Summer loving

Summer goes so fast for me. It is my time to recuperate from the rest of the year. I've done a lot of reading, playing with the children and cleaning the apartment. Somehow the apartment still needs cleaning, the kids still want to play and I haven't read every book.

Today is the first day of July. This month will bring a class that I need to take for work, a birthday for #1 Son, a vacation to my mom's and my return to work. So very much to do. But we will take it one day at a time. One day at the pool. One day bowling. One day with friends and family. You get the idea.

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Mr. Husband's job will end in 60 days. His position will no longer be a position. He has been applying for several different jobs in the same firm. He has an interview next week. I'm feeling a lot better about it. I was very stressed for awhile but have given up the idea that stressing will help. I still sleep with a large bottle of Tums on my nightstand just in case I forget in the middle of the night.

Bowling Shoes

The kids and I have been very busy. Not so much with the cooking and cleaning but with the, "let's go out there and do something!" kinda attitude. We've been to the museum, swimming, shopping at the mall, eating at restaurants, grocery store, freecycling and bowling. That's in the last two days. We've also managed to take naps both days. We've also taken the puppy for a lot of walks.

One of the things that we did today was go bowling. I didn't realize that it would be so expensive. Shoes alone cost $4 each. Doesn't sound so bad but that was times four people. Then it was $4.50 a game per person. Craziness! The kids did have a blast and when we were leaving a man that worked there gave me a special pass. It gives all kids under 18, one free game per day, every day this summer. That's a lot of free bowling. Only thing you have to pay for is shoe rental. Which would be sucking up the money.

I started looking for cheap bowling shoes for the kids online tonight. I'd love to pay about $10 per pair for each of them. I didn't find a whole lot out there. Nothing at that price for kids.

I do have a bid out on eBay for a pair for me. I'll find out in a hour if I've won or not. Now we just need to find some for the kids.

If you have any luck let me know. 1# Son is a boys size 13 and the twinnies are smaller than that. Like a size 9 and a size 10. Maybe I just don't know the secret place on the internet that has really cheap kids bowling shoes?

My kids are so freakin cute!

Little Girl

Middle Child

#1 Son

Life's a Beach!

My other son, J-man.

New routines and random thoughts

I am a creature of habit. I need to have a schedule and know what is going to happen. I'm very much a three year old in that way.

Summer vacation bring a lot of freedom to my daily schedule and it takes some time to get into the swing of how things will be done. Some things are easy to figure out, the kids wake up, I feed them. Others are a little more difficult, how often to go to the pool. I'm sure that we will settle into a routine soon. I am going to take the next few days to just savor being home and not having to do anything on a schedule.

The kids and I all have sore throats and runny noses. It's not that bad but it's just bad enough that I'm trying to convince them that they are too sick to go to the pool. I'd like to hide in my bed with the covers up to my chin taking an open mouth nap but they don't seem to think that is the best thing to do.

We went to the beach last week. We had a great time but I came home fried. We've tried so hard to keep sunburn away but it finally found us. The kids were a little pink but after some vitamin E cream, they were fine. Mr. Husband has a burn on his back and on his scalp. It's really red but he seems to be dealing well. I have sun poisoning. I have little blisters on my chest and upper back. They itch like crazy but they burn if you scratch them. Today was the first day that I could wear a bra without crying. I'm sure my neighbors were thankful for this fact.

The puppy is doing well. She is growing and playful. She wants to fun and bite everything in sight. She's not mean just teething but it can still hurt. She is not house trained and I'm getting tired of watching her all day long for signs that she's about to poop on the carpet.

I really want a Wii. Like really, really bad but can't come up with any excuse other than I really, really want it. Like really bad. I have an Xbox and I play that about once a day when I'm on vacation but I really want a Wii. Like really bad.

Mr. Husband should find out this week if he will still have his job of not. They are restructuring stuff and things are still up in the air. It's stressful not knowing. It's been so nice to have enough money to do crazy things like buy groceries and pay the rent and then splurge and get the children new shoes when they walk holes in the old ones. I'm trying not to think about him not having a job. I don't want to have to go through the whole process again. I'm not even the one out there interviewing and trying all of the time but it's hard being the one at home. Right now the not knowing is very hard.

School's out for summer (to a rock n' roll beat)

Today was the last day for students. I am so very relieved. I can't even express how happy I am about this. I did cry when my kids were getting on the bus. This is the first time that I've ever cried. I've come close before but this is the first time for tears like this.

Last year was a really tough year and there was no love lost for that class. I really liked a few of my students and have been lucky enough to have them visit me this year. One of them scored the highest possible score on the writing section of her state mandated test. The only one in our school to do that. But it was still a very tough year and couldn't end soon enough for me.

The year before was a great class. The best that I've ever had. Easy assignment but the end of my work in Seattle. We moved not long after the end of school and it was a crazy time of packing and saying goodbye to everything that I knew and loved there.

Three years ago was very hard. It was the year that they closed down the school that I started teaching at. It had been a really rough school for several years and test scores were going down. We had just gotten a new principal and the school was turning around. The district decided to close the school down anyway. The teachers were very upset but we did a great job of making it sound like a wonderful opportunity for the children. We didn't want to upset them further. It was very hard but again there was a lot of moving and everyone was very busy.

I missed the last week of school my first year teaching because I was at my Grandfather's funeral. I did cry that week but it wasn't because of school.

Being a teacher is a difficult job for so many reasons. You've read many complaints that I've had throughout the the years. Each year a get a new batch of students and each year they leave me. Sometimes I'm very ready for them to leave and sometimes it really breaks my heart. Today I said goodbye to a student that really leaves me wanting more time with him.

He was not able to show that he learned a lot. He was in trouble almost everyday for his behavior. He will be in first grade again next year. With all of that, I wish I had more time. He is one that I would take home and keep as my own.

I walked him out for dismissal today. We held hands and before he got on the bus, I pulled him aside. I explained to him how I'm going to miss him and how I know that this year was very hard for him but I'm so proud of how hard he worked. I explained that although he is going to be in first grade again next year, he did not fail. He just needs more time. I told him how I know that he is a very smart boy and that we need to just keep working so he can show the world. He started to cry. He told me he loved me and got on the bus.

That's when the tears started falling.

Each year I get a new set of kids. Some are harder to say goodbye to.