Greek Mythology

I am really excited to teach Greek mythology this year. It is one of my favorite things to learn about. I love stories that teach us how cultures have explained things and the stories are full of action. I've decided to use Greek mythology to expand my storytelling. I'm researching one myth now (the story of Persephone) that I can eventually turn into a full-fledged story and I'm really excited about it! So here's my question: What is your favorite Greek myth? Or your favorite Greek god?

What do you know?

I was reading "O" magazine during my last doctor's appointment and was intrigued by an article. Oprah had been asked in an interview to say what she knows for sure and couldn't think of anything. So, she compiled other people's answers to the same question. It was really interesting to read what people believe to be for sure. I also enjoyed seeing how people's life experiences influenced their responses. One man talked about what he knows about women, and I'm sure it was true about the women in his life, but I found myself thinking that he sure hadn't met me. Most of the people did not make such general statements. I really enjoyed thinking about what they had to say and wish I could remember better (darn pregnant brain).

It really got me thinking about the things I know for sure and made me wonder what you know for sure. Here's a few of my thoughts:

1. We have all existed for ions. We come to earth with personalities and predispositions. However, we make choices and we decide if those things will help or harm our progression. Nature vs. nurture is a silly argument because no one is complete without both.

2. People always respond better to praise than criticism.

3. Things always work out for the best; they just don't always go according to our plans.

4. Having a positive attitude can change any situation.

5. Heavenly Father loves you. He always has and He always will. It's your job to love yourself and to spread His love to others.

I would love to hear your thoughts, whether on the things I think I know for sure or on the things you know.

Our Baby

So, I'm a little behind. This post is about two weeks late, but better late than never, right? I am now 21 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby boy. Yes, most of you who commented on our last post were correct. We are having a boy. We thought he was a girl, but we're very excited. Here are some cute pictures of our baby boy. They are his face, hand, and feet.

And here, on the request of my mother, is the classic pregnant picture.

Baby

I have my ultrasound scheduled. Two weeks from today we will find out the gender of our baby. Please post your guesses if you feel so inclined. Yey! It's exciting!

Readers

On JoLee's suggestion, I have been following Shannon Hale's thoughts on how to be a reader. She is an author from Utah, mostly young adult books, and her writing is wonderful (in my humble opinion). I have been truely interested in her thoughts and wanted to comment about her most recent post: Moralizing. http://oinks.squeetus.com/2008/09/how-to-be-a-r-3.html

Quick summary: Do authors intentionally write books with morals? Are authors responsible for the morals we take from their stories? She talks about her own writing. She is story driven and does not intentionally moralize. She believes morals are taken by the reader depending on what they need the book to tell them at that point.

I agree. I believe this is true in all forms of art. What you take from that art depends on your life experiences as much as what is before you. Does this mean it's the author's responsibility? No. I think authors should write responsibly. If you are writing a book for children, make it age-appropriate but don't skirt difficult issues just because you are concerned about the reader's reaction. Shannon comments on her post that children understand when they are reading fiction and i feel this is 100% true. I recently had this conversation with my dad. Children know that fantasy is fantasy and they have the ability (speaking generally) to separate it from reality. They have agency. They can interpret a book in their own way and take what they need from it.

I hope we never assume that books or art can only have one interpretation. Not everyone thinks the same and so each of us is free to take from books the things that we need. Thank you if you have kept with me. I just needed to sort out these thoughts. If you found any of them interesting, check out Shannon's blog (see above).

6th Grade

So, the school year is officially in full swing. This week begins week four of the school year, which is hard to believe! However, I'm really enjoying it and I definately feel that sixth grade is the place for me! I loved third, but this age group is a species all its own and I love it! Our classroom theme is Ordinary People doing Extraordinary Things and we're celebrating birthdays of people who have changed things in our world. We started the year with Gutenberg and how his printing press changed the availability of books. We're especially talking about how we can do extraordinary things. I love it. Here are some pictures of my classroom, just for fun.

Baby Funk

Surprise! Peter and I are expecting a baby. We're very excited and anxious for March 13th. We just wanted to share our happy news with you, our friends. We hope you're well!

A Different Kind of Tag

My good friend Liz has put this tag on her blog and I've decided to play along.

1. You post a comment to our blog stating a memory you have with us (Paige and/or Peter).

2. You put these instructions on your blog and see what interesting memories people put about you. Have fun!

Nate and Jacob playing tag in their grandparents house before anyone moved in. Tag, you're it!

St. Louis: A vacation within a vacation.

Next we made our way across the state to St. Louis. We entertained ourselves for the four hour drive by listening to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I would highly recommend this book. We made it to the hotel that evening and the fun began the next day.

JoLee and Nathan had researched St. Louis and made a great list of possible activities. Peter and I prioritized the zoo and the science museum as #1 and 2.

The zoo: Free, Cool Animals, Good Layout, A Few Surprises

Penguins

Otters

Cayman

Elephants

A Giraffe having a Baby: People were gathered around the giraffe area just watching this giraffe walk around while having a baby. Look closely and you can see the new giraffe’s legs.

The Science Museum: Interesting, Large, Surprisingly Very Fun

Section 1: Architecture—in this section you practice building various ways.

JoLee’s skeletal frame skyscraper

Peter’s arch: Let it be known he built this all by himself (and it wasn’t easy).

Nathan, Peter, and my arch

Section 2: The senses—in this section there were many different activities to both test and trick your senses.

JoLee and I testing our memories

JoLee and I figuring out who’s the bigger person


The museum also had animatronic dinosaurs and information about space travel. Outside they had three different types of rocket ships which JoLee, Peter, and I are happy to pose as for you.


Next in St. Louis: The City Museum

Congratulations Mom G!

We have renamed our blog. It is now The P Funks: Paige and Peter's Pics and Prose. Thanks to Mom Gillespie for the idea! We love you!


Thanks to everyone else who participated in our contest. Your ideas were all great. Love you all!

Next Stop...KANSAS!

Day 1:
JoLee took us to the Deanna Rose Farm our first full day in town. I had been there before on my last trip to Kansas, but it has grown since my last trip and so have the animals. This buffalo and cow were babies on my last trip.

The best thing about the farm is feeding the goats. As you can see, they’re eager to be fed. The big one with black on his face was particularly pushy.

The best story from the farm came while we were looking at the chickens. A little boy, probably about four years old, came running up saying that he found more animals (the chickens). His grandma asked what he had found. He replied, “I found…eagles!” He said it with such awe. It was great!

After the farm we Red Boxed some movies and relaxed in the apartment. This is Zephyr, JoLee and Nate’s awesome cat, snubbing Peter. Don’t worry, she can’t resist that toy for long and was soon playing along.
That night I went to JoLee’s humanities class. She teaches at the Johnson County Community College and I had fun going with her. I even did the homework. Of course, I’d read the play Trifles before and really liked it, so I didn’t need much convincing.

Day 2:
We spent this day in Kansas City. We started the day at the National World War One Museum. I was particularly excited about this because I am teaching WWI this fall to my sixth graders. We started by looking out over Kansas City.

The exhibits contained two videos that talk about the causes and when the United States got involved in the War. They had model trenches set up so you could see what the soldiers lived in. There were also interactive stations where you could learn about the planes and weapons and even create your own war memorial. This is my memorial, and Peter’s is underneath.

The museum has a tower that stands as a memorial to the war. We didn’t go inside but we did take this picture in front of it.

Next we went to the Kauffman Gardens. We got a little artsy in our pictures here. JoLee liked the cat and the orchids and the gate and I loved the fountain.

We picked up Nate from work and went to dinner and then to the art museum. Before going inside, we walked through the sculpture gardens. They had an amazing collection of Henry Moore sculptures. This is JoLee inside one.

This sculpture is made of wood. It looks like stone. We were all very surprised.

This museum has four sculptures of shuttlecocks. This is Peter and I in front of one before JoLee and I played a smashing game of badminton.

The next day, we took off for St. Louis.

Adventures in Colorado

Peter and I recently had the opportunity to take a ten day vacation. It travelled through three different states and included my entire family. We started in Colorado.

Day 1: Come in, eat lunch with Dad, pull out all his family history records, put lots of dates and names into my computer, eat pizza, watch The Point, and sleep.

Day 2: Peter's 28th birthday! We celebrated his birthday by seeing Iron Man (which I enjoyed, surprisingly). Afterwards, I took him to Zio’s, a little Italian restaurant, so he could eat pasta for dinner. We went to Barnes and Noble to talk to my dad and buy some books. Happy birthday, Peter!






Day 3: Zelda’s 1st birthday! Zelda is my best friend, Jenn’s, daughter. She is cute and we had great fun celebrating and talking with Jenn and Nathan. Unfortunately, our camera was broken so we have no pictures of this event (or anything in Colorado for that matter), so I'll substitute with this picture of Jenn, me, and OP (left to right) at my wedding.


Day 4: Little Johnny Rodgers and Emili came over for a barbeque, Mom came back from Chorale tour, we picked her up, chatted, and played Nutsy.

Day 5: Mom took us to lunch at Cracker Barrel and to the airport so we could get on our plane bound for Kansas City.

Unfortunately, we were unable to spend as much time with Mom and Dad as we would have liked. I guess that means we’ll have to go back soon.

Our time in Kansas to follow.

On a related note...

I wanted to post a picture from Peter's graduation. He graduated just before we got married and all of our parents were there. It was great. This is my favorite picture of the event. I think Peter looks really good and I love pictures of people laughing! Enjoy.

Graduation (finally)

So, I graduated on April 25th. It was a really fun day. Mom, Dad and Taggart came from Colorado. Momma Funk and Jennie came down with Nathan and Adam, but I wasn't able to see them. This picture is the proof that they were there.

We were blessed to have Elder L. Tom Perry attend our convocation. He spoke to us at the end of the ceremony and shook our hands as we crossed the stage. This is me shaking his hand. You can see him really well. Me, on the other hand...

Here are some pictures of great friends I made in the Elementary Education program.

Holly

Andrea

Emily

Danielle

Kaylene

Thanks to everyone for your support as I finished school. It was a great ride and I feel very proud of myself and know I couldn't have done it without you. Family and friends are the BEST!