It's about time

It's about time. Conan and Beth are expecting, which means our kids will have another cousin to play with. The distance will still make it difficult, but when we do get together it will be good. I'm sure my kids will have a lot of fun teaching this new baby how to get into trouble. Hoping there will be many more cousins in the future, especially before the age difference grows.

Stitches

Last night was another adventure to the ER. Byron was working on his Halloween costume, with duct tape and a pair of scissors. It was actually his sword that he was working on at that time, and apparently the scissors slipped and he cut himself pretty good. When I heard Acacia yelling that Byron was hurt I ran into the kitchen and saw him standing at the sink. I applied pressure, grabbed some paper towels, and got it running under cold water to clean everything off and see if it would stop bleeding. When I finally took it all away to see what it looked like it was bleeding pretty good, and was pretty deep. I knew immediately that it would need stitches. I yelled to Acacia to tell Deanna, who was in the shower, we needed to go to the hospital right now. Deanna got dressed quick, then traded places with me and Byron so I could then get shoes on. Helped them get in the back seat of the car and while I stated driving Deanna called friends to see if they could come over and help. Kalina took care of the rest of the kids until then.

At the ER they looked at it right away, but it took about an hour before they could fit us in to actually stitch him up. Luckily an off duty doctor came in and was helping with the overflow of patients. Byron was pretty pale, wanted to sleep, and was "slowing his breathing" to help slow the bleeding. The worst part was the shot to numb that part of his hand, so the actual stitching was not that bad. They also gave him a tetnus shot since it's been about 6 years since the last one. Stopped by Walmart for more bandaids on the way home.

Quite an adventure. Byron has needed stitches more times than any of the other kids. But Valen is still young. Seeing the things he does I just wonder what else we have in store with those two.

Canoe

This is from Labor Day weekend. Grandparents and Uncle Donald came out from Colorado. Rented canoes and went to a lake just a few miles down the road. A little tentative at first, but they all really got into it and had fun. Cordelia was especially afraid of the water. But no accidents, no tipped boats. Kalina and Acacia went off on their own what seemed like a good mile away.

Canoe

Had a great time camping with Byron and boy scouts this weekend. Took a canoe trip down one of the rivers. Not too fast of a ride, but enough that we actually felt it moving. The water was deep in a few spots though the water level was low and in places scrapped bottom and had to get out and wade through to lift the canoe out. The scenery was beautiful, with cliff walls and lots of trees and forestation. Stopped several times for breaks, eat lunch, etc. We left the campsite after breakfast and made it back in time for dinner.

The new tent worked out great. Unfortunately it was dark Friday night when we got there, and it was my first time taking it out, so it took some fumbling but finally got it.

Byron enjoyed running around with the other boys, playing with the fire, and hanging out in general. We stayed only one night and not two because I think Byron had had enough by then, and then that's when the rain started too, so it was probably fine that we headed back through the storm. It rained all night and early into Sunday morning.

Acacia's 3rd grade MAP scores (from last spring)

Acacia has a lexile score of 890 for reading level, an Advanced score for Communication Arts, and is at the 87th percentile. For math she is also Advanced, at the 99th percentile. Way to go Acacia!!

First day of 2009-10 school year

Hard to believe, but Cordelia began kindergarten today. Super excited, new backpack and lunchbox, and ready to go. No fear, and was running out the door for the bus.
















Now why can't they be like this all the time? Kalina and Byron were in a playful mood and posing for pictures, hugging and not fighting.











Here's a nice fancy dinner to celebrate the day. Nice china and silverware, good manners.












Valen is already shaping up to be the class clown. This was one of the few shots where he wasn't trying to shoot webs like Spiderman, or some other type of superhero pose.
















This is a good shot that really shows how tall Acacia is getting. When you put her next to the younger kids you can tell. She's off at a new school this year too as she moves up.

Basement bathroom remodel

Well this is it finally! Our basement bathroom is back. So nice to have a third bathroom again. When we first moved into the house there was nothing there, just a floor drain and a the toilet drain roughed in. Wide open unfinished basement. We then put together a bathroom with Deanna's Dads' help, and then hired out to get the rest done. But it wasn't perfect, more functional than anything. Good enough at the time.

After redoing the two upstairs bathrooms we decided to tackle this one next. We completely gutted it except for the ceiling, doors, and the two walls that were framed in.

We then tiled the new shower (including a bench to sit while shaving legs and a recessed shelf for shampoo bottles), framed and add dry wall against the cement wall, added a new toilet, sink, vanity, medicine cabinet with mirror, light fixtures, tile floor, and heating element under the floor.

The tiling was the hardest because of all the cuts that had to be made. This was not a simple square, but fit in under the staircase, lots of angles, some vertical and some slanted areas. Then the shelf and bench really made it complicated. It was hard enough just getting the cement board up in the first place, and then all of the tile.

There is not a speck of the original floor, wall, or ceiling left from when we moved in. Wouldn't even recognize it. So now it is completely finished.

Another birthday

What a great looking bunch. Here they are for Byron's 11th birthday!!

DVDs at the UCM Library

The university library has a new DVD collection that is brand new. It's also totally automated with a really cool self check out system. Swipe your UCM ID, find and select the titles you want, and then print out a receipt. The receipt has a barcode that you take over to the DVD stacks. Scanning the barcode unlocks your DVD so that you can take it out. Kids have found a lot of movies and TV shows as well.

Just learn it yourself

Today we went out for Chinese food for Byron's 11th birthday. Out of the blue he says "Why can't the schools just give us the books and everything we need to learn at the beginning of the school year, then we can go home and read everything, and then come back and they can just test us on it?"

Standards based. Independent learning. Individualized. He could care less about socialization, Vygotsky and social learning theory, and group work. But there are some schools out there where this model is being used. Interesting that he thought of it.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin was fun, but tiring. About 25 hours in the car driving there and back over a three day weekend. The kids, for the most part, were good in the car. Yes, there was some fighting and frustration, arguing over which movie to watch, food spilling, and so on, but it was a very long drive.

The water park at the hotel in Elmhurst was a blast. Byron especially liked the water slides, though they were too much for Deanna! The little ones enjoyed their own play area, and the hot tub was always good. We went swimming Friday night as well as Saturday morning.

Then we were off to Pewaukee Saturday afternoon. The kids got pizza and stayed in the room during the wedding and dinner. Tried to get them to dance at the reception but were no fun. I think they were just tired, but it was horrendous trying to get them settled into bed. Deanna and I went back down for a couple dances, but had to cut it short.

Sunday morning was back in the pool again. Kids got us up at 7:30, and I had coffee in one hand and Valen in the other as I walked through the shallow end.

After checking out we went to brunch with Grandma and Grandpa Jurkowski. Food was great. It was then a long drive back home, a short stop in Rockford IL since we were passing through, and I was exhausted as we pulled in at 1:30 AM.

So we got to see my parents, grandfather, brother Conan and wife Beth, Uncle Mike and Aunt Laurie, Cousin Scott, and of course Cousin Cheri and her new husband Jason.

We have a teenager

Kalina turns 13 today. It's hard to believe how fast she is growing up. For her birthday all she wanted was an afternoon of clothes shopping with her friends at the mall. She's also now looking for a chair that she can lounge in but hasn't found anything yet. May have to order one online.

National Junior Honor Society

Kalina was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society tonight. Huge ceremony at the Middle School. Kalina was not impressed because she says the standards are so easy. We're still happy to see her doing so well.

Wisconsin Wedding

Just got the wedding invitation to Cousin Sherri's wedding in May. Nice to get back to the Milwaukee area (the actual wedding is in Pewaukee) and see everyone. We got a suite reserved with two sets of bunk beds so we will all fit in one place together instead of needing multiple rooms. The kids are looking forward to the mini-vacation right before the end of their school year. I'm sure they will want to spend time in the hotel pool with Grandma and Grandpa.

What a coincidence

This afternoon I was working on a new course, trying to brainstorm as to what it should cover, and thinking about a textbook. There was one book in particular I kept going back to because I had an older edition on my shelf. I went to Amazon.com to see if there was a newer edition yet and how much it would cost students. I decided at least tentatively that this would be the book to use, put the citation in the working syllabus, and went out to ask our office professional about getting a teacher copy.

I grabbed my mail that had been delivered today and, while chatting with our office professional, opened a package. It was the brand new edition of the book I had just been looking for. Freaky!

Kalina wins writing award

Kalina won first place in her middle school writing contest. The essay contest was on what the American flag stands for. She won a certificate and a $10 gift card.

Incubator

And one other big project that I've been working on is our Educational Innovation Incubator, or just Incubator for short. With NCATE it's been difficult to get much else done, but we do have a lot of the basics done for this huge, ongoing initiative I've been tasked with. I'm doing the website for this too.
http://www.ucmo.edu/incubator/

Reflections

Here's the new College of Education Reflections magazine. It's a way that we are publicizing all the great things going on here in education at UCM. This is hot off the press (or computer really as they are just now sending them to get printed). I'm in there myself a few different places, three to be precise.
http://faculty.ucmo.edu/ncate09/reports/coe_reflectmag.pdf

Accreditation

Want to see everything that we've been working on for re-accreditation for education programs at UCM? I'm creating the electronic document center so that the NCATE (national) and DESE (state) reviewers can access everything online. Over 1,235 documents so far, we're getting close to being ready for the visit at the end of the month. While some of these documents are a single page Word document, others are 100 page program reports. Quite an ordeal. Good thing we only have to do this every 7 years. So this website is nothing flashy, but simply trying to keep it organized and easy for the review teams to do their work and find what they need quickly without being distracted. For the past month it's meant working 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week since I still have the rest of my job to do too.
http://faculty.ucmo.edu/ncate09

Boy Scout

Byron completed the transition from Cub Scouts this weekend and is now officially a Boy Scout. Here he is preparing to shoot the ceremonial arrow. Note the ropes and the safety precautions so no one accidentally gets hit. He did good though, shot the target cleanly.

California

Off to California tomorrow for a department chair conference. Should be pretty interesting. Normally my conferences are all discipline specific, and am almost always presenting something myself. This time it's all administrative and governance related, with quite a broad group of people.

Wish I would have more time there. I fly in to San Diego in the morning, the conference starts later that day, then the conference ends on Saturday and I fly back that afternoon/evening. But with all of this NCATE stuff that needs to be done before the site visit next month I really can't afford time away. 38 days to NCATE and counting.

House hunting

No, we're not leaving Warrensburg. But considering the low interest rates, the stimulus package that will include tax rebates for purchasing homes, and the fact that there just aren't many kids near by, we're going to start looking at homes within the city limits. It would save a couple minutes driving, but the main benefit would be if kids could walk to school, if I could bike to work on nice days, if we could find a neighborhood where the kids had a lot of friends. I don't know what will happen, but we'll see.

January Birthdays

Look at these two. It's hard to believe, but they are growing up. Valen turned 3 and Cordelia turned 5 this month. Cordelia was excited about makeup and pink girly things, as well as a game for her Leapster, while Valen won't put his Batman action figure down.

Honor Band

Tonight we got to hear Kalina play in the middle school honor band. They pick the top couple 7th and 8th graders from each school in the area, bring these best of the best together, practice new music from 8am until performance time, and then give a concert in the evening. They really sounded great.

Christmas in Colorado

Christmas in Colorado was quite exciting this year. Grandpa and Grandma Habben had the whole family out before Uncle David goes off to Germany with the Air Force. So we got to spend time also with Uncle Donald and Aunt Debra and her family. They took us up to the mountains and stayed at cabins for a white Christmas and a lot of snow. Colorado Springs is already at a mile high, but we were at over 8,750 feet.

The kids enjoyed (and us too) the snow, sledding, ice skating, roller skating, archery, indoor rock climbing, arts and crafts, gingerbread house making and much more. The fireplace at the cabin warmed us up in between activities, and the kids were happy to see snow over two feet deep. Much more than they are used to in Missouri.

For Christmas Kalina enjoyed getting a cell phone with unlimited texting, Bryon and Acacia got Nintendo DS's, and Cordelia a Leapster. So they are all enthralled with their electronics.

Outside of the mountains, we spent time outdoors in Colorado Springs, as you can see in the real rock climbing at Palmer Park.

Acacia growing up

Acacia is always wanting to learn how to do everything. This was the last time we needed to mow for the season. She kept asking about trying the lawnmower so I let her try it. I thought she would tire after a couple of minutes, but she kept going and did the entire back yard. That's a good 45 minutes or more.

She also wanted to try ironing my dress shirts this week, and asked Deanna to show her how to sew and put on a new button.

While all of the kids have wanted to be involved, she has been the most industrious.

Science Olympiad

Kalina has been complaining about all the time she has put into Science Olympiad with school, and complaining that all the other students are "nerds" that just "want to talk about science all the time." My, oh, my.

Well, they had a big competition today. Deanna got her on the bus at 6 am this morning and went with her for the day long events. I don't know how many teams and events there were in total, but Kalina came home as one of the stars of Warrensburg. She got a 1st, 4th, and 5th place. Now she says she wants to keep participating. She's very competitive and enjoys doing well.

Department Party

Friday night we had the entire department over for a potluck. We supplied the wine, homemade rolls, meat, and cheese, and with all of the sides, salads, and desserts, we had a ton of food. It was really good to have everyone over. Deanna had not met all of the faculty before, and there were a few spouses that were new to me too. We had a great time, from Jason talking about bull riding and the birth experiences of his children, Dick and Cathy being Star Trek and Serenity fans, Dave reminiscing about Chicago back in the 70's (I pulled out my pictures of when I went to Bozo's Circus), and so much more. It was a lot of fun and a good way to get to know my colleagues and their families. It seems like just the other day I was a new Assistant Professor going to my department Chair's house for a holiday party. Now we're the ones hosting.

Milwaukee Airport

The AECT conference was great, but it sure was long and tiring. Flying out added on two whole days to the trip what with the time at airports and layovers and shuttles. Originally I had a direct flight each way, but those flights were canceled. For some reason, Midwest decided it would be better for me to fly from Orlando to Milwaukee before going back to Kansas City. Well, one benefit was that I had a couple hours to see Mom and Dad and Grandpa.

Halloween 2008

This year was another fun filled, chocolate covered, adventure. Here you can see Kalina as a zebra (she also had a tail and a pony tail but it's hard to see), Byron was a Sith, Acacia a spy, Cordelia a princess, and Valen a tiger.

Valen was still pretty amazed at all the other trick-or-treaters, but was sure not to pass up any place handing out candy.

Later we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Then the oldest three and I went to the haunted dorms of UCM. Yeater Hall's third floor has been closed for years, but you can still hear things happening up there even though the floor is locked off. Pretty spooky.

Ad

Here's the latest ad for our Educational Technology program. They did a pretty good job. It's in grayscale for print publications.

Crop Walk

Byron went camping Saturday night, and then we did the Crop Walk on Sunday. Weather was great and we had a lot of fun like always. This year we helped pass out water on one of the stops. Kalina walked separately with her friends and met up with us at the end.

The Embarrassment has Begun

Kalina is complaining that Byron embarrasses her at school. Yes, it is more evident now that he has skipped a grade and is at the middle school with her. Part of it is his autism. He does tend to have more socially awkward situations than would be otherwise. And even though they fight a lot he likes to point out to everyone that Kalina is his sister and announces it everywhere, very proud of the fact.

Kalina is also competitive with academics. Their MAP scores from last spring came back and they both did incredible, above average in every area, and each had something in the 99th percentile. Kalina's lexile score for reading was 1090, which puts her around junior/senior year in high school, around 5 or 6 years ahead. But Byron, two years younger, got 1070, which is so close it's really about the same.

Then again, that's just what siblings do. She would probably be embarrassed no mater what.

Band

Kalina started middle school band practice. Had to drop her off at 6:30 this morning. Seems a waste to drive back home since already being in town so I just go into work early those days. However, since I have to go to Kansas City for a meeting this afternoon/evening getting home at 8pm it really feels like a long day.

Apples

It's starting to feel like fall now. We picked apples from the university greenhouse last week, and then this weekend we picked some from our neighbors tree. They never really use their apples and they just end up falling to the ground, so in return for taking apples we cleaned up the ground around the tree. Then Deanna spent the day cooking, mashing, canning, etc. I'm not sure exactly how much we ended up with, but it was something like 3 gallons of apple cider, 20 quarts of apple sauce, and some leftover to make apple butter later on.

Labor day weekend was not quiet, but it was good too. Kalina did a fundraiser at the Elk's Lodge for Girl Scouts, we did the apples like I mentioned, we replaced an old and leaky kitchen faucet, gave the lawnmower a good seasonal maintenance, and we bought our first gas grill. All these years we got by with a little charcoal grill, and never really used it much. End of season clearance time at Walmart made this possible.

And we also rented a few movies. I realized the kids never saw the Indiana Jones movies. They were too young, and the latest movie is not yet out on DVD. So we rented the first two. The kids like those kinds of action, adventure, mystery movies with clues and traps. Although looking back at it now it seems a lot more violent than I remember.

Summer's Over

Well the summer is officially over. This morning I volunteered at the MuleHaul, helping freshmen and their families unload their cars and move into the dorms. I was there bright and early at 7 am. It was a good day as temps were moderate and sunny. Last year it rained, and the year before that it was in the 90's.

The kids started school last week Thursday so they have had two days now. Kalina (7th grade) and Byron (6th grade) are at the Middle School, and Acacia (3rd grade) is at Ridgeview. Cordelia and Valen still at home.

Byron is now adjusting to having to move to room to room throughout the day. The Middle School is quite a leap. He had to learn how to use a combination lock for the first time, and said he misses recess. He also has to wake up to catch the bus at 6:45. Kalina was never a problem as she just gets up and moving. Byron needs prodding.

Baby brother got married

Had a great time at Conan and Beth's wedding. It was a quick trip and a lot of time on the road with the kids, but it was good to see everyone. Deanna and I like having a new sister-in-law. They get along well together, and she's on her computer as much as I am because those IM's from her pop up all the time, then we get carried away in conversations. The couple danced the night away, it was a nice ceremony and the weather was great, and we got to see much of the family.

As we were there we got to see Theron one more time before leaving for Bulgaria for two years, and Bronwyn before she leaves for the Marines and ends up who knows where. That only leaves Don at home with my parents. Six down, one to go.

4th of July

We walked in two parades on the 4th, supporting David Pearce, Republican, for Missouri state Senate. He was our Representative for our district and a local Warrensburg person whom we have gotten to know over the years. It was a lot of walking, but the kids had fun throwing candy and handing out stickers and fliers. It was a full day and we got a lot of sun, but couldn't have been much better.

When we came back home that evening Anthony "Art" Arton, Democrat, stopped by our home to chat. We were shooting off bottle rockets and generally having a good time as the kids are now getting old enough to do a lot of this themselves. Byron especially enjoyed lighting firecrackers. Art is running for Davids old seat as our state Representative. I've know him since he was the student representative on the university Board of Governors. He's been very active on campus and around town.

Hopefully both of our favorites will do well later this year. Deanna and I differ on several points, but agree on many others. I'm generally a Democrat and Deanna is generally Republican, but we both look for the best and will support the best person. My biggest issues are health care, education, and the environment.

Flickr

Want to see all of the latest photos? Check us out on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odinjurkowski/

The World

Uncle Jeff and family have been teaching in Australia for several years now. Soon they won't be the only ones so far off. On Deanna's side David will be stationed in Germany for the next couple years. Around the same time on my side Theron will be joining the Peace Corps and going to Bulgaria, also for a couple years. Meanwhile, Bronwyn is joining the Marines, so who knows where she will be off too. After this summer it will be quite some time before we see them all.

Gerbils

We have Gerbils now. Kalina had been talking non-stop about getting another pet and kept listing all of the different options, from fish to lizards to ferrets (thanks Theron). When a friends family said they were trying to get rid of some gerbils they did not want any longer Kalina jumped at the chance and kept at us. So we got two cages and three gerbils total. Kalina and Acacia are thrilled, constantly taking them out to play with. They really are good natured animals, and the girls handle them just fine. Cordelia and Valen love watching, but that's it. They keep their distance, but love seeing them. Byron on the other hand couldn't care less. He thinks they look like rats.

Where does the time go?

Boy it's been busy this summer. Here's a few updates. Kalina's favorite birthday gift was her mp3 player. She's really growing up. Byron's was a sonic screwdriver. Can you tell our favorite family show we watch together is Dr. Who? Acacia's half-birthday is coming up and she wants a digital camera.

The kids have all been riding their bikes a lot this summer, when it's not raining. I don't think we've ever had such a rainy summer before. Other than that they've been watching a lot of movies. The rental store gives out a free rental for each A on their report cards. Between the three oldest I think they got something like 22 movies. Kalina and Acacia are also funny because they've been setting their alarm clocks for 6 am every morning so that they can jump on the computers before the rest of the kids wake up. Byron still sleeps in and is the last one to sleep at night as he reads until we force him to stop. Interesting contrast between the boys and the girls.

Louisiana

We had a great time in Louisiana visiting everyone. Cousin Emma is growing up fast and we got to meet the brand new baby Christopher. The timing was good as we were able to be there for Emma's birthday party. May was awfully hot, but not as bad as it would be later in the summer. We spent time playing in the back yard, went to the beach and rode in Uncle Matt's boat, ate spicy crawfish, and saw the alligators at the store. Overall, a great Memorial Day weekend.

Donuts

"Donuts!" said Valen half asleep upon waking this morning. Must have been having quite a dream. He continued to repeat over and over that he wanted donuts, and was quite agitated that we didn't have any.

Then again, yesterday he woke up saying "No, Cordelia, no."

Grades

Just got Kalina's latest report card. Apparently her worst class is art. She only had a 96%. Accelerated math was 98% for the quarter, and everything else was 102%, 105%, 107%. Gets upset when she loses a single point on something, and always does extra credit.

Been Crazy

It's been crazy lately. We're still remodeling two of our bathrooms, Valen has been a daddy's boy and wants to be held all the time, except for when he's playing in big brother's bedroom with all those neat toys, Cordelia wants to go to school and play with her friends and socialize and hates playing alone, Acacia's very organized and obsessive about things, Byron gets in trouble for reading too much, and Kalina complains about everything and isn't happy when she has 110% on her report card.

Watch This Guys

Valen's favorite phrase lately. He likes to climb, stand on things, raise his hands and show he's balancing, and then tell everyone to watch him. And he'll say it over and over again until you look. He's a show off and a dare devil.

Latest Science Olympiad

Warrensburg did not make it to the State finals, but they still did pretty well at regionals yesterday. Kalina got two fourth place finishes and a first. Considering that her division was middle school 6, 7, and 8th grades, being among the youngest and still doing well was great. There was fierce competition from so many schools. They took over UCM and really had a lot of independence and responsibility. Events were spread out among many different buildings with no one standing over them taking them from place to place. She's really growing up.

Don't like

"I don't like it Mommy." That's what Valen says when given his medicine for his cold. His vocabulary has just exploded since he turned two years old last month.

Our first droid

We are so excited. We got our first droid this week. Deanna ordered an iRobot Scooba to clean the kitchen and bathroom floors. The kids really are hard to keep up with. While technology is obviously everywhere in our home, incorporated into so many devices, this really does feel like a big step forward. Just turn it on and let it go. It's mobile, autonomous, knows not to go down stairs or over thresholds, etc. Now we just have to make sure they don't take over the world. I for one welcome our robot cleaning overlords.