The Weekend

Hey Everybody!

My sister and Emilie came to visit us this weekend! What a special treat! I hadn't seen Emilie in such a long time (and you could tell- she wanted nothing to do with me for quite some time!). She is so cute with her curly hair and her little bow! She is quite the talker and even says Tay for Taylor! On Saturday we were blessed with some sun breaks and headed to the marina for some sand time and a treat from the store as well as a visit from the local seal, Bark Bark. We had a yummy dinner together and the girls were all tired so we had a nice evening to enjoy to ourselves. We ended up convincing Dave to watch the movie Twilight with us since we had all read the book. He managed to keep us entertained throughout as the movie in many spots was quite hokey! Sunday morning we loaded all the girls into strollers and did the 3 mile loop walk (yes, I am still breathing hard!) and then it was already time for them to head back home. I am so lucky to have such a great sister!

As Darci said, we have a hundred of these pictures but I just can't resist them...they are so cute!

This afternoon the girls thought it would be fun to walk to Burfoot park and play and so we did that for quite awhile. It was COLD and WINDY but it didn't seem to bother either one of them. I had to laugh because on the way home it took us over 25 minutes to get to our house (usually it's about 5) because they had to stop and pick dandelions. We got home and they told me I couldn't come into the kitchen. When they were done, they came and got me and this is what they had done. It made me laugh! They were very serious about me keeping it as my centerpiece for the coffee table. As I looked around, I realized that Taylor had also made some other arrangements and put them in different windowsills- she used candle stick holders for these ones. So, our house is now filled with fresh flowers :)

They even put the towel around it for extra decoration!

I wanted to let everyone know that I received official word this week that I was hired for a first grade position at the new elementary school opening up in September. Although I am going to miss my many friends I have made over the years at Horizons I am so very excited to open a new school next year! Woohoo!

We also recieved word this past week that Dave's grandma (Roger's mom) passed away. She lived a very full and wonderful life and Dave has been telling me many wonderful stories of his younger years with his Grandma and all of his cousins. We will honor her memory in a graveside service with the rest of the family on Friday.

Well, I had better sign off here, I am supposed to be typing up my progress reports right now! Wishing everyone a great week!

Taylor's Exciting Day!

Taylor lost her first tooth today!

As if you can't tell how proud she is of this based on the picture, I can vouch for her 100% that she was thrilled beyond anything tonight when her tooth popped out as she was eating her green eggs, green waffles and her "regular colored" bacon!

About a week ago, we were driving to my mom's house and the entire way to Everett she was telling me how she thought her tooth was loose and that I should pull over and check on it. I completely blew her off the entire way and once we arrived and I actually did check on it, lo and behold it was indeed loose. We were a little worried that she was too young to be losing a tooth so we called the dentist and he informed us that it was okay but that it might take a long time for it to grow back in. But looking at that smile how could you not love a toothless Taylor?

She spent her evening getting her tooth fairy box organized and she had me write a note to the tooth fairy as well- it was pretty cute and included in it that she hoped the tooth fairy would bring her some gold chocolate coins (no worries...the tooth fairy found some tonight after going to 3 different stores! She bought in bulk!!) and that she loved her. I am looking forward to seeing her reaction tomorrow morning when she wakes up!


Taylor and her tooth box (as well as the cup that had been holding her tooth.)

Hope everyone is doing well!

Our Busy Week!

Wow! I am sitting here on a very quiet Sunday morning thinking about everything that went on this week and feel like I need to get back into bed for a few more hours of shut eye! We had one of those crazy, busy weeks!

We started our week with some very exciting news! Dave found out that next year he will be the Principal at the middle school! He has been struggling with this news this week because he loves his position as the VP at the high school and truly loves working with high school students. But he is excited as this is the next step that he has been waiting to take in his career. I am so PROUD of him and all that he has accomplishment! I know that he will do a great job!

Throw in a 2 hour class for me, a 2 hour long WASL meeting for Dave and a meeting on gangs (which by the way, is altogether scary!) and our nights were filled up!

On Thursday evening, Taylor, Maddie and I met up with Kaylin, Macie and Krista for Lacey Loves to Read! Each February the city celebrates and honors an prize winning author. They do lots of neat things based around what the author has written. The author this year was Sy Montgomery. She writes a lot of non fiction books on different animals. One of her books is about pigs and so to end the month they had Sy Montgomery come to the community center where she read stories, talked with kids about how she writes and did a book signing. We actually missed most of that because the girls all got really tired as there were a ton of people at the event. But we did get to see the opening act in which they hired some people to bring in their 4 pigs who do different tricks. It was pretty hilarious...and as the women who was leading the show said: "We are gonna get HOG wild!" Good times!

Maddie and Taylor watching the pigs!

Taylor and Maddie petting the pig Nellie.

Here we are now, to the weekend. I actually got up bright and early and went to an interview, yes, I did say an interview. My school is currently a K-4 only due to size (we have 750 kids in these grade levels alone) and they are in the process of building a new school. It will be done this summer and at that time, our school will become a K-6 once again. They have had our 5-6 teachers at a different building for the past 2 years and they will all be coming back. To make a long story somewhat shorter, I fall in that zone of the possibility of having to be involuntarily transferred because I am low man at the school. So, I decided to take my chances and interview at the new school. I honestly was not excited about it at all until I sat down with them and heard their vision and their plans for the new school. It sounds really amazing- cooperative learning, flexible grouping all things that I really think will benefit student's learning. So now I am hoping that they might ask me to join their staff. We shall see. I know all will work out in the end. But I have been stressed beyond belief this week about all of this stuff! I did get to unwind though after the interview as the girls got to have a sleepover with Grandma Carolyn and Jerry last night and Dave and I got to go with our friends to eat at the Melting Pot (I am still full!) and then go and see Brad Paisley in concert at the Tacoma Dome. Wow! He put on a GREAT show! I was very impressed! We are headed this afternoon to Bothell to help celebrate Luke's first birthday and to visit with family which we are really looking forward to! Phew...I told you- a crazy week! Life is good!

Krista and I at the Brad Paisley Concert!