My crazy life

I'm on the home stretch with school! I still have a ton of homework to do, but knowing that I have a job makes everything worthwhile. I have a lot to do to get things ready for school too, and Gunner is due home in a few weeks for 18 days of R&R. He might get more rest in Iraq!

Junior's surgery had to be cancelled because it has only been two weeks since he had pneumonia. Of course they didn't want to give me any dates and I would have to wait to be called. I had been waiting since June 1st, so I started making calls, and if they couldn't help me, I went higher. I dealt with an absolutely amazing SSG in the patient liaison office, and he kept me informed, worked hard, and scheduled Junior's surgery for when Gunner would be home and his pre-op too. (Put that on Gunner's list)

The thingy you step on to get into the car is slightly skewed, but I haven't had a chance to take it in. (Let's put that on Gunner's list too)

Abs needs an EKG, but they only do them Friday mornings when I have class or training. (One more thing for Gunner's list)

Abs needs a follow up appt at the doctor but a parent has to take her since we will be talking about changing her medication. (One more for the list)

The kids need school supplies and uniforms. (I'll try to get this one, but might have to leave it to him)

His car needs an oil change which requires a trip to the dealer--don't even get me started on why we can't take it to one of those quick places, damn Saturn. (sounds like a fun trip for Gunner and the kids)

There's a few other dozen things that need to get done too. Not very relaxing, but I know Gunner will jump in with both feet and help get things done. Several times when he was home for a long weekend before he deployed, he would run around with me while I ran errands, drove kids around, etc. He was always in awe of how much I could accomplish in a short period of time to keep this family running. At least I know he appreciates me!

I'm sure we will mix in some fun activities like the water park, shopping, and the like. I can't wait, even if I will be working almost every day he is home.

I'm sailing along through SAIL. Today I had them paint the paper mache rats that I had them make the first day. Tomorrow we decorate them, so I'll be staying up half the night making whiskers out of fishing line and cutting cute little pink ears. They are so excited about it. My two lessons the other day went really well. the kids loved the treasure hunt and all of them could read a mad by the time we were done. The terrariums were a big hit as well and they can all describe the water cycle to me in detail. Next week it is butter, France, French words, nonstandard measurement with rats, and a graphic organizer thrown in for good measure.

Abs is doing okay. I went to pay for daycare yesterday and they told me that I couldn't pay with a credit card in the afternoon, only the morning. There was another lady there trying to pay and they told her the machine was down in the morning and try again in the afternoon. They told us we could pay the next day but there would be a late charge??? What??? I argued. I would be penalized because there machines don't work? It's a long drawn out story, but I don't think they are charging us a late fee now. I can't wait till they are out of there. They do a lot of fun activities, but the staff is not that great.

I saw Em the other day, home from her jaunt to the UK. I pick her up for good tomorrow and I can't wait to see all of her pictures and everything that she brought back. She had a great time!! I did find a message from her today when I got home from school and she was whispering, asking me for guitar lessons.

And I hiring a maid for my own sanity. I have to clean before I can let her in though....

Teaching

When I was researching alternative certification programs so that I could become a teacher, I had a few things that I was looking for. I needed one that would work with daycare, so I wasn't going at night, and I wanted one that was going to give me the most experience. Since I don't have to do student teaching, I selected the program that had a two week program where we taught. Sure it's not all day, but we have certain days that we do teach, so we spend our time preparing lesson plans, fillers, and handling classroom management.

Our two week program started today. My group chose the movie Ratatouille as our theme. This morning each one of the groups did a skit to try and entice the students to select our class. I was so worried about it, and worried about no one choosing us. We were the first group that filled up, and we have 8 cute little girls in our class. It's funny, because since we are in groups, Ms. J is a second grade teacher, I will teach 2nd grade, and our last partner is a junior high science teacher and football coach. He was totally overwhelmed with a class full of girls, since he has no idea what to do with them. It will all work out thought.

There are a lot of great groups, like grossology, a journey through Africa, Texas Indian Powow, Shrek's Trek, and more. The grossology group was sporting fake wounds today--my kids would have been all over that. We have gone to Explore UT several years in a row, and the first year we missed the fake wound booth. That's all the girls talked about for the next year until we could go again, and we had to be first in line for a wound. I'll have to find pictures, because by the time they left, one had a huge gash and a head injury, and the other had an open wound with a broken arm. My dainty delicate daughters.

Today I started the first step in our paper mache rat quest. I made one of my own, and it started out looking like a giant sperm. It now kind of looks like a cat, but the kids thought it looks like a rat and they were more excited about doing an arts and crafts project than anything.

I have a map lesson coming up, one on the water cycle where we will make terrariums, a walk through France where we will learn about the culture, trivia, learn some French words (I hope I am saying them correctly), make butter to eat with French bread, and non standard measurement with rats. We also have career day, rodents of the world, popcorn and the 5 senses, several reader's theater, and tons more. It should be a lot of fun, and I am kind of relieved we have all girls since Em and Abs have given me enough experience in that arena.

So, I have two more weeks left of school and then I start getting ready to teach with all the orientations, etc. I have no idea where to even start, so I am a little worried. Yes, it didn't take long and I found something else to worry about.