2nd Grade!

I have exciting news! I have been HIRED to teach 2nd grade next year at a Christian school here in town! Honestly, I still don't think the reality of it has set in yet. I had an interview a few weeks ago, and then a second interview last week, and then Monday morning, they called to offer me the position. The school is a p-12 school, and there are two elementary classes per grade level. So, I will be doing a lot of team teaching with the other second grade teacher (who seems wonderful), and we will be sharing subjects like math and reading, and we will trade classes for science and social studies (I don't know yet which one I will teach). The pay is about half of what the public schools here pay, so I won't be making much money, however, the pros far outweigh the cons.

The benefits are great and FREE! I will get free health and dental insurance for both me and Jace (Thomas already has free insurance with his employer or they'd insure him too) with no monthly premiums, so we will be saving money there by taking Jace and me off of Thomas's insurance. Plus, I will finally get to go to the doctor and see if they can't sort out my plethora of problems! :-) Also, they have a pre-k program and a childcare. So, Jace will be in a preschool program half days, two days a week, and will spend the rest of the time in their childcare. The childcare is completely free, and I get an 80% tuition discount on his preschool. So basically, instead of the $400+ a month that we are accustomed to paying for his daycare, we will be paying about $20 a month, and he will be literally THREE DOORS DOWN from me at all times. His preschool room is three doors down one way and his childcare is three doors down the other way, I can see him on my breaks if I want to, we can eat lunch together, and of course he will be in my room right after school so we will be spending the minimum amount of time apart. It is really a dream come true in this respect. Not to mention, it's an excellent school. I had considered trying to teach in a public school that had a pre-k program, so that we could be in the same school, but the public school choices were not schools that I would want Jace attending. I was feeling very uneasy about finding him a daycare here, but has been becoming increasingly more obvious that we cannot afford for me to stay home. SO, this really is an answer to our prayers. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I am THRILLED about the grade level, and am both apprehensive and excited about next Fall. I am going to be spending quite a bit of time up at the school next week while we move classrooms and share resources, etc. I am anxious, but I really feel like this is going to be great!

More pictures of our mother's day trip

Playing on the trampoline!
On the rope swing!
Loving the trampoline!
Playing cars with Gianna!

Pictures of Thomas LIVE and vacation

Thomas and Percy LIVE!!!
Excited about the show - all decked out in Thomas shirt, shoes, hat, underwear, and of course, the train himself.
Choo Choo!
On the rope swing at Grandma's house!
Jace with his cousins!

New Template

I am wanting to switch to a blog site on which I can post video clips, however, I am having a hard time getting them to do what I want. So, in the meantime, I had a request for a different template (didn't love the pink?) so I altered this one. My favorite addition is the strip of then and now pics down the side. I found a few pictures of Jace now that are somewhat similar to some pics I had of him when he was much younger. I thought they were pretty cute, so be sure to check them out! Also, the video clips on the top right are all four videos of the same song... I don't think there was a way to just choose one of them, it was all or nothing. BTW, Thomas and Friends LIVE was a huge hit. He loved it. For Mother's Day, we went to Medford and spent it with my mom, which was very nice. Jace got to spend lots of time with his cousins, which was great. I'll be posting some pics of that very soon!

Thomas the Tank Engine

Since I wrote a post about my obsession (AI) I figured I'd post about Jace's - Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Wow - I mean, the child LOVES Blue's Clues, and he loves the Cars movie, he has always loved anything with wheels or balls, but nothing compares to his newfound obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine. It is all he wants to talk about, all he wants to play, watch, read, etc. He even sleeps with the paper Thomas advertisements that come with the movies and toys. So, since he will (hopefully) grow out of this obsession eventually, we have decided to seize what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, and we are going on Sunday to see Thomas and Friends LIVE in a performance in the Tri-Cities. It was going to show in Yakima, but it got cancelled (bummer because we had awesome tickets), so we are going to see it in Pasco. We have been counting down the days, and he is very excited. I am interested to see how they perform a play with trains... it should be good. I'll spare you the details on how much the tickets cost, suffice it to say they were nauseatingly pricey, but we feel like it is going to be worth it. We are also going to take him to 'A Day Out with Thomas' in Hood River, OR at the end of June. At this one he actually gets to ride on Thomas the Train and they have storytelling with the conductor. That one is close enough to his birthday that we can call that his main b-day present, so that will be good. Anyway, in case you are interested in a glimpse into Jace's passions, here are some links to the wonderful world of Thomas...

General Info:

www.thomasandfriends.com

Sunday's LIVE Show:

http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/parents/thomaslive.html

A Ride on Thomas:

http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/parents/dowt.html

cute pics

American Idol

Wow - for those of you who don't know, today I am experiencing a heightened sense of anticipation as we approach tonight's programming. Tonight, TWO American Idol contestants are being sent home and we will be down to the top 4. I have been more wrapped up in this season of Idol than most simply because we actually get FOX. We get about 10 channels automatically because we have cable internet, and FOX is one of them. So - now that Sanjaya is finally gone (that was a serious source of frustration for me, considering he was SO NOT talented, and other contestants, who were much more talented (esp. Gina) were getting voted off first). I almost swore off the show when Gina got voted off, but I stuck with it, and now I am anxious about tonights show. SO, since I can't be a judge, I thought I'd use this is my medium for expressing my opinion about who should win. :-) Here are my picks out of the last six, and we will see tonight how much of America agrees with me...

1. Melinda Doolittle - I absolutely LOVE her, I have from the beginning and I really hope she wins the whole thing, I truly feel like (as Simon says) she is in an entirely different league than the rest of them.
2. Blake Lewis - I don't even really like the sound effects stuff, but I think he is amazingly talented and versatile.
3. LaKisha Jones - I was won over from the beginning when she sang "You're Gonna Love Me" I do love her.
4. Jordin Sparks - sometimes I am really impressed by her and other times I'm not... I really wasn't last night...
5. Phil Stacey - I liked him last night and I really liked him country night, but I feel like the other four are just better.
6. Chris Richardson - he is only my #6 because there are only six left. I CAN'T STAND HIM. I actually thought he did a good job with the Rascall Flatts song on country night, which was the one night that the judges thought he stunk. They always like him, and I always don't. If I got to pick, he would have been my #10 because the only ones that I liked less than him were Sanjaya and maybe Haley (although he could have tied with her for that second to last slot). I don't really know what it is about him, but I don't like him.

Anyway, I feel as though I've gotten out my desire to assert my opinion on the matter. PHEW. Now I can focus on real issues. :-)