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.

Swimming in the "baffies"

With a new baby at home I sometimes feel like we don't get out enough, especially with Cassidy. She is always wanting to get out; she can't get enough of the outdoors. So now that the pool in our neighborhood is open, I took her both yesterday and today. She LOVES swimming in the "baffies" (she thinks a pool is a big tub). You would think that she would be so happy and think that I am a great mom. On the contrary. Each time I have had to drag her out of the pool. She looks like a raisin and is shivering cold by the time I pull her out. Then she screams at me the entire rest of the day that she wants to go swimming. Today Joel told me she was calling me "so mean!" But that is just how she says "swimming." Today she screamed so much she gave me a migraine. I don't know what to do. I don't want to keep her in all day long, but I cannot reward her behavior.

On a bright note, baby Ethan is perfect as ever. I have cut down on his medicine and he seems to be doing all right. He still spits up a ton, but it doesn't seem to bother him as much as it did last month. I love seeing his little rolls. It's how I know that he's definitely getting enough to eat.

Joel is doing well at his job. We are so happy that everything is falling into place, with our future home and my future job. I really do love my life and I love my kids (yes, both of them). Today Cassidy made up a song about ants and bugs...and then of course, the song had to mention Cinderella. She loves her little brother very much and loves to "help" out.

Joel's new car

Well, Joel found a car that was the exact price of the check from the insurance company for his totaled car. So that was pretty lucky. It's a little red 2001 Kia Rio. It's pretty cute for the price he paid for it. He really wants to get a scooter when we move. He boasts how much money he will save on gas. I'm not completely set on the idea, but we shall see...

I finally have a teaching interview with the district this Thursday. I am scared even though I shouldn't be. This is just a "screening interview" to weed out all the people who shouldn't even be allowed to teach in a school. So it would be really crazy for me to not pass this one. Then after I am cleared, the principal at the Jr. High will interview me. I haven't worked since before Cassidy was born, so it is scary to think of leaving the kids and going back to work. With Joel's crazy shift work at the restaurant, I don't even know how to find child care. I think I will need to find a mom who stays at home to watch my kids. Hopefully I will find someone in my new neighborhood, but I don't even live there yet. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Poor Baby Ethan has reflux and has a hard time keeping his milk down. He spits up at least 3-4 times between each feeding. Cassidy had it, too. So now Ethan is on baby Zantac. He screams when he eats and will only eat for about 5-6 minutes total. But he is still growing, so at least we don't need to worry about his weight like we did with Cassidy.

He has been smiling for a good few weeks now, but now he makes a little coo with his smiles that almost sounds like a laugh. It is the cutest. Meanwhile, Cassidy is learning her ABC's. She usually skips the "lmnop" part because it's hard. She does her best. She also is learning to be a math nerd like her mom. She knows her shapes: circle, triangle, oval, pentagon, hexagon and "palallagwam". That's right--she says parallelogram! That's my little math major!

Life can be SO crazy

Life has been so crazy lately, where do I even start? Just over three weeks ago, Joel got in a car wreck. He fell asleep on his way to work and crashed into the car in front of him. We are so lucky that he is perfectly O.K! He had had a full night's sleep, and so we became worried with him driving so far to his work every day. So we have now chosen to live in a cute townhome so he will be closer to his work. They just accepted our offer on the home yesterday, so we are very excited. We should be moving in July.

It is scary to think of paying a mortgage when we are so young and have been paying such little rent here at my parents' house. But things often work out better than you can plan for. Two weeks ago I got a job offer to teach French part-time at a Jr. High. I still need to go through the application process and get interviewed by the district and the principal, but it sounds like it's in the bag. The principal has even called me a few times to make sure I have everything underway. I should start teaching in the fall.

As for Cassidy and Ethan, they are just the cutest kids ever! Cassidy will turn three this summer and Ethan is just over 2 months old. Cassidy sings lots of songs; she sings all day. Ethan eats, poops, cries and sleeps. He sleeps SO well at night; I am so lucky. Last night he slept from 10 until 6. I hope he keeps it up when I begin teaching.

New to Blogging

Hello, all. I am new to blogging and so we will call this a test-run. I have never been one to write much in my journal. But if a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then I actually don't know of anyone who journals as much as I do. I counted recently and Cassidy has 9 scrapbooks and she's only two and a half! We will see if Ethan can catch up soon. Right now he has one scrapbook that is started. But he's only 2 months old. He is so sweet. He smiles all the time! (When he's not crying or eating). It is hard to capture on camera, though. I will post lots of pictures when I figure all this out.