged because they parked someone 3 inches from you!
12. Big pig, cow, boar etc - too bad they would make a terrible steak or pork chop!
13. Pioneers little farm where kids get to be a farmer!
14. And new this year - a building dedicated to baby animals where they are born during the fair and you can pet and hold them. It was stinky but the kids didn't mind!

Come join us and the rest of Iowa next year!