For those of you who may not know, Jeff grew up in Ohio and is a fan of Ohio State. Their mascott is a buckeye. Ohio State played the first game of the season yesterday, so I decided to make the candy buckeyes in celebration.
It was the first time I'd made them, and I'm happy to report that they turned out well - though they took a lot longer to make than I originally thought they would. The only problem now is that Jeff and I are both so fond of them that we have to be careful we don't eat them too fast and make ourselves sick. :P
We watched the game here at home, and Jeff's brother Kelly came and joined us. It was fun having him over. And Ohio State creamed Youngstown State 43-0. Go Bucks!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
First Week of School
Well, my school year is off to a good start. For those of you who may not be aware, I work at La Europa Academy, which is a residential treatment center for troubled teenage girls. I just started my second year of teaching here.
I have discovered that my Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be my easier days, at least prep wise. I don't have any lessons to prepare, because I have three periods of students who are working independently. The first two periods are both Pre-Calculus, which they do independently online. I'm there to monitor their progress and answer any questions that come up (my favorite part - I'd be happy to do that all period), but there are usually lulls when I can work on other things. The last period, which I have every day, is made up of four students working independently on Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Consumer Math.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach Algebra 2 and Geometry (so basically, it's a normal teaching day). I'm looking forward to teaching these classes for the second time. But I'm going to change a few things. I'm planning on doing more games and projects, as well as play around with some of the content (the order I teach it in, the amount of time I spend on different subjects, etc.). So I'll still need lots of prep time, but definately less than last year.
I got to ease into the school year by only teaching Mon-Wed. This is because we had a Parent Weekend the past week. This means that parents fly in from all over the country to visit their girls. I had parent-teacher conferences on Thursday morning (which were a lot slower than normal; I had 20 min breaks at times, so I watched episodes of Avonlea on You Tube - who remembers that show?), and then I didn't have to work Thursday afternoon or Friday. It was very nice. So instead of having a three day weekend, I kind of had a four-and-a-half day weekend. :)
I started out Algebra 2 with a game to help them review Algebra 1 concepts. I wanted to get a good idea of where the class was as a whole, to see how much time I needed to spend reviewing before moving on to new concepts. I discovered that the majority of the class needs a good week or two of review.
My Geometry class started out with a mini research project. They could choose to research plants, animals, or something cultural in or out of the United States. They had to do a short write-up about the history of the object, the symmetries within it, and the geometric shapes it contained. I hope it was something fun that helped them to see the big picture of how geometry is all around us, before we get down to the nitty gritty of learning a bajillion terms (which is what the majority of the first term is).
So, in short, the school year is off to a good start.
I have discovered that my Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be my easier days, at least prep wise. I don't have any lessons to prepare, because I have three periods of students who are working independently. The first two periods are both Pre-Calculus, which they do independently online. I'm there to monitor their progress and answer any questions that come up (my favorite part - I'd be happy to do that all period), but there are usually lulls when I can work on other things. The last period, which I have every day, is made up of four students working independently on Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Consumer Math.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach Algebra 2 and Geometry (so basically, it's a normal teaching day). I'm looking forward to teaching these classes for the second time. But I'm going to change a few things. I'm planning on doing more games and projects, as well as play around with some of the content (the order I teach it in, the amount of time I spend on different subjects, etc.). So I'll still need lots of prep time, but definately less than last year.
I got to ease into the school year by only teaching Mon-Wed. This is because we had a Parent Weekend the past week. This means that parents fly in from all over the country to visit their girls. I had parent-teacher conferences on Thursday morning (which were a lot slower than normal; I had 20 min breaks at times, so I watched episodes of Avonlea on You Tube - who remembers that show?), and then I didn't have to work Thursday afternoon or Friday. It was very nice. So instead of having a three day weekend, I kind of had a four-and-a-half day weekend. :)
I started out Algebra 2 with a game to help them review Algebra 1 concepts. I wanted to get a good idea of where the class was as a whole, to see how much time I needed to spend reviewing before moving on to new concepts. I discovered that the majority of the class needs a good week or two of review.
My Geometry class started out with a mini research project. They could choose to research plants, animals, or something cultural in or out of the United States. They had to do a short write-up about the history of the object, the symmetries within it, and the geometric shapes it contained. I hope it was something fun that helped them to see the big picture of how geometry is all around us, before we get down to the nitty gritty of learning a bajillion terms (which is what the majority of the first term is).
So, in short, the school year is off to a good start.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Honeymoon
Jeff and I stayed at the Johnson Mill in Midway. If anyone is looking for a great romantic getaway, we highly recommend it. When we were looking for a place to stay for our honeymoon, a lot of places were really cheesy with their room decorations. The rooms at the Johnson Mill are tastefully decorated. We also enjoyed that it was family owned. Some of my favorite things were: delicious breakfasts outside by a waterfall every morning, a pond with swans and paddle boats, spotting deer on the property when we went for walks, and a HUGE movie selection in the basement.
While we were at Midway, we went and did something fun every day. On Wednesday we swam in a crater at the Homestead. If you'd like to know more about that (it's kinda hard to explain), you can check out the Homestead's website. On Thursday we rode down the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster in Park City. My favorite was the slide - I had done it once before and had always wanted to do it again. The coaster was a lot faster than we were expecting. At times it felt like we were about to go flying off of the track! On Friday we rode on the Heber Creeper Train. Creeper is the right word. It was ... kind of cool to say that we've ridden on an old-fashioned train, but it's definately something we're not dying to do again. But one thing that was cool was that it wasn't very crowded, so we ended up with an entire car to ourselves (except for when a few kids would run up and down the aisle, but they didn't stay for long).
We had a special visitor at the Johnson Mill that we certainly weren't expecting. That visitor was a bat ... in our room. We came back to our room on Thursday night after getting some ice cream only to find a bat flying around the ceiling. It wasn't completely unexpected, because they had a sign in the room reminding guests that they were sleeping in a renovated mill, and it wasn't uncommon for bats to come in if you left your doors or windows open. Only thing is, we never left our doors or windows open, so we were really puzzled how it got in (and we also wondered if it had been with us the past two nights as well and we just never noticed). Well, we called the manager and he came over with some nets, but there was no sign of the bat. We discovered a small opening in the ceiling in one part of the room where we thought it got in (from the attic, most likely). Since the bat hadn't been caught, and there was no way to guarantee it wouldn't come back and visit us while we were sleeping, the manager let us stay in another room that was empty that night.
This turned out to be a blessing in multiple ways. First of all, it was the most expensive room at the Johnson Mill, so it was REALLY nice. That was fun in and of itself. Then we found out the next morning that the couple that was in the room next to our original room had brought their 5 month old baby with them and she kept them up most of the night (and probably would have kept us up, too).
Overall, we had a lot of fun this past week. We had fun relaxing, watching the Olympics and movies, playing games (we brought a whole backpack full of games), and eating out. It was definately a fun, memorable week.
While we were at Midway, we went and did something fun every day. On Wednesday we swam in a crater at the Homestead. If you'd like to know more about that (it's kinda hard to explain), you can check out the Homestead's website. On Thursday we rode down the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster in Park City. My favorite was the slide - I had done it once before and had always wanted to do it again. The coaster was a lot faster than we were expecting. At times it felt like we were about to go flying off of the track! On Friday we rode on the Heber Creeper Train. Creeper is the right word. It was ... kind of cool to say that we've ridden on an old-fashioned train, but it's definately something we're not dying to do again. But one thing that was cool was that it wasn't very crowded, so we ended up with an entire car to ourselves (except for when a few kids would run up and down the aisle, but they didn't stay for long).
We had a special visitor at the Johnson Mill that we certainly weren't expecting. That visitor was a bat ... in our room. We came back to our room on Thursday night after getting some ice cream only to find a bat flying around the ceiling. It wasn't completely unexpected, because they had a sign in the room reminding guests that they were sleeping in a renovated mill, and it wasn't uncommon for bats to come in if you left your doors or windows open. Only thing is, we never left our doors or windows open, so we were really puzzled how it got in (and we also wondered if it had been with us the past two nights as well and we just never noticed). Well, we called the manager and he came over with some nets, but there was no sign of the bat. We discovered a small opening in the ceiling in one part of the room where we thought it got in (from the attic, most likely). Since the bat hadn't been caught, and there was no way to guarantee it wouldn't come back and visit us while we were sleeping, the manager let us stay in another room that was empty that night.
This turned out to be a blessing in multiple ways. First of all, it was the most expensive room at the Johnson Mill, so it was REALLY nice. That was fun in and of itself. Then we found out the next morning that the couple that was in the room next to our original room had brought their 5 month old baby with them and she kept them up most of the night (and probably would have kept us up, too).
Overall, we had a lot of fun this past week. We had fun relaxing, watching the Olympics and movies, playing games (we brought a whole backpack full of games), and eating out. It was definately a fun, memorable week.
Dancing at Reception
For those of you that may not know, I was not one of those girls that planned everything for her wedding years in advance. But one thing that I always wanted at my wedding was dancing. I've been to several wedding receptions where there was music and a dance floor, but no one danced except for the one or two formal dances at the beginning done by the bride and her father, then the bride and groom. But I had been to one reception where a lot of people got up and danced - old and young alike got out on the dance floor and had a lot of fun. Since going to that reception, it's what I've always wanted to have happen at mine. And my dream came true at our reception.
First, I would like to thank Jeff for being such a good sport about dancing. I LOVE dancing with him, slow and fast - just being close, and sometimes being goofy. It was a lot of fun.
Next, I would like to thank my dad for the wonderful dance he gave me. For those of you that weren't there, my parents cut a mean rug on the dance floor.
My dad and I started out with the first dance, and I chose to dance to Butterfly Kisses. It's a really sweet song about a father watching his little girl grow up and then get married, and I really like it. The only drawback is that it's REALLY long - I think about 4 1/2 minutes. But my dad was a good sport, even though the song was so long. It was a lot of fun to dance with him.
Lastly, I would like to thank all of you that got up and danced. You really helped make my dream come true. The dancing at the reception was a real highlight for me. I especially loved seeing parents dancing with their kids, and cousins dancing together. I hope you had as much fun as we did!
Wedding Pics
We got our wedding photos from our photographer yesterday. It was a lot of fun looking through them. We have a TON, and there's no way to post them all, but I thought I'd post a few.
We would like to thank all of those who contributed to the lovely decorating of our car. We are grateful that it was tastefully done.
Joining the Bloggers
So yes, we've finally joined the blogging world. I was inspired to do so by my sister Marie beginning a blog in her last month of pregnancy. Jeff and I had thought about doing a blog, since several of our siblings have one, but at first we thought that we wouldn't have much to write, since we don't have any kids. But I figured - what the heck!
So I hope you enjoy our blog. I'll try to write something every week, and maybe this will make me want to take more pictures.
So I hope you enjoy our blog. I'll try to write something every week, and maybe this will make me want to take more pictures.
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