What's New?

People keep asking me..."so, what's new?" Besides, the year, there are other things that are new in the lives of the Sluiters:

Cortney started his weekly Cribbage league this week. He plays at the Pigeon Club in Zeeland with a bunch of guys. He enjoys it - even though he comes home smelling like a smoke stack from all the guys that smoke. Cort says he notices it even more now that he is a non-smoker.

Cort also continues to bowl. In December he rolled in a couple city tournaments: one with his mom and one with our good friend, Cindy. He didn't do as well as he hoped in either of them, but he had a good time anyway hanging out with a couple of his favorite ladies :) This month he will be traveling to Sterling Heights to roll in the state tournament. He is for sure rolling on a doubles team, and he may also be rolling on a larger team as well. Cross your fingers that he does well!

This week has me back at work. Everything is business as usual at The Park with one exception: I now have a student teacher. This is my first student teacher ever and I am looking forward to the perks and rewards of having him here. This week and next are the last two weeks of our quarter before exams, so he is mostly just observing, getting to know the kids, and developing his lessons. I also have him doing a little grading. Third quarter, however, is all his. So aside from helping a new teacher find his voice as a teacher, I also get a little break from my students and from all the planning and grading. This will be a welcome reprieve because 11th grade testing is coming up and I am the coordinator for that.

I am also working on my next article for the Holland Sentinel's Life & Style section. I took a couple weeks off from story-writing because I was loaded down (and still sort of am) with grading and planning for the end of the quarter. My editor is great because she gave me a pretty fun topic for the TRENDS section (which runs on Fridays). It's all about bubble tea and recipes that include tapioca bubbles. So if there is anyone out there who has had this, seen it done, or knows of a recipe, let me know - you may end up in the paper! Or if there is anyone who wants to hang out at Lemonjellos in Holland with me (they have a bubble tea there), to do some research, let me know! :) I'll let you all know when that article will run!

Aside from those things, it's all pretty much life as usual at our house. So...what's new with YOU?!?!