Logan's summer basketball league

Logan played basketball again this summer at the YMCA. Basketball is his favorite sport. Although he is by no means really excited about any sports at all. He just doesn't seem to care too much about it yet. Maybe he never will. But he's still willing to play. As long as he's having fun, then that's enough for me!

(The serious Pic)

Last weekend they had their end of season party at Old Settlers Park. I'd never really been back there. It's a really nice, big park. It even has a little lake. They had a good time playing and eating hamburgers and hot dogs!

(The silly pic)

(Logan with Coach Robert and Coach Chris!)

One is the lonliest number... NOT!!

Call me a bad, uncaring mother, but I am LOVING being home alone these last 2 days!! It's just so nice to be able to do what I want, when I want with no interference. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. But after spending the whole summer home with them I know for sure that there most certainly can be too much of a good thing.

It takes a village to raise a child, right? That's just so the Mom doesn't go insane and kill everyone!

Anyway, I'm trying to soak up as much of this as I can since starting Sept. 7th I will be working every school day! And hopefully most every day after that subbing!

I'm very excited to start this new journey. I haven't met the teacher I'll be working with yet, but I'll be in 2nd grade, which is my grade of choice (so far at least).

The kids both had a great day at school yesterday and the after school stuff went fine too. That I know for sure since I was there practically from the start watching. I left them in there to make sure they'd know what to do and where to go. Then we went home. Ellie wasn't ready to go yet. She has several friends there and wanted to play. Logan (the home body) wanted to go!!

They both had a few things they brought home. Mainly they each had a packet (6 or 7) of all the forms the state and school district requires us to fill out. Residency, illness and medications, press release, etc. I sat right down and did it all, so I wouldn't have to think about it again!

Ellie was perturbed because she says they stuff they want her to read is too easy. The paper she brought home had the sight word "see" on it about 12 times. Logan said they didn't really do a lot of "work". I'm sure that first day is just a lot of getting everyone situated and familiar with the classroom procedures, etc. We'll see what today brings!

Right now it's me relaxing and trying to be as productive as possible (while still being able to watch a movie!).

First Day!

The kids had their first day of school today. It all went great! Except I wish I'd taken more pics! This one's a little blurry. Oh, well.

Poor Logan though. He's been sooo worried about going to YMCA after school. For the last 4 years, I've been picking him up from school everyday and he's not dealing well with the prospect of that changing. Last night about an hour after I put him to bed, he came in my room crying. He was so worried. He worries about any new thing. I just tried to reassure him and remind him of all the other things he's worried about that have turned out fine.

This morning when I dropped him off, I told his teacher how he was feeling. So hopefully she'll take extra care to make sure he's feeling secure. We decided they would go after school today even though I'll be home just so they'll know what to do and where to go. I'll go up right after school ends to get them and make sure they know what's going on with the after school stuff.

I'm sure by now he's feeling a little better and all will be well by this afternoon!

Ellie on the other hand was fine. She popped out of bed this morning and was ready to go!! She's actually excited about going to the Y! She wants more time to play with her friends!

Now I'm sitting home (after walking about 30 extra minutes on the way home!) trying to figure out what to do today! Yay!

Rrrrribbit!!

Here's a new pic of Gordan. We started feeding him meal worms about 2 weeks ago. They are much easier to deal with than the stupid crickets. And less noisy! They come in a little cup with a lid and you keep them in the fridge. He eats about 4 a day. That's much easier to keep track of too since they stay in a little bowl and you know if they're gone, he ate them. With the crickets you never knew if they'd been eaten or drowned themselves! Plus half of them would wind up dieing before we could feed them to him. What a mess!

Since we switched him to the meal worms he's grown a lot!! I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but he's noticeably bigger. He hasn't started croaking yet, which is a plus too!

Logan has been really great about taking care of him. His tank is in his room, so I don't always remember to feed him. But Logan remembers everyday! Yesterday we cleaned his tank. He still needs a little help with that, but he's improving. I see a light at the end of the tunnel!

To be or not to be...

Today at my student teacher orientation I found out that I was assigned to an elementary right down the street from my house!! It's literally the 2nd closest school to my house! Out of all the schools in Pflugerville, I got that one! I was ecstatic!

Then when I got home and looked up the teacher's name, it wasn't there. So I called the school- no teacher by that name there. Hmmm.

So I looked up the name (all I had was the last name) and found a teacher by that name at a different school. A much, much farther away school. I was heartbroken. I just knew that it had been too good to be true and my bubble was burst! Then I looked a little closer and found that she was a special ed teacher. That can't be right. This made me feel a little better.

Still I had a knot in my stomach. I called the HR dept. to verify my school and teacher. Three agonizing hours later she called and told me that I was in fact at the close school I wanted and that the teacher had changed her name!!! Yippie!! She teaches 2nd grade and she won Humanitarian of the year last year at her school!

I am so thankful and relieved!! You cannot imagine the roller coaster of emotions I've been on today! I can't tell you how happy this makes me!!! Thank you Lord!! This is turning out to be just perfect and I am even more sure that it's the right thing for me!

Big Decision

OK, so as you all know I've been looking for a teaching job. It's rough out there. There are just too many people out of work right now that are wanting to teach again and teachers who aren't retiring. So after a few weeks of feeling pretty beat up and hopeless, I've made a decision.

As you know, I wrote my petition to God the other day. And I feel like I've gotten an answer to my prayers. I'm going to student teach. You see, thru my alternative certification program I had the option of either securing a teaching job and using that first year "internship" to gain my standard teaching certificate or student teaching for 14 weeks at an assigned school at the end of which I would have my standard certificate. The latter option is more like a traditional student that gets their certificate while in college.

I feel really good about this. Like it's what I'm meant to do. That is not to say that it won' t be a sacrifice. Financially it will be rough. Student teaching doesn't pay of course and on top of that I have to pay the remainder of my tuition ($3000) to ACT while I'm doing it. So, that may be a little stressful. But I really feel like this is my best option and what I'm supposed to do.

Now we just have to pray that I get assigned a school in Pflugerville since that's really where I want to be when I get a job. The lady I spoke to said it is a good possibility. I hope to find out soon.

The student teaching starts on September 7th and by December 10th I'll be finished and have my standard teaching certificate. Hopefully I'll also have a good place at the school where I student teach to at least sub and possibly get a teaching job in the future.

Say little prayer that my placement will work out favorably for me!!

Rest in Peace Memaw

Well, after many months of declining health (years really), Stuart's Memaw Louise passed away last night. She was a great lady and will be missed very much. It's hard to believe that this is Stuart's first grandparent to pass away. He still has the other 3 living. It doesn't make this any easier though.

I am going to miss her, but I am really feeling badly for Stu's Paw paw. They were married for 61 years! Amazing right? I'm sure he doesn't have any idea what to do without her.

We're leaving tomorrow to go to Houston for the funeral. Not looking forward to it at all. This is one time when getting all the family together will not be a treat. Please keep Stu and his family in your prayers for me.

My petition to God

Those of you who have read Eat, Pray, Love will undoubtedly recognize what I 'm trying to accomplish with this. If you haven't read it, well then, just humor me. All I ask is that you read it with an open minds and hearts and that you send your "signature" to my petition in your mind! I need all the positive thoughts I can get!

Dear God,

Please help me find a teaching job. I have had this dream and plan for the last three years and I could really use some help fulfilling my goals. This process is exhausting mentally and physically and is taking quite a toll on my family and I emotionally as well. I am doing everything I can think to do to increase my odds of finding a job.

I do realize that there are a lot more terrible things going on in the world than my job hunt, but it is not just a "job" I seek. It is an avenue to touch and change lives for the better! (Corny as it may sound).

I want to be the catalyst for change in children's lives. I want them to learn and enjoy it while they're doing it! I want to "make a difference". Truly.

This will also be a huge help financially to my family. It will help take away a lot of worry. The decision for me to stay home with them was easy. But it was also a sacrifice. A sacrifice I didn't mind making at all. But now it's time for me to move on to that next chapter and I seem to be stumbling along.

So I ask with an open heart and mind for you to help me find the right place for me to do all these things I've been praying about.

Sincerely,
Mindy

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

We decided to go to Fiesta Texas last week since the kids had earned free tickets last year at school in a program called ticket to read. Stuart's sister Becky gave us her ticket that she got as a teacher from that program as well, so we only wound up buying 1 ticket at the special online price of $29.99. We also had to pay for parking which is usually $15, but since we bought it online it was like $13.86.

The Smiths with Scrappy and Scooby Doo! It's nice that they have people stationed to take pictures of you with your own camera!!
The kids with Scrappy Doo!
I'm proud to say that $47 is the total amount of money we spent there!! Ha! For some reason it gives me immense pleasure to know that we got the best of a place that is totally out to get you! A bottle of water there is $4, a kid's meal, $7.99, a refillable soda is $12! Ridiculous! We brought an ice chest full of food and drinks and left it in the car. I also carried a couple of bottles of water and some Capri suns into the park in my backpack. They didn't say anything when they "searched" it upon entry.

We stopped and ate right before we went in, so we were nice and full to begin with. Then after a few hours we went out to the car and ate and drank. Then came back in for a couple more hours. We had a great time.

Logan is a roller coaster rider just like his Mama. Ellie, I'm not sure about yet. She didn't ride anything very big, but she's still little. Stuart, not so much. He'll ride a few things, but mostly was happy taking Ellie around to do her little rides while Logan and I rode the "big" rides.


We had heard some negative things about the park not being clean and having a bunch of punk kids running it, but our experience was very good. Everything was clean, it wasn't crowded at all and everyone was very nice. I'd recommend it to anyone. They have tons of rides for all ages, so even littler kids will have something to do.

We didn't go into the "water park"at all. It just seemed like a lot of trouble and the kids were happy doing all the other stuff. There were several rides that got you wet that weren't in the water park, so we were able to cool off when we got too hot.

They had this little splash area in the Wiggles World that the kids liked to get wet in too.

So my final review is to go to Fiesta Texas!! Especially if you have free tickets!

School supplies!!!

We're ready!! I bought most of these with the kids in tow. It wasn't a total disaster this year either. We were very orderly about it. I remember going to buy school supplies. It was so exciting. I couldn't wait for school to start!! Little did I know that my mom was probably more excited than I was!

I really like Ellie's messenger bag and lunch box. I just hope she doesn't get tired of carrying it. Logan's agreed to use last year's back pack. :-)

Come on August 24th!! (16 days, not that I'm counting)

What my kids do for fun!

This is how bored they've become! School cannot get here fast enough!!

Staying positive

Staying positive while trying to find a job- easier said than done! It's up and down from one day to the next. I can only imagine how people feel who have been looking for months or years. It's only really been a few weeks for me and it's hard not to feel defeated. I am so thankful for all the encouragement from everyone though! I really would be freaking out without it!

I'm still plugging away. I've been going to as many schools (23) as I possibly can with what little time I can get away. My mom's been a huge help and Stuart's watched the kids a few times while he's working so I can run by schools. I drove over 100 miles yesterday in this endeavor. And the heat is awful. Getting in and out of the car every few minutes. Uugghh!

I had a little breakdown yesterday after leaving my last school. It wasn't one of my best exchanges. Not smooth or clever as I would have liked to appear. This school was one of only 2 (out of 4 districts) that had actual jobs listed that I was qualified for. I was really tired (haven't been sleeping well). I just walked out to my car and bawled. What a loser.

Today I decided I should start applying for teaching assistant positions, just to be sure I had something since things were looking pretty bad. I told Erica my plan and she said not to put the cart before the horse. And reassured me that there is still time to get a teaching job and said I shouldn't panic quite yet.

So, I decided to listen to her and hope she was right.

Then, tonight at dinner I opened my fortune cookie and this is what it said:

Coincidence? I think not!

Gordan

Here's a recent pic of Gordan! I think he's pretty cute! He's eating crickets now, which means I'm basically a cricket mom too since I have to keep them alive to feed him. We even have a cricket habitat now. Awesome. The pet fun never stops around here.