Our First Day back to school!

The kids and I both had great days back to school today. I have to be at work at 7 am everyday now! Yes, I know that's insane. However, we're adjusting our morning schedule and luckily Stuart's able to finish them getting ready and walk them to school everday! Yay, Stuart!

Here I am heading out the door at 6:45 am. I'm going to have to get used to this one! No more late nights for me. Today at work was good. It was a looong busy day. We haven't started our regular schedules yet with the kids since we have to get everyone adjusted. Hopefully things will settle down soon.
Don't they look cute!! The kids both had good days too and liked their teachers and the after school staff. Whew! Glad that's over. I'll be glad when this week's over!! It only gets better!

It's official...

It's nice to see it in writing!
Here's a quick shot of our classroom!

Woo hoo!! I got a job!

Just when I thought there was nothing to wish for... I got a job!! It's not a classroom teaching job, but it's a great step in that direction. It's an Aid job in an Autism unit. I know it will be challenging, but I know it will also be a great learning experience for me and will help me get a classroom teaching job next year!
I'm going to be working with 2 kindergarten boys mainly. They'll spend time in our classroom as well as their "inclusion class". That means they'll be in a regular classroom sometimes as well and I'll be in there with them to help.
I'm just really excited to be an official employee of Riojas. I already know everyone that was there last year and they have all been really nice and seem genuinely happy that I'm back.
Even though I've been searching for a job since last summer, this all wound up happening rather quickly. I didn't even really interview for this position. However I had been interviewed there 2 other times, so I guess they figured they knew everything they needed to know! Basically Wednesday around 2:00 I was called and asked to come in and by around 3:00, I had a job! Crazy, but good!
I'm going to take some pics today and post later!

So that's where hope went...

I knew I must have put it somewhere... hopefully I'll find it again soon. :-)

Yay! I passed!

No news on the job front, but I did pass my ESL test. So at least that's one less thing to think about!

Things, Life, Whatnot...

So I've really been trying to soak up the summer. I've been staying up late and sleeping late and being as lazy as possible because I know once school starts... it's all over!

Now if I could only find a job! I'm still working on that. All hope is not lost. Although with this whole mid-life career change , I've taken a massive blow to my ego. Growing up most things came relatively easy for me. I'm not trying to brag, just being honest. I didn't have to work really hard at much to do pretty well. I wasn't #1 at everything, but I did OK. So, going through the past 2 years of rejection and searching has been a little difficult.

I'm sure in the long run I'll say it's been worth it, but man while you're in it, it just plain old sucks!

In the meantime... this summer I joined weight watchers. Erica encouraged me (yes, she does it too. You know she had those 4 lbs to lose!) I knew things had gotten out of control when I finally replaced the batteries in my scale (after about 4 months) and learned I had gained about 10 lbs since Thanksgiving. To be fair, I had lost 5 before T-giving. So the net gain was only 5, but still! How did that happen? I blame it on working at the elementary school and eating too much!! They like to feed the teachers you know. :-)

I'm happy to announce that even with all the pitfalls of summer, (being home all day with the entire refrigerator and the pantry, going on vacation, etc.) I was able to lose that 5 extra lbs!! Woo hoo!! So now, I'm working on another 10-15 I'd like to lose. I'm hoping it will be easier once school starts now that I have a good action plan in place. We'll see.

Anyway, I just had a few things to get off my chest. Tomorrow morning I'm taking my ESL (English as a second language) test. It would enable me to have kids in my class who speak English as their second language. It's another teaching certificate that hopefully will make me a little more marketable. I hate these tests. But at least it will be over and done with (unless I fail!) Ha! Failure is not an option!! These tests cost $120 to take!

Wish me luck!