Summer time... Summer time...

Ah... where does the time go? Let's see here...

Finished my 2nd year at Santa Fe and am still enjoying where I work and what I'm doing. It's been a blessing to be at this school. This next year, I'll continue to work with the Ruff Draft (newspaper), teach 2 Web Design classes, continue with the Credit Recovery program... and this year (drum roll)... will be adding a new subject to my "teaching arsonnal"... GEOMETRY! Aught to be interesting... but I'm excited about it. Only issue? I have 4 different preps a day! That's quite a bit to do on top of coaching basketball too. Thank goodness that I'm not the head coach with that schedule. :-)

The kids have been having a great summer! Joel has been going on field trips with his day school almost daily. They have special places that they go to (and mommy and daddy pay for it too). He likes it, but I think that he's ready to start first grade. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!?!?! Lindsay, on the other hand, has been loving her class at school but will be in a pre-K program at her day-school. I think that she's ready to take some "big kid classes" now, but I'm not so sure that she's excited about school as Joel was. Oh well... they are different.

Jeanise is doing well at her work. Works very hard to keep the company she's working for floating financially and some days are better than others. We're proud of the work that she does and know that she's just the best accountant/controller around. (not biased one bit!) :-P

Well... better close for now. Getting a bit tired (only 9:15 pm) and so I should shove off!

Welcome 2010!

Long time... no update. In the "Facebook" times, it's tough to keep both of these up. However, after looking back to when I started filling this thing out, I felt compelled to press on and one day read all of these again from start to finish. I did that a while back ago and some of the memories were very good to reflect on... some... not so much.
It's been a very busy finish to 2009. I'm coaching the sophomores and helping with varsity girls basketball teams and (although fun) it's been taking a lot of time. Not as bad as it's about to turn on Monday; (gone 4-5 nights a week every week in January). School is going well and we're looking at starting Semester 2 the second week in January! My how time flies!
Jeanise has been keeping things going/running at Heartland Homes and still enjoys her job. She's also been staying pretty busy with managing the accounting "books" for the ROC Foundation for our missionary groups. It's a full-filling thing that she does for that ministry and she's pretty good at it.
Joel saw his 6th birthday this year... and LOVES school! He's going to be the "brain-child" I think. He loves to learn and is a geography nut (loves countries and drawing the states). He's in 1/2-day Kindergarten and just loves his teacher. When we bought a Wii for the family in October and a Nintendo DS for his birthday, he's been introduced to the "gaming" world. He's pretty good at playing games, and it's a nice time for he and I to conquer the Star Wars Legos galaxy (or Indiana Jones fantasies) together.
Lindsay saw her 4th birthday just a few months ago and it's hard to believe that she's just 4. She's a very spunky little girl and is a very cuddley little girl. Plainly put... she's a daddy's girl. She has to be with people... she LOVES her brother (which is very sweet)... and she's a pretty good singer (there's mom's influence).
All-in-all... we've had a pretty good year in the Morton household. We look for a lot of "growing" this year with the kids (and hopefully a lot of losing--pounds--from the rest of us). :-) God bless you all!

Still here...

I'm still around... don't think that I've abandoned the blog. It's just been really, really busy. I'm back to teaching business classes this year (new subjects and new books -- it's like I'm a first year teacher again), so I've been hopping. Basketball practices officially started last Thursday... can't believe it's October already!
Joel and Lindsay are growing like weeds. Lindsay's been a bit under the weather the last couple of days. Amazing how a little girl still has that kind of energy, but is coughing and a bit warm. We've been really proud of Joel at his school(s). His teachers are telling us how well he's doing in classes and showing us what he's drawing. He's on this big geography kick... wanting to know where everything is. I don't remember whating (or even caring) where New Zealand or Austrailia is. But oh well! I'm not going to complain...

So sorry...

This was taken outside of our hotel the first night we were there. It was the GREEN building...

This is the 18th green at the TPC Course... it was really pretty...

This rainbow was in Alb., NM... It was so bright that you just WANTED to go look for the pot of gold.

This is the golf course in NM, where I played golf with John (Jeanise's brother). It was a really beautiful day.

This is "sports heaven". This was a lobby down in the MGM casino area. TV's EVERYWHERE... but they were mainly for betting on games. Got to watch the College WS and the Mets play at the same time. What more could you ask for?

This is Joel at ESF Basketball camp. He did so well at following directions and trying. He was the youngest kid there. The kid standing next to him actually lives in our neighborhood and we see him at the pool a lot. The kids and the players really did well with him. Check out that form!

The kids and I went on a bike ride in the spring (still wearing sweaters, go figure). A mommy duck and her ducklings were walking around and the kids followed. Pretty cute.
_________

Well... they say that the first part is acceptance that you have a problem. Yes, ladies and gentlemen... I'm addicted to Facebook! I've been just posting and reading and catching up there, that I've neglected the faithful few (mainly just Shane and grandma) that continue to read my blog here.

Well... let's see, where to begin:

1. Jeanise and I took a trip for our 15th wedding anniversary to Las Vegas. Jeanise got a steal of a deal to stay at the MGM Grand for 2 nights and we just couldn't pass up the deal. So the kids stayed with her parents for 3 days and we took a trip to "sin city." We walked around 2 of the nights that we were there... and we even saw a show "Ka". It was a pretty neat night too, because it was their 25th anniversary (that night) and so we got to take an audience photo with red-Rudolph noses with the group. You couldn't see us, but it was pretty neat. On the second day, Jeanise had a 4 hour spa day, while I played golf at the TPC Las Vegas course. IT... WAS... FABULOUS! I felt like a pro... it was really neat and I got a great deal on a tee time and clubs that I rented there in Vegas. It was a wonderful break together and we had fun. Only bad thing was that it was just a bit... "uncomfortable"... for obvious reasons, but once you kept your eyes focused on where you wanted to go and the sites around you, it was fine. That place, though, is REALLY for a younger, fast-pace type of person... I think. It was good to say that I'd been there, but I wouldn't frequent there. Except for maybe to play golf and/or to go back to that casino, in old Vegas, where I started winning some money! :-P

2. Summer school started last week. I'm teaching Algebra 1 to 22 students from various schools. I'm actually some-what enjoying it and the pay isn't that bad either. Only go about 4.5 hours a day and it's 4 days a week. Not too shabby, really.

3. Kids are doing well. Joel is growing out of his clothes and we're having a tough time keeping up. He's excited about starting Kindergarten next fall and so are we. I'm personally anxious to see how well he does (or how smart he really is). Lindsay is really a cutie. She's a little me... little Ms. People-person. She loves to see her friends at school. Whenever I pick her up at school, she has about 4 or 5 other kids giving her hugs before she leaves. Teachers and kids like her... daddy likes to hear that.

4. I almost forgot! For those of you who know me REALLY WELL... you're not going to believe this. I'M LEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE ELECTRIC BASS! It's been a lot of fun learning (mainly the reason why I'm still up right now) and playing songs that I've been listening to for a long time. I've been working pretty hard at it for about 4 weeks. There are chord charts out there on the internet and I just play a long on the songs that I have at home. It's a ton of fun and I just KNOW that dad is going to have me playing some Bluegrass music one of these days... I finally can play an instrument and include myself in it.

Ok... since I was up WAY TOO LATE last night, I'd better post some pictures (if I can find them) & run.

Nite!

Oiy vey! (sp?)

Well... wondering why I haven't been posting? Well one word... BASEBALL. I've been coaching almost non-stop since Spring Break. My freshman went 13-11... not bad, really, since that group didn't win but maybe 4 games during the summer last year. I was pretty proud of these kids and it was a fun year. Our varsity went to the state finals! We played the 2-time state champs Owasso Rams in the finals. Unfortunately, our bats weren't as hot as their's were and we lost 10-1. It was fun ride and I enjoyed it a lot. Jeanise is glad to have me back home, though... as am I.
School is almost over... only 8 more days! Can you believe it?!?!?!!? This has been a great year for me and I'm so gald that I made the move to Santa Fe from DC. I've been rejuvenated as a teacher again and I'm excited about school again. I've got summer league and camps in June, and then in July I start teaching summer school! Fun FUN FUN!

Springtime!

WOW! The Oklahoma weather is ridiculous this time of year. For the last several weeks, it's been nice... cold... nice... freezing/snow... hot... cold... hot... I mean COME ON! My flowers in the front flower beds that I planted during spring break are just in shock! The grass isn't sure what to do... come out, or go back to sleep?
Baseball is going well. We've been at it pretty hard since Spring break. There was a stretch there for a about 2 1/2 weeks where we played almost every night! That was tough... then came our 1 1/2 week layoff due to no games or cancellations because of weather. We're back on track, it seems, and we finish off next week with 4 games. NO WAIT! There's supposed to be rain in OKC for the next 10 days!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Guess that gives me more time at home, right? So there IS a bright side.
End of school is approaching... can you believe it? This has been a good year and I've thouroughly enjoyed my new school. Looks like I've got my June and July nailed down... June is basketball camps/leagues month... and July will be me teaching my first year of summer school. Not a bad deal, really.... hopefully it goes fast.

Ain't no mountain high enough...

WHOA! Been a while, hasn't it? Well, let's see here... Well, our varsity basketball team went to the state tournament, but lost in the quarter-finals. It was a great ride and it was really cool to play in Llyod Noble (OU's home floor). Pretty nifty... Then, Spring Break came. It was a good week of really just nothing. I had a list of stuff to do and I got most of my things done. I felt rather accomplished. As soon as we got back from break, it was right into Freshman baseball. We've had a game ALMOST every day in the last couple of weeks. It's enough to wear you out... but this is a pretty good group of kids and we're doing pretty well. We just came back from a tournament this weekend and went 2-2. Not bad, but we should have done better than we did. We still have some ways to go.

So... on the bus ride home I had a "flashback" (silly Wayne's World music here). Funny how some of the very first lessons that you had as a child come back to you. I remember the very first baseball practice I had in 2nd grade. We were in a field... not a baseball field, but a field at a school. "Where's the diamond?!?!?! We are going to play on a real diamond, right?" That' was a good one. But I'll never forget our first lesson... hitting. We took our right hand and stuck it into the backs of our pants and brought our left arm out in front of our right shoulders. Then Coach Welch (still even remember his name) took us through our step, swing... steps and that was pretty much it for hitting. Didn't even pick up a bat (which I thought was odd at the time, but now that I'm a coach... not a bad move). So I say that to say... when we were struggling with our hitting today this was the image I thought of. Going back to this one little drill that I remember, may be "old-school" but it may help some of the guys out. Not sure... but I thought that it was interesting that I remembered it.

Oh! Yes, kids are doing well and Jeanise is doing well too. :-) Joel had a friend spend the night last night and that went better than I thought it would. Our little boy, ain't so little anymore. AND... he got enrolled into Kindergarten for next year! AH!!!!! We're getting older...