viernes, 30 de octubre de 2009

update...the good and the bad

Wow it's been...a bad, bad month. There are some good things that have happened too, but it's definitely not been a great time. Between the crash, my grandpa dying, my car breaking down in VA Beach, and financial issues, it's been a long month. School has been great. My kids are doing really well, learning what they need to learn, making me laugh, and passing their goals. We've been doing a lot of goal-setting, practicing, and assessing to show their progress towards meeting their goals and they've become obsessed with "results". They constantly ask me to test them again to see if they've improved. It's actually pretty cool because they don't see the tests as something to stress about. They see them as evidence of how much they've grown and achieved (WHICH IS WHAT TESTS REALLY ARE!).

My car was basically unfixable in VA Beach - needed $3,000 worth of repairs and I only had $200. So I had to trade it for a different car. I got a really good deal on the "new" car and I'm happy with the car. But it has made the situation harder because now I have a car payment. The purchase of it was cool though because I totally played the car salesman before he realized what had happened. He spent so much time trying to manipulate the numbers with me that he didn't realize I was manipulating the numbers right back at him. He picked the wrong person to play a numbers game. I quickly signed before he realized what happened and when he realized how much he had lost on the deal (after it was too late), he was so angry. He even threw papers at Ivan and I and kicked the trashcan. For real. It was hilarious.

We had the memorial service for my grandparents last weekend. That was hard because my sister and I are kind of mad at each other right now. My aunt spoke at the service and she said something really cool that stood out to me. She was referring to us (the grandkids) and she said, "Our children grew up thinking that everybody's grandparents had trains that run around the pool and a red teddy that greets them on the front porch with a message..." She mentioned other things too, and I thought about how right she was. When I was little, I really did think that everybody's grandparents must be just that awesome. Now, I know differently. I know everyone has grandparents that are special and awesome to them, but I truly was blessed to have the absolute best kid grandparents in the world.

I have a new kid from Mexico in my class. She has cerebral palsy and has never been to school before. She speaks no English and has many limitations and needs. She is sooooooo sweet. She just smiles and laughs all day long, so happy to be here around all the kids. She loves Zorro and carries him in her lap in her wheelchair. Yesterday she was using the computer in the computer lab with us and I put Zorro on the keyboard of the computer next to her as if he was typing on it. She saw him and laughed and laughed and said, "Zorro no puede escribir en la computadora! Es un zorro!" (Zorro can't write on the computer! He's a fox!) She thought it was the funniest thing ever. My kids love her! They spend a lot of time trying to talk to her in Spanish and making her laugh with smiles and pictures. She's pretty cool.

Today I got a new job! I had my second interview at Best Buy and I'm going to start working there. I'm really excited because I really want to work there! And I threw out an idea to the manager during the interview for a new technology item that could be useful with kids. I was simply asking him if he'd ever heard of anything like it and where I could get one if he had. He said, "Wow, I've never heard of anything like that before, but it's brilliant! You need to not spread that around and instead try to develop it and patent it. It would be brilliant!" So...now I have a new challenge ahead of me. Like I need another one.

:)

lunes, 12 de octubre de 2009

stuck.

So now after missing 3 days of school last week because of my grandfather, I'm missing another day today because I'm stuck in Virginia Beach. My car won't go out of first gear. I think it's related to the damages from the accident 3 weeks ago... The problem is that the earliest time the shop down here can look at it today is 1:30. That's going to possibly be a problem because of how long it might take to fix the car. I mean, at least if I'm stuck somewhere, I'm stuck at the beach. I guess...

sábado, 10 de octubre de 2009

Dolphins and Waves at Virginia Beach

My brother and I are in Virginia Beach this weekend for his soccer tournament. We were looking outside this morning when we saw DOLPHINS! Lots and lots of dolphins! There were like maybe 20 or more. We even saw one JUMPING! He jumped completely out of the water! We got in the water to play with the dolphins. They were really, really close but they stayed away from us. Here are pictures of the dolphins and us playing in the water. Now we have to go to his soccer game...





Here's my bro trying to squish my head with his fingers. So nice.


More dolphins!

wet money

Here's Ivan trying to dry off my money after I mysteriously fell in the ocean and all my money got soaking wet. I'm not sure how I ended up under the waves...lost my balance or something...

jueves, 8 de octubre de 2009

the winning car

Here's a picture from 1987 of my grandparents when they won a car at Disney World. It was for the 15th anniversary celebration there and they said that when they walked through the gates sirens started going off and balloons and confetti were falling everywhere and they were told that they won a car! There they are with Mickey Mouse with their car behind them.

semi-pro basketball star

We just found a record that says that my grandpa played semi-professional basketball. It says, "The roaring Cincinnatus Merchants Semi-Professional basketball team of Cincinnatus has become an invincible team. The Merchants have smashed every opponent they have played this year... The team has been greatly bolstered by the return of Daley and Tice from Baltimore, Maryland, sensational basketball ALL STARS..." (the original had "all stars" written in all caps.)

Who knew?

An award describing my grandpa

Here's the description of my grandpa from an award that he received:

"A gifted Scouter richly endowed with the qualities of leadership and possessed with natural ability and talent for working effectively with and for boys. He is above all else a man of God and so dedicated to the high purposes of Scouting that nothing less than his spectacular success could satisfy his demanding conscience. Whenever he undertakes an activity of planning, recruiting, provision of facilities is always completed in excellent fashion. He becomes personally involved in bringing a good Scouting Program to boys and he works harder and longer than most in this pursuit."

I have never seen this before and I thought it was so well written. My grandpa won the Silver Beaver award which is the highest honor received by Scoutmasters in a leadership position.

miércoles, 7 de octubre de 2009

Goodbye Grandpa

Yesterday my grandpa, the best grandpa in the world, passed away. I'm in Baltimore right now. I'm sad, of course, but right now I'm more angry than anything. I'm not angry at anybody or anything. I'm just mad. I don't understand why though, because we knew this was going to happen and I know that my grandpa is happier now. He wanted to be with my grandma. He didn't want to be here anymore. It's better for him. I get that. I understand that. But under everything I'm still just mad.

Summer Pool Video - Edith and Esther

Esther and Edith at the Pool - July 2009 from Beth Tice on Vimeo.

Here's a video I've been meaning to make for a while... It's of little Esther and Edith playing in the pool from back in the summer when Katie, Niklas, and Esther came over to visit from Sweden!

Beautiful Butterfly

One day last week, a butterfly emerged from its chrysalis and my class and I went to set it free but it didn't fly for a while. It climbed on all the kids and let the kids hold it. In the end it flew away. Here are some pictures of it:




Pascracio

Here are some cool pictures of Ivan and me holding Pascracio.