Thank You, Dad

Dad, I am so proud to be your daughter. Thank you for being such a wonderful dad to me. I know that it was a sacrifice to serve in the Army when you were a young father. That service, although it interrupted your college career and had an impact for the rest of your life on your working career, undoubtedly made you a stronger and better man. I appreciate your service to the wonderful country we live in. I love you and I am grateful for you every day, but I wanted to be sure to tell you on Memorial Day.

I love you, Dad!

Update on changes

Just got an email from the union - it looks like we will probably end school 3 days early this year to save some of the money. (In other words - pay cut.) Haven't heard anything yet about what next year might look like.

Changes

Oh, my, there's a lot going on.

Mike has a job! Probably. He had a phone interview yesterday, and now they want to interview him face-to-face. The job is in Delaware and starts June 1. He is the only candidate they want to interview. He leaves today, to drive to Delaware and begin work. Julia and Maddy will join him after school is out, and the three older kids will spend the summer with Jayesh, and then Julia will fly back to Oregon and drive everyone to Delaware in August (she will leave the van here all summer). All of this has happened since yesterday morning.

It will be wonderful to get our house back to ourselves over the summer, but I am really going to miss Julia, Mike and the 4 grandchildren. They have been a big part of my life for a long time.

More budget cuts are coming for Oregon schools. We already knew that there would be some cuts next year, and the school district and the union had an agreement figured out for that. They were going to tell all of us what that looks like at a meeting next week. Then the state announced yesterday that the state budget shortfall is going to be much worse than anticipated - half a billion dollars less - and all state agencies, including schools, will have 9% budget cuts across the board. That's on top of the cuts we made last spring and the additional cuts we already knew we were facing for next year. Mark and I are secure in our jobs, but our paychecks will certainly be smaller and our class sizes larger.

Wedding plans continue...not much new there, just lots of things to be done in the next 8 days. The extended weather forecast indicates showers, so Maleena is looking at moving the picture-taking indoors. Not a big deal, but now we are trying to figure out where we can do that. They have limited time at the pretty little pioneer chapel where they will be married, and LDS churches are more about practicality than lovely places for photo ops. We'll do the best we can.

Met with my principal and the two middle school principals yesterday, to map out the in-service plans for August. Naturally, they are more involved than I had anticipated, and they will require more hands-on planning / implementing than I have done in the past. Good thing we have a math coach this year, too - she is a sharp gal, and we work well together. We'll be meeting today to figure out how to put the principals' plans into place.

Jessica Watson Homecoming

You can click here to see the video of Jessica's homecoming. I wasn't sure if you had had a chance to see it yet - it's fun to watch.

Teaching English teachers to teach writing

We had a big project with the English department this week. The department chair, Sheila Zachry, and I have been wanting to get a better writing curriculum in place with our English teachers. To be honest, the writing instruction is pretty haphazard. The teachers are pretty good about assigning writing, but very few of them actually teach writing.

Sheila and I met last week for a half day and again this week for a full day with Linda Vanderford, a very sharp consultant from our ESD. (Linda is my boss when I do the writing scoring work for the state - she's really good.) Then on Thursday, we met with most of the English teachers for the full day, and had Linda facilitate our work to get everyone truly on board with what it takes to actually teach writing in our classrooms.

It's hard work, because all of us were English majors, which meant (as you know) that we were trained in literature response, but not in how to teach writing. We are beginning to get our heads around this. The group worked well--even a couple of folks who sometimes tend to derail conversations--and we got quite a bit accomplished. Now we'll have to see if we can put this all in place, and if it will make a difference in how well our students can write.

Dog Mountain

Did I mention that it was steep? Here's a great photo that just came through the email - our teacher friend who advises the Outdoor Club took the photo and just sent it to us today.

I love all the mountains in the background - this photo does a good job of showing how steep the terrain was. That's Mt. Saint Helens in the background. (If you click on the photo itself, it will be bigger and you can see things better.)

Busy Week

Sorry I haven't posted this week! It's been busy.

We had a lovely anniversary today. Went out to dinner at a nice pizza place in downtown OC, and then went to David & Holly's for strawberry shortcake. We really, really love the handmade aluminum tray. And it even has an "H" on it! Perfect. It is strange to think, isn't it, that Dad made that before I was even born, and now it's coming to me as a wedding anniversary gift, with my initial on it? What a wonderful treasure. Thank you so much!

Julia and Mike are hosting the Webelos cub scouts on a campout in our backyard this evening. We are glad to come into our own bed. :)

The weather is SOOOOO beautiful!

Polly posted on her myfamily.com website that the Royal City principal called again today and officially offered the teaching job to Eric. They will go to Royal City on Wednesday to look at a house.

Mark and I are planning to join up with the OCHS Outdoor Club to hike Dog Mountain tomorrow. It will be a good challenge, and a good way for us to see if we really think we're up to climbing Mt. Saint Helens.

I love you! We'll talk soon.

Happy Great-Grandmother's Day

Mom, you truly are a greatgrandmother! Here are just a few reasons why...

At your office, Dec 2009. 

You are amazing - a career at 72!

Cute and cuddly. You and Dad have always been sweethearts.

Your home is so welcoming and comfortable.

All your grandchildren and their spouses love to spend time with you.

Sarah loved learning "Funny Little Dutch Girl."

You and Dad are always ready for an adventure.

Family times are the best.

I could go on and on...

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Such a nice human to share the planet

We had a great class this morning with Robin Cody. He is such a genuine, authentic, down-to-earth person. The kids really got a lot out of it. Listening to authors like Robin gives me courage for my own writing.

Schedule

Some days are pretty crazy-busy. Today was one of them. But I'm not too stressed, and I managed to get things done (barely) before the deadlines.

Tomorrow I have an author, Robin Cody, coming to my class. He's come before when I teach Oregon Literature, because we use his novel, Ricochet River, with that class. He just came out with a new book, Another Way the River Has, which is a collection of nonfiction essays, so he's going to come talk with my creative nonfiction writing students.

Friday is an in-service and grading day. I'll make one presentation, and I'm the one in charge of setting up the schedule for 20-ish presenters, and making sure everybody is somewhat happy. I hope. Grading time in the afternoon - it's the midterm already, for the last term of the year! Yay!

Angela and Tim and the three kids will come into town Friday evening. They'll sightsee and try to fall in love with Portland on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening Tim has a meet-and-greet dinner event with the doctors in the clinic where he's interviewing, and he'll spend all day with them on Monday. They'll fly home late Monday afternoon. The weather forecast looks decent. Angela really wants to move up here to be close to family, but every time Tim has been here, it's rained, so she's really hoping for good weather.

Maleena's bridal shower is Saturday from 11:00-2:00. I haven't seen her in several weeks, since she started working at Home Depot. It will be the first time in quite a while for me to see Ashley. Holly will be there, of course, and Angela will come for at least part of it. Not sure who else will be there, but it will be good to see the girls.

Time to put the computer away and get some papers graded.

Early to Bed & Chris' Graduation

I'm tired. A busy week, lots on my plate, not sleeping well...I've just decided to put all those tasks aside for tonight. I'm going to read a little, and get to bed early. Sleep deprivation is no good.

Here are some family photos. Kendra posted graduation pictures on Polly's website at myfamily.com. Not sure if you have access to that, so I've borrowed a couple to post here for you.

Chris walking across the stage. He is carrying Charlie, and Abbi is walking beside him. Laurie Last bought kid-sized graduation hats for both of the kids.

With some of their good friends - you can see the kids' hats here.

Right after graduation...they posed for photos, and then Chris had to leave to go to his master's class.

Kat the Cat...

...and Sarah the Butterfly

Twin shot...
(Can you tell that Sarah has been losing teeth?)

Josh got a balloon hat and a new haircut.

Fun stuff for the kids as part of a local business promotion.
Josh's shirt is funny.
It says, "I wish my sister had a mute button."

Holly's new blog

Holly has a new blog. I posted the link in the list on the right. You can also get to it by clicking here. I'm not sure if she's going to just write on this blog now, or if she will also keep the other one going, so I've left both links for now.

We had a wonderful getaway. I wrote more about it on The Skinny. We'll be outside doing yardwork all afternoon, but go ahead and call and leave us a message - we'll get back to you.

Love you! Happy May Day!