Modus Operandi

Well, I would say I am busy... but, c'mon. It's pretty much just 'life' now. This week is typical:

Mon - Meeting after school - AVID Site Team (that's the 13 folks at our school that support the program I work in called AVID

Tue - AVID District Meeting from 4:30 to 6:00 pm - that meeting was for everyone in our school district (I believe it is 11 schools) that teach AVID classes).

Wed - All Day AVID Houston Area Conference. That's where my teaching partner and I head off to today. I'm leaving in a bit.

Thurs - AVID Parent Night. We are serving Mexican food and going to show some video of the kids in action. It is from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. It is our 2nd parent night of the year.

Nah, AVID isn't too much extra work, huh? And to think I make not a dime more because of it. But, soooo many people want to teach it. Well, it is an awesome gig. Mostly because I know that in four years of working with these 26 kids I will get a big paycheck at the end: Their acceptance letter to college. That is going to be a great feeling. I just need to make it to that point with them. :)

Aidan's Third Birthday

Here are some pictures of Aidan's birthday celebration today. He had a great time. I will post some video tomorrow.

He makes me so proud. It is amazing to watch Aidan grow up. He says and does stuff now as a three year old that just makes my heart stop. It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago he was born. He is a walking & talking ball of energy now.


Aidan as a new born with Mom before a Texans game on a fall Sunday morning in 2004.

Look at him now...


I am a lucky, lucky guy to have such a wonderful, healthy and happy son.

Aidan - Hunting Pumpkins on our walk

Homecoming Weekend

Homecoming was a lot of fun. It was a gorgeous night. Even dressed in khakis and a button down shirt with a tie I was comfortable. Nice breeze. The kids played really hard, especially the defense. It was a lot of fun to take pictures from the stands and to focus on a couple of the kids that I have had in class.

At half time they crowned the king and queen for homecoming. I escorted one of the boys out with his Mom. It was a real honor to be chosen to do so. And he ended up winning Homecoming King. Pretty exciting for him. And for me!

The game ended up being a 14-13 loss and Norma and I left before it was over. We had to get Aidan because it was getting late and he was at the sitter's house. I am really looking forward to the days when we can go with Aidan and just enjoy the games. It will be a blast to see the kids each home game and to watch Aidan enjoy the football and his mini-celebrity. All of our students go crazy when they see him.

Yeah, I'm going to grow old going to AHS sporting events, concerts and plays with Norma. With a free pass as an employee... how can you beat it? Great entertainment. And if it's free... it's for me!

AHS Alma Mater

AHS Alma Mater 2007 from fordee on Vimeo.

My Ears are Ringing

Just got back from our high school volleyball game. It was a disappointing loss to our arch-rival but it was a great match.

My ears are freaking ringing it was so loud in there. The girls played their hearts out. Really makes you proud to be a part of a school with such wonderful kids.


Our kids cheered their hearts out!

I had about 3/4 of the volleyball seniors in class when they were sophomores. It is just wild to see how much they have grown. I wish I could have seen them win, but it doesn't take away from how proud I am of them.

I haven't even mentioned how bad the refs were. So I will not do that. I will not waste time typing how many calls they missed and how K-wood got all the breaks. Not worth it, is it?

;)

Still it is now time for the playoffs and since we beat K-wood on their floor earlier this year we split the district championship. That is a major accomplishment. Our first district V-ball championship. Very impressive. K-wood never loses or shares their v-ball titles. So it is nice to rise up this year.

Tomorrow night is the homecoming football game. I'll be escorting one of the senior boys out on the field and giving his mom a rose at half time. Norma is going along with me and we are taking Aidan to his sitter's house. It is going to be nice to enjoy the game with Norma and not have to worry about Aidan. He loves going, but we have to keep both eyes on him all the time so it makes it hard. It will be awesome when he is a little older and can enjoy things more.


Last Friday, one of my students asked me to wear his jersey to support the team. I was very glad to do it.

It really made me wonder tonight where Aidan will want to go to high school when the time comes. He has his choice (since we work for the district) to go to any of our 5 high schools. (there will be 6 by the time he is old enough) He should go to K-wood because that is where we live. It is a great school and one of the major reasons we moved here. But, our school that we teach at is a lot more diverse. The ethic breakdown is more like what the real world and the rest of Houston looks like. But, by the time my little guy graduates from high school, maybe his local school will be more diverse.

I really needed tonight. It was a lot of fun to get lost in the intensity of the game. Now I am going to finish the video I have been creating this week to showcase the words to our Alma Mater. Since we are such a new school (our 2nd year) the kids have no clue about the words to the song. So I figured a video might help school spirit a bit. We'll see.

Norma's Hair

For her birthday, Norma wanted a day at the hairstylist. She got it yesterday. I stayed home with Aidan and we watched a Ben 10 Marathon on DVD. Norma went to Longs to get her hair done.

He really does a great job with it.

Overall a great little weekend. Back to work tomorrow. I teach class on Tuesday night - so that day will fly by. We are studying Rome in World History and that is always a lot of fun for me. So the week should be a good one.

2007 Homecoming Parade

We had a great time today at our high school's first ever homecoming parade. It was a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. The kids did a great job with their floats. It was actually inspiring to see how much school spirit they had. Pretty neat. We have come a long way in one year.

I video taped it and created a DVD that is about 15 minutes long with video/music/pictures. I'll show it on Monday during the first part of my classes. For all the kids that didn't show up it will maybe prod them to go for next year. For those that went, worked hard on their floats and had such great spirit - it will be a nice pat on the back.

I did miss a big part of the parade and that is bothering me. For some reason my video cam did not take any shots of the football team near the end of the parade. That was disappointing. But, I'll get 'em next year. Live and learn.

Happy Birthday Momma!

Happy Birthday Momma from fordee on Vimeo.

Aidan has the best Mom in the world. At least he knows how to show it. :)

Nice Weekend

We had a real nice weekend. We took Friday off of work to drive out to San Antonio to see Norma's dad, brother-in-law Brian, and stay at her brother George's house. It was a lot of fun to see everyone again.

Aidan had a ball. "Me see everyone!" He also got two gifts from Uncle George and Aunt Marla for his birthday. One was an "omnitrix." If you don't know what one of those is... then you don't know Ben 10.

According to Wikipedia:Ben 10 the show breaks down like this:

During the start of their summer camping trip, Ben is nearly hit by an alien pod that fell from space and crashed next to him. When he examines it, he finds a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien lifeforms, each with their own unique powers.

Aidan loves the show. The Omnitrix is like a watch he can use that is just like Ben 10's watch. You can set it and smack it and on the face of the Omnitrix the characters/aliens animate. It is amazing how an almost 3 year old can work the thing.

George also got him a Spiderman bed. Aidan is absolutely loving it. But, he doesn't stay sleeping in it long. He usually slides out of it and then falls asleep in his own bed.


Great weekend for us to get away from school and relax a bit. It was also a great weekend for our spoiled little guy!

Award & Yearbook

I have gotten a couple of things this month that I really cherish. First was the award I received at the Humble Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year Luncheon. It is really a nice award. Very sharp.

And last Friday our 2006-2007 Yearbook arrived. Very cool. It is absolutely the very best yearbook I have ever seen. Full color. 240 plus pages. Amazing book.

They did a great job of highlighting each Academic area with "Teacher Pages." Each academic area, like Social Studies, got 2 pages. They put the teacher pictures on the side and then had articles about a teacher or two with tons of pictures of projects and presentations. Norma even had a quote: "She is the most organized teacher in the whole school. She teaches well and gives us short, but good notes. She makes Geography fun through her unique game show reviews. In my opinion, she also has the best web site." I was very proud of my awesome wife!

Batman!

It was only a matter of time until Batman showed up!

First it was Spider-Man. Then Superman. Now Batman.

A caped crusader indeed.