Okay, a quick post before I have to get to my inservice.
So Ruby has been pulling herself up assisted by objects, and walking around with the assistance for about two or so months now, and she still isn't letting go and walking. Kelly thinks it's better when they are still not actually walking, but I think the first stages of walking are so cute. I have been trying to help her, but to no avail so far. Keep it up Ruby.
We were up to COle Harbour on March BReak. We went to the CH ward the Sunday we were up. Poor Morgan. Emma and Debbie took her to Nursery. On the way Emma mentioned something to Debbie about Morgan not being good with other kids (based on the experiences of Job and Morgan together, which if anyone is familiar with, is like two siblings playing...the best of times, the worst of times. They sure love to play together though, regardless of the many fights). Anyway, so somehow this message from Emma got translated into "Morgan bites". hahahaha. So I guess the Nursery workers and other parents were warned that Morgan bites....which is not at all true.
So when Kelly and I found out, we were shocked, and felt bad for Morgan. I guess she is going to get a bad rep. in the Stake now. hahahaha. FYI-Morgan doesn't bite. We swear. Really.
SO great news for Emma. She won some provincial Canadian Pride or Heritage poster contest for her age group. WOOHOO!!! I didn't even know about it, then we got a call on March Break that she had won. Her poster is going to be on some website in May, so I will let you all know when the time comes. We are going to be coming up for a free overnight hotel stay, and she gets to go to the ceremony the next day. We are very proud of Emma.
Kelly has been working hard on the house plans...WHICH HAS FINALLY BEEN ORDERED!!! WOOHOO. She has been through a lot with these plans, and things have really come together the way we have hoped. She is a good little worker bee. We can't wait for our new home. It's going to be an above ground split entry. Meaning, it's a split, but looks like a two storey from the outside. We are excited. I will keep the progress reports on it coming.
As for me...yikes...only so many weeks left of school this year. I have so much to teach still. It's crazy. I just got the scripts for my Drama class' year end play. Beauty and the Beast (not Disney version). I hope they do well. I am excited, and want to really help them perfom well.
I have really started to love the music of Stompin Tom COnners, after we saw a play about him in PEI last summer. So, I have been finding some small pockets of time to learn some of his songs. They are so fun. I actually got to perform a couple at a comunity fund raiser in South Ohio last week. It was so fun to perform again. It's been too long. Anyway, if you know Tom's music, I sand "The Hockey Song" and "Bud the Spud". I am learning some other new ones now, too. I want to learn a bunch, and put on my own little Stompin Tom show.
Anyway, sorry no pictures. Or videos. I want to get some on here. We are so photo lazy right now. It's rediculous. But I will get some on soon, I swear. Anyway, gotta run. Hope all are well. We are great.
Fast Post while Ruby is playing happily
A Long Slumber
Well, I wish I could take a long slumber, like bears do in the winter. Lucky bears. Unfortunatly, we have been experienceing quite the opposite, with Ms. I Don't Like To Sleep Through The Night. Ruby's a cutie, but she sure doesn't win my votes for Most Likable Baby Through The Night. She'll have to work on that one for next year.
However, that being said, I do nominate her for cutest crawler. She looks just like those toy dolls that crawl. It's fun to watch. I have a video of her from her earlier crawling (not as good as now). I have been meaning to take a video of her recently, but have been so tired and busy. We baught ourselves a video camera for Christmas, but I have been trying for a while now to find a video converter software (cause the format our camera uses isn't optimal for online). Anyway, today I found something worthy enough to upload a couple videos. It's still not the greatest, but it's the best I have tried so far.
Anyway, Morgan turned 2 this month. I have a little video from her B-Day party that I will upload, too. She's cute, but a menace to society. She loves to make a huge mess. We started toilet training her over Christmas break. Wow. I was amazed at how not awesome it is to undertake such a wild adventure. There was poop, pee, naked Morgan, and frustrated parents. She's doing better now, but still not trained, and we have given up a bit. We are too tired most of the time to try too hard with her. And it's enough to just make it through the day with her antics. Kelly does an amazing job with the two little ones at home.
Ruby has been sick, so her sleep is worse. Stuffy nose = bad times at Ridgemont High. She has passed her cold on to Morgan and I. I hope I can beat it soon, I start teaching my Drama 11 class next week, and I intend on being lively.
Emma is doing awesome at school. It's tough going to a different school, but she's getting adjusted. She keeps bumping up levels in her reading, and is getting the hang of her toughest subject-MATH. If only she had a math teacher to help her. Emma is almost 7; I can't believe it. We got her a cd player for Christmas; I think she loves having it. I thought it would suit her.
Kelly is on a steady diet of house hunting. We've looked at some places. We are looking into the cost of building something new. Who knows what we will end up doing. Kelly has it all under control though. We just want to find a place to settle by the Summer, so that we don't have to keep switching Emma from school to school every year.
Anyway, I am good. I am enjoying teaching very much. It's got it's rough moments, but I try to just have fun. And it is a, a lot of the time. Anyway, for all you that have been waiting for me to wake up and smell the blog, this one's for you. (and the two videos are below...enjoy).
TOO TIRED TO BLOG
Yeah, I am way too tired lately to blog. Between Morgan and Emma getting up anywhere from 430-6am, and Ruby getting up at various times (in which some cases I have to sleep with her laying on my chest in order to get her back to sleep). The nights are not kind lately, my friends. At least not since the silly time change. These time changes always mess my life up!!!
Anyway, at least there are only two weeks left of school before Christmas break. I can't wait. I (like most of my collegues) need the break. Although, the closer it gets to January, the closer it gets to the second semester of High School at my school...which means teaching Drama class. Hahahaha, I am not sure how that is going to go. A couple girls in my class who are taking Drama11 said they were interested to see what I am going to be like teaching Drama. As am I!!
Anyway, they make me laugh a lot. As do my own kids. My girls are nuts. Morgan especially. I think she is a lot like me. Moody. She can be very crazy and jovial, but get very grumpy. Emma is so unpredictable. She acts so grown up sometimes, then is chasing around after Goldfish crackers with Morgan. She's a funny girl. Then there's Ruby. What a gal. She is really fun to get laughing. She likes to be held a lot. Too much, if you ask me. I guess I should enjoy it now though.
Anyway, I feel like I am writing a novel. Sorry no pictures. I will have some soon. Maybe some video soon, too. Kel and I are going to get one of those Flip Video recorders for our combined Christmas gift. I am sure we can capture some insane moments from our crazy life.
So Merry Christmas to all. Have a great holiday season. We are going to be in the city for Christmas this year. Coming up on the 21st, staying till the 27th. I think that's the deal. All for now.
Who updates their blog anyway? Really.
Emma's unofficial School Photo
Morgan swinging her life away
Ruby smiling...she's a cutie
Ruby being serious...probably has gas
Playful Morgan...crazy girl
My little girls
Emma looking grown up
Busy Times
Hey folks, how is everyone doing? It has been a busy time for the VM family these past few weeks. We are feeling a bit more settled in then at first. My job is going well. I am teaching Tech Ed to all the junior high classes, and a grade 10 course. Also, I teach one junior high math class, and one jh social studies class. I am starting to love teaching Tech Ed. I have a woodshop attached to my classroom, and I am starting to have fun taking the kids in there. Good thing I worked with Steve Boyd all those summers, or I wouldn't have any clue what I am doing with machines and power tools. It's so easy to teach Tech Ed, too, since there is no ridgid curriculum. I am enjoying it more than my Math and SS classes.
Anyway, Emma is doing good in school. Her school was ranked one of the top 25 in Canada, in Today's Parent magazine. It was just renovated this past summer. The gym is huge. It's like a high school gym.
Morgan has began taking off her own diaper and spreading the love around. We have had to clean up some stinkiness a few times lately. And the best...last week she got into the zinc bum cream in her room, and we found her up there with it all over her face and on the floor and dolls. We threw out two dolls, cause they weren't worth the time to clean them. I will get some pictures of the culprate as soon as I can.
Ruby is doing good. She is more alert, and smiling a ton. I almost had her laughing a couple times yesterday. She's growing up. She has a cold right now, which has made for some bad nights of sleep. Her nose gets so stuffy at night, so she can't breathe well. We are trying to get through it though. Morgan must have given her the cold.
Kelly is doing good, too. She is enjoying herself down here. She got to buy a ton of clothes the other week from Joe (superstore), cause they had all there sale stuff priced at $.96. It was insane. We came home with tons of clothes. How could she resist? I am still amazed that she is holding up, lving the life of a country wife. I'll get the city slicker out of her yet. hahaha.
Anyway, just wanted to hit up a post. It has been a while. I am trying to gather some photos to put up soon. Hope all are well.
Even Better News...
Yeah, so I went to school for the "first day" of classes at Digby Regional High School, on Thursday. Did I mention that I had a view of the Bay of Fundy from my classroom? It is a beautiful view. It was something along the lines of this picture....
Anyway, so I got through my classes that day. Half of them were classes that the school was not going to end up offering, so I sent the students to the cafeteria for a free period. It was a relaxed day. I had fun starting to get to know the students though.
At the end of the day I went to the theatre for an assembly. Afterwards, the principal came up to me, chuckling, and said we needed to talk. I figured he was chuckling about my teaching schedule being all mixed up. Then he said the superintendant was coming to see me. So I said, yeah, he must need me to sign some papers. Then he said, no, that wasn't it...let's go into his office.
So he sat me down, and told me I was being reassigned. I thought...WHAT?????????????. He told me the superintendant was reassigning me to Drumlin Heights school. I was thinking....HOLY SMOKES!!!!! DH school is a 20 minute drive from my parents, instead of the 60 minute drive it takes to get to Digby. WOWWY!!! I went up to my classroom to wait for the super, and kept thinking...I better not tell anyone, in case there is some sort of mistake. So I waited, and packed my things. Finally I got word that the super was here, and I went in to chat with him. Sure enough, they needed to swtich a teacher at DH, and decided to switch him with me. WOOHOO!!!!
The only thing that stinks is that I really like the principal at Digby Regional, and I had the sweetest view EVER!!!! But, being closer to home will make up for that. So I came home very excited and told Kelly the news...which made her super happy, too. It was great news. So here I go, ending my crazy week with this post. I am thinking about how nuts each day has been this week. How relieved and blessed our family is to have things like this work out for us. We have had a lot of help from an individual who has gone to bat for our cause down here in Yarmouth, and they deserve a lot of thanks. We know we have also been blessed a lot by our sets of parents. One set that helped us get moved, and the other who welcomed us in. Both are blessed with tons of boxes of our stuff. And we most of all have been blessed by our God, who keeps watching over us...no matter how big of an idiot I am sometimes.
So that's all for now. I need to finally take a breather today. But still lots of work to do for Monday. Just wanted to share that with everyone. Hope all are well.
I Got A Job
Hey all you folks. So the news is, on Tuesday morning I was offered a job teaching in the School Board down Yarmouth way. I will be teaching in Digby, which will be a one hour drive from Yarmouth....but it's a job. I should be able to car pool no problem.
So Tuesday was a busy day. We had been planning on heading to Yarmouth that day anyway, but this news really put the pressure on, as I had to start work on Wednesday. So, we kept packing up, and even tried to get a U-Haul truck. Well, around 3pm, Kelly and Ralph arrived with a U-Haul...and I knew we would be getting to Yarmouth really late.
Kelly's parents were the most amazing help in getting us ready to move. They both deserve medels. Thanks to Jake Richards for coming over on short notice, too. So we finally were ready to leave around 8pm. We had to drop some U-Haul packings off at the MacLean's in Cole Harbour, then we would head to Yarmouth.
Well, it was around 10pm by the time we left for Yarmouth. I was thinking how hard it was going to be to go into work the next day. Ralph came with us, to help with the driving. I slept most of the time. Kelly drove the U-Haul for a lot of the way. All three of us had a turn. Emma slept in the bouncy truck the whole way. We finally made is to my parent's house about 2:30am. So yeah, it was a late night. Added to that, Morgan had trouble getting to sleep when we got here. So, I didn't get to sleep until 3:30am, and had to be up at 6:30am.
My first day of school was an in-service day. It was fine. Digby Regional High School is my new second home. It's a newer school...built in 2001, so it's very nice indeed. I have my own room and I can see the Bay of Fundy from my desk, which is cool. My assignment is sort of all over the place, as I am teaching the leftovers. But, it should be a good year....other than the travelling. But we'll just have to live with that.
Anyway, I should be getting ready to leave. First day of classes today. Nervous? Yes. First day of my CAREER!!! Wowwy. Crazy. It has been such a crazy and stressfull past week. We are so drained and emotional. I still can't believe I got a call for a job two days before the students start school. My head is still spinning.
