happy halloween!

do you remember our pumpkins? well, tonight they became jack-o-lanterns. the kids drew designs on the pumpkins with a sharpie, then used those little flimsy carving tools to cut out the faces. kate discovered that pulp is rather sticky and frustrating!

anyway, we've saved all the seeds and plan on putting them in the same flower bed next year. we can't wait to see what happens!!!

almost an oxymoron

last week, to celebrate red-ribbon "be drug-free" week, our students were given smarties (you know, the candy?)

so what do two of my kids do (not in my room, mind you)???

they crushed their smarties into powder and attempted to snort it.

too bad they don't understand the definition of irony...

on days when i doubt my effectiveness as a teacher

this quote reassures me that i am where i'm supposed to be...

"God has created me to do him some definitive service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission."

- John Henry Newman

dr. f.

i LOVE being around individuals who, without even knowing it, reaffirm my belief in the pure, unadulterated goodness of mankind.

that just may be the best kind of blessing.

church

leo took his camera and his missalette to scioto trails this morning and had his own private morning mass. here is just one of his many pictures...

"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator

for all I have not seen."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

team loyalty

it's not been a happy weekend for many football fans. my beloved tigers lost to the 'burg friday night. auburn, my brother in-law's alma mater, lost in the closing seconds of their game to LSU. and notre dame...well, what can i say? we're just plain awful.

there's been a lot of grumbling these past couple of days about waverly's loss to wheelersburg. a lot of finger-pointing and whining, fans acting as if they are more knowledgable than coaches, and what-not. a lot of really teed-off people teeing off to anybody who's willing to listen.

hey, we lost. truly, it's not the end of the world.

leo is incredibly passionate about the fighting irish, but i'll never forget what he said to me one time after an ND loss...

"if my happiness depends on the performance of teenagers and young men who play a game on saturday afternoons, then i have bigger problems to deal with [than losing a football game]."

amen.

my son, ian, wore one of his many ND football jerseys to church this morning, where one gentleman made the comment, "i can't believe you're still wearing that thing"...which i'm sure was a reference to our rather bad season. i, of course, butted right in and said, "of course, he's still wearing it. we love our boys." loving our boys means we hang in there with them, no matter what.

man, i LOVE my tigers.

and i LOVE my irish.

and when they lose...life still goes on.

get over it.

i voted for him twice

that's a new word for it

setting: flag football game last saturday

speaking: ian, to his coaches, a few plays after he lands hard on the ground:

"hey coach, you know when i jumped up in the air to catch that ball, and then i landed on the ground? i think i hurt my fella'."

cut to coaches: roaring with laughter, and ian grinning smugly.

i love that kid.

how to annoy me

over at the dooce, heather armstrong has listed "how to annoy me" as one of her blog labels. seeing as how heather is the queen of blogs, i've decided to emulate her and add "how to annoy me" as one of my own tags. my guess is that this type of blog entry will occur, more often than not, every four weeks...if you catch my drift. :) so be prepared, my thought process can get awfully ugly sometimes.

so, here we go...

how to annoy me:

ask me to MOVE MY CHAIR at my son's football game so that your "cheerleaders" will have room to do their thing. please ~ my boy's PLAYING FOOTBALL. without my son, your 7 year-old daughter would have to shake her tail feathers some place else.