Tyler loves playing with his little basketball hoop. He likes putting it on the pantry door and playing in the kitchen.
Tyler and Megan
General Conference
We had some nice weather and headed to the park.
Megan
Emily
Megan
Emily
Tyler and Darrell
One Sunday Tyler organized a basketball game between him and Darrell and gave us girls "assigned seats" to cheer.
For my birthday we went to Café Rio. Yummy!
Home for presents and cake.
Darrell ordered a yummy Costco cake for me.
The girls decided to give each other "massages".
The school choir had its spring concert in April. I love doing the school choir. It's a lot of work, but in the end it's always so worth it to see those cute kiddos up there performing and having a blast.
This was taken at our last rehearsal. For the spring concert the kids learned songs from every decade of the 20th century. This song was "Be True to Your School" by the Beach Boys. (And there are my lovely kiddos hanging out in the gym playing on our selection of tablets.
This was taken right before going into the gym to perform for their parents.
My parents were originally planning on coming down to attend the school choir concert, but my dad had a doctors appointment that he wasn't able to reschedule. Imagine my surprise to have this beautiful bouquet delivered to our house right before the concert. It was from my parents. I LOVED it!
Afterward the school choir concert we went to Culvers for sundaes.
This is how the girls set up their room to have "Disney Club." They had their Disney pals around the edge of the blanket and had Disney books in the middle.
A shot of the school choir party where the kids eat lots of junk food and watch their performance. Dong the school choir is a lot of work, but I love sharing music with these kiddos. I got some very sweet thank you notes/e-mails from students and parents thanking me for doing the choir and letting me know how much they've loved it. Definitely worth it.
The girls wanted to do some photo booth photos using the props at the library.
Megan
Emily
Tyler made up field trip notes for us announcing that on May 1 we would be taking a field trip to his room. It makes me smile when the kids imitate things that happen at school.
Soccer started!
Megan, Emily, Tyler
Megan as goalie
Emily in the center getting ready to kick the ball
Tyler (in the red shoes) heading down the field
I had to get a shot of their cleats.
Tyler likes to make signs for each month and hang them on the wall by his bedroom. I had to snag a picture of "Apirl" before it headed out to recycling. :)
In other "new news," I have decided to return to teaching next year. It has not been a super easy decision. It is something I have thought about and prayed about for months. When I looked at my other options--staying home and doing nothing, working for a place like Jet Blue, or working full-time as an aide at the school, returning to teaching just makes sense. First of all, I would go crazy just sitting at home doing nothing and with Darrell being a little closer to retirement than the average kindergartner's father, plus college, missions, and retirement on the horizon, doing "nothing" isn't really an option. Working from home for a place like Jet Blue has it's advantages, but lots of times you have to work graveyard shifts and there can't be any background noise. So, I could have a yucky schedule, but even if I worked days, what would I do with the kids during the summer time? And last, but not least, I have done the math on being a full-time aide. I would basically have the same hours as a teacher, but make less than $10/hour. I'd make less than $1,000/month, which doesn't add up to a whole lot for 9 months of work. SO, the best option for me is to return to teaching. I LOVE teaching (hence, volunteering to do a school choir), but I also realize it is a lot of work and I really worry how it will affect my family. But, I'm going forward in faith.
I have been hired to teach 5th grade at the kids' school. They had one opening in 4th grade, two openings in 5th grade and 3 openings in 6th grade. I applied for the 4th and 5th grade positions. (Sixth grade just scares me, to be honest.) I was one of 60 applicants interviewed for the first round of interviews (with the principal and the literacy coach). I was then invited to return and interview for the 4th or 5th grade position the following week. This time the interview was with 3 fourth grade teachers, 2 fifth grade teachers and the principal. The principal called the following day to offer me one of the fifth grade positions. I'm really excited, but a little nervous too. I taught 4th grade for 9 years, and although it's been 8 years since I've been in the classroom, I still feel pretty comfortable with the 4th grade curriculum. But the longer things "sink in" about going to 5th grade, the more excited I get. I think I'll have some great teachers to work with, and I have a few months to look over the curriculum and start planning. It will be wonderful to be at the same school as the kids, and the school is a state-of-the-art STEM school with wonderful teachers and staff. I really feel blessed with this opportunity (and will be especially glad to have the first year of being teacher/mom/wife behind me as we work out the kinks of a different phase of our life.)
