Baby Boy Mo

Here is our pride and joy, well sometimes joy...Mocha. We've been trying to take lots of pictures so that when is big, we can remember him fondly as a little kitty!

Rich likes to put Mo inside his shirt and carry him around like a baby, Mo doesn't really enjoy it, and lets him know by biting him profusely!

We took this one last weekend, he is getting so big now! In the two weeks I was back in MI and Rich was on 'mancation,' I swear he gained 5 pounds. Slowly but surely we've been letting him venture outdoors. I'm a little nervous about black widow spiders, but Rich hunts for them regularly with his can of WD-40 and a lighter!

Yes that is a picture of Mo with his head inside of a water glass acting like he is human! I've never laughed so hard, watching him slide his little head inside the glass and tip it just enough to obtain a few licks of water. Normally we would not condone this type of behavior, but it was just way too funny!

Palm Canyon to the Stone Pools

I've been a horrible blogger....but in my defense, I've had major problems uploading photos. Today they uploaded instantly, so you'll be seeing several updates today!

These are photos from the Hike for Hope that I did at the end of March in memory of Oma. The hike was 7 miles round trip and the weather was absolutely perfect. We started out in the Indian Canyons and the trail lead through the brush of many palm trees to upper areas of the canyons that were really hot and dry. The end point was at these stone pools which were following with cool water. The water back here comes mainly from snow melt, so as you can imagine they are quite dry now.

This was John our hike leader. A very knowledgable man in his seventies who belongs to a hiking group out in the valley. He kept us trucking through the lengthy hike with his vast array of experiences hiking and mountaineering.

This was my team...we wore our dream-become shirts from school to identify our team, as the 'Trekking Teachers.' Thanks to everyone who donated to help me reach my goal of $300. Colleen and I sure carried the team with our donations. All in all it was a day well spent helping fund valuable research and remembering loved ones we've lost.

Hike for Hope

I know it has been months since my last post...things have been busy, plus, I have not uploaded pictures or anything! Since I have today free, I'll be uploading some photos and such, so look forward to many new posts about what have been doing over the past two months. My aim today is to tell you about this thing I'm working on that may be of interest to those of you who read my blog.

I got a team of teachers that I regularly hike with on Sundays to participate in a Hike for Hope on Sunday March 1, 2009. Our team name is "The Trekking Teachers" nerdy, I know. Anyway, I decided to do this because the money goes to fund Women's Cancer Research, so Oma is who I'm dedicating my hike to. So, I need sponsers to help with my donation. If you want to help out my effort you can visit the website (I still have yet to personalize it) https://secure.cityofhope.org/fundraising/vfs/15307680/5283 and this will go toward my donation for the cause. Or, you can send me a check made out to CITY OF HOPE if you want and I will submit it on the day of the hike. Every little bit helps, even if it is only a few dollars. I know that in this economy things are tight, but I strongly believe in this cause.

I'm really looking forward to this, and I think Oma would approve. It will be a 6 mi hike in the Indian Canyons, which is a beautiful place in Palm Springs. I'll post pictures of this one...I promise!

Spirit Week

Our first Spirit Week at NNC just ended...thank god! The kids had dress up days, lunch activities everyday, and a pep rally on Friday. I dressed up everday in ridiculous outfits to help promote student participation. It is amazing the lack of spirit at my school. I was pleased to see that as the week progressed, more and more students were participating. The same thing went for the lunch activities, everyday we had more students wanting to participate and excited about doing it. Friday's pep rally was a little crazy, but overall it was a success. For the 8th graders we had the Jazz Band and Color Guard from CCHS come and do a few numbers. The kids loved it and were super excited! The ASB kids did a really good job for their first spirit week, I can't wait to see what progress is made for the next one!!

See my twin for twin day....Deanna, one of my 8th grade students. For mismatch day...it was hard to leave my house dressed as crazily as I was!

October Happenings

The CCHS Parade, yes happened about a month ago...I know I am months behind in catching everyone up to speed. The parade was a success, and the kids had a great time. We also had a much better turn out than the other Middle School, which made us look that much better:)
Let's see, there was also Brad and Ryan's wedding. It was at their home and Scott did all the food and the wedding cake. He truly out did himself and it was a nice evening. Two people who are truly in love in every sense of the word. I haven't even had time to take the red out of these pictures!

I've also been hiking almost every Sunday with some girl friends from work. This has been quite enjoyable for us to not only get some exercise, but see some hidden sights as well.

Trip to San Fran

I know this actually occured about a month ago, but I've been super busy. Rich and I traveled to San Francisco exactly a month ago for the wedding of a friend of his from college. They have been together for 11 years, but wanted to wait to tie the knot until she finished medical school. Currently they live in San Diego, but are from the bay area, thus the location of the wedding was in Palo Alto. We were very excited to get away from school and the Palm Springs heat for a mini vacation. The wedding was on Stanford's campus, where she went to school, in a beautiful cathedral. The reception was then held a country club nearby. The service and the reception was very classy and I really enjoyed meeting some of Rich's friends. At the reception, this girl at our table, prior to being introduced, said, "Melissa?" It took me a second to recogize her, but she was an LAS scholar from CMU the year after me. I was sort of emabarrassed that I hadn't really remembered her, but nothetheless it was a funny coincidence. What a small world that I see someone I know from home at a wedding in San Francisco! No one is really sure what dance move Rich is testing out here?!!?


The next day we had a lot of time to kill before our plane left, so we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and went to this beautiful place called Muir Beach. It was windy and chilly, but lets face it, I'm a wimp when it comes to weather now. Then we drove back into the city and took a stroll down to Fisherman's Warf. San Francsiso is just like it looks in the movies, cute little houses with super hilly roads and trollies! I really liked it and want to go back for a longer stay soon!
On this super steep road we thought we'd try to make it look like Rich was going to fall forward...as you can see I am not a photographer!

The First Week

I was really not looking forward to school starting, because that means summer is over, and the real work begins. Suprisingly this week has been quite good though. Having taught 7th grade last year, I happen to have some of the same students again this year. I also have some of the same kids from summer school. I am really enjoying this because I don't have to spend as much time getting to know the students because I already know at least 3/4 of my 200 this year!

My schedule is interesting this year because I am working without a prep period. I teach periods 1-5 all 8th grade physical science (I have 51 minutes this year instead of 40! YAY!!). I have a 30 minute lunch and then I teach ASB/Leadership for the last period. This makes for a long day, with no breaks but once my first check of the year arrives I think I won't mind since prep buy out is roughly an extra $750 a month:) My house desperatley needs needs this extra cash!

I'm really liking that this is my third year and not only do I have tenure, but for once I feel really confident about what I need to teach for my subject. The planning is less work and it just feels like second nature. The leadership class is working out well too, and I think it will prove to be a rewarding experience for myself and the kids. The woman I am working with on this is another challenge....it is like my Phi Sigma Sigma days all over again. Working with people who do not understand the meaning of organizing and planning and leadership in general. This will be interesting.

I organized a teambuilding activity for the ASB students at this inflatable party place and it was a huge success. The students got to know each other, and started working on things as a team. It was a great start to our year of working and learning together!