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.

two years

(this post is a little belated, but oh well!)

July 28, 2007. Best day of my life :)

Last year Dameon planned an AMAZING one-year anniversary celebration. I'm just realizing I never blogged about it (hadn't even started my blog yet) but, trust me, it was AMAZING. At that time we decided it would be fun to trade off every other year being the planner of the celebration. That means this year was my year. (A new acquaintance brought it to my attention for the first time the other night that I should have thought this through since most of the "big" anniversaries fall on even years. yikes!! The pressure is on, I guess!)

I wanted our two-year anniversary to be a surprise little getaway. Dameon is pretty hard to surprise with anything, but it went off without a hitch! We left home about 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday and headed south on 380. Unfortunately we had to drive separate cars because Dameon had to give a leadership seminar in Des Moines on Wednesday. Anyway, our first stop was the Panera in Coralville. We picked up some to-go lunch and headed over to City Park for a picnic. Surprise #2 came next as we drove to hotelVetro in downtown Iowa City to check in to our room. This was really a splurge, but well worth it since the room was really cool (see pictures above). We hung out there for a bit and then decided to go for a walk and get some ice cream. Dameon chose Cold Stone while I opted for Whitey's. We spent the next while just roaming around the ped mall stopping in different little shops and browsing around. Then we headed back to the hotel with the intention of going swimming. We got our suits on and headed in the direction of the pool but soon found out it was closed for remodeling. Oh well. It was nearing dinner time so we went back to the room to iron our clothes and get ready to eat. We had fun walking to Linn Street Cafe and had a delicious meal. Continuing with the "splurge" theme, we decided to order big. We started with an appetizer of crab cakes and then our soup and salad. Dameon chose the Iowa beef tenderloin and I had a tasty pasta dish. We topped if off with a piece of blackberry white chocolate cheesecake. After dinner we strolled back to the hotel, changed into some comfy clothes and walked right across the street to Capanna coffee house where I enjoyed a vanilla latte and Dameon had a white chocolate hazelnut mocha. Delish! The next morning we had to wake up early and head out, but it was still a great way to wrap up the summer and celebrate our marriage. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next year! :)

New Furniture and New Tricks

Moving into a bigger home has really been exciting. We are loving having so much space, except when we lose our cell phones. It has also, however, kinda forced us to bite the bit (is that the right phrase??) and make some hefty furniture purchases. Now, let me assure you, these decisions were not made in haste. My Dameon can definitely whip out his "official furniture inspector" badge whenever he deems appropriate. Now, me, I'm usually not a very good decision-maker when it comes to home decor. I like to kinda get my feet wet and then sleep on it awhile. For some reason in this latest venture Dameon decided to take that mentality to the extreme. Even to the point that I was the one shouting "UNCLE!" Our search for a dining room table literally spanned the length of 4 months. The search for the couch seemed almost as torturous since we went on a whirlwind tour of about 11 furniture stores in three days. And, it never failed, every sofa, loveseat, table, chair, or ottoman that I even batted an eye at had to undergo Dameon's "Is it sturdy?" test. Keep in mind that he has muscles capable of bench pressing ME, so he's able to make anything wobble. Phew! We finally found something we both felt good about! And, while I'm giving him a hard time in this little write-up, how can I honestly complain about a guy who just wants to make sure we're getting the most for our money? We are super happy with the way our home is coming together.

In other news, we continue to own the cutest puppy in the world. While we come to realize Rufus' pint-sized frame really can't manage to balance while learning "shake" (dang it!) we HAVE realized that's it's not too late to help him with his manners. He does really well with the barking/yipping thing, but he is not so good with the jumping up on new people thing. Believe it or not, it's all our fault. We think it's absolutely adorable when we sit on the couch and he leaps up at our face with his tounge going a million miles an hour. Visitors, however, do not. We can no longer reward this behavior by giving him attention, so the idea is to ignore him when he does this and praise him when he sits. In the end, hopefully sitting becomes his default mode. So far, he's really catching on and he find him sitting a lot more. This results in over-the-top praise, which makes him run wild hot laps all throughout the house. So cute! Okay, now I'm going to attempt to post some pics. I have yet to learn how to paste them throughout my text. (Thanks for the attempted help, Annie, but I couldn't crack the code.) You'll still get the gist, though. Dining room table, new basement couch, Rufus showing nice manners. :) *And by the way, Dameon had to sit/lay on the floor for like 5 hours last night assembling the table and chairs. What an awesome hubby!!

one short day in the emerald city!

Yessssssssssssssssssssss! I just scored great tickets for Mom, Dad, Dameon and I to see Wicked in Des Moines. Dameon and I saw it last summer in Chicago and it totally knocked our socks off! We couldn't stop talking about it!! I can't wait for my parents to see it and hopefully enjoy it as much as we did. I'm gonna go search for my soundtrack right now so I can get pumped up!

My Man

Happy 27th Birthday to my most amazing and handsome husband! On Tuesday I was driving home from picking up a birthday card for Dameon and thinking wonderful thoughts about him while cruising through Waterloo. I found myself pondering this question: How many women out there can say that they are married to a man who loves them for 100% who they are? I wonder if I take for granted that I am COMPLETELY myself with Dameon and that's the person he loves. WOW! I was blown away by this thought. Not only does he love me for who I am (good days and bad), he breathes acceptance into me every single day. God sure does know what He's doing. I am so thankful for the day Dameon was born! Here are some things I love about "my man":

**He has the same sense of humor as me and always gets my jokes.

**He loves our puppy just as much (if not more) than I do.

**His favorite food is anything that I cook. (except that fish that one time...)

**He loves spending time with my family.

**I never, and I mean NEVER, have to beg him to do anything around the house or the yard. (sometimes I even have to ask him to sit down and relax a little)

**He works extremely hard to make sure he is providing for me and doing everything he can to care for me.

**He can clean a kitchen better than anyone I know.

**He's got just the right amount of goofy in him.

**He is an extremely gifted teacher.

**He always holds my hand in public.

**He desires to be a strong, godly leader for our family.

**Pre-fenced in yard, he would always take Rufus out before bed because he knew I was just a tiny bit afraid of being outside alone at nighttime.

**He lets me change the channel rather than forcing me to bear another episode of Deadliest Catch.

I LOVE YOU, DAMEON!!!!!