Adventures in Teaching

One of my 6th grade students wrote the following about a three-headed monster he drew in class:
"Mr. Bubbles is just like your average monster. He is feared by many, but he is really mean. Don't let the name fool you--he is impervious to pain. The middle head, the boss, the left one, the brain, the right one is down right nasty. Every day they terrorize villages. Once or twice he'll have to fight King Kong, Godzilla, and things like that. But once he gets his paycheck he goes home to his wife and kids, Mrs. Bubbles and Bubble Jr. That's the Day in the Life of my Monster."

Sounds like a movie trailer to me folks. Coming soon: "Mr. Bubbles: Impervious to Pain."

Jude unfiltered.

After watching last night's presidential debate, Jude had some strong opinions he wanted to share with you, the loyal readers of this blog. Below, the comments are presented in their entirety.

The Brasfields

I've been playing around with the interweb. Enjoy.

Pregame

Happy Jude in motion

Lori took these in sequence at daycare today. He's so happy he can't sit still.

10 second interview with Jude

Whats in your IPod playlist? Right now I’m really feeling lullabies, white noise, and Ne-yo

WOW character: gnome rogue

Happiness is: a warm bosom

What would your personalized license plate say? HEYJUDE or PUGLIFE

What should you really be doing right now? Sleeping

Take whatever you want, just don’t take my: Designing Women DVDs

Favorite 80s band: RATT

Mary Kate or Ashley? Ewww! They could be my moms.

I feel at peace when: Screaming. Zen, right?

In 20 years I’ll be: trying to find out outside of which minor league ballpark mom and dad have parked their RV.

7 weeks old

Jude in his first message-T from B and K. Get it?
Jude<3 his baby Einstein activity mat.

Jude is doing well and had an overall good week with Jon and Lori. And now he is stirring...

first day back/wonderful news

Wonderful news first-- If you were to ask Jon what band he would most like to see reunite and play one last show and for that last show they would play the album of his choice, he would say that he would like to see Ben Folds Five and he would like to hear "Reinhold Messner." THIS IS HAPPENING AND WE HAVE TICKETS!!!! In Chapel Hill we will be 2 of 1,400 people seeing BF5 reunite. AND Chris and Ashley will be beside us because Ashley was able to get through online today and get our tickets!!! She is most certainly the queen today!

Today was my first day back at work, and it went well. I was sad, but I held it together by way of the whirlwind of the day. At home, once relaxed and baby in-arms, I finally shed a few tears. I wish I could have stayed home longer. We worked so hard to get Jude home and healthy that it is hard to go back and realize that today was just one day of more than a hundred more away from him. The week in the NICU and 3 weeks battling to find peace for a screaming, acid reflux stricken infant stole my 6 weeks away. I am lucky in teaching to have the weekends and breaks and the summer. I hope to one day move out of the classroom and to work in some other capacity within a school, media perhaps. I would like to move away from 5 different preps, 200 students, and big classes. All the planning and grading is grueling especially considering the subject is Spanish, as the format does not seem to fit. It's hard to keep thinking of teaching as a craft with such a schedule. I feel like a move out of the classroom may bring me the time to be more creative and still contribute to the profession, as well as have more time at home. The move will not be now--duty calls.

Yearbook time!

In light of Jude's 6-week anniversary (oxymoron?) of birth, I present to you, the viewing public, our family's old yearbook pictures.

Jon, circa 1976
Amanda, circa 1966
Jude, circa 1964
Lucy, circa 1972
Clara, circa 2000