Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Heat is ON!

Well, those cool June days have ended and the HEAT has come with a vengeance!  It reached 96 today and, of course, I hated it!!
I had class last weekend, Poetry, and it went well.  Yesterday, Monday, my parents took off of work to help me clean out my classroom.  It still hasn't hit me yet.  I don't think it will until the day I start preparing my next classroom at another school.  It is definitely weird to see my bright, colorful room look so plain and drab.  I am so anxious to know where I will end up next school year.  I am holding out for the district to hire 29 literacy teacher positions because then all of the people will leave their current positions and I'll have a better idea of what is available.  Right now nothing is available except for some title I P.I. west-end schools that require an interview, so we'll see. 
Bean and Pope came over last night, and my parents treated all of us to Panda Express.  We enjoyed the warm summer eve eating in the backyard.  I had to go back to my classroom to organize the 6th grade books today, and had both kids with me.  It took WAY longer than I thought, so I was frustrated.  I took the kids to The Fountains afterward and we had lunch at Counter Burger with Lori & Megan and then played in the water and on the playground.   I love summer vacay with my kiddos.  I hope that I feel the same way this year teaching summer school. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I Can Smell Summer. . .

It's Tuesday afternoon of the last week of school.  I took my 6th graders to Raging Waters today, probably the last time I'll ever do that, seeing how I am being surplussed from my position next fall.  I'm tired from writing a curriculum unit for my M.Ed. program until 1:30am, slightly sunburned on my cheeks, and counting down until that final bells rings on Friday!  I can't wait to spend more time with my amazing kiddos.  I just wish George had more time off in the summer too.

Jayden is almost 2, amazing.  He is such a ball of fun these days and, amazingly, plays by himself so well.  He is ALL about cars these days.  You'll usually find him walking with TWO cars, one in each hand.  Either that, or his blanket.  He's my little Linus.  He does the strangest thing.  When he plays with his cars, which is often, he usually lays his head down either on the table or floor he's playing on.  Silly kid.  Makes him look like he's always tired.  He's speaking more and more, but still not nearly as much as Madison did at his age :-)  I accidentally pulled his elbow out of socket the other day and felt horrible.  Luckily, I was able to get Dr. Wang on the phone (it was a Sunday night) and he told me how to fix it and it worked!

Madison has definitely turned three.  They say "Terrible Twos", but I think all parents know it's really the "Terrible Threes".  She is still super smart and funny and helpful, but she can throw a temper!!  She loves to say "I don't want to!" and "I can do it all by myself!".  Sometimes it's a great thing, that she can do things on her own, but other times it is, well, annoying.  She loves to hold Jay-Jay's hand when walking to the park and playing "store" with her play cash register.  That tells me that she's my daughter :)

We've had such cold weather until today.  I think it reached 83 degrees, which was great!  I know the really hot days are coming and I'm not looking forward to them at all.  I will be teaching 4/5 combo for summer school, so this summer will sure be different.  Other big news. . oh, we bought a minivan last weekend!  We purchased a 2008 Nissan Quest, white with a DVD player, so that should make life more comfortable.  It's great timing as we are driving to Washington State to be a part of Aaron Hansen's wedding.  We also enjoyed selling our 1999 Corolla to Diauni (Kara Perry's step-daughter) as her first car.  She paid us some cash and then is making monthly payments for four months.  It feels good to sell my first new car to someone I know, rather than trade it into a dealer.  I hope she has some great memories in it too.  George will also be switching schools next fall, but staying in Loomis.  He's the one driving the minivan on a daily basis, but he loves it!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Springtime is Here!

Somehow three more months have escaped me without blogging.  And now Madison will be THREE is only a few days, and our little Jay-Jay is almost 20 months!!!  Time flies!  Let's see. . . Madison is now officially potty trained!  Actually, she was officially using the potty for "number 1" since we started in December, but only in the last two weeks has she had NO accidents with "number 2", very exciting around here.  She is such a big girl and loves to do everything by herself these days.  We here, "I wanna do it by myself" all of the time.  Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's a bit annoying, but overall I'm pleased that my little girl is becoming so independent.  She continues to talk our ears off and sings a lot, which we love. 
Jayden is talking more and even puts together two words here and there.  He loves to be tickled and seems to be really into trains, cars, and balls (typical boy).  He loves to sit on the potty like his sister, so I want to start potty training this summer.  Can't believe that we'll be starting this again!  We're preparing for a drive to southern California for my cousin Eric's wedding this weekend.  We're gonna sneak in a couple days at DISNEYLAND while we're there.  I'm SO excited!!! 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Happy Holidays 2010!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"  Christmas break just finished and I am back to work, but full of memories from an eventful holiday season.
It started off stressful due to my wallet being stolen from my purse at WalMart on the 21st and then a raging toothache the day after (a route canal is in my near future).  Once Christmas came, however, all things were merry and bright.  It was such a joy to see the excitement on Madison's face on Christmas morning.  Jayden didn't quite get the concept yet, but he LOVES his new basketball hoop and is constantly asking us to put him on the play table so that he is tall enough to shoot hoops.  The kids were spoiled by the whole family, as usual, but Madison reciprocated by drawing pictures in all of the family Christmas cards.
Our biggest thrill of the holiday break was successfully potty training Madison!!!  After trying several times, the concept seemed to click for her this time and she has gone a week without any accidents!  We celebrated her achievement by taking her to her first movie theater experience, to see Tangled at Greenback Cinemas.  Jayden got his first haircut the other day, and I'm so sad to have his curls be gone, but he looks so grown up and handsome!  He started out calm during the haircut, but definitely lost it a bit with crying toward the end.  His newest development - counting to TEN!  He is so funny, he'll just count from 1-10 for no reason, or sometimes randomly count things around the house.  My smart little boy.
George had knee surgery on the 29th and will be home for the next week recuperating.  It is his second knee surgery, so we're hoping that this is the last one.

We missed grandma during this holiday season, as Christmas was very much her favorite time of year.  I hope she knows that we think of her often and say hello to her in our nighttime prayers with Madison.