Quick week

It's been a fast week! I met all 30 of the kids I will be working with this week and it has seemed pretty busy. So far so good. They are all very polite and respectful (at least to my face : )) and they all try really hard and like the one-on-one time. I think I am really going to like it. Polar opposite of my last teaching job, environment, co-worker cooperation, ability, the whole works. I must be destine to work with troubled kids.
No other life altering events this week. Stew was on call. Bode's teacher told me that all the girls at school love him, and I better watch out! He is nice to everyone and never leaves anyone out of the fun. That is always nice to hear.

Sunday night already

It is amazing how much more you look forward to weekends when you work during the week! We had a busy weekend. Friday we went to a fall festival at a church not far from our house. Rode some rides and ate some fair food. Saturday we went to Target and Bode did a little Christmas preview shopping, I got a new Christmas tree too. Sunday, we went to the beach and swam. Pretty nice weather and we enjoyed it. Rested and ready for my second week of work. I will actually start meeting with the kids and am looking forward to getting started with them.

Chili

Well, I guess 65 degrees w/out humidity is chili weather here in Florida...and it was the BEST! It has probably been since last winter that we have had it, and it may have been Stew's best batch EVER!

Vetran's Day parade

On Saturday we went to a Veteran's Day parade. They really like to have parades here in Florida, must be since they can do it 12 months a year, they really take advantage! Saturday night we went on a date and Bode had a babysitter. Today, we just went to the park and played outside. Kind of quiet, getting ready to start work on Tuesday. Back to reality for me, I am ready!

Anniversary

6 years ago today, Stew proposed to me. I was not really aware of the date today, and he actually reminded me tonight. It was pretty smart of him to do it on his best friend's birthday, he never forgets.

Employed!

I got offered a teaching job today! I will be a reading specialist at a juvenile detention center. I will work one on one with students on reading. It will be different in the fact that the kids are 16-19 years old and I'm used to elementary kids, but I am very excited to get back to work, and so happy it is teaching. I start next Tuesday.

Happy Halloween!

One of my favorite holidays! We carved pumpkins and got Bode's costume when Grandma and Grandpa were here, and that started off the excitement. I got to help with Bode's Fall party at preschool on Friday and it was so fun! I also took cupcakes. Not what I had originally planned, but it is not too difficult to impress a bunch of 4 year olds. We were in Venice at Larry and Candi's today. So we went downtown and trick-or-treated at some of the merchant's stores. It was nice and early, so you could actually see all the kids in their costumes. It was probably 5 blocks total and we got lots of candy. It took about an hour and that was the perfect amount of time, and distance to walk this year. For those of you who may not know, he is dressed as Iron Man, one of his many favorite super heros. It was kind of a hard choice this year. Hope everyone had a fun holiday!

Dancing machine

Last night we went to Pelican Alley to eat and watch Take Two (a local singer and her husband) perform. Bode has been dancing a lot at preschool, but up until last night has been a little shy about sharing his moves. No longer and issue! He was full body flailing for at least 2 hours straight. It was unbelieavable. There were maybe 50+ people there and he was one of the main attractions. I wish I had taken a video. It was great! These pics hardly do his moves any justice.

Family room

Stripes

Slider in the dinning room

Valance in the kitchen

Valance in the living room (same print, bad lighting)

Our bedroom

Working on the windows

Kind of a big accomplishment considering we did not sew a thing! We love staple guns and iron on fabric tape.

Where to begin...

Larry and Candi were here for 10 days, and we put them to work! We did window treatments for every room but the guest room and Bode's room. We were working hard, but did manage to have some fun too. Watched a couple of CRAZY Hawkeye games, ate way too much and celebrated Halloween. They leave tomorrow, but will be back soon for Thanksgiving. Thanks again to you both for helping out and sharing your vacation with us!

Job activity

Well, I got an offer from the YMCA to work at the after school program for Charlotte County Schools. Could be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door with the district and the Y. However, it is part time and the money of course is not ideal. Then I had an interview for a teaching position with a correctional facility. Teaching, better money, full time, but maybe not the ideal student body. So...the Y said they would wait for an answer, while I wait for one from the correctional facility. Of course the "perfect" job I had didn't really work out that well either, so I am pretty sure by Friday, I will have a job, which would be great!