May

May is just kicking me in the butt!  With golf, early morning basketball, soccer, Prom, Academic Superbowl, awards programs, the Spring Arts Festival, Cal's birthday, Mother's Day and our anniversary, I can barely keep my head above water.  I will tred on through, try to be pleasant and keep a positive outlook.  Summer is just around the corner!

Parce

My Uncle Jim is here visiting from Southern Indiana for the week.  He is my Mom's youngest brother.  The adults all call him Parce and the kids call him Pi.  Parce because it is a shortened version of his last name and Pi from his Grandson..  No matter what he is called, the Heinisch children just adore him.

Parce stays with my Mom and Dad when he is here, so we see a lot of him.  Tonight Meg and Brett were quoting him from a conversation they all had over the weekend - something about finding a picture of him next to the word "Chump" in the dictionary.  They could repeat his words verbatim and spent quite a bit of time laughing about it, much as they would a scene from a movie they enjoyed.

This week, Pi, will be able to attend soccer games, golf matches and the Spring Arts Festival.  When he leaves Friday, all of the kids will beg him to stay.  Their collective dream is for him to move here. He's talked about it, but for now they will just have to settle for a return trip at Brett's graduation.

Mother's Day

It was a great Mother's Day here at the Heinisch Home.  After staying up until 3am waiting for the Prom kids to return I was thankful to be able to sleep in.  Doug made a wonderful breakfast and we spent a quiet morning at home before heading down to my Mom's.

My mother really liked the bracelets we gave her, and she loved the table runner Meg made for her.  We also threw in a gas card as she spends a great deal of time running the Heinisch children to their various activities.  Doug and the kids completely surprised me with new bar stools for our kitchen.  I have wanted them for years.  These are perfect and I appreciate Doug remembering that i wanted them!  Cameron made me a "My Mom is special card!" From that I found out that I am great at cleaning and am smart enough to do Algebra!

We spent the afternoon shopping and then went to dinner.  Brett had won a $50 Visa card at the after Prom, and he couldn't wait to get a new book!  Doug made one of my favorites, English trifle, and my parents and Uncle Parce joined us for dessert.  All and all, a wonderful day, so glad to be a mom four times over.

Prom

Brett and his friend Anastasia had a great time at Prom tonight.  They have been friends since she was born 17 years ago.  The evening started off with the pre-Prom game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.  They, then, patiently allowed her mother, Alexia, and I to take a multitude of pictures.  Our favorites were those of their light saber duel, prom dress, tuxedo and all.  Meg even got into the action as they banned together to take her down in the end.  Dinner was at a local favorite of Brett's - Pat's Chicago Dogs!

They danced, took pictures, voted for the Prom King and Queen, and discussed at length the use of forks with miniature cupcakes.  They are home now, changed for the after Prom, and catching up on YouTube videos.  I am glad they had a great time.  They will have stories to talk about for awhile!

You're a Mom

Today I made almost 100 pancakes with my 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.  I smell like a griddle and I am completely exhausted, but I think my students really enjoyed it.  I supervise them in the kitchen and am there to give instruction if needed, but the students are required to make their own pancakes.  That freaks some of the students out.  They are afraid of making a mistake or turning it too soon or too late.  I tell them that the worst thing that could happen is that they have to make a new one, but for my high achievers making a mistake is pretty stressful!  I long ago realized that most of my best FACS students are those that come from homes that are single parent, blended or dysfunctional in some manner.  They are used to having to fend for themselves, so they thrive in my classroom of "do it yourself and it's ok if you make a mistake" atmosphere.

My last class of the day is my 5th graders.  After I explained to the group cooking how to coat the pan with cooking spray, turn on the stovetop and when to flip the pancakes, one of my enthusiastic students said to me, "Mrs. Heinisch, how do you know all of this stuff?"  Before I could answer, he chimed in with, "Oh, wait I know. It's because you are a Mom, and Moms and Grandmas know everything!"

I was so proud when he said that!  Of all of the things I have done in my life, being a Mom and wife has been my favorite.  Gabe obviously has a high respect for Moms and I am glad that he holds me in such high esteem.  I know that I work hard to create a homelike atmosphere in my FACS classroom.  So very happy that one of them noticed!

Technology

Our school server has been down for several days.  My classroom has not had Internet and many of my presentations are currently unusable.  I was a little panicked at first, but actually it has gone very well.  I was able to use my Smart Board and salvaged a power point about nutrition for Tuesday.  Seventh and eighth grade had some research to do on vitamins and minerals, which they were able to accomplish with the information I had in the classroom.  That lesson took care of Wednesday.

Today's was a lot of fun.  We covered our kitchen and food safety standards.  It was great listening to their interpretation of what is safe in the kitchen.  The clip art and pictures that were part of the presentation were comical and the students enjoyed discussing them.

Tomorrow we are making pancakes, which they are all looking forward to.  So, we survived our week without a lot of use of our technology.  I am hoping it is back up and running before I start our recycling unit.  Nothing I can present could take the place of "Woodsie the Owl" or "The Crying Indian."

Facebook

I first joined Facebook several years ago to keep in touch with a college friend who lives on the West Coast.  I liked it and am still able to keep up with him and several other friends from afar.  If I had my choice, however, I would make rules for joining.

The first would be "no political comments."  I do not believe that anyone ever changed parties from a political post on the Internet.  Secondly, do not share mottos or posters.  I know you think it is a cute saying, but I am tired of wading through fifteen "cute sayings" to check status updates.  My third rule would be no sharing news stories.  There were so many fake stories after the Boston bombings it was unreal.

I would also stop the ads, especially those claiming to give items away for a certain number of likes.  It is an advertising scheme.  Finally, re-read your post several times and ask yourself if you are positive you really want your words read by your friends, their friends, and the friends of friends before you hit enter.  If it would embarrass anyone, hurt anyone or is just plain boring than rethink it.  I like all of my friends, but I really don't need to know that they just checked the mail!