Beginning of May the end of a school year nears

It is getting harder and harder for me to stay as focused as I want to be right now. In addition to thinking about the new job, I have two of my classes taking their AP tests tomorrow morning, so they are pretty much done at this point. Mo is on the verge of walking already. She pulls herself up pretty regularly at this point and her balance is pretty terrific. Gram is taking a Tae Kwon Do class at the Y and he is loving it. He has already declared that he wants to stay in this class for a long time. I will be teaching AP Stats for the first time next year and after scouting out some options it looks like I will be taking a workshop course in the city this summer so I don't have to fly and be away from everyone for a week. There were some tempting sites like Austin and Athens, but it is certainly nice not to have to be away for a whole week. A recent photo of Mo after having pulled herself up is included today.

Road Trip/Update/Great Memory

So, the boy and I are on a quick adventure. He is visiting our new school today to hang out in the first grade and take admission tests. We left in the afternoon and stayed in a hotel so we would not have to drive twice in the same day. He has been concerned for some reason with the idea that he might not live with us some day and has been asking if he could live with us forever. Last night we had this convo again and I tried to assure him that he will probably want to move on his own when he is 18 or so, but I told him that he could always come and visit. He thought about this while playing with his new Lego kit. He looked up and said that he would want to visit every Friday so we could still have our family pizza movie night. Pretty sweet.

Less than a month after she started crawling we have a little girl who is pulling up on every piece of furniture we have and standing (even if only for a second or two) on her own. She is intoxicated with her sense of freedom and this, too, is pretty sweet. Fun stuff.

Rite of Passage

Well, we finally had our first emergency room visit with the kids. Mo has a double ear infection and had a terrible reaction on Saturday night. We think it was her antibiotic. She was pretty upset in her crib and Beth went to check on her around 9 PM. Her face was swollen and her eyes were nearly shut. She had hives all over her body. Pretty spooky stuff. Luckily, she was breathing fine and she was even smiling at the nurses and the doctor in the ER. Some prednisone, some benadryl, and some sleep put her back in decent shape. The past couple of nights have been rough as her whole schedule is out of sorts. Last night I was up with her from 2:15 - 4 AM and I am beginning to feel the effects of the lack of sleep that I am feeling. Luckily, my mom and dad are here so Gram did not have to go to the ER with us.

Triumph

Mo started crawling, forward, on Monday. She is pretty pleased with herself and we are now in a new era of being vigilant. No longer can we just put her down on the floor for a minute while running to get coffee from another room or to run to the bathroom. We have to monitor rooms in a way that we haven't for about four years. We also have steps, so that will be an issue soon.

Finally Photos

So, I just finally uploaded the software to communicate with my camera to my old laptop. Our desktop computer finally gave up and I doubt that I will pay to repair it at this point. Over the next few days I'll be posting some photos from the past few weeks.

PA Bound

Well, the job search is finally over. After about two months of emails, web searches on school sites, realtor searches, and a great deal of anxiety we have finally decided on our new home. We will be moving northeastern Pennsylvania and we will become a boarding school family. We'll live in a boys dorm on a campus that is filled with kids on the campus. I am pretty happy about the whole process, but mostly I am glad it is over. I visited three schools and received three offers, so I feel like I did a pretty good job of selling myself. Beth was interviewed as well and there is a possibility that she will be working in the development office of the school. It seems like a pretty idyllic family setting for us. I met so many people at the school who have been there for more than 15 years and quite a number of them have been there longer than twenty years. I have to think that this is a pretty good sign of the work environment there. We have many things to figure out in the near future here, but the biggest item to figure out is now off the table. We know where we will be in August.

Spring?

I am on spring break now for 16 days. I normally do not actually enjoy this long a break in the school year because I know how hard it is to regain momentum when we return. But, with all that has been going on, I am happy to rest for awhile. The weather is turning pleasant and Beth heard birds outside one morning this week. Perhaps the fact that I bought Gram a new (new to us, used from a consignment store) snowsuit about fifteen days ago helped spur on the nice weather.

We are all going to visit a school together tomorrow, this whole job search thing may end soon.