Lest anyone get the mistaken impression that we only post the happy feelgood stuff on here...
Boy, these kids are a pain sometimes. Faith and Mari can't be in the same room without fighting over the air molecules. Hannah says "Ouch" now if you touch her at all and screams over everything. Faith, when she knows she's done something wrong, now likes to weepily exaggerate what she's done into truly epic proportions and then tries to command the situation by interrupting us and saying what she thinks we're going to say about WHY it was bad - again usually with a keen sense of hyperbole...and incorrectness. Mari has again taken to slamming doors and shouting unintelligibly at us when she gets in trouble, along with attempting to variously run away, hide her face, or every so often, growling. Hannah doesn't understand that there are necessarily some moments at the dinner table when food isn't actually IN your mouth, nor does she understand that her mouth can't hold 2 hot dogs all at once.
Robby...well, actually he's been pretty okay lately.
It's been a rough week behavior wise. Here's hoping things improve.
Matt
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Preschool first day (part 2 - more pics)
Part 1 of this post is below - here are a few more pics.
Robby got right to work on puzzles:
Please, let this be a picture full of symbolism.
All done!
Ugh...Robby and Hannah have a long way to go in the art department...
Robby got right to work on puzzles:
Please, let this be a picture full of symbolism.
All done!
Ugh...Robby and Hannah have a long way to go in the art department...
Preschool first day
The following is an email Steph sent me this morning - I thought it made for as good a blog post as any I could have typed up:
____
Well, all 4 of my children are in school at the moment for the first time!
:-) :-(
Mommy did fine -- I really didn't even tear up too much. It was nice to be able to stay for a few minutes after they got settled in to their classrooms to kinda "sneakily" watch them and snap some more pics while they weren't watching.
Mari, of course, barely even remembered to give me a hug and went right in, found her name tag and got on with playing with My Little Ponies. No problems.
The twins were so cute with putting their bags and lunch boxes in their cubbies. Robby went right in, no problems, all smiles. Found his name tag right away w/ out help (big surprise -- picture him saying, "A B C C's!!!!" then got to work on a puzzle. Hannah went in, but gave Mrs. O'Brien her shy but if you don't know her well it seems nasty kinda look -- classic Hannah! Hannah found her name tag by herself as well. Had to be convinced a little more to start a puzzle. I went to see how Mari was doing (great of course) and then went back to look at the twins and I hear, "Hannah, we're all sitting at the table right now! Hannah! Can you come sit at the table with us? Thank you, great job!" Yeah. I believe Hannah will be the one with the biggest learning curve! :-)
So, all is well! I'll post/send pics later.
____
So, here are some pics:
Good morning!
Ready to go...but where's Hannah?
Grumpy as usual.
Nothing a little tickle can't cure...
More pics coming in a moment...
____
Well, all 4 of my children are in school at the moment for the first time!
:-) :-(
Mommy did fine -- I really didn't even tear up too much. It was nice to be able to stay for a few minutes after they got settled in to their classrooms to kinda "sneakily" watch them and snap some more pics while they weren't watching.
Mari, of course, barely even remembered to give me a hug and went right in, found her name tag and got on with playing with My Little Ponies. No problems.
The twins were so cute with putting their bags and lunch boxes in their cubbies. Robby went right in, no problems, all smiles. Found his name tag right away w/ out help (big surprise -- picture him saying, "A B C C's!!!!" then got to work on a puzzle. Hannah went in, but gave Mrs. O'Brien her shy but if you don't know her well it seems nasty kinda look -- classic Hannah! Hannah found her name tag by herself as well. Had to be convinced a little more to start a puzzle. I went to see how Mari was doing (great of course) and then went back to look at the twins and I hear, "Hannah, we're all sitting at the table right now! Hannah! Can you come sit at the table with us? Thank you, great job!" Yeah. I believe Hannah will be the one with the biggest learning curve! :-)
So, all is well! I'll post/send pics later.
____
So, here are some pics:
Good morning!
Ready to go...but where's Hannah?
Grumpy as usual.
Nothing a little tickle can't cure...
More pics coming in a moment...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Random teaching thoughts
When I am working, when I am teaching, I'm not really me. I suppose that is true of all of us to an extent, but as a teacher, especially a teacher of very young kids, you really are putting on an act when the kids get there. I suppose that maybe SOME of my colleagues are genuine and they really are just being themselves, but...well, anyone who knows me and my 'real' personality know that me singing happy songs and making people feel good about themselves is a little bit unnatural for me. I'm sarcastic, and a little dark (not as dark as I like to think, Steph would say - she's probably right, too), and my humor fluctuates wildly between inappropriately immature and incoherently esoteric. Not the stuff for Kindergarteners who are just learning self-control and manners.
But I have my act down, and it has become very natural for me to fall into that place. And it's not completely 'not me' at all. I do feel good for the kid who finally 'gets' something or who shows real promise at something. I feel good being able to facilitate that moment or help a kid turn a bad day around just a little bit. I just have to be more demonstrative and overt and 'cheery' than I normally would in real life. So, as I said, it's not really me. And I sort of go through this transformation and step into the background and let "Mr. Specter" take over.
But the funny thing is this:
Every now and then, my regular, normal, everyday personality unexpectedly creeps back up into my brain and I suddenly realize what I'm doing at that moment. It's unnerving, it's freaky, it's unpleasant, and it's nearly paralyzing. I HATE it when that happens. Being a self-made Kindergarten teacher is a lot like enjoying a thick, juicy cheeseburger. You can't think too hard about how it got there or you start to realize just how icky it is and how many things are just WRONG about it. You can ruin it for yourself. Best thing to do is just keep on eating out of habit and hope that your thinking self will get lost in the routine again.
I don't know what this says about me. Nothing too bad, I think, but I welcome your thoughts on the matter.
Matt
But I have my act down, and it has become very natural for me to fall into that place. And it's not completely 'not me' at all. I do feel good for the kid who finally 'gets' something or who shows real promise at something. I feel good being able to facilitate that moment or help a kid turn a bad day around just a little bit. I just have to be more demonstrative and overt and 'cheery' than I normally would in real life. So, as I said, it's not really me. And I sort of go through this transformation and step into the background and let "Mr. Specter" take over.
But the funny thing is this:
Every now and then, my regular, normal, everyday personality unexpectedly creeps back up into my brain and I suddenly realize what I'm doing at that moment. It's unnerving, it's freaky, it's unpleasant, and it's nearly paralyzing. I HATE it when that happens. Being a self-made Kindergarten teacher is a lot like enjoying a thick, juicy cheeseburger. You can't think too hard about how it got there or you start to realize just how icky it is and how many things are just WRONG about it. You can ruin it for yourself. Best thing to do is just keep on eating out of habit and hope that your thinking self will get lost in the routine again.
I don't know what this says about me. Nothing too bad, I think, but I welcome your thoughts on the matter.
Matt
Monday, September 6, 2010
Date Night and Couples Night
Friday night Steph and I had a rare date night. Very rare. Very nice. We had the rare combination of some spare spending cash, and a free babysitter. So, Steph and I enjoyed a bizarre amalgamation of old and new. We went grocery shopping. Yup. And it was nice. Then, we went to see the "Mysteries of the Great Lakes" Omnimax at Cincinnati Museum Center. Back when we were dating, Steph and I saw the new Omnimax movies whenever they came out. So it was very much a nostalgic trip. The movie was...okay. Honestly it should probably have been named "Saving the Sturgeon" which would have been more accurate. As much as we've come to love the great lakes scenery, there wasn't enough of it. Still, beats watching another Barbie classic.
Dinner was at Don Pablo's on the river. For those who don't know the history here...back before we understood both the massive amounts of debt and the massive amounts of calories, and before doing so was a major headache with even 2, let alone 4 kids in tow...we used to eat out a LOT. I mean, ALL. THE. TIME. And Don Pablo's was the high shrine of gluttony and credit card expense. "Hey, it's Wednesday, let's go eat at Don Pablo's!!!" We hadn't been for a long long time. Nowadays, when we go out, it's usually Cici's because it's cheap and it's already loud there so if the kids scream, no harm done. The food is not bad but it's not good, and after you stuff your face with it a few times, the thought of going back is less and less appealing. So a few weeks ago when the planets aligned, we decided to make Don Pablo's our first date night back.
So how was it? Honestly, not as good as previously remembered...but still very satisfying in a guilty pleasures kind of way. I can still eat a ridiculous amount of food when I want to...and the nice thing is I can usually skip the next 2 meals. We reminisced a lot about the REALLY old days in Peebles and how terrible we were with food and money back then. It was a very nice evening, but next time we might opt for something a LITTLE more highbrow in the food department.
That was Friday. Saturday night was our inaugural couples evening with B&K and M&B - we're starting an every 2 months rotation, and we hosted this time around. It was very nice to have everyone over and be adults. I sincerely hope that this can keep up - we have a good time together - I hope they had as good a time as we did. I generally abhor social situations like that, but it felt very comfortable, which is saying something for me. If they are reading this I reassure them that my occasional distance is not disinterest...I may have made that mistake in the past but I'm trying to correct it. Friends are few and far between in this world, and I've got some good ones. Not a lot, but the ones I've got are good.
All in all, all is well. We are entering a 'grind' now - lots of full weeks at work with no breaks in sight. At the other end is Thanksgiving. Let's do this.
Matt
Dinner was at Don Pablo's on the river. For those who don't know the history here...back before we understood both the massive amounts of debt and the massive amounts of calories, and before doing so was a major headache with even 2, let alone 4 kids in tow...we used to eat out a LOT. I mean, ALL. THE. TIME. And Don Pablo's was the high shrine of gluttony and credit card expense. "Hey, it's Wednesday, let's go eat at Don Pablo's!!!" We hadn't been for a long long time. Nowadays, when we go out, it's usually Cici's because it's cheap and it's already loud there so if the kids scream, no harm done. The food is not bad but it's not good, and after you stuff your face with it a few times, the thought of going back is less and less appealing. So a few weeks ago when the planets aligned, we decided to make Don Pablo's our first date night back.
So how was it? Honestly, not as good as previously remembered...but still very satisfying in a guilty pleasures kind of way. I can still eat a ridiculous amount of food when I want to...and the nice thing is I can usually skip the next 2 meals. We reminisced a lot about the REALLY old days in Peebles and how terrible we were with food and money back then. It was a very nice evening, but next time we might opt for something a LITTLE more highbrow in the food department.
That was Friday. Saturday night was our inaugural couples evening with B&K and M&B - we're starting an every 2 months rotation, and we hosted this time around. It was very nice to have everyone over and be adults. I sincerely hope that this can keep up - we have a good time together - I hope they had as good a time as we did. I generally abhor social situations like that, but it felt very comfortable, which is saying something for me. If they are reading this I reassure them that my occasional distance is not disinterest...I may have made that mistake in the past but I'm trying to correct it. Friends are few and far between in this world, and I've got some good ones. Not a lot, but the ones I've got are good.
All in all, all is well. We are entering a 'grind' now - lots of full weeks at work with no breaks in sight. At the other end is Thanksgiving. Let's do this.
Matt
Friday, September 3, 2010
Why I hate August
August is the worst. It's not just that teachers have to go back to work then. But it puts the whole month in limbo.
August starts off with a dreadful unease, knowing that you're in the final days of your all-too-easy existence. It's coming. You know it. And even though the stress of going back has decreased markedly in recent years, there's still a major lifestyle change that occurs when you make the switch from doing pretty much what you choose all day to having a job again. It all culminates in the last few days, where no matter how much you want to 'make the most' of the end of summer, the fact is you're just so USED to it that you can't appreciate it.
When work actually starts, it's almost a relief - the thing that's been a big unknown in your mind is finally able to be made real. And it's a lot easier mentally dealing with 'the devil you know'.
And then there's late August. First, it's hot. Stinking hot. And my room at school has no A/C and is situated by the parking lot where the sun beats right into the windows all afternoon. So by the end of every day I am melted and beaten down. Every day I check the weather, and every day, the 90s seem to continue. And usually, as happened this year, it gets nice and cool on the weekends, then heats up again all week. It makes me yearn achingly for fall. But even worse than the temperature is the late August time phenomenon. As a teacher, I always need to feel like I'm progressing through the calendar towards something. The problem with late August is that no matter how good you feel about the progress you're making...IT'S STILL ONLY AUGUST!!! It's like you haven't even started yet. Think about it. In the same month, you were still on break! So each day that the calendar still says "August" is another day that doesn't even seem to COUNT.
It isn't until the month finally turns over that all the days you put in actually feel completed. And suddenly, you can see all the work you've done, realize that you're firmly planted in your routine once again, and not feel like every day is a drop in the bucket.
So farewell, August, I hated you like I always do. I will see you again next year and I will hate you again. September, you aint much better. But you aint August so I welcome you. Thanks for getting here.
Matt
August starts off with a dreadful unease, knowing that you're in the final days of your all-too-easy existence. It's coming. You know it. And even though the stress of going back has decreased markedly in recent years, there's still a major lifestyle change that occurs when you make the switch from doing pretty much what you choose all day to having a job again. It all culminates in the last few days, where no matter how much you want to 'make the most' of the end of summer, the fact is you're just so USED to it that you can't appreciate it.
When work actually starts, it's almost a relief - the thing that's been a big unknown in your mind is finally able to be made real. And it's a lot easier mentally dealing with 'the devil you know'.
And then there's late August. First, it's hot. Stinking hot. And my room at school has no A/C and is situated by the parking lot where the sun beats right into the windows all afternoon. So by the end of every day I am melted and beaten down. Every day I check the weather, and every day, the 90s seem to continue. And usually, as happened this year, it gets nice and cool on the weekends, then heats up again all week. It makes me yearn achingly for fall. But even worse than the temperature is the late August time phenomenon. As a teacher, I always need to feel like I'm progressing through the calendar towards something. The problem with late August is that no matter how good you feel about the progress you're making...IT'S STILL ONLY AUGUST!!! It's like you haven't even started yet. Think about it. In the same month, you were still on break! So each day that the calendar still says "August" is another day that doesn't even seem to COUNT.
It isn't until the month finally turns over that all the days you put in actually feel completed. And suddenly, you can see all the work you've done, realize that you're firmly planted in your routine once again, and not feel like every day is a drop in the bucket.
So farewell, August, I hated you like I always do. I will see you again next year and I will hate you again. September, you aint much better. But you aint August so I welcome you. Thanks for getting here.
Matt
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Music and Video Stress
It's been an ongoing joke in the family - "Are you worried that you're going to run out of music to use in the videos?"
Well...
I'm far from out of music altogether but the well does seem to be drying up for the moment. I've been reduced to just hitting 'shuffle songs' on my ipod and seeing what random thing in the 7000+ songs there pop up that might give me an inspiration. This has worked in the past but it's really starting to get flat in there. And I have Hilton Head, Pittsburgh, and Michigan still to go from 2010. That's no 2009 epic but it's a lot of material that needs to be married to some good tunes.
What's missing?
I need some more good tropical sounding music for beach vacations - stuff that's not TOO cheesy. Yeah, I could bust out the Doug Cameron electric violin but that stuff is so lightweight it makes smooth jazz look like Wagner. And with each passing year, the Michael Gettel and assorted Narada stuff seems less and less relevant. It just seems almost dishonest to put stuff I haven't listened to since high school on movies about my 6-year-old daughter. And what I'm into now...well, the post-rock stuff can work for dramatic vistas, but it wasn't that kind of a summer - and even that stuff (as I've mentioned before on the blog) can really seem out of place when it explodes into feedback all over a family video. Mellow out, guys. Here's hoping for an Explosions in the Sky acoustic experiment. You reading this, guys? Prog...is hit or miss. I've really milked the Flower Kings catalog, but there are still several albums I need to get.
Which is just it. I need some new music. I need to fill up the back catalog of things I used to listen to that still have some meaning, I need to fill the holes in the inventory of things that are really working well, I need to get some new stuff altogether, and a lot of bands/artists that I love REALLY need to put out some new albums. I need a $500 shopping spree on iTunes and the time to listen to what I buy.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Oh well. Keep the music coming, everyone!
Matt
Well...
I'm far from out of music altogether but the well does seem to be drying up for the moment. I've been reduced to just hitting 'shuffle songs' on my ipod and seeing what random thing in the 7000+ songs there pop up that might give me an inspiration. This has worked in the past but it's really starting to get flat in there. And I have Hilton Head, Pittsburgh, and Michigan still to go from 2010. That's no 2009 epic but it's a lot of material that needs to be married to some good tunes.
What's missing?
I need some more good tropical sounding music for beach vacations - stuff that's not TOO cheesy. Yeah, I could bust out the Doug Cameron electric violin but that stuff is so lightweight it makes smooth jazz look like Wagner. And with each passing year, the Michael Gettel and assorted Narada stuff seems less and less relevant. It just seems almost dishonest to put stuff I haven't listened to since high school on movies about my 6-year-old daughter. And what I'm into now...well, the post-rock stuff can work for dramatic vistas, but it wasn't that kind of a summer - and even that stuff (as I've mentioned before on the blog) can really seem out of place when it explodes into feedback all over a family video. Mellow out, guys. Here's hoping for an Explosions in the Sky acoustic experiment. You reading this, guys? Prog...is hit or miss. I've really milked the Flower Kings catalog, but there are still several albums I need to get.
Which is just it. I need some new music. I need to fill up the back catalog of things I used to listen to that still have some meaning, I need to fill the holes in the inventory of things that are really working well, I need to get some new stuff altogether, and a lot of bands/artists that I love REALLY need to put out some new albums. I need a $500 shopping spree on iTunes and the time to listen to what I buy.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Oh well. Keep the music coming, everyone!
Matt
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Facebook - Again
Steph has set up her and my facebook account so that blog posts automatically go there. I do sincerely thank her for that, it will probably bring slightly more traffic here. She also went in an answered some friend requests which had been sitting idle in my unused account for months. So I think I ought to restate briefly my facebook rant.
* I don't do facebook. I set up an account long ago to see what it was about and wasn't interested. I maintain my account because it's a good way to alert people about interesting stuff on the blog, especially when we're travelling. The blog is my primary means of disseminating info.
* If you tried to friend me and I never responded, don't take it personally. It doesn't mean I don't like you. It probably means I'd rather be your 'real' friend than your facebook friend. I think being a real friend is more meaningful. Send me an email, give me a call. Phones do still make calls, don't they?
* As mentioned above, any recent activity on my facebook account was undertaken by Steph and does not indicate a sudden conversion to the facebook nation. Again, not interested.
* For those who would like to know or need a review on WHY I don't do facebook, go to the blog, in the upper left corner, search 'facebook' and you will get the entire history of my thoughts on the matter.
* The entire history of our family travels is available at our Youtube page.
Hope all is well in your world, and God bless.
Matt
* I don't do facebook. I set up an account long ago to see what it was about and wasn't interested. I maintain my account because it's a good way to alert people about interesting stuff on the blog, especially when we're travelling. The blog is my primary means of disseminating info.
* If you tried to friend me and I never responded, don't take it personally. It doesn't mean I don't like you. It probably means I'd rather be your 'real' friend than your facebook friend. I think being a real friend is more meaningful. Send me an email, give me a call. Phones do still make calls, don't they?
* As mentioned above, any recent activity on my facebook account was undertaken by Steph and does not indicate a sudden conversion to the facebook nation. Again, not interested.
* For those who would like to know or need a review on WHY I don't do facebook, go to the blog, in the upper left corner, search 'facebook' and you will get the entire history of my thoughts on the matter.
* The entire history of our family travels is available at our Youtube page.
Hope all is well in your world, and God bless.
Matt
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Transitions
Faith has had her first day of 1st grade. Went well. It’s funny, our concerns for our kids are always social in nature. She’ll do great learning-wise, there’s no doubt. But considering the genetic stock she comes from, we desperately want her to not be miserable and an outcast….unless that’s what she chooses. So hard to explain. But I just want her (and the rest, when it’s time) to not dread school for social reasons. I don’t want her to be the ‘popular girl’ – actually that would be worse than her being friendless…because then she’d have ZERO common ground with her parents. But we want her to be as ‘normal’ as she chooses to be. Which sounds really bad…but again, I have a lot of trouble explaining it. Maybe the best way to say it is that I want her to be Faith. I don’t want her to change herself to fit in, but I hope that who she is doesn’t make her so ‘different’ that it’s hard for her. But this is just 1st grade, and she can easily have an identity thrust on her by other kids now, and once that happens it’s nearly impossible to undo it. So I am hoping that she finds a safe circle of friends wherein she can continue to grow and mature and become the person she’s meant to be.
Does that make sense?
Anyway, so far so good. And meanwhile, I am entering day 6 of the 2010-2011 school year. The real transition time. Being at work feels normal now, and summer break is just a memory. Which is good. And now my mind starts the process of readjusting to a new flow of time. It really takes this long for it to start happening. It all has to do with the balance between being in the moment and looking ahead. Summer is about the moment. You enjoy the now, and there’s little thought to the calendar or the day of the week. But now, back in the real world, you have to do a lot of planning ahead, and it changes the way time passes. You look forward to things…which is great, and gets you through the tough spots, but then, if you look ahead too much to some future moment, you start to skate right by the now, and when the anticipated moment finally arrives, you can’t slow your perception down enough to enjoy it and you get bummed out. At the same time, if you try to maintain the ‘here and now’ focus, the long days of work seem even longer and you get bummed about that. So it’s a balancing act, and it takes a while to get it all straightened out. Right now I’m feeling too far on the ‘time is zooming by’ side, and am trying to slow things down a bit, even if it means that work seems to take longer.
Wow. Really loquacious this morning. Anyway, keep checking in.
Matt
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Sunday, August 22, 2010
First weekend
Had a very nice weekend, puke notwithstanding. It looks like the weather is finally going to break by the end of the week and we could have temperatures low enough to warrant time spent outside intentionally again. And we can start shutting off the air in the evenings too...maybe. Gonna have to anyway what with our outrageous utility bill last month. Not pretty at all.
Money is tight. So tight that we had to face the reality and ditch our planned weekend trip to our favorite local RV park in September. There's just no way we can swing that. While it's no fun to make the 'grown-up' decision, it does feel good to do the right thing.
In work news, nothing to report. Tomorrow starts the first full week of teaching. I can't even call it a 'real week' yet, as I still am starting off with doing my first day stuff to the classes I haven't seen yet. But when I do finally get to the end of this week, it will actually be a small accomplishment, and I will almost be able to say that I'm back in the groove.
In other news, uploaded some recent travel vids to youtube - first new ones in a while, so check them out here: Now, 'recent' in my eyes is less than a year old...this is from Spring Break last year - still, pretty good. I am now almost ready to tackle the big travel trio from summer 2010 - Hilton Head, Pittsburgh, and Michigan. Stay tuned.
A lot of colleagues start their teaching year this week. Good luck everyone.
Stay tuned for news from Faith's first days of first grade!
Matt
Money is tight. So tight that we had to face the reality and ditch our planned weekend trip to our favorite local RV park in September. There's just no way we can swing that. While it's no fun to make the 'grown-up' decision, it does feel good to do the right thing.
In work news, nothing to report. Tomorrow starts the first full week of teaching. I can't even call it a 'real week' yet, as I still am starting off with doing my first day stuff to the classes I haven't seen yet. But when I do finally get to the end of this week, it will actually be a small accomplishment, and I will almost be able to say that I'm back in the groove.
In other news, uploaded some recent travel vids to youtube - first new ones in a while, so check them out here: Now, 'recent' in my eyes is less than a year old...this is from Spring Break last year - still, pretty good. I am now almost ready to tackle the big travel trio from summer 2010 - Hilton Head, Pittsburgh, and Michigan. Stay tuned.
A lot of colleagues start their teaching year this week. Good luck everyone.
Stay tuned for news from Faith's first days of first grade!
Matt
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