Hard Stop

This week was definitely an interesting one. Monday started off normally enough. Monday night, a cold front moved in, bringing really cold temperatures. Because freezing rain was in the forecast (we ended up not getting any), they cancelled school for Tuesday and Paul worked from home. Wednesday’s weather was worse (we actually did get freezing rain then) and they ended up cancelling school AGAIN (Paul worked from home AGAIN). Thursday was a bit rough. My students were cranky and tired (I was cranky and tired) and it was a really frustrating day. I came home and vented to Paul about it. He was an amazing listener. After he listened, he quietly, without needing to be asked, worked to lighten my load. When he found a spare moment, he threw a load of laundry in the washer. He made dinner on several nights, and he even brought me flowers and chocolate after school on Friday (which ended up being better than Thursday because on Friday morning I had a heart-to-heart with my students). Oh, and he took the kids back home with him on Friday so I could finish working. I am so blessed to have such an amazing eternal companion. As far as the progress goes to get certified for teaching in Texas, I have everything uploaded to the TEA website, so I’m just waiting to see if any of my California tests will help waive tests that are required in Texas. Fingers crossed that everything will transition smoothly so that I can get hired…so I can get the pay that matches the work I’m doing, haha.

This is the face of someone who wants to be home on her unscheduled day off but realizes she needs something for school the next day (which is ironic because school ended up getting cancelled that next day…but it was still okay because that meant that I didn’t have to be out in it on the day that was worse).
Paul and I made bread in our Dutch oven (we baked it in the oven)! We were mashing a couple of recipes together, so we definitely need to tweak some things for next time (mainly just shortening the time, taking the lid off partway through the baking so the top doesn’t get burned, putting a layer of parchment down to protect the sides, and taking the bread right out of the Dutch oven so the bottom doesn’t burn, haha). It was really tasty, though!
Paul made smoked chicken and potatoes in the smoker, and then we had fresh bread and broccoli. It was a tasty meal!
This was probably the highlight of my Friday. 🙂
I spent a decent chunk of today lesson planning, but saved a fun craft for after dinner. Now I’ll have a sign to hang on my classroom door. 😁

Hoo-Boy!

Oh, man. This past week was a bit of a beast. The first part of the week, I shadowed the other fifth grade teachers so that I could see different teaching styles and get ideas on how I needed to run lessons. That was extremely helpful! On Thursday, I jumped in with both feet. The students have given me a bit of push-back (testing the waters), but Friday seemed better than Thursday, so I hope the trend continues. 😉 The staff at the school is incredibly friendly, welcoming, and helpful. I feel very welcome! Paul has been a huge help (well, he always is, but this week, especially). Abigail was sick on Thursday (just a little cold that was gone by Friday) and he was able to take a sick day to stay home with her. He’s also helped out with meals and laundry and so much more. I really appreciate our relationship and how we work together towards a common goal as opposed to simply sticking to traditional gender-norm roles. Oh, and one fun thing he got to do on Friday: he took the day off and went out to a former colleague’s property to go hunting. His colleague was able to get a deer that was large enough to split the meat with us, so once it’s all processed, we’ll have almost 50 pounds of venison. Today was spent doing laundry, going grocery shopping, and running errands (Paul also installed a new fluorescent light in the garage so he has better lighting if he’s ever working in there). I’m looking forward to Sunday and getting to rest a bit before the chaos of Monday begins again.

I love little kid pictures. Abigail told me that this is a picture of our family (I think it’s pretty clear who’s who). She said she drew us all with big happy mouths (as opposed to screaming, which is what I first thought it might be, haha).
When Abigail was home sick, she was a bit restless once her fever came down, so Paul got some of the Play-Doh that she got for her birthday out for her to play with (I love that the glitter stays in the Play-Doh and doesn’t seem to get anywhere else!). He took this picture to send to me so I could see her happy butterflies. 🙂
It was a cold day for hunting…
He saw a BUNCH of wild turkeys, but alas, it isn’t turkey season, ha.
He’s so patient with her. She was pretending to be Sonic and was jumping all over him. He’s a champion multi-tasker. 😀

A Short Week and the Start of a New Adventure

This past week was a “short” one. We all had Monday off because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We decided to take the kids to Government Canyon, which is a state natural area that is literally just down the road from our subdivision (you exit our subdivision, drive about a mile, and you’re there). It has places to camp and quite a few hiking trails of varying intensity and distance. We took the kids on a medium one (just over two miles). They were both quite tired at the end. Maybe next time we’ll take the shorter hike and work our way up slowly. 😉 As for the hint about starting a new adventure, during the week, I was contacted by the principal for the kids’ school (which is also the school I sub at). She asked me if I would be willing to take a long-term substitute teacher position that will last until the end of the year. This conversation led to me talking with Paul about possibly seeing what I would most likely need to do in order to apply for a full-time job for the district. After speaking to the principal about it, she encouraged me to apply and we would see how many of my California certifications would fulfill Texas requirements. So, long story short: I’m going to be teaching the same fifth grade class until the end of the school year and will (hopefully) be able to be hired on full-time. Here’s to new adventures!

Abigail used some more of her “Grandma money” (money she got from my mom for Christmas) to get this cute Grogu stuffie. She loves him so much that she made a bed for him using her little pink wagon and a couple of blankets (one for padding for him to lay on and another to cover him). She’s even letting him use her unicorn sleep mask, haha.
At the beginning of the hike.
This was a fun tree to see on the trail.
Mild January evenings are perfect for bubble-blowing.
She convinced Joseph to come out to pop her bubbles. 😀
Swinging is so much fun!
He can still fit on the slide…barely. It’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that in a year and a half, he’ll be a teenager.
Drawing with sidewalk chalk is really fun when you have a bunch of stepping stones that you can decorate as well.