Here's a quick update on what's going on around here these days.
This time of year is busy for Kolby because it's college application time for his students. As an English teacher, he gets A LOT of requests to help edit college essays. It's a lot of work but it's also really fun to hear about his kids getting into the schools they were shooting for.
This fall Kolby hosted a Poetry Out Loud competition at his school and it went great! I went and was really impressed by the performances. One of Kolby's best talents as a teacher is that he has a unique ability to get his kids really interested and excited about the things he is really interested and excited about. Memorizing and reciting poems--- I would never have thought about doing anything like that in high school! But these kids had a blast with it.
Also on a school-related note, Kolby created a project where some of his seniors directed some freshmen in a performance of Romeo and Juliet last week. They did it during the day and the whole school attended. It went really well, and Kolby told me a neat story about how one of the freshman--who happened to be a big-time football player--discovered he was really good at acting and also really enjoyed it. He was the star of the performance and now has started attending the school's acting club. It makes me really proud of Kolby that he's in a career where he can have such a neat impact on kids' lives.
Sometimes I'm really fascinated about how different our jobs are. Last week Kolby was nervous about the play going well, and he said to me, "Imagine calling a meeting for your whole department--asking all of your co-workers to give up three hours of their very busy schedule--and being solely dependent on a bunch of 15-year-olds to make sure it goes OK." Ha!
On a semi-related note, Kolby has been trying to get me to read FOREVER. Long before we were married. But I always had some excuse not to. I used to read a lot in upper elementary school and loved it, but I got out of the habit and I'm embarrassed to say that I can only remember reading one book for fun in the last 15 years or so, and that was when I read Redeeming Love during finals my sophomore year in college. Well, I finally caved and gave reading another shot this year. Turns out, reading is really fun. Kolby was right all along (there, honey, I said it!). I've read at least ten books so far this year. Now I'm not talking classic or edifying books, but you have to start somewhere, right? I've read everything from My Sister's Keeper to Tina Fey's memoir to The Help to John Grisham novels. I'm totally hooked on reading. It's much more enjoyable than idly watching TV. Who knew? If anyone has any "must reads" let me know and I'll add them to my Christmas list!
In other news, we're slowly getting ready for Christmas around here. We went to a local tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree this week. The past couple of years we've chopped down a cedar from some family farmland nearby, but transporting it back home given that we both drive small sedans has been a bit of a problem in the past (remember this?). So this year we coughed up the $25 and bought the cheapest tree on the lot, a snazzy little 5' scotch pine. A friend told us they're cheap because they shed a lot, but that's just even more reason why it'll be right at home here with Maya :)
Here are a few cell phone pics from our tree excursion. We went on a date to our favorite pizza place, picked out and loaded our tree in the back seat, and then decorated it while watching the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. It was a perfect night!
This fall Kolby hosted a Poetry Out Loud competition at his school and it went great! I went and was really impressed by the performances. One of Kolby's best talents as a teacher is that he has a unique ability to get his kids really interested and excited about the things he is really interested and excited about. Memorizing and reciting poems--- I would never have thought about doing anything like that in high school! But these kids had a blast with it.
Also on a school-related note, Kolby created a project where some of his seniors directed some freshmen in a performance of Romeo and Juliet last week. They did it during the day and the whole school attended. It went really well, and Kolby told me a neat story about how one of the freshman--who happened to be a big-time football player--discovered he was really good at acting and also really enjoyed it. He was the star of the performance and now has started attending the school's acting club. It makes me really proud of Kolby that he's in a career where he can have such a neat impact on kids' lives.
Sometimes I'm really fascinated about how different our jobs are. Last week Kolby was nervous about the play going well, and he said to me, "Imagine calling a meeting for your whole department--asking all of your co-workers to give up three hours of their very busy schedule--and being solely dependent on a bunch of 15-year-olds to make sure it goes OK." Ha!
On a semi-related note, Kolby has been trying to get me to read FOREVER. Long before we were married. But I always had some excuse not to. I used to read a lot in upper elementary school and loved it, but I got out of the habit and I'm embarrassed to say that I can only remember reading one book for fun in the last 15 years or so, and that was when I read Redeeming Love during finals my sophomore year in college. Well, I finally caved and gave reading another shot this year. Turns out, reading is really fun. Kolby was right all along (there, honey, I said it!). I've read at least ten books so far this year. Now I'm not talking classic or edifying books, but you have to start somewhere, right? I've read everything from My Sister's Keeper to Tina Fey's memoir to The Help to John Grisham novels. I'm totally hooked on reading. It's much more enjoyable than idly watching TV. Who knew? If anyone has any "must reads" let me know and I'll add them to my Christmas list!
In other news, we're slowly getting ready for Christmas around here. We went to a local tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree this week. The past couple of years we've chopped down a cedar from some family farmland nearby, but transporting it back home given that we both drive small sedans has been a bit of a problem in the past (remember this?). So this year we coughed up the $25 and bought the cheapest tree on the lot, a snazzy little 5' scotch pine. A friend told us they're cheap because they shed a lot, but that's just even more reason why it'll be right at home here with Maya :)
Here are a few cell phone pics from our tree excursion. We went on a date to our favorite pizza place, picked out and loaded our tree in the back seat, and then decorated it while watching the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. It was a perfect night!
1 comment:
Reading is way more fun than TV! I really enjoyed reading "The Hunger Games" trilogy, and the movie for the first book is coming out next year as an added bonus. I recently starting listening to books on CD, and they make my commute to/from work SO much more enjoyable! Nice tree, by the way.
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