our annual birthday boy dinner

 

Thanks,  Mom and Dad, for taking us to another AMAZING dinner.  This time at Nick and Sam's.

Such a great night! As always.

 

 

 

 

 

job revision

The Lord is always faithful. Always guiding.

My boss at Christie Elementary,  Ryan, whom everyone said was an amazing person to work for... called me today and offered me a full time position as a K - 2 counselor.

His full time counselor will be shifting to 3rd - 5th and handling all of STAAR testing.

I am so humbled by the control I DON'T have over my future.

Thank you, God, for always knowing what's best for me!

lawdy, help me

There's a book called "Emily's Blue Period". It's about an aspiring artist going through a troubled time.

Sarah took one look at the title and "like...wanted to die".

Jason was talking about manual labor over dinner. Sarah told me later that she was cramping every time he said the word "labor".

My responses:

"Baby, it's not that kind of period.  And if it was AND it was blue, she would need to see a doctor."

And

""Labor' means 'work'. Breathe. "

Playing on the driveway

It's always good to be home!

Overnight road trip

Mom, Hil, and I are on a girls' trip to College Station.

While walking around, we passed this law office next to the Northgate bars. Hil took pictures of the signs.

"Having more fun than the law will allow? We provide a reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee."

Haha!!!

Chilifest is one of the big annual parties here. I love that he's running a "Chilifest special. Reduced rates on any Chilifest related arrest."

He reminds me of Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul".

College towns are the best!

This folder contains a copy of my offer letter and all information regarding being a new PISD employee.

Eek!!! :)

And I took my picture for my badge today. First school badge since 2005. :)

I'm back in the game, baby!  And crazy excited about it.

I got a job!!

I'm signing paper work with Plano ISD this week!

I've accepted a shared position with Christie and Thomas Elementaries.  

I will be the 3rd - 5th grade counselor at both campuses.  Their current counselors will stay on board as the K - 2nd counselors and will be at each campus full time.  I will be at one school Monday and Wednesday, the other school Tuesday and Thursday.  Then I will alternate Fridays.

I interviewed with both principals on Thursday at noon, and they called me at 2:00 to offer me the job.  I am SO thankful for a quick deliberation and job offer.

The principal at Christie is a first year principal, and everyone (my kids' principal, my mentor, even the HR representative who called me to schedule signing my paperwork) has said that I am so lucky to get to work with him.  He's apparently a lot of fun and is doing a lot of exciting things at Christie.  I'm looking forward to being a part of it!

The principal at Thomas also seems great, and it is NEVER a bad thing to get to know more than one administrator in the district.  I am looking forward to being at two campuses!  I'll be busy, and it may be a little crazy at times.  But I know this is EXACTLY where I'm supposed to be.

Apparently, the applicant pool for counselors in the district is pretty large.  I have no experience and have never been a PISD employee so I wasn't sure if that would work against me.  It is a HUGE blessing to have had a job offer as early as May 7th.  

It's the culmination of 3 years of work.  :)  Thank you, God!

YIPPEE!!

The weekend

On Friday, I volunteered at the kids' Field Day.  I was mercilessly teased by the other parents that I have a 4th grader and have never worked a Field Day until now.

Ask me if I feel badly about that.

Every class makes a flag.  Sarah's teacher, Mrs. Horton, has a vanilla latte every morning so her class named themselves, "Mrs. Horton's Little Vanilla Lattes".

Sarah drew and designed it so she got to carry it. :) 

Kindergarten has a separate field day at the park nearby.  I worked Caroline's in the morning and the big kids' in the afternoon.

This is Caroline with her best bud, Taryn.  As a side note, with all of the storms we've had recently, Caroline asked, "Mom, if you get hit by lightning, can I go live with Taryn?"

Relay races

The pic below is the station I helped man.  It was called "Gladiator".  Kids hit each other with pool noodles.  You were on the honor system to keep the strikes below the knees and to sit out when you were hit.

What could possibly go wrong?

If 2/3 of the kindergarteners were not crying by the time they left my station, it was a miracle.

Sponge relays.  She's a competitor. 

After lunch, I worked the obstacle course so that I could see Jack and Sarah.  It was SO HOT and HUMID on Friday if you'll recall.

I'm surprised we didn't have any kids pass out from dehydration.

But I'm super glad that we didn't have to reschedule the day!  The rain held off and everyone had fun.

Friday afternoon, Jack and Sarah went with Jason to the lease.  Caroline and I hung out for the weekend. She had a sleepover and a play date.  We saw "Paddington" and got donuts Sunday morning.

Dunkin Donuts was giving flowers to all the moms in the drive thru.  Great start to Mother's Day!

The kids got back from the lease around 2:00, and we all went over to my parents' house for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day.

Jack and Katie

I hope all the moms had a wonderful Mother's Day and that everyone is safe and dry from the storms!

Farm trip

We went to the farm Friday night/ Saturday.  I won't narrate too much because the kids always want to do the same things.  They LOVE being there, and I don't want to be too repetitive.

They love to climb what they call "hay mountain".

I'm itching just looking at this.

And this might explain the two bug bites she got that caused her ankle to swell almost twice the size of the other one.

We noticed it yesterday.  Thankfully it doesn't hurt or itch, and she didn't run a fever.  But we took her to Acute Kids and were given three prescriptions.

Note to self... Jeans and Boots.  Always.

Paulette sold some goats over the weekend.  I think Jack was about 2 seconds away from tearing up over it.

The goats really are super cute!!  

I explained that selling animals is how you make money on a farm.  But that didn't help.  It probably also didn't help that he just read "Charlotte's Web" in class.  Farm animals being sold is a touchy subject for him. 

This little girl was born Friday.  Jack was relieved that she was too young to be sold.

Bucket list item.  I learned to drive a standard.  Or drive a stick shift.  How do you say it?  I think I usually say, "drive a stick."

Anyway, I won't be trading in my automatic transmission vehicle any time soon.  But I at least understand the mechanics and could drive one if I absolutely had to.

Also... small victory... I allowed Jason to teach me something.  And he was patient with me.  I'm very trainable, except if Jason's trying to train me.  ;)

Traditional... Golf cart selfie.  My camera is still hazy. Boo.

There are peacocks down the road so Caroline and I went hunting for feathers.  We found several.  And I felt the need to put one in my hair.  Because... Why not? 

I think it's stunning... 

Always a good time!!  And absolutely perfect weather!

Color Run

Our first annual Color Run to raise money for iPads for the classroom.

It was a big success.

My girls didn't want to run. It sounded too dirty to them.

Jack was all in.