January

It has been a very long time since I have written anything! Here is my quick update of the month of January.

I began a new job, teaching preschool, at Richland Elementary. My class is almost evenly split between girls and boys, though we do have just a few more girls than boys.

Emily turned 5 on the 26th. She celebrated her birthday with a Rainbow themed party, complete with a rainbow cake and her best buddies!

Rayna, Emily, and Kennedy

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Totally thrilled with her gift!

Emily with her cousin Seth on Christmas

Santa brought Emily a new wagon for Baby Allie!

Licking the spoon is the best part of baking!

A very late Merry Christmas and a kind of late Happy New Year!!

The Itch

I will openly admit I am a Christmas junkie. I will come right out and tell you that I have no problems or concerns with Christmas stuff displayed in September. Maybe I feel this way because last year we were in the midst of a move and this was my Christmas tree:

This year I began searching for Christmas ideas in, oh say, August. I began my search for new Christmas stockings. I scored some awesome stockings from Pottery Barn. I found some super easy decorating ideas on http://pinterest.com and have already put them up. Yesterday we hung lighted garland outside and I got some nice little 4ft. trees at Target for in front of my side lights at the front door.

This coming Saturday, we will be setting up the tree and decorating the rest of the house for this most festive time of the year, and hopefully my Itch will be scratched!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Dorothy and Toto!

Changes

In August I decided to leave Lil' Bloomers to go back to subbing. It was a hard decision to make because subbing isn't always the most reliable for a steady income. However, I was busy most days in September and I have worked every day in October. I have even been requested in some classrooms! So it's been nice having steady work (and income!).

Back in September, I applied for a teaching position at Richland 44 School District for a preschool teacher position. The description stated that it was only three days a week, but I thought, "Hey at least it would be a foot in a door in a school district." The posting also said that the envelopes must be postmarked by Oct. 15. On October 18 I was teaching kindergarten in Fargo and when I had a break in the morning I checked my phone for messages or texts and I had a message from the principal at Richland to set up an interview. I was pumped! Iset up my interview for this past Wednesday. I thought it went well...but not that well that I would recieve a phone call that same night to offer me the position!! Yes, I got the job!!

So, I will be teaching preschool again. I am excited to have a classroom again, and a brand new one at that!! It is still under construction and will be ready by the Jan. 3 start date. I am going to be presented to the school board in a couple of weeks and after my principal gets the OK, I will get my teaching contract. I am really excited for this new opportunity to teach and grow as an educator.

OK, 'nuf about me! Bryce has some news too: He has decided to return to Microsoft. Same position as before but more money. He will start back there in late November/ early December.

And since I have not posted forever, I better throw a picture of Emily on here because I love sharing her pictures!!

Thirty-FUN

This year marked my thirty-first birthday. I got the idea from another blog I read where the author had a thirty-first birthday last year and because she suffered the death of her daughter in her thirtieth year, she decided to make thirty-one, thirty-FUN. The idea of thirty-FUN is so do something fun for yourself each month for a year.

I don't know all of the things that I want to do for the year but some ideas I have are:

• A weekend girls getaway. No kids, no husbands. Just the girls.


• A family vacation to Disney World. This would ideally coincide with a certain someone's 5th birthday.


• A spa day. I love massages, pedicures, and all things dealing with pampering myself.

My list is clearly short. So, if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Early Fall Pics

Today Bryce and I took Emily out to try to get a few early fall pics of her. She was cranky when we left the house, but perked up when she got there. We found a dirt road canopied by trees and it was very pretty. Emily was in kind of a goofy mood today so these are a few of my favorite silly pictures.