the millers: October 2008

15 October 2008

7 Random Facts

So my friend Rebekah has tagged me...instead of tagging others, I'm going to list my 7 random facts & if this breaks up the entire "tagging" system, I'm sorry; but I have never been a fan of chains, forwards, etc...

1. I student taught in New Zealand for 2 months while finishing up my history degree at Iowa State University. It was an experience of a lifetime! I taught in Des Moines, IA, for 2 months & then headed to my second placement Down Under. ISU (uh-huh...the "real ISU") has an international student teaching program where prospectvie student teachers apply, interview & hopefully get accepted...I was fortunate enough to be selected & get my first country choice! Highlight of my trip, you ask? Well besides a stopover in Sydney, Australia, meeting some amazing Kiwi's, seeing some of God's most beautiful creation, I went SKYDIVING! Yep, 12,000 ft tandom! My mother's first reaction when I relayed my exciting news via telephone..."you spend your money on the dumbest things!"

2. Due to my 2 years as a gymnast during my 4th-5th grade year(s), I can still do a roundoff-backhandspring; I'm no Holly Plattner, and I've definitely lost quite a bit of talent, yet that is one skill I hope to keep!

3. One of my favorite things in the world to do is SLEEP! In fact, nothing sounds postively more cozy on a cool fall morning (or winter or spring or summer) than to stay in bed! My husband is for sure if children ever come into our lives HE will be their night time parent as I am VERY dead to the world once asleep...Arlan's favorite thing to do is on a rare weekend morning or holiday off of school is to ask "What time should we set the alarm for?"...to which I exuburantly cheer "No alarm!" :) It usually makes him smile.
Sidenote, "sleeping in" at our house is usually around 6:30am-7:00am...I'll let you guess what time we normally wake up!

4. My favorite kind of history to study or read about is the American Revolution. Being a history teacher and getting asked this question fairly freqently, it still stirs my heart to think of our country's birth & how many liberities & rights we daily take for granted that were fought for during 1775-1781 and many years/time since. Books on John Adams, George Washington, and society are my favorite.

5. 38...the number of first cousins I have on the Kellenberger side of my family...my Dad has 11 siblings, so yeah, the math is exponential! To add to that math madness my Dad's mom is from a family of 13 children...the second cousin statistic...well, I'm not going to start!

6. If I ever go back to school for another degree it will probably be for a math minor...in the last 5 years I have renewed a love for Math unlike I knew I possessed.

7. 35-40 minutes...the average amount of time it takes to straighten my natural curly hair. While many women spend big bucks to get curls, I spend big minutes to get mine straight...in fact, as soon as I use my straightner on my locks, it instantly knows it is not in its most natural state. My hair was so tight-locked with curls that soon after I was born my Doorneweerd aunts were so sure I was not my parent's daughter as I looked almost looked like a different ethnicity with such tight curls!

14 October 2008

Uncle Ells & Aunt Lo

This past weekend Arlan & I were blessed to host my Uncle Ellsworth & Aunt Lois Niemeyer from Phoenix, AZ. Ells & Lois have always been special relatives as I have great memories: hoping the parents take us to Arizona, spending time with cousins, our CA/Disney excursion one winter, many foot massages, fighting my sister and other cousins to sit by Aunt Lo during church because she rubbed your arm continuously, not sneezing or complaining of a headache because Aunt Lo would shove a Fisherman's Friends down your throat quicker than you could blink (if you've ever have one of these "candies", you understand what I mean) or grab your hand & "rub away your headache" (which actually just transferred your pain from your temples to your pressure point in your hand)...ahh, the memories. Each makes me smile :)

Ells & Lois were here performing with the Phoenix choir in both Peoria & Morton in a marathon weekend. Thanks for coming...we love you & enjoyed your visit immensely...come back soon!

09 October 2008

freshman funny...

Students were instructed to work on their map projects tracing & drawing routes during the Age of Exploration (Columbus, Magellan, etc.)...with 5 minutes of class time left, a freshman boy raises his hand:

Student (going through puberty freshman boy, football player, usually out in lah-lah land):
Mrs. Miller...I talked with one of my friends about you today...

Mrs. Miller (YIKES! Who is his friend & what in heck were they talking about me for): Really? What were you talking about? (I'm pretty daring huh?)

Student: He said you are the smiliest teacher he knows...you're always smiling.

Mrs. Miller (thinking "really? I don't smile when you don't do your work & you're clearly trying to get out of it"): Really? I'm always smiling huh?

Student (nodding in agreement): Yep, my friend says you can even smile while writing a detention...a genuine smile too!

By then I WAS smiling...that could be the comment/compliment of the week!

05 October 2008

Whew...Homecoming is over!

Well, we survived...barely, but we survived another homecoming...from the float building, class games, the parade, the game, the dance - all of it is pretty fun, a bit stressful and very exciting to be finished. Here are some pictures of the week...enjoy!

All the lady Social Studies teachers created "Suffragetes" t-shirts in honor of class color days (teachers wore orange). Suffragetes were women who either helped women earn suffrage or advance womens' political & social standings.

And here is our uhm, backsides (might I add this was humbling to actually post)...we all chose a woman in history and put the # to honor the date they achieved their historic importance. I chose Susan B. Anthony and thus we all provided a teaching moment for our students!