my friends call me whiskers

Never underestimate the curiousity of a five-year-old. On Friday as I was holding the classroom door open and greeting my students, I noticed two of my little girls barreling down the hallway and bee-lining straight for me. The one on the left's eyes were popping out of her head and the one on the right had about 5 or 6 kleenex sticking out of her mouth. As they got closer, I could see the kleenex had turned a slight pinkish color. My suspicions were confirmed when girl on the left blurted out, "Mrs. Place, Janey licked the bus!!" Just another day in the life...

preparations

Ever since the first day we laid eyes on this house we have been saying, "This is a great Christmas house!" We have been greatly looking forward to Christmas decorations, music, and baking. We've been debating the past few weeks about what type of Christmas tree upgrade needed to happen this year. The tree we so fondly refer to as the Charlie Brown has served us well for the past three Christmases but this year it just wouldn't do. After much discussion, we decided a live tree would be best. On Sunday afternoon we piled (all three of us) into the Honda to head over to Earl May and make the important decision. It seemed that Dameon went in with a sort of "bigger is better" mentality, but I was a bit worried about this game plan. I think I mentioned several times how much "bigger the tree will look once it's inside the house." Nonetheless, he spotted the most perfect Fraser Fir! I wasn't much help as we loaded and unloaded her because I was distracted by the discovery that Rufus had eaten approx. 8 powdered donuts in the front seat while we had gone inside to pay. Thankfully, Dameon's a he-man and could lift the tree over one shoulder. And Rufus's pancreas is now recovering.

We spent the evening unpacking Christmas decorations, trimming the tree, listening to Christmas music, and taking in the refreshing scent of a real pine. The decorating is by no means finished, but we're well on our way to a winter wonderland!

Christmastime is here again

After much anticipation, we broke out the Christmas music on Thursday. We will now listen to it non-stop until the new year. Hooray! We try to add one new album to the collection each year. This year our new addition has quickly become one of our all-time favorites. I highly recommend this one from Sara Groves entitled, "O Holy Night." It's the perfect mix of old classics and her original stuff. Plus she adds her own very tasteful spin on everything. We picked it up at Family Christian Store for the low price of $9.99. Go get your copy asap!

Life Lately

I'm WAY overdue on posting but I couldn't think of any one topic to highlight. This will, instead, be a compilation of random recent happenings in our life.

1.) I was reminded, once again, that I married a true handyman. Dameon single-handedly installed a dishwasher in our kitchen (including plumbing and electrical work) in one weekend. It is SUCH a luxury since being without one since...well...2006.

2.) Marching band season has come to a close since my last post. It was a very successful competition season and exciting to watch the band progress so much so quickly! These days we are adjusting to a more "normal" pace. Instead of being gone every weeknight, Dameon is only gone on Wednesday nights for grad school at UNI.

3.) Jumping right into drill-writing/marching band season shortly after we moved resulted in us basically unpacking our necessities and shoving everything else in the storage space. Now we are enjoying really making our house a home. Last weekend we spent some time at Lowe's picking out a new area rug for the living room and paint for the master bedroom and living room. I'll post before and after pictures as soon as the painting projects are finished.

4.) On Sunday we made a big purchase. We had tossed around the idea of upgrading from a Queen-sized bed for quite awhile. We stumbled upon a price we couldn't refuse and are now the official owners of a King-sized bed. Life is good!!

5.) My job is getting more managable day by day. I just finished my first round of report cards and I'm now gearing up for Parent/Teacher conferences later this week.

6.) We have been enjoying the nice fall weather (when it's not raining) and have learned that our neighborhood is full of BEAUTIFUL fall-colored trees. We also learned that the trees we are so thankful for in the summer create a major amount of raking when the season changes. Good thing my husband has big muscles...and good thing I'm an expert supervisor.

7.) We've been fortunate to spend some good quality time with our families lately. In mid-October I spend the weekend back at my parents' house. We traveled to Dameon's marching band competition that Saturday and then the four of us went to dinner and to "Wicked" on Sunday. So great! This past Friday night we met up with Dameon's dad and step-mom at Mesquawki Casino for the seafood buffet. We came up with the idea a few weeks prior when it came up in conversation that I had never eaten crab legs. This buffet serves king crab legs, so we thought it would be a good adventure. I learned that I don't like crab legs, but it was still a fun time. Then we made our annual journey to a haunted house. This year's selection was just a bit two scary for us women, so the rough and tough men went without us. I like to think they clung to each other and screamed like little girls the whole way. :)

8.) Have to add a couple of things I've been thankful for today...
First: We heard a great message in church this morning. Great because it made us feel "uncomfortably convicted." The pastor was speaking about a passage in Matthew when Jesus is telling his followers that (in summary) many of them/us will walk with Jesus, do good works, claim Jesus as our Savior, and even proclaim Him to others but FEW will pass through the narrow gate into heaven. Why? Because many leave out the relationship part. The pastor said something that really struck me toward the end of his message. I think it went something like, "There's a difference between knowing ABOUT Jesus and KNOWING Jesus. There's also a difference between having conversations with Him and having a relationship with Him." Hmmm...great truths to reflect on and act on.
Second: Dameon did something so great for me today. Many of you may not know, but when it comes right down to it, Dameon is a much better housekeeper than I am. I know, I know, how could this guy get any better?!?! He is more detail-oriented when it comes to cleaning and he also has this whole turbo-speed thing that I've really never been able to grasp in any area of my life. Anyway, I left around noon today to run a couple errands and go to the mall to do a little shopping for a few new items to add to my fall wardrobe. When I got home I found a clean kitchen, clean bathtub, clean living room, clean dining room, and clean family room. WOW. It means so much to me that he took time to serve me in this way when I am completely undeserving and completely guilty of laying around all day yesterday when I could have (and should have) been cleaning. Love that guy. Love, Love, Love him.

fall festivities

Yesterday Dameon had the great idea to head out in search of an apple orchard. I believe his exact words were, "I think we should go to an apple orchard so we can make apple pie. I'd rather be outside than in a movie theatre." (my idea was to go see "FAME") No argument here! Google informed us that there is not one single apple orchard in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area (weird, right??) so we settled on Allen's Orchard in Marion. It only took us about 40 minutes to get there, which wasn't too bad. We ended up with 9 pounds of apples and a jar of apple butter. Dameon followed through and made a delicious apple pie. I made apple sauce, which turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Yum! I heart fall.

the worst thing i ever did

You would think a kindergarten teacher, of all people, would be able to tell the difference between a 7 and a 9. This skill is crucial in a variety of situations.
As a teacher of young children, I always try to make a big deal out of birthdays. I was always one of those summer birthday kids who never had to spend my special day at school, and I always thought it would be such a drag to have to do so. For that reason, and because everyone should be celebrated in a big way, I make a great attempt to focus on the birthday kid. Calendar Time is an important part of my daily routine. I always mark the birthdays of the current month with a special birthday cake icon and we count down to the upcoming birthday. This is always very exciting for the children and helps them have a better frame of reference, since most concepts of "time" are very fuzzy in their young minds. Yesterday, tomorrow, next week...all very confusing.
Now, this being a school story, I have to change some of the details for confidentiality's sake. So, we'll call the child Abby. Abby's birthday has been marked on the calendar as September 15 since the beginning of the month. This means we had been counting down to it for 15 days. Now, keep in mind what a big deal it is to turn 6 before most of your other classmates. Turning 6 is sort of like a right of passage because you now get to show your age with TWO hands. Big stuff. So, right away when Abby entered my classroom on Tuesday morning, I greeted her with a hug and a "Good Morning, Birthday Girl!" She grinned from ear to ear and took her seat. About one minute later she came over to me and said, "Teacher, my mom forgot it was my birthday." I instantly felt so sad. Not wanting her to feel the same, I quickly said, "Oh! I bet it snuck up on her! That happens to my mommy sometimes, too." (Yes, sometimes teachers lie.) I reassured her by reminding her that we would be celebrating all day at school. This seemed to appease her.
When Calendar Time rolled around, Abby was called to the front of the class to receive her birthday crown and glitter pencil. As the class sang "Happy Birthday" she BEAMED from ear to ear. I then always converse with the child and ask them questions about their birthday plans, so they can tell the class. I asked her if she would get a present for her birthday. "Yes," she said. I asked her what it would be. "A surprise," she said. I asked her what kind of frosting she wanted on her cake. "Pink and purple," she said. She continued on through the day reminding everyone that it was her birthday. I always try to refer to the child as "Birthday Girl" or "Birthday Boy" throughout the entire day. Every time I would do this she would whisper to her neighbor, "Teacher just called me Birthday Girl!"
At the end of the day, her 5th grade sister came down to pick her up and head home. She instantly noticed the birthday crown and said, "Who gave that to you?" "My teacher because it's my birthday," Abby said. I thought it was odd of her sister to ask that, so I continued to listen as they walked down the hall together. "It's NOT your birthday," the sister said. "Yes it is! My teacher told me!" And then I was struck with horror. What in the world was going on? I ran into the classroom, grabbed my newest class roster, scrolled down the list until I found her name, AND THERE IT WAS. BIRTHDAY: 7-15-04. why??????????? why did I read that as September????????? How do you explain to a little girl that we just celebrated a fake birthday? How do you convince her that she's not actually 6? I feared that I had caused lifelong confusion and devastation. My fears were confirmed when Dameon told me that night about his similar experience in preschool. He appears to still be scarred from it!
I tried explaining to her the next morning. She didn't seem to understand. She just kept quietly repeating these words in a whisper as she stared straight ahead, "Teacher made a mistake. Not your birthday." I felt so horrible that I had to end the conversation by saying, "You can keep the glitter pencil, though." Too late. The damage is done.

the craziness has begun

Yes, it's true, I've been MIA from the blog world for awhile. I check my friends' blogs regularly and I'm always bummed when they haven't updated, so I figured it was my turn.
The fall is always the most nutty time of year for us Places. Marching band season takes Dameon away a lot and the start of the school year is totally exhausting and time-consuming for both of us. This fall is made even more chaotic by the fact that we've both started new jobs AND Dameon begins classes for his master's degree on Wednesday. That means he has Monday night band rehearsal, Tuesday night band rehearsal on competition weeks, Wednesday night class, Thursday night band rehearsal, Friday night football games (some weeks), and Saturday all-day competitions (some weeks). Couple that with the fact that he has to be at work at 6:30 every morning, and that equals one exhausted guy. I'm trying to find a balance between spending enough time on my new job, being a supportive wife (who gets dinner on the table by 5:00), and squeezing in some down time so I can stay sane. How will we ever introduce kids into this mix?, you ask. That's why I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom :) **And I'd be willing to bet that's an even HARDER job!! :)
Anyway, craziness aside, we are trying to take time every day to be thankful for all the ways the Lord sustains us. One of my favorite parts of my day is my ten minute drive to work. I tune into 101.9 and spend a few brief moments praying for the 25 kids who will be entering my classroom. They come with a lot of big-time needs and a lot of big-time baggage. What if I'm the only glimpse (and I mean GLIMPSE) of the love and mercy of Christ they are exposed to? I'd better sieze every moment to love on them...
Dameon and I both agreed that this move would be a big stretch out of our comfort zone, but we felt confident God had a purpose for us here. In those moments of pure exhaustion or pure frustration, we try to remind each other of that. If you feel led, please pray for our 'mission field' in the Waterloo Public Schools.