Sit and Talk with Your Children

     After being placed in a High School, I have noticed a serious subject schools do not take lightly. School Bullying has now reached a medium which can't be controlled, but it can be monitored and prevented. Please speak with your student about what bullying may look like, how to prevent it, what they should do if they are bullied, and what they should do if they are bullying. Many kids can't escape a bully; their attacker is in the classroom, on the bus, on Facebook, on Twitter, on blogs, and on their phones. Don't rely on Teachers, Administrators, or other Students to solve this issue. Take action! Be aware that positive peer pressure can prevent a bully from attacking their victim. If one student speaks up against the bully, others will chime in and the bully will see that they are seen as uncool in front of their peers.
    Too many students have died due to being a victim of a bully. Prevention starts with education. Here is a link on school bullying.

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/?gclid=CO_nmpW9u7ICFexFMgodSVQAoQ

Sprinkled throughout Ohio

     So the Janszens are in Northern Ohio, Mid Ohio, and Southern Ohio. You can't escape us! We are like a horror movie; you can run as fast as you want but you will never out run us!
     Ben has recently joined his college Water Ski Team, which is perfect for him. Professional water sports somehow missed him. Unfortunately college got in the way of  every wake board, wake surf board, slalom ski, and tube. He jumped in a competition in Southern Ohio last weekend and made 52 feet, but this past weekend he surpassed that jump and made it 60 feet! He stuck the landing too! I would bust every bone in my body if I did that, but I am also not the Dare Devil in the family. So is Mallory...I'm 24 and pushing "Grandma Boring" status.
    Mallory seems to be full force into her senior year. Senior pictures are the hot topic in the Janszen household and it scares me that she will be living with another person in a year. God Bless her roommate because my sister makes a walk through after a Tornado look clean. She is not like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown with a a dark dust cloud surround her....she just puts everything on the floor. This drives Joe and Lisa nuts!
    Joe and Lisa are working to make sure that the roof over the Janszens stays there. Dad is selling homes and Mom is selling trips! I am worried how they will be when Mallory leaves for college. Empty Nester's....after having kids in the house for twenty-five years they get to re-kindle that spark.
     Today we celebrated my dads' mom's 80th birthday. I think after 80 years of life you should take a knee like Tebow and just chug a hard drink while thanking God you are healthy, alive, and have one classy, sexy, looking family! (The Janszen's breed well! Not to brag, but after 30 some of us, we still are ridiculously good looking. And marry good looking people!) Okay, shallow Emma needed that few seconds to brag. Grandma is slowing down but she still provides the love and laughter we all cherish. My moms' mom was able to make it out for the celebration as well and it makes me happy to see her still going strong!
     As for me, well I'm knee deep into Student Teaching and Master's Thesis writing. I know, you wish you had my life right now. I have pondered the idea of paying someone to finish my paper if I gave them a detailed outline and promised I would write the Works Cited, but that is bad karma.
   
     I hope everyone is enjoying the sneak peak of fall weather and your football team is on the winning side!
           The Janszens

"On the Pontoon..."

     Camp Janszen.....as we like to call it. Other people call it "going to the lake", but whatever you decide to call it it still means the same thing; boat and drink, swim and drink, or boat while you drink. My family has been going to this magnificent lake down in the south (which will remain nameless because I don't want to share this slice of heaven) for a little over 8 years. It is a place where cell phone signals are not invited and the moonlight is your guide at night for the boat ride home from the tikki bar. I have never seen my family so relaxed as they are at the lake. My dad gets to ski before the sun wakes up, my mom works on her tan (which she has the tanning genes in the family so she always looks like she from the Mediterranean area), my brother gets to flip and jump on the wake board, my sister works on her tan and blond highlights, and I enjoy the few seconds of time I work up the courage to get in the lake. There are so many Man-eating fish out there people it's only wise to swim for a brief second!
     We eat lunches out at marinas and whenever dinner is decided to be fixed, mom always brings home to the lake. Time is not allowed to obtrude in our camp time, so our stomachs always tell us when we need to eat a meal. It's the best! Even on the hottest nights a dinner lakeside is better than a dinner at local diner.
    Drinking...well my family doesn't get hammered beyond recognition of our own names, but we do enjoy the shenanigans we get into while drinking. Many cliff jumps, bridge jumps, balancing acts, and dock games have been a result of that hop brewed liquid goodness. Now one member of the family is not of drinking age so she competes in these events sober, which may make her the best sister ever! What sober person would agree to participating in games that make rednecks think we're rednecks!?

     It's always a great time at the lake and the family forgets about work and school which makes it all the more relaxing! Everyone should visit this lake...too bad it will be a secret!