Monday, September 15, 2008

Back in School

Well, we're finally both back in school. Bellevue was on strike for many reasons: benefits, pay, and the freedom to use our professional abilities to teach to each student and modify lessons as we see fit. Basically teachers were being forced to teach the same lesson in each classroom for that subject on the same day in all the schools in the district. It wasn't good. Shem went back today and he's still working hard in the living room getting this situated and organized (he's such a hard worker!)

I just started my 3rd week and I'm loving teaching 1st level Spanish classes to freshmen. I'm using a lot of TPRS in my lessons so therefore speaking a lot of Spanish to them already and it's amazing how quickly they catch on!

We both had a great summer and we look forward to the fun we'll have next summer, but we're also glad to being working again.

Labor Day weekend/Ellensburg Rodeo


You don't want to know what makes a horse really mad...mad enough to buck it's rider.


They have to tie the cow up and pin him down as fast as they can.




Shem just being cute while I walk circles around him taking pictures.

My little digital point-and-shoot did a pretty good job at the Rodeo considering that I didn't have rapid shoot 20 frames/sec on my camera or a respectful telephoto lens. I'm pretty proud of these picstures.


My Hobbies/ New Talents and fun stuff with Shem!


My sister-in-law Wendy is just so amazing!! She has all of these cool/crafty card making tools and she is so willing to teach and let others use her gadgets. I made these cards back in August when we got together for a card making night. It was a lot of fun!

Wendy and Shem's Mom have taught me how to cut Shem's hair! I love being able to cut his hair because I know it's saving us at least $20/month and all the $$ we save from his haircuts can go towards mine. :) This is me cutting his hair the day before school started for him after his 2 week strike in the Bellevue School District. I just love being self-suficient!

One of our many food experiements: Banoffe. It really didn't turn outlike we had hoped, but we did get to brulee the bananas on top with a torch!