The Rest of October (Or, "The Second Half of October," since October has been anything but restful)

We had a fun Halloween, but the best thing about Halloween this year is this video I took of Wyatt getting his groove on at the elementary school Halloween party.

Isn't that awesome? His school party and our church party were on the same night, but Wyatt insisted that I take him to his school party for 30 minutes so he could see his friends. I could tell he wanted to dance, but he stood there holding my hand and hesitating for about 10 minutes. Once he tenatively joined in then came back and stood by me. But when I took off to go get popcorn, apparently his inhibitions went with me, because I came back and found him shakin' it like a Polaroid picture. Love him.

Here he is at the church party with our neighbor Steve--good friend, bishopric member, PhD therapist, and official creepy-dude when in costume.

Wyatt's school doesn't let the kids wear costumes on Halloween. (Isn't it funny how individual schools are so different in that respect?) They don't even have a Halloween party in the classroom. But they DO have "flashlight reading" where moms and dads are invited to class, they turn off all the lights, and read books together in the dark. It was actually really fun, and heaven knows Wyatt didn't need any more sugar that day. Here he is, wearing his Halloween hat (also allowed).

And posing in front of the Liberty Ridge eagle.

Ethan was at rehearsal on Halloween, and Elise hung out at home and worked on a giant project on ancient Rome for her history class. But Wyatt and Jonas were still up for trick or treating and hanging out with friends. Our friends/Wilkey-almost-relatives the Ponczochs came over for their third and final time to trick or treat with us. Alas, they are moving to Reno! I don't know what we'll do next year when it's just us. Here are some photos of the night:

 Jonas invited a bunch of his friends over to help him scour the neighborhood. They were gone for two hours and came home with an incredible haul.  The beard makes Jonas's costume, I think.

Wyatt enjoyed wearing the mask with his skeleton costume (not allowed at church) and running around with the Ponzoch kids and the Dads. They were gone longer than if they'd gone out with the Moms, which meant MORE CANDY!

There were also a few other fall-type events that we happened to photograph earlier this month. I realize I'm not going in chronological order, but they are thematically related.

Forrest took all three boys pheasant hunting and I hear a good time was had by all. Here they are with another girl from our ward and their bounty:

And here's a quick video of Ethan and Jonas shooting. Notice how Jonas absorbs the kick.

Forrest has since made a soup with pheasant meat and a DIP with pheasant meat which he took to a friends' house for a get-together last night (he said when I raised an eyebrow, "You know, like clam dip?") The dip was enjoyed both for its taste and it's novelty.

And then to go completely reverse-chronological on you, some photos of our quick trip to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard by our house. Forrest was at work, Ethan was once again at rehearsal, but the rest of us enjoyed taking a quick hayride and picking out some (very expensive) pumpkins.  It will be apparent as the photos progress, but Jonas is beginning to take after his big brother in the not-wanting-his-picture-taken department .

The orchard also has a giant playground and this enormous hill of tires.  Nothing draws a little boy like an enormous hill of tires.

And that's it for the photo-related news of the month. A few other quick updates:

1. Elise made the carolers singing group at school. She's SO EXCITED! It's the elite mixed choir at her school (15 boys, 15 girls) and I'm so happy for her. She also just started real voice lessons.

2. Ethan's musical opens next week and he's just putting the finishing touches on his BYU application. His application to Utah State is in and he's already been accepted (but we won't hear about scholarships until after December 1.) He also just turned in the final paperwork on his Eagle this very Sunday (halle-freaking-lujah!) 

3.  Jonas has the greatest group of kids his age at church, boys and girls. They've been doing stuff together lately and it's fun to see. A whole gaggle of them went to see Ender's Game last night, but Jonas, a giant Ender's Game fan, was disappointed in the way only a fan of a book can be when a movie doesn't quite measure up.

4. Wyatt is a reading fool. He's very involved in both the Magic Treehouse and Junie B. Jones (which, by the way, that Junie B. Jones is a naughty little thing, isn't she?) and likes to haul a book with him wherever he goes. It warms my English-teacher-mother heart. He has been having some trouble again lately with tics, however, which has been a little distressing (mostly on my part). He's been having tics crop up now and then for the past two years, and since school has started it's been a little more pronounced, so we're taking him to a pediatric neurologist in December. We'll keep you updated on that one. But he hardly seems to notice and is happy as can be. In all honesty, I'm the one who needs prayers as far as this issue is concerned. It pushes a fair number of my worry-and-control-related buttons. But I'm learning to let go and trust God: two important lessons.

5.  Forrest, of course, is great. Making pheasant dip and apple cakes. Working hard. 

Now on to November!

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time

 . . . the leaves are falling down! And so am I, on my blogging duties. Ba dum bah!

Mostly I'm just buried under a perpetual (electronic) pile of papers to grade. I told myself at the beginning of this semester that I'd be very very disciplined and as soon as a group of papers got handed it, I'd grade 5 a day, no matter what, and since I get about 70 papers every time one is due (3 sections w/ 23 students each), I could finish the whole lot in two weeks. Then I promise my students I'll have them done in two weeks. Then something comes up one day, then the next, then the next, and before I know it I'm a week behind and I have to lock myself in my office and grade for like 5 hours straight so I can get caught up.

Harumph.

This is the first semester I've had three sections instead of two, and the extra paper load is kicking my butt already. We're required to assign four papers a semester, and each paper averages about four pages long (double spaced), so that's 16 pages per student (conservatively), and 16 x 70 is 1,120.  Pages. Pages I not only have to read, but think about and comment on and score on a rubric and add up points and enter into my electronic gradebook. Then, after the painstaking effort of trying to explain in writing what a student needs to change in order to get a better grade, he/she still needs to see me in person during my office hours because I wasn't clear. OH! And speaking of that, three out of the four of these papers allow revision, so any student who wants to can write another draft and turn THAT one in on top of everything else.

This is, of course, in addition to actually teaching the class--prepping, creating handouts and PowerPoints, trying to find interesting things to read and coming up with good discussion questions, etc.  Today I gave a scintillating lecture on grammar and mechanics, PowerPoint included. Do YOU know the difference between a subordinating conjunction and a coordinating conjunction? Better yet, do you know WHY it's important to know the difference between a subordinating conjunction and a coordinating conjunction? (Actually, if you read a lot you don't really need to know why because you can just tell when a sentence isn't complete or a comma is required . . . but most of my students are less-than-voracious readers, so to punish them I make them listen to me drone on about conjunctions, then I give them a quiz.)  I kid, I kid. I really don't do it to punish them. I'd prefer to do away with talking about grammar and mechanics altogether; it's a big, fat snooze-fest and I'd rather discuss interesting articles and how to build an argument and even effective research methods. But I gotta do it, at least a little bit. So I do.

This sounds like I don't like my job, but that's not true. I actually really like my job. I enjoy the teaching part quite a bit, and I enjoy my students too (even those who've never read an entire book in their lives). I love my Monday/Wednesday/Friday office, a space I share with Tuesday/Thursday John, a very neat man (as in tidy) who keeps a pristine and apparently functional 1980's Commodore computer on his side of the desk for reasons that remain mysterious to me. Even better, I like my department and that they treat me like an actual professor instead of a skulking interloper (as adjuncts are sometimes deemed to be--and don't you like the phrase "skulking interloper"?).  I mean, get this: I, and a few other "associate lecturers" (as adjuncts are known) get to go to Boston in November for the National Council of Teachers of English conference, paid for by the remedial English budget. Since the vast majority of all remedial and early-level writing courses are taught by adjuncts it makes sense, but still, a trip? To BOSTON!? How awesome is that? I've never been to Boston. And I get to stay in a hotel room all by myself. I am quite thrilled at the prospect of staying in a hotel room by myself. And I get to stay here, too. (Yes, I am a public employee, but we got excellent rates, better than the Holiday Inn.)

So all that is great. It's just the grading that sometimes makes me wish I taught geology or psychology and I could give them multiple choice tests that a computer grades immediately. Although I'm sure being a geology or psychology teacher has its pitfalls as well. I'm just saying.

But enough about my teaching! If you've gotten this far, congratulations. The real point of this post was to update everybody on the basement, which is now 93% finished. Of the remaining 7% (rearranging storage, putting up shelves, decorating appropriately, setting up the guest room/Forrest's office, etc) 5% will get done over the next few months and 2% will never ever get done at all.  So now is as good a time as any to show you what we've done. Here is the basement before:

And here is the basement after. The first picture I'm standing close to the same spot I was standing in the photo above. If I'd backed up a little you'd see that the space under the stairs is now a closet.

We got a projector and ordered a screen from this online company that builds them and ships them to your door. At first we were just going to paint the wall white, but I talked Forrest into going the screen route and I like it.  The stairs from the main floor are to the right, so the first thing you see when you come downstairs is that wall and I didn't want it to look like a random, bare white wall if a movie wasn't showing.

I also found the furniture that surrounds the screen at Ikea, and put together 1/4 of it myself. The bottom shelves are two TV stands (one a 2-drawer and the other a 3-drawer) pushed together, then next to it is a matching cabinet. Funny thing, though, all that *I* was thinking about was buying a matching set of furniture and having it fit in the space. I didn't consider that our components would have to fit in the cabinet, which is more a "curio" style cabinet than a media cabinet. Long story short, Forrest had to cut an audio-tuner-sized hole in the false back of the cabinet in order for it to fit . . . but you can't even tell. All's well that ends well, yes?

It took us a while to find a good couch, too. Part of me wanted to get something like my mom and dad have with the individual lounge chairs, but I also wanted lots of kids to be able to cram onto the couch and I prefer to lay sideways and have someone hold my feet whilst watching movies (just like Mom!) so the current setup prevailed. It's not quite as comfy as the floor model in the store was, but we'll break it in. I just have to train the kids not to throw pillows all over the floor.

And of course you noticed Bucky there on the back wall. Bucky, who has spent the last year in our garage, eyeing me whenever I pull in. I promised Forrest that if we could finish the basement I'd let him bring Bucky in out of the cold. So there he is. Which means we are the kind of family that has a deer head in our basement. Life is full of surprises, no? And I realize that the table on the far wall doesn't really match anything, but it's more about utility than aesthetics. It's already gotten some good use when Ethan's friends came over for a Nintendo DS Pokemon marathon. Yes, 17- and 18- year old boys have Nintendo DS Pokemon marathons, or at least Ethan's friends do, which at least partially explains why he finds church lessons about resisting temptations while hanging out with your non-Mormon friends a little over the top. For Ethan and his friends that night, though? It was Pokemon and cream soda, baby. Wild times!

The door right next to the table opens into the bedroom/office, the the door on the left opens into an eventual bathroom. Who knows when we'll get that one finished. Then the closet on the wall has become the toy/game storage closet, which I didn't realize how much I'd like until I put all Wyatt's toys inside and closed the doors.

The picture below is the bedroom/office. As you can see, this is part of the 7%. We need to get rid of our old entertainment center but it's proving difficult thus far. And it's a nice piece of furniture! Solid wood, not all oak-y and dated. I have it up on Craigslist for $99 and have had a couple of nibbles but no real bites. Entertainment centers are going the way of the rotary phone, it appears.

And here's what a ginormous screen looks like in a window-less basement with the lights off. It's pretty cool. And I don't even watch football! I did enjoy inspecting the pores on celebrities' faces during the Emmy's though.

And that is it for now. Forrest is gone on a campout with Jonas and the Scout troop and the rest of us get to SLEEP IN tomorrow because of MEA (the Minnesota version of UEA). Hallalujah! I'll have a kid-update post sometime soon.

Ethan's birthday (belated), Eagle project, and Transitions

Ethan turned 17 last month. SEVENTEEN. Crazy. He has giant hands. It's so strange.  Here he is with the rest of the fam at Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate. (We tried to go to Red Lobster but it was an hour and a half wait. I mean, c'mon.)

And here he is smiling his "I am now a 17-year-old" smile. The thing that really brings me up short (and kind of hurts my heart) is that next year at this time he won't even LIVE HERE ANYMORE. What the heck?

He's also done with everything but the final paperwork on his Eagle project. He built portable desks for an elementary school; they're used to carry papers and other items and to write on when kids do work outside. Here are a few pics of the project:

And now we're all full-steam-ahead with school, work, and everything else. Ethan is enjoying McDonald's and the school musical (he's in the chorus of Aida); Elise is having fun in her women's choir, and Jonas is rocking it on his new soccer team and just made Vocal Jazz, his middle school performing choir. Wyatt is doing a great job in first grade, too: his teacher told me he's "so nice and considerate and smart." Nice, considerate, and smart are three of my favorite things for a person to be. Here are pics of the other three kids, just for fun:

Jonas getting his First Class and Star scouts

Elise taking a picture of the two of us after I had her take a picture of me to upload to my faculty profile

Wyatt wearing the bribery moustache the Evil Lords of Fundraising gave to all the kids to convince them to sell wrapping paper, bad chocolate, and overpriced paraphernalia so they can "earn" fabulous "prizes." Like a stick on moustache. 

Things are going well for me at UWRF. I have a nice MWF schedule (three sections, all the same prep) and one of the sections is an honors class, which is a lot of fun. They're so talkative! My first batch of essays is due on Monday, though, so the deluge will begin.

And that is all for now. Coming up soon: new basement!

Cottage Grove Ward Triathlon

A portion of the Cottage Grove Ward Triathletes

Forrest is an excellent ringleader. He has this great gift for getting other people excited about stuff, sometimes against their will. (This was not the case when he proposed, of course.) Although he's never been able to get ME excited about triathlons, he's particularly adept at encouraging folks who are already leaning in that direction.

This year he took his triathlon cheerleading to a whole new level and recruited a bunch of people in our ward to give the race a try, many of them for the very first time. Some of them did relays (one person does the swim, another does the bike, and another does the run). In fact, next year I might even consider doing a relay if I can do the bike portion, since I'm an absolute no on both the run and the swim. I said I would CONSIDER it. Anyway, there were also a bunch of people who did the sprint distance for the very first time, and one intrepid fellow who did the olympic distance for his very first try . . . even though he couldn't swim. He got a giant C for Courage because he was the very last person done with the swim in the whole entire race, but he still kept a smile on his face and finished the bike and the run. I say, Go Him!

I was the official photographer. Well, not official, really. I nominated myself to be the official photographer. But I think people liked the photos. Here are some of my best shots. I realize that you, my five readers, don't know most of these people from Adam, but I still like the photos so I'm uploading them anyway.

You know the guy on the left. The guy on the right is another supportive spouse. Also Canadian.

Forrest and Dan. Dan is The Man.

Alli and Reed. Yes, they're married! Sheesh. Reed is one of Forrest's new little bros. (He likes to make friends with guys who are five years younger than he is. Deep down he always wanted a little bro. Or he just thinks he's five years younger than he actually is.)

Action shot. Get in that wetsuit!

A few of the ladies of the Cottage Grove ward, looking awesome in their swim caps

Our friend who finished the Olympic swim portion, even though he couldn't swim. 

Becky and Brooke. Relay handoff!

Brooke's daughter Lauren, just hanging out.

Forrest getting high fives from some of the kids in the ward

Mike, YM secretary and eye surgeon. Also a good runner.

Little motorized parachute thingie

The kids new seminary teacher. Is it wrong to post shirtless photos of your kids' seminary teacher? At least I didn't post any swimsuit photos.

Hooray Brooke! Brooke is the best! (Really, Brooke is the best.) Brooke is my good friend, married to Dan the Man, and serves with me in the Stake YW. She's also bald, and has an excellent sense of humor about it. She has alopecia and lost all her hair as a pre-teen. She's used to people seeing her as super-courageous: look at the lady doing the triathlon while she's undergoing chemotherapy! And really, Brooke is the best.

Shane, the recently returned missionary and oldest son in a family of super-competitive sons. You should have seen him kick it into gear during the last 20 feet of the race so he could speed past the guy ahead of him.

Brooke's Lauren with our bishop. Poor Bishop: he was planning to run the triathlon too, but then got a really bad intestinal ailment. Also too much info for the blog?

Our neighbor and Elise's YW leader Kimberley. She's a fitness instructor but hasn't ever raced before. She worked really, really hard and it was so fun to see the huge smile on her face as she came across the finish line. 

Awesome Noah, 13 years old. A handful of teenagers from the ward were going to do the sprint distance, but only Noah stuck it out and actually followed through.

Forrest coming into the finish, getting high fives from members of the ward.

The other fun thing about the triathlon was the kids' race. This year Wyatt decided he wanted to participate, so he did a 25 yard swim, 1 mile bike, and a 1/4 mile run. A group shot of all the Cottage Grove Ward kids who decided to race:

Here Wyatt is, racing with all his might:

Getting marked up

Practicing before the swim

Ready to rumble!

Ready, set, go! (He somehow ended up at the end of the line. He didn't mind.)

Splashing in

Wyatt and the Ladies, emerging from the water

Buff

Wyatt and Dad, taking off for the bike portion. (Dads were allowed to follow for the five and six year olds.)

Happy bike rider

Happy runner. I love this photo.

Getting cheered on by two random ladies at the finish line.

Wyatt and Harrison, all medaled up.

Riding back to the car with Dad, super proud.

It was a really fun morning. We'll see if next year I dare to do the bike. WE'LL SEE.