The hiking backpackers

On Saturday I was getting ready to go to the gym and suddenly I thought, "Joel's here; why don't we go for a family hike?" So off we went spur-of-the-moment to Elephant Rock. Joel carried the hiking backpack with Cassidy in it (although she walked half-way by herself) and I carried Ethan in the baby backpack. I carried him the whole way (3 miles up and 3 miles back). I was so proud of myself! Although my shoulders wanted to die after.

Joel and Cassidy liked to run off ahead and jump out and "scare" me and Ethan. It was great fun. The only problem was that Ethan doesn't like it when I stop walking; the non-motion wakes him up. So I never got any breaks.

This is a crazy week. Today I was at the Jr. High setting up my classroom, which is a disaster, by the way. I have a lot of work to do. Tomorrow and the next day we have cub scout day-camp which I am not supposed to take kids to (it's so impossible), then Thursday evening I am helping throw a shower for my cousin's wedding and I need to make decorations and buy a gift. Meanwhile, we are packing up our apartment and living in boxes, getting everything ready for our closing and the move (we're moving July 5). So why I am spending my precious time blogging, I can't say. I guess sometimes I just need an outlet, and this will do, since I certainly don't have time for scrapbooking right now. So thanks for dealing with my rambling.

I got a job!

Everything has happened so fast lately. I had a preliminary interview this past Thursday with the district. It did not seem to go very well, as most of the questions were based on negative things, such as: "Tell me about the worst discipline problem that happened during your student teaching and how did you handle it?" Well, since I had two students fighting, I sent them straight to the principal's office. Most questions were like this, and did not showcase what went well in my student teaching. I was honest, though...I knew they would see right through me if I said that students talking too loudly was the worst thing that had happened. I kept waiting for the questions to be positive, though, such as: "What worked well in your classroom?" or "What teaching strategies did you find most effective?" But the questions never got that far. I don't know why I am dwelling on this aspect of the interview, though, because four days later I got a call from the principal at the Jr. High and he wanted me to come in for an "interview". So this time I was more prepared with all my perfect responses. Well, he didn't ask me one single question. He just started telling me about his school and then offered me the job! So, long story short...I will be teaching French part-time in Jr. High in the fall. Hooray! It is the perfect job for me, because I hate teaching math (even though I love tutoring it, go figure). Plus, I still want to spend a lot of time at home with my kids.

Oh yah, Baby Ethan laughed for his first time the other day. It was SO cute! We even caught it on Camera. If I can ever figure out how to post videos, I might post it.