Giving Thanks

Thanskgiving has come and gone. The planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, decorating, and entertaining is over. Today, with everything back to normal, I can finally sit back and reflect on my blessings. Here are a couple of pictures of the some of the things I am thankful for. This is Breck ready to eat her pie.

And here are Emma and Lawson eating Thanksgiving dinner.

And now a reflection on some of the things I am thankful for:

The doorbell ringing with Emma's giggling, bubbling enthusiasm spilling into the room.

Braydon's analytical mind always wanting math problems to solve, and his joke telling during dinner.

Breck's quiet, sweet nature, who always seems to have a book in her hand.

Lawson -what isn't to love about a three-year-old! and, "Come get me Gaapa!"

Mike's leadership and incredible patience. And he loves me!

My son's - they have grown into awesome men, who are wonderful husbands and fathers and they are very funny too!

My daughters-in-law, Corrin and Jaime - they love my sons, are terrific moms, and they are so helpful and caring!

My mom - she is showing me how to grow old. If I can live to be 86 years young and be as active as she is, it will be a blessing.

My sister - we may not talk to each other for weeks, but I know if I ever need her, she will be there for me. There is something very special about having a sister.

My in-laws, George and Bev. I am thankful for the son they raised and the support they have given us over the years.

My friends -what would my life be without them. In the meal of life, they are the dessert, sweet and satisfying.

My sister-in-law - she makes life fun.

My students - I love fifth graders. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing a class say, "Can we do this again tomorrow? We love this!"

My church family. I am accepted and loved by them.

My dad - he showed me unconditional love. And because of him, I was able to understand and accept God's uncondtional love for me.

God - He loves me, and I am His child. There is nothing more important in my life. For this I am most thankful!

Hunting at its best

I have seen many hunting shows where everyone shoots their limit in just minutes and I have read blogs where someone shot so many shells that their barrel warped (maybe that is an exaggeration, huh Jeremy?). Well the boys and I were ready for one of those last weekend. We got up at 5:00 because where we like to hunt ducks just a few miles from home is on public ground and is very popular. We arrived around 5:30 and instantly started setting our "spread". We have duck decoys, geese decoys, a "lucky duck" that moves its wings - all just ready to bring the birds in to us. When we got back on land we had to get all set up. Because of the popularity of the "hotspot" a lot of the vegetation has been trampled down but that is no problem because I have a piece of camouflage material that we just put up between trees to hide behind.
Ah yes, we are finally all set - now we just have to wait. Towards the back of our area is a tree that we place our blind bags beside, hang our gun cases on and just congregate by. We opened our blind bags to get out our coffee cups, thermoses and with pride of our progress started talking about all of life's issues.
Then suddenly it happened. A large flock of ducks started coming our way. They circled, then set their wings and landed in our spread of decoys. We all looked at each other and realized that none of us had taken our guns out of their cases - let alone loaded them! We also knew that once we moved or made any noise we would be "busted". MENTAL NOTE - ALWAYS LOAD YOUR GUNS BEFORE POURING COFFEE!!!!!

This and That

Have you ever noticed that when you think about your life it seems that nothing is really happening? That is what I have been doing recently then I look and haven't blogged for three and a half weeks yet in reflection of that time things have happened.
First of all, last week Andy and Corrin went to Las Vegas for a convention. I haven't figured out why the State of Nebraska would send Andy to "Sin City" for more education, but it gave all the grandparents time with Emma and Lawson. A&C dropped Emma and Lawson off last Sunday at 9:00 in the morning. Grandparents Doug and Jackie were on their own trip coming home from Florida. Emma was sad as she understood Mom and Dad were leaving and Lawson said, "Come and get me Granpa!" You could just tell in his voice that he was concerned about M&D leaving! We had the kids until Doug and Jackie came to pick them up late in the afternoon. From then on, D&J would take care of the kids in the morning, getting them ready for school / daycare, Brenda would pick them up and bring them to our house where she would prepare to feed the kids and me. My main responsible was to come home and entertain them. I would walk in the door and would hear. "Come and get me Granpa!" I would change and play this game for a short time, then this would be followed up with, "Look granpa, I have puzzles." This means putting three jigsaw puzzles together (two Power Rangers and one Spiderman). This is very intense work as Lawson doesn't put up with any wrong placement of pieces. We would have to finish the puzzle we were working on before we could leave the coffee table for dinner - Lawson is a taskmaster! After dinner we would try to finish whatever task we have started before Doug or Jackie pick them up. I did have one very disappointing moment when Emma beat me in "Sorry" twice! I am sure this is why I was given this responsiblility.

Intimidation revisited

I know that I defined intimidation just last week but tonight I found a new definition. If you remember last month (Sept. 18th) I talked about the One Book, One Lincoln. Brenda and I both read it and enjoyed it. Tonight there was a book discussion at the Haven Manor here in Hickman put on by Lincoln Library. Brenda talked me into going to the discussion group (though she now denies this). She told me that if no men are there I can leave and she will call me when she is done. This seemed fair.
When we arrived the room was full about 60/40 women but with the 40% men I felt pretty comfortable. When everyone finally sat down they talked about the many Russian librarians who have been in Lincoln on a "sharing" tour of US libraries. The lady in charge started talking to the group and an interpretor would intepret to the Russian group. This lasted about 20 minutes - then they told the group that the visiting librarians had been so busy and that they were undoubtedly tired and hungry. The visitors were then excused - when they had thanked everyone for their hospitality and left the ratio was a little different. 14/1 Thankfully I was sort of in the back and in a corner. I just sat there and listened until the facilitator said, "I hope you don't throw something at me but I want to ask you a question since you are the only man here!" I am not sure what her question was and I know I just him-hawed through it.
I do believe that 14 women armed with "book-talkese" can out duel women with knitting needles!

The resurection of old toys

Most of you won't remember that when Andy and Josh were quite young (about 25-6 years ago) they received John Deere pedal tractors. These were beautiful toys and kept them busy for many years. The tractors came with trailers that the boys would fill with anything from toys to dirt. The boys would fill the trailers with anything "heavy" so that they could have tractor pulls. These tractors were many hours of fun and adventure and abused like no toy should ever be abused. After the boys grew out of them they were exiled to the shed. They would hang up there for many years, only to be taken down when I would clean the shed and then hung back up to just be ignored.

When we moved, we didn't have a shed anymore. I think either Breck or Braydon noticed the abused pile of metal sitting over in the corner and wanted if they could ride them. I had to do quite a bit of work just to get them to be rideable but the grandkids didn't mind. They would ride them all around our circle, not caring what they looked like.

A couple of weeks ago our neighbor to the north came home with his new toy. It was a John Deere tractor. Dustin likes to participate in tractor pulls and his tractor didn't meet his standards of shininess. Dustin started taking his tractor all apart and repainting it. What a great stroke of luck for me. While talking to Dustin I just mentioned that I have a couple of pedal tractors that need to be painted and wondered if he would mind helping me with my project.

I have now found a website that sells everything else that I need to put these in original condition and here are some pictures showing what they look like.

Now as long as I can keep Andy and Josh from tractor pulling with these the grandkids will have there own great time.

The new definition of intimidation

I have now found a new definition of intimidation. Earlier tonight Brenda and I were watching Breck and Braydon. We took them out for a bite to eat and book shopping. After buying each a book Brenda wanted to stop at the Yarn Shop so that Breck could pick out some yarn for her socks. If you remember in my blog last night, Brenda is knitting some socks for Emma. Brenda might have to quit teaching - she now is working on socks for Emma, has yarn to start socks for Breck and me, and Andy expects to have some socks BEFORE Breck and me (yet he doesn't have yarn yet). As we arrived at the yarn shop we noticed that they were having a party. It was an early Halloween party! You can just imagine my (and Braydon's) concern. Here is a large group of women, all drinking wine or beer and all armed with knitting needles - wearing costumes so that no one could identify them if they deemed it necessary to harm a misguided male entering their domain. Though they were very cordial, Braydon couldn't keep his eyes off of many of them. He also seemed to cling to me or Brenda. I did feel it fortunate that we were able to purchase our yarn and escape without any puncture wounds.
On another note - on the way home Braydon wanted to do "math". As a kindergartener, he likes to work on his addition skills. We started to ask him math problems (Brenda would ask him problems that her lower 5th grade students couldn't do) and he would come up with the right answer in his head. I don't think I can add 350 + 25 in my head, but again I am not in kindergarten either. I just remember in kindergarten knowing where my nap mat was and hoping that today was chocolate milk day!

World Series Blues

Well here I am sitting and watching the pregame for the World Series. I have my 2007 World Champion Red Sox "hoodie" on and just can't get over that I am NOT excited about this series. I am thinking of turning over to watch the cooking channel or maybe HGTV - I am sure that "Get it Sold" would be sit on the edge of your seat exciting!
Anyway, I am not only finding that there is life after fantasy football implosion (my team is now named "Mother Theresa's sisters of mercy") and that there is baseball after the Red Sox go home for the winter. Brenda is busy working on a pair of socks (surprise, surprise) for Emma. They are going to be VERY CUTE (can I say that as a man?) but they are giving her fits. When Brenda makes socks for girls as she usually does, everything goes well. But when she has to adjust the size of the socks she runs into issues. At this point she is tearing out the heal and grumbling about "dropping stitches". And to think she does this for fun and relaxation.
As for me, I am getting ready for hunting. Andy, Josh and I went duck hunting last Saturday and we saw two, got one. I am not sure, but if you are sitting within ten feet of each other yet can't see either of the boys because of the fog, we might have had 100 ducks out laughing at us and we wouldn't really know. But the coffee and conversation was great. This Saturday starts the pheasant hunting season. The boys and I will make our usual trek out and if we do our usual, will be home for our nap before the Huskers kick off. Of course the kick off is 11:30 so we won't be out too long. Gotta pace ourselves!!!!!!
Oh boy, I better go as the Phillies have a baserunner on first base yet isn't a Phillie a sandwich? Just "food" for thought!

Me and my girls

I have been chastised today. Stephanie B. has put me in my place that I haven't been blogging - then when downloading pictures Brenda chastised me for not downloading the pics sooner as she wanted to blog them. I have been busy watching my Red Sox lately (along with the Huskers) but that is no excuse.

I must admit that I have an exciting story about me and my girls. A couple of Saturdays ago Lawson and I had the privilege of going to "Beauty and the Beast" with Brenda, Breck, Emma and Corrin. What a performance. Brenda and I have gone to many shows at the Lied Center, the Lincoln Community Theater and I must admit that this show was as good if not better than anything else we have seen. I have to say that it started out that Lawson and I were the gentlemen escorts but Lawson found out that he only enjoyed clapping and we weren't able to clap often enough! At intermission, Corrin took Lawson home so that left me to carry the male load by myself. We had cookies and everyone had to have a rose to help the Beast turn into the prince. We did ask Braydon to go with us but the kindergarten classes were able to see it before so he declined but had to have a rose.

In the pictures you will see Breck and Emma with some of the characters and in the picture to the right you will see Jessie Traudt as a wolf!

Since then, Brenda had parent conferences (two nights in a row) and that pretty much took care of last week!

This next week is looking much better. I believe the Red Sox will win tonight and the Huskers will lose with more style on Saturday.

Life after Fantasy Football

In the past couple of weeks I have found out that there is life after fantasy football. The shock of the end of the season in the first quarter of the first game has warn off and I have moved on. I'm not sure if everyone knows that in the past few years Lincoln has had their "One Book, One Lincoln" campaign. This is when a group of literary genius' review a few recommended books and then come up with their number one pick, then fill the libraries with only that one book and ask everyone in the city to read it. They start up book clubs to get all together and discuss the book.

Brenda and I have read (or in my case listen to) most of the past books. There have been a couple that for what ever reason I haven't been able to get through but for the most part I have actually enjoyed them. I do believe that this is because I have become civilized - I don't grunt anymore but actually speak in sentences. I have found out that books can be my friend. Anyway, when the new OBOL selection was announced, I was excited that I could tell Brenda that it was "The Thirteenth Tale". When Brenda came home I was about to tell her when she said that she had been in town and had found a couple of things for me to listen to. One was a book on the comedy of golf and the other was the new OBOL! I was deflated!

I started reading (remember I say that though I listen to it on CD) and have really enjoyed it. I even finished it before Brenda. I can't tell you any more about this book because Bren needs to finish it first but then I will have my own book club and if anyone wants to discuss the true meaning of the book with me I will put the coffee on (as I think everyone who discusses books must drink coffee) and we can discuss.

With this book done I moved on to the book on golf. This is written by a man who golfed when he was young and gave the sport up becaused he "sucked" at it. After 30 years off, he decided to take it up again and continues to "suck" at it! What is really depressing about this is he talks about all the horrible shots he makes, the terrible scores he has and yet he stills shoots as good as (or should I say as bad as) me! This guy talks about how he is so embarrassed about his game that he only goes out by himself. He can't be seen by anyone who knows him.

He actually goes to World Golf Village (we were there last March) and gets personally sized up for clubs. They say that the only driver that he should be using is a Calloway Fusion (which is what I have). He can't hit it for anything (I couldn't hit a ball in the ocean from a john boat) and ends up giving it up to someone else. I might have to try that approach - give my clubs up one at a time.

Well, that is it - I gave up fantasy football for reading books (some on golf). Yet I wonder, in fantasy football, there is always the optimism of having that one good week when all your players score well. But in golf, it only takes that one shot to keep me coming back for more! And in some morbid way this goes beyond the game and on to books about the game.

Apple Marathon Day

Today was apple marathon day at the Weekly's. My friend Jayne has an apple orchard and graciously lets us pick apples. We started the day with the whole family going to her orchard to pick. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures of us picking. The little kids had a great time carrying their bags around getting apples. The big boys had a great time using the apple pickers, and trying to outdo each other on who could find the best apples. We brought home 10 bags of apples, and then the fun really started.

We all had jobs to do. As you can see here, everybody is busy doing something. Braydon assesed the situation as he came through the kitchen early in the afternoon and asked me, "Why are you making all these people work?" I tried to tell him that they were choosing to work, and I wasn't making them. I'm not sure he believed me. Actually, I'm not sure anybody believed me.

Andy and Josh learned to make a mean pie crust, and make the applesauce. Jaime spent the entire time making the fillings for the pies and apples crisp. Mike, the boys, and Corrin took turns on the apple pealer / slicer gizmo. Corrin washed all the apples. Mike made all the topppings for the apple crisp, and I rolled out all the pie crusts.

Towards the end of our marathon, the little kids wanted in on the action too. Andy made pie crust for them, Jaime made the filling, and they did the rest. They did an amazing job! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Breck's pie. Not sure if you can see it, but Braydon made a little pie crust man and put it on top of his pie! Lawson didn't have any interest in baking today.

Here are the totals for the day: 11 pies, 10 pans of apple crisp, 2 gallons of applesauce, and 6 pints of Caramel Apple Jam. Not bad for a kitchen that doesn't hold 6 adults, and two brothers who have to compete with each other over their applesauce and pie crust making abilities. Even though I am very tired, all in all it was a great day.

Lawson's Turn

Tonight was Lawson's turn to spend time with us while his big sister was at dance class. I told Lawson when he left tonight that I would put him on the blog. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what that means, but maybe after he sees this, he'll know. Two things Lawson likes when he comes to our house: playing games, and having his picture taken. He sees the bigger kids playing games and he wants to be just like them. So we "play" games. Here he is building his pipeline. He would roll the die, pump his fist, and say, "yes." Then he would put more pieces on the board. When he got tired of that game, he got out the big magnets and built this design. Right before he left tonight he wanted Mike to take one more picture of him. He looks so serious and grown-up, but awfully cute!

Death of a football team

I want to thank all of you who have sent me sympathy cards, etc. for my great loss. Of course I am talking about my quarterback in my fantasy league. If you remember, I blogged about spending over 1/3 of my total fantasy salary for Tom Brady. And if you pay any attention at all regarding the NFL you know that Tom tore up his knee yesterday in the first quarter of the first game of this season. With this tragedy coming so quickly is very shocking to me. Fortunately for me that I have the most sensitive sons as each of them have sent me sympathy cards. Josh's card came last night when I was still very much in shock and denial. Andy's card came tonight after I had heard that Tom was done for the entire year (and yet he did not mention that he was beating me soundly this week - that is truly a nice guy!). I will try to muddle through the season and give it the best that I can. And if another tragedy comes my way, forget the cards and just send cookies!
Mike

Tea Time with Emma

Last night Emma came over to play for a little while. After beating Mike and me at Sorry, and building towers with the magnets, Emma decided we needed to have a tea party. She choose the tea set, set the table, and planned the menu while I baked the cookies. For dinner we were going to have peanut butter cookies, and for dessert it would be chocolate sundae ice cream cups from the Schwan man (whose timing at our house was perfect - she loved shopping with the catalog!) After getting everything ready - including the booster chair for her "daughter," Emma had us come to the table. She served the tea, and the cookies. She was such a charming hostess! Our tea was perfectly sweetened, and our cups were never empty. Even her daughter had bites of cookie and sips of tea. After tea, we all settled on the couch and read one of Emma's favorite books until Daddy came to pick her up. Nothing is better than being able to spend time our with grandchildren! We are so blessed!

Princeton here we come!

Can you hear the rumblings from Princeton? I believe they are not ready for the Weekly Express as they come through town. Yes we went bike riding this evening and stopped just short of Princeton. We now have it within our reach. I think the whole town is "shaking in their boots"! Actually, we have now come to the 50 mile "stone" (that is 50 miles milestone). With the weather getting cooler in the evening I hope we can double that before the snow flies.

Speaking of evenings, I believe our's are going to become less busy pretty soon. Brenda had IEP's the last two Tuesdays. I am not sure, but I believe that stands for "Intensive, Exhausting and Painful". This is actually when she meets with student's parents who have special needs. She has many of these students so she had many meetings each evening (hence the intensive and exhausting). None of the teachers can leave school until 9:00 PM (hence the Painful). But now those are over.
I have only three Thursday nights of golf (these are not intensive or exhausting - just painful). We are now in third place and if I keep playing the way I am, I am sure we can make it to last place. The good part of it is now that the leaves will start changing, I will be able to enjoy parts of course that many don't ever see. I might have to take my camera for the wildlife.
Mike

In the full swing

Here we are in the full swing of Fall. We know it because Brenda has been in school for two weeks and more importantly (to me) Nebraska has had its first football game. As many of you know, this is the start of the Bo Pelini era. Yesterday's ticket was supposedly one of the hardest tickets to get in many years. Tailgating started yesterday morning at 9:00 though kickoff wasn't until 6:00 PM (I am sure some started their tailgating Friday evening). NAI FMA had their annual tailgate party in the office. Brenda and I made our way downtown early so that Brenda could get a new Husker shirt. at 2:00, we had to go up 3/4 of the way in the parking garage, wade through mobs of husker fans just to spend our money on a new top! Afterwards we went to the company party so that we could run home to watch the game on pay per view. Its a beautiful thing when we can teach our college students economics - supply and demand!

The other sign of fall is fantasy football. Where those who really don't know much about football (but listen most of the day long to sports radio) draft teams so that we can have bragging rights over knowing something that no one else in the world knows. This can consist of things like knowing that this player isn't going to play well all year long, though he makes millions of dollars, or that another player is going to tear is ACL in the first game of the year and be out of commission (who in there right mind would have wanted him).

We start the season with the annual "draft". This is when ten men get together with $200 of imaginery money in their pockets and auction off all the NFL talent to get the best team ever assembled on paper! I was fortunate to spend $72 of my money on the very first player - Tom Brady. Now all I have to do is buy 17 more players with the rest of my money. Once you have spent all of your money you can only pickup players for free. This is another good lesson on economics.... or maybe just accounting - don't spend all of your money on a couple of players and have nothing for the rest of your team.
The other important management rule is to watch out for "bye weeks". These are when the players you have drafted don't play a game. This is important when drafting because it doesn't help if you get one of the best players in the league if he has a "bye week" the same time your other best player in the league does. I do believe this happened once or twice during our draft. Finally we are now ready for the league play to begin. I believe next week is when it all kicks off. I get to play against Andy the first week. Last year his team didn't do too well but it was always interesting to see what his team's name was. He has the tendency to change it quite frequently.
I will make sure to keep you up to date on all of the fall sports in our lives - I didn't even get started on the Red Sox!
Later, Mike

We continue on our southern trek

Tonight we continued our trek to Mexico (or maybe Princeton). We parked the same place that we parked on Monday night. If you remember, we had a pleasant ride to the north to Roca but had to climb Kilamajaro on our return trip. Tonight we headed south towards Princeton. It was another monster climb as we went uphil all the way - climbing 115 feet according to my "altimeter" (doesn't everyone have one?). It was fairly slow going. When we turned around and headed back to the truck, we were able to get back in half the time.
One thing we did notice is the difference in food sources. In all of our trips between Saltillo Road and Hickman Road, we have been able to get our fill of gnats. Now that we are heading south of Hickman Road we had no gnats but the path was covered with grasshoppers! Does this seem to have an Old Testament plague theme???? Anyway, we had to dodge grasshoppers the whole trip. I did find out that it is hard to run over grasshoppers. They just sit there until you get right about to squish them and then they hop away. I did find this frustrating on the slow trip up the mountain. Now on the way back, since I was going faster, they must have underestimated my speed because they were easier to hit!
Anyway, we did surpass our goal of 23 miles before snow flies - as we are now up to 27!

Mike

Exercise update

I know that you all have been waiting with bated breath(how do you spell this - and what does it mean!) for an update on our extensive exercise program. Since the first message on our exercising we have ridden three more times!!!! The next time we rode was in Lincoln. We decided to have a picnic date night and then ride. We noticed that we could eat our picnic without the need to save room for gnats. We also noticed (because we are VERY observant people) that riding on concrete paths is easier than rock paths. Since we didn't have gnats to contend with we had other path enthusiasts. This has always made for a little game that I like to play while riding. Yes I can multi-task with the best of them. Anyway, I try to greet most everyone I meet. The trick is to get them to say what I say. If I greet them with a "hello", they need to respond back with a "hello". Now if they greet me first, I must respond different than them. If they say "hello" I need to say something different like "hi" or "good evening". So far, I do believe that I am far ahead of everyone that I have met.
Anyway, the second night we went back to the Gnat Buffet. We rode from Saltillo all the way to Roca Road. When we got back I thought I had been impaled by a big gnat but on further investigation I think I have a zit on my cheek! Believe me, when you ride as fast as we do it is not hard to get facial injuries from these bugs.
Tonight, we started west of Hickman and rode north to Roca Road. This was a very pleasant ride all the way there. I did notice that according to my "altimeter" (doesn't everyone have one of those?) we had dropped 65 feet. I just figured that it was acting up. After we turned around I realized that I was right. It didn't feel like 65 feet, it felt like we had to climb 6500 feet back to where we started. Actually the "altimeter" was right about the 65 feet.
I also noticed that the gnats on the southern part of the trail taste different. I do believe they have a smoother bouquet - and are bigger. I also noticed that there weren't as many but still do choke you when you inhale them.
All together we have now ridden 22 miles since we started last week. Hopefully we will reach our goal of 23 miles before the first snow fall.

Mike

And now the school year begins!

We now have survived the first week of students. Brenda has gone through the phases of mourning. Last Wednesday was denial - it really couldn't be starting, followed by anger (hence the "defcon 3" report last week). We have gone through the other phases and are now into acceptance. So we now have decided that if we want to live into our retirement days we need to exercise. Brenda couldn't sleep last night and has figured that if we get into better shape it will help in all aspects of our lives, like being to sleep.
Tonight we decided to ride our bikes. Just south of Lincoln on Saltillo Road, the bike path goes south on an old railroad bed supposedly all the way to Cortland and beyond! We drove to the parking lot and thought we would start out easy by riding for thirty minutes. As we got started, Brenda needed to know if we were going up or down (and we think Braydon asks important questions). Since my bike has an altimeter (doesn't everyone??) I told her that I would watch. Of course in my infinite wisdom and technology prowess, I somehow changed by cyclometer from US measurment to Metric. I could only tell her if we were going up or down by meters. On a railroad bed that is fairly level you can go along ways before you climb a meter!
Not only were we getting exercise riding on this flat trail but we made the mistake of eating before we went. This was a mistake because we were getting our daily allowance of protein in the bugs that we kept swallowing. Brenda decided to take some home with her by letting them hitch a ride in her eyes. I was being more selective - if I can't either breathe them in or swallow them, I don't want them.
Anyway, we survived our ride and we will be able to tell our grandkids how we rode through swarms of giant gnats, going uphill both ways (probably in a few years we will talk about the knee deep snow). We did go 8.4 Km - hopefully by the next time we ride I will be able to get back to US miles.
We need to have you keep us accountable for our exercise. Ask us how we are doing and we will try to keep you informed right here on "Weekly's Reader".

Mike

Why fifth graders need to study American history

I teach American history to my fifth graders. At the beginning of each year I give my students a pretest to see what they already know. I always have a chuckle over some of the answers I get. Here are some of them from my class this year. They took the pretest today.

Who fought in the Revolutionary War?
Answer: The Republicans and Democrats
Who won the war?
Answer: Republicans

What was the cause of the Civil War?
Answer: to get our land back from France

How did Abraham Lincoln die?
Answer: three of my students said that he was at the movies, and was shot

Who fought in the Revolutionary War?
Answer: George Bush
Who won?:
Answer: USA

Who was the first president of the United States:
Answer: two of the students said - George W. Bush
three of my students said - Abraham Lincoln

Approximately what year was America discovered by Christopher Columbus?
Answer: 1992.

And my personal favorite -
Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July?
Answer: when the pioneers came here and thought that it was Africa

And this is one of the reasons I love teaching!

This comment came up today in my class, as well. We were previewing our social studies book and looking at all of the presidents. The last president in our book was Bill Clinton. I asked the students who was missing. They all could tell me George W. Bush. But then one little boy spoke up and said that Obama was missing too. The boy next to him told him that Obama wasn't president yet. The first boy was shocked. He thought for sure that Obama was our president!

Let Fall Begin

Well it is here. That time of the year that is depicted by yellow buses, listening to school lunch menus on the radio and trying to survive that first week of school. Of course I am speaking as the one sandwiched between the desks - the students and the teachers desks that is. I am the "spouse" of the teacher and the grandfather of the students.
The season always starts with the time of preparation. This is usually highlighted with at least one trip to the classroom for something. This year it was much easier than in years past. We just went out to pickup all of Brenda's posters so that she could sort them out (in our basement).
The week that school starts is like being in the military waiting and watching for an invasion. The closer we get to the first day of students, the higher our alert level gets. By the time Wednesday night gets here, we are at "Defcon 3"! Only a nuclear attack would be greater than the tension of Wednesdays.
When Thursday morning arrives, it is only a matter of time before "Fall" begins. The timing of school starting on Thursday was perfect. I had golf league this evening giving the teacher time to reflect on the day and unwind at home.
When I did arrive, Brenda was getting ready to water her plants and give me the lowdown on her day. As it turns out, her day was good - although it was very long and her feet hurt (read below). She likes many of her students already (by the end of the school year she will love most of them). The best part of being the spouse of a teacher and grandfather of the students is that Brenda gets to meet our grandkids at the bus and take their pictures. She then walks them to the elementary school and wishes them the best school year. I then get to see their pictures when I get home.
Now it is on to more important things of fall. In just over two weeks comes the important Fantasy Football draft, followed in less than one week with the start of the Bo Pelini era.
One can only hope that we, like Brenda, will like what we see only to love it in the near future.
Mike

First Day of School

A new year has begun. My school day started at 7:00. I had an hour of peace and quiet in my room before the chaos started. Once the 8:00 bell rang, I was busy helping students open lockers and answering their many questions. I took a 20 minute break, though, and went down to the elementary building to meet Breck and Braydon's and Emma's buses. Here are some pictures of them getting off of their buses. I then walked Braydon (with Breck too) down to his classroom. Along the way, in the hallway, we met Emma, so I got a picture of all three of them! I would have loved to have stayed down there with them, but I knew I had to go back to the middle school.

It was a very hectic day. I only had about two 20 minute breaks all day. By the end of the day my voice was hoarse, and my feet were killing me!

Tomorrow will be a better day. Maybe I will only have to help open 20 lockers, instead of 50. And, it's Friday!

Conversations that happen only at church

Today at church I was just sitting reading the bulletin and a little boy came up to me to ask a question. He was very serious and I knew it was important for him to know something. He asked me if I knew that a female dog and a male dog needed to "mate" before they have puppies. I stated that I did know this - and his question was "what does mate mean?"

After a few seconds to take all of this in, I replied to him that he really needed to ask his mother about this and he dejectedly said, " I have and she won't tell me." - Mike

Reflections

My summer is over. On Monday I start my 19th year of teaching. This past week I spent tying up loose ends and preparing for the new year. I got my license renewed, prepared some meals for the freezer, and got some of my classroom decorated. In anticipation of the election year, the theme of my room is patriotic. By Tuesday, I have to have everything clean and ready for our open house. Usually at the the beginning of my summer vacation, I have all sorts of expectations and goals. This year I didn't put any pressure on myself, and therefore, I had a very relaxing summer. Here are some highlights of my vacation:

Trip to Branson with our family

I read 27 books - the two that had the most impact on me were Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and Knowing & Loving the Bible by Catherine Martin. The first book was about bullying and a school shooting. This has given me a lot to ponder about what I can do in my own classroom to be an advocate for those students who are bullied. The second book has helped me spiritually prepare for the school year. I set a goal of reading through the Bible chronologically, and chose a verse for the school year. The verse is Romans 12:1-2. I am excited to see what God has in store for me this year.

I scrapbooked 20 pages. That really isn't very many considering all the time I had, but I scrapbooker's block.

I knitted four socks. That makes 16 socks in the last year (with 6 pairs finished!)

I tended my garden, and am finally reaping the rewards with tomatoes, green peppers, and onions.

Trip exploring Nebraska

Tried many new recipes. The most spectacular one was a triple chocolate cake from Paula Dean.

I watched every episode of So You Think You Can Dance.

Volunteered at Walt Library every Thursday. It's always been a dream of mine to work in a library. I love books!

Cataloged and prepared over 50 books for our church library.

Spent time with the grandkids

And now chapter 19 starts next week. Stay posted for this year's adventures in teaching!

Spiderman turns three

On Sunday, August 3rd, Lawson celebrated his third birthday with a "Spiderman Birthday". Since everything had a spiderman theme, Lawson decided to dress the part! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY

Braydon and the Rattlesnake

Braydon spent the day with me while Breck and Jaime had a special day together. This morning we went out to water my flowers. Braydon took out the super soaker water gun and watered the flowers his way, while I watered them the traditional way. As I watered my flowers in the front by our steps, I noticed a hole in the ground that hadn't been there before. I showed Braydon, and asked him what he thought might be in the hole. I suggested that he squirt water in the hole and see if anything comes out. I went on with my watering, and the next thing I know is Braydon running to me yelling to me that he saw something. He thought it was probably a rattlesnake. I asked him to describe what he saw. "It was green, and had TWO sharp teeth. It wanted to bite me, and it looked angry! " He sure noticed a lot for the second he looked before he took off running! I assured him that it wasn't a rattlesnake, but he was positive it WAS A SNAKE! I told him that if it was a snake, it was probably a garter snake. I also said that I didn't think snakes had teeth. He suggested that we search the web and find out about garter snakes to see if they have teeth and bite people. We wanted to find a picture to verify his claims. We did learn that garter snakes have teeth, but they don't bite people (actually, they can if they are provoked, but I didn't want him to know that - he was already freaked out enough!) We learned lots of other things about garter snakes, but unfortunately, our computer was very sloooow and no pictures came up. Braydon also let me know that his computer at home is much faster than ours. Anyway, he just knew that what he saw was in fact an angry snake!

For the rest of day, he just wouldn't let go of the worry. He even made sure that our front door was locked so it wouldn't come in. When we left to go to lunch with Grandpa he made sure we left through the garage, but he still ran as fast as he could to get in the van. When we came home he really didn't want to get out of the van for fear that the angry snake had gotten in our garage. I assured him that snakes don't like concrete and wouldn't get in the garage. After running to the door, he turned to me and breathed a big sigh of relief that he had escaped the angry snake again. But then he begin to worry about Mommy and Breck coming to pick him up and encountering the snake. He wanted me to call them and warn them and tell them to run to the door. I didn't, and that made him more concerned. When they did come, he was so relieved when they made it safely inside. He also described for Jaime, how angry the snake was, and warned her to be careful going to the car. When he left today, he jumped off the porch and ran through the yard to avoid the hole with the angry snake.

Throughout the day, I assured him that Grandpa would take care of it when he came home. Then he needed to know what "taking care of it" meant. He really didn't want Grandpa to kill it, but he sure didn't want it to live here. Such worry for a little boy!

After Mike came home, I took him out to the "snake's home." He grabbed a shovel ready to be the dragonslayer. I went back inside because I don't like snakes either, and I really didn't want to know what Mike was going to do with it. Soon he was calling me outside to see the "angry snake." There beside my flowers was a baby toad! I had to call Braydon and tell him what was in the hole. When he found out it was a baby toad, he wanted to have us keep it as a pet! He was somewhat disappointed when I told him that the toad had already disappeared. From an angry rattlesnake to a cute little baby toad - it was certainly an emotional rollercoaster ride day for Braydon! (From the picture you can see how little the toad is!)

Discover Nebraska

For our vacation this year, Mike and I decided to stay in Nebraska, and discover what it has to offer. We were pleasantly surprised to find many treasures in our state. This is what we did:

Wednesday - We left Hickman, drove to Grand Island, and said good-bye to I-80. Of course, I am never sorry to be off of the interstate. Maybe that's why I liked this trip so much. Anyway, in Broken Bow we ate lunch at an old hotel that has been renovated/updated, but still has early 20th century charm. We drove by Halsey National Forest, but didn't stop. On to Valentine, enjoying the sights of the sandhills. FYI - did you know that the sandhills are the only one of its kind in the world? We checked into our motel in Valentine and then went shopping. Shopping in Valentine takes about 20 minutes, which is just about right for Mike. That evening we drove out to the Niobrara Refuge Area and hiked to Fort Falls (I am standing by Fort Falls in the picture). Then we drove on to Smith Falls. (This is the falls that Mike is standing by.) If you have never seen these falls, you need to put it on your bucket list. Last, we had a great prime rib dinner at a local restaurant. (When we travel, Mike and I like to listen to audio books. Our book for the day was Number the Stars).

Thursday - We were in a canoe on the Niobrara before 9:00 A.M. We were the only ones on the river for the first hour. It was beautiful and so peaceful. We were in awe of what God created in that part of the state. At Smith Falls, we got out of our canoe and hiked up to see the falls again. The mist of the falls felt good after being in the sun on the river. When we got to our designated spot, our van was waiting for us. We headed east on the Outlaw Trail. We thought we'd see lots of interesting sights, but frankly, it was pretty boring. And since there was a detour, we ended up seeing part of South Dakota too! Now I can say we've been to Fort Randall. Finally, we arrived in Crofton at the historic Argo Hotel. The hotel was built in 1914, and in the early 90's it was transformed into a wonderful bed and breakfast hotel. It was charming, and one of the most relaxing places we have ever stayed. Our dinner in the dining room was outstanding as well. (Our book for the day was Code Talkers.)

Friday - After a delightful breakfast at the hotel we started our whirlwind day. First, the Verdigre bakery for kolatches. Next, Ashfalls Fossil Bed. That is a fascinating place. We stopped at a barn that has been converted into a restaurant called Green Gables for lunch, and then, on to Neligh Mills afterward. Mike enjoyed this place more than I did. There was too much machinery for me to understand. However, it is a beautiful building. Our next stop was the Cuthills Winery, the first winery in Nebraska. I probably should mention that we had a little trouble getting there. Edna, our GPS, and I did not agree on our route. Mike was caught in the middle and had to choose between Edna or me. This time, I won.(Good choice, Mike!) And finally, after a lot of driving, we arrived in Norfolk and checked into the Hampton Inn.

Saturday - On to Tekamah to the Silver Winery. Then we headed South through Blair and on to Fort Calhoun and the Too Far North Winery. I have to say that we learned a lot about grapes on this trip. We got back on I-80 in Omaha and headed home. (Our book for the day was still Code Talkers.)

We put over 900 miles on our van, but it was so worth it. The sandhills in the west, the rolling hills in the east, and all the beautiful green fields made it a memorable trip. But, it is always good to be home again.

Northern Nebraska

Here are some pics from our trip to the northern part of Nebraska. Brenda will give more info later!
M

Hello to all

Since I just set up our Blog and really don't know what I am doing I just thought I would like to say HI! Brenda doesn't know that I have done this though she really wanted to have a blog site. We will see how it works.