The Moores

Moved

jeffandmary — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:52:23 +0000

Hi all.

If you are not following makingmary.wordpress.com yet, now is the time to start. I have posted my first official blog post there.

I hope you enjoy it.

Moving

jeffandmary — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:36:00 +0000

I’ll keep this blog up for now, but I won’t be posting anything new here. My new blog address is http://makingmary.wordpress.com/.

I haven’t really put up a post yet, and I probably won’t this week, but wanted to let you know that Making Mary is going to be my “new home” as of now.

Making Mary

jeffandmary — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:27:33 +0000

I’m thinking of naming my new blog “Making Mary” but I’m not sure if that’s too cheesy or not. I think the name is a good way to show that I’m a work-in-progress and still working to figure out who I am and what I want out of life. I would like something with a little more punch, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

By the way- thank you to everyone for your messages of support lately. I love my big, loving family and awesome friends!

New Blog

jeffandmary — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:01:18 +0000

Hey y’all!

I’m planning on moving the blog to a different address for a few reasons… but I really want to come up with a creative, (non-cheesy) name. Here’s my criteria

1. It cannot include my last name.

2. It cannot be copyrighted. (haha)

3. Alliteration and rhyme are good, but not necessary

I want the blog to be a little more reflective and personal… I’ll try to keep the updates coming, too… I just have been a lot more of “here’s what’s going on in my life” and a lot less “here’s what I think about…” than I wanted to be.

So, let me know what you think. Creativity welcome!

New Job

jeffandmary — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:30:17 +0000

Hey Everyone.

I just thought I’d let you all know that I’m taking a new position at a different Lutheran School in the Kansas City area next year. I really felt God moving me in all sorts of ways to accept the call there, but it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It will be a closer drive (20 minutes vs. 30 minutes) so I’m looking forward to that. It will also be 3rd and 4th grade. As much as I loved teaching middle school, I feel kind of like I’m going back to my “first love” by getting to have 3rd and 4th grades again.

The new job is on a beautiful campus- the same campus that the Lutheran High School is on, although it is run under separate administration. I get to set up my classroom the way I want, which is pretty cool, too.

It is really hard to leave behind the wonderful people at my old school. I love them and they have become part of my family! Luckily, I’m not moving away, so I’ll be able to keep them in my life. I’m looking forward to the new adventure!

Classroom Cleanup

jeffandmary — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:16:54 +0000

Today I had one of the most productive days I’ve had in my classroom all year! I thought it would be just all too easy to straighten up. So, I decided to tear a bunch of stuff apart and put it back together in a way that would be a)neater and b)work better for how I use my classroom. These are pictures of how it looked when I was in the middle of tearing things apart.

So after working for a few hours, taking a two hour lunch at a coworker’s house, and getting back to work for a few more hours, I can proudly say it looks like this now. I would not be totally honest if I didn’t add that I still need to clean the inside of my desk drawers as well as have two stacks of literature circle stuff to go through on that ugly green shelf, which I will probably do one day next week. One of my top priorities before next school year begins will be to paint that shelf, and maybe the desk, too! Yes, I’m already making my to-do list for August!

Jeff and Mary

jeffandmary — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:03:29 +0000

I just thought it’s been a while since I’ve posted pics of us. We went to a Bruno Mars concert on Saturday night. This is us waiting in the rain to go in.

Still Here

jeffandmary — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:42:53 +0000

Hey Everyone! (All three or four of you that read this!) I just wanted to let everyone know we are still alive and kicking. It’s the last week of school; life is crazy. I’m looking forward to summer, for sure, but it’s a bittersweet year. The kids I started out teaching my first year here and have taught a little bit each year are graduating. I feel like my babies are leaving me! I adore this class, and have always had a special bond with them. I’m really sad to see them go.

I thought I’d share pics of some of the flowers around our house since I haven’t managed to kill them yet. This is the prettiest the flowers have ever been. And I thought I had decided to dig all the roses up. But… maybe not.

New Light Fixture

jeffandmary — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:08:58 +0000

About a year ago, our fridge died, and we bought a new fridge. When the Lowe’s people delivered it, they broke our light fixture in our entryway. We weren’t incredibly thrilled with the light fixture anyway, so it was a good excuse to get a new one. But, it wasn’t a priority. So, for the past year, we’ve had a light in our entryway that looked like this.

Yesterday, we finally bought a new fixture- and actually installed it the same day we bought it! I was so impressed that it didn’t sit in the box for another year before we (Jeff) did anything about it. Our entryway is really tall, and our ladder wasn’t tall enough, so our awesome neighbor, Jim, let us borrow his extra tall one. It’s great to have good neighbors! Here’s a picture of the finished product. The only down side is that it takes a much higher wattage light bulb, so it shows just how badly we need new carpet and flooring. Oh well, it will all happen in time!

Field Trip

jeffandmary — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:46:03 +0000

Yesterday I took my class on a field trip to a living history museum called Missouri Town 1855. There were three different people there that helped the kids learn about what life in 1855 in Missouri would have been like. We met the mercantile owner, the woman who trained the oxen, and the blacksmith. The blacksmith was my favorite, since that was the profession of some of my ancestors, the most recent being Grandpa Finke. I could just imagine him in his shop; the hot fire, the anvil, all the tools surrounding him, and the hot iron coming out of the fire, him working to shape it from a piece of iron into a useful tool.

There were also many things that reminded me of home on the farm. When I left home for college, I didn’t think I would miss farm life a whole lot, but as I’ve gotten older, I miss it more and more. I miss being able to sit outside and hear nothing but nature. I miss seeing the wide open sky, full of stars at night. I miss the old buildings, full of such amazing history.

Even though though I didn’t move to the farm until the 1990s, after it had been established for over 100 years, there were always remnants of our ancestors around. I think that’s what fascinates me so much now about the farm. I feel the need to go and take pictures, to preserve what I can of what seems like a foreign world, to walk and explore and imagine what it would have been like to fully live off the land before all the modern conveniences and distractions of this world took hold.

The blacksmith making a gate hook

The cluttered workbench in the blacksmith shop reminded me of the workbench in Grandpa Klaustermeier's shop

The students learned all about the different animals used to help a Missouri farm run smoothly.

The kids were able to pet the oxen, which our guide had raised from bottles. They were so calm!