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!