Brooke's 1st B-Day

Brooke turned 1 on the 26th (Sunday). We had some family over for a BBQ. It was fun to see all the kids so excited to help Brooke open her presents. Funny how kids don't really care what the gift actually is... they just care about opening the gift. Luckily there were enough gifts for each sibling and cousin to open one present each... Brooke had fun playing with the wrapping paper after.

Jill and I love cupcakes instead of birthday cake.

BEFORE

Seconds AFTER

Brooke shoved that cupcake up in her face so fast that it got all in her nose... then she started to cry.

Here are the pics from Derek & Taylor's 1st B-Day... to compare. Even though Derek has frosting all over, he was much more gentle. Taylor too. Taylor gently held the cupcake and licked the frosting... Brooke on the other hand squished that cupcake all up. Crumbs were everywhere. She smashed it against her face so hard she started crying. I have a feeling it was because we didn't get our first 2 kids sweets before their 1st birthday. Brooke on the other hand has had sweets. She's tasted ice cream, brownies, cookies, etc... so she knew what she was getting and she went after it.

Last Couple Months

APRIL - Some pics from Easter

MAY - Trip to San Diego

JUNE - While I'm at summer school... Jill puts the kids to work:

But then they get donuts!

JUNE - This is what I've been doing after summer school

(I couldn't have done it without the help of Jill,Mike & Jarod... thanks!)

*tons of wood... getting it level in the yard... holy cow... the instructions say it takes 10-11 hours... ya right!

*Final product

My 1st Year of Teaching High School

Hello All,

I'm not sure if anyone will even read this... but I thought I'd try posting a quick review of my first year teaching high school.

IT WAS AWESOME!


http://eastsidehigh.org

I taught at Eastside High School which is a newer school (5 years old or so). It seemed like the students had pride in their school. The campus and classrooms were clean and well mantained. Our classroom had some cool technology... instead of overhead projectors, we had document cameras... same thing but it's a camera so you can put anything under the camera and project it up on the screen. Another thing (super cool) is that we have these cool remote clickers for each student... so I can project questions on the board and then ask the class to click in their answer... and it gives instant feedback on how many got it right/wrong... I can see answers they put and we can discuss why they put that answer. It's very helpful in reviewing material. You can also play a Jeopardy style game with it. You can also creat multiple versions of tests with it... I use it at least once a week.


this is the clicker we had...




this is the clicker we will have next year (students can actually type in answers rather than multiple choice questions only)





I started the year with 180 students... Two were tough but one transfered out. So I had one student that was tough and she ended up not being tough in the end. So I ended the school year with about 170 students and NONE were tough. Of course I had some check out and get Fs... but for the most part... very good students across the board. But then again, I was given Geometry and Algebra II... so I got the sophomores and juniors... much better than freshmen.

Some cool things about being a teacher:

(1) I taught morals & standards to 180 youth almost everyday. They all knew who I was and what I stood for and why. They all knew I was Mormon.

(2) I interacted with several parents and we worked together helping their children do better and stay in line.


(3) I got off work everyday and drove home not needing my headlights on (except for back to school night).

(4) I went from a 4x6 cubicle to a 30x40 personal office

Are you kind of jealous? Ok, here are a couple tougher things:
(1)$$... but I didn't get into teaching for the money
(2) I heard more foul language than I have in the past 10 years combined (this was my #1 rule in my classroom... and my students were really good after the first week)

* by the way... Lancaster is very conservative... saying Christmas in schools is a good normal thing
(3) I had to go to rallies which blasted ridiculous music... but then again, I had to go to team activities that were pretty lame too
(4) I only had to work for 180 days and I'm already on vacation... this isn't on the good side because I opted to teach summer school.

All in all, it's been a wonderful transition. I really do love it as much as I thought I would. I'm so glad I took the leap and made the career change.

~ Mr Dabo

Taylor's Blessing

It was a great weekend... and Taylor was a cutie!

To All Mothers

Why Only Baseball?

I know most bloggers are women and probably don't care about this... but I'm throwing this out there for your information.


I am truly at a loss of words for what's happening in Baseball right now. First, I don't know how to answer the questions... I'm not about to. But I also don't know why Baseball is the only sport targeted.


I listened to the press conference today with Alex Rodriguez. He admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs between 01-03. I'm sad because I really admire A-Rod and I'm sad he's going to be hated and destroyed by the media.




My question is WHY ONLY BASEBALL? Do you actually think Baseball is the only sport using drugs?


Let's just talk about football:

Lyle Alzedo admitted to taking steroids from 1969-1990. Lyle said, "I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting... Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff... I became very violent on the field and off it..." He later died from the stuff. He won all kinds of awards and a super bowl championship... why isn't the media asking for all that to be stripped of him?



Bill Romanowski admitted it. This guy punched a teammate at practice in the eye and the teammate never could play again because his eye sight was never the same. Last year, he coached his son's high school team... and is trying to earn a head coaching pro job. Again, why aren't his statistics and awards being questioned?




And very recently... Shawne Merriman was caught using steroids... He was suspended for 4 games (the rule in the NFL) but that didn't stop him from winning a spot to the Pro Bowl (All Star team). What's up with that? He gets caught but still makes the All Star team.




Where's the "MITCHELL REPORT" for football? Why isn't the media crucifying the other sports and those athletes in those other sports?

* the Mitchell Report came out last year naming names on which ball players were somehow linked to steroids



One last proof - if you go to wikipedia... you can type in "steroids in baseball" and get a full page of stuff. But you type in "steroids in football" or "steroids in basketball or hockey or the olympcis" and you don't get anything! What's up with that?

Derek & Taylor

Questions?
(1) Do kids get their cute personalities overnight? If so, at what age? Or is it something added each day?
(2) If Taylor didn't get my eyelashes, do you think she'll have my eyebrows? (sorry for the mention of hair again)
(3) Do you think Taylor will stay dark?
(4) Do all kids make a fist putting their thumb in between their index & middle fingers? (see picture)




My thoughts:
(1) Of course it's something that's added each day, but I thought Derek had a cute personality on day 1... Not that I'm saying Taylor's isn't cute... I guess I'm just comparing personalities between a 2 yr old and a 2 month old.
(2) I sure hope not
(3) I think so. I think Derek will get darker but Taylor is going to stay dark and maybe will always be darker than Derek.
(4) I assume so since Derek did it too. I think it's cute.