Fall = Busy, busy, busy!

I haven’t written in a while. In the past that would have meant that I had nothing to write about. However, that is currently the opposite of reality. I have had so many great things going on since the end of August I haven’t been able to write about it. So due to the laps in time this may be a bit shorter than most but probably still much more lengthy than necessary. As Dusty would say I don’t have a very good sense of economy with words. If I could say something with three words I will most likely still use ten!


The 25th of August I had an interview at Brentwood elementary for a second grade job share. It sounded like such a great opportunity to get my foot in the door to the Mead school district, even if it was only a half day position. A day later I found out I got the job! It was so perfect for me since my main teaching areas would be math, science and social studies with second graders. Wasting no time at all, I met my awesome teaching partner, Tracee, at school to look at my new materials the next day. The next week consisted of meetings and a few last minute preparations before the kids arrived.

School started on September 7th and things continued to pick up pace as I was offered another teaching opportunity in Brentwood. Mead district does this great thing when they have a combo class and I get to be a part of it. There is another teacher with a 4/5 combo, instead of making her go through two totally separate math lessons, one for each grade, they hire someone part time to teach one of the grades. That part time person is me! I have the fifth grade half of the class for their math every morning. They are a great bunch of kids and I love the individuality that shows in the older grade. It works well with my afternoon positions and I have some prep of time in between “shifts” to stay on top of everything. The only slight down side is that I can’t sub around and get to know teachers in other schools. Another positive note about it is that financially this situation is better than subbing so that is exciting for our savings account.

September is also busy because it is a birthday month around our house. This year was a big year as Tim turned 50 and Dusty turned 25! So of course we had to have a party. Originally Dusty and I had planned to invite Tim’s sisters from out of town to the normal family gathering. Then we thought it would be fun if we invited some of his really close friends too. We had though to try and surprise him but didn’t want to miss anyone important on the invite list so Dusty and I decided we better ask Tim even if it did ruin the surprise. Well let’s just say the guest list discussion went from about a dozen invitations to over sixty! And I just kept thinking “I am going to need more food!” It turned out to be a great party. Tim and Dusty were really glad to see so many of their friends. Among other September birthdays my grandpa Tom turned 80 and my Grandma Bev turned… well, she had a birthday!

In the end of September and early October we has a few semi-relaxing weekends, going to the lake with my parents for a boat ride, visiting with friends over dinner and working in our garden. We even opened our garden for U-pick flowers. The pictures speak better for these events than I can so I will let them do the talking.

 
  Before I knew that I had a job, Dusty had said he would take me on a vacation to Cannon Beach. Since I (thankfully) have a job now that plan didn’t work out as well as we once thought it might. When I realized I had an extra day off from school last weekend, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to sneak out of down for a short trip. I have been to the Oregon coast once before but don’t remember it very well which made for a great new adventure this time. We left right after school Thursday and drove mostly in the dark. Friday the weather was about as perfect as you could get in October on the coast. I loved exploring the tide pools and searching for shells. Saturday started out drizzly and proceeded to turn into torrential downpour, but it was perfect for exploring the shops in Cannon Beach and Seaside. Sunday was overcast but not a hint of wind, which was actually disappointing since we bought a kite the day before. We went for one last walk on the beach and I played in the waves like a little kid then we grabbed our stuff and hit the road.

 

Sunny enough to make a shadow!

This is the view from our hotel balony

Low tide

Yesterday, we were worried about the frost warning and cold temps predicted. Last night, my parents came over to take a few pictures of us in our garden. I love having photographer parents because they always get great pictures. We also harvested most of our pumpkins, even though they are still not quite orange. Looking at the leaves in the garden this morning, I think that we made the right choice about getting our pictures yesterday. Today, the leaves of everything are shriveled and brown from the frost last night. Not so photogenic! Here is what they looked like before the frost. *please note that the next set of pictures was taken by my parents :)

 

Now we are gearing up for other fall activities like apple picking, pumpkin carving, my birthday, and Halloween. Could September and October possibly be any busier? Sometimes I wonder why we do it to ourselves to be this busy, but I love the fun that each activity brings and couldn’t imagine getting rid of one!