Whirlwind of Weeks

The last few weeks have truly been a whirlwind of emotions, time, and energy!  They have been completely exhausting, while moments later terribly exciting.  Since school got out, I have been busy applying for jobs and cleaning!  I've been a little bored since I was used to running at full speed and planning my next day out the night before.  I literally do not have any where to be from day to day, which was nice and relaxing the first week, but it got old pretty quickly.  I think it's mostly because I am home with Hannah now and SHE is bored too, which means she's got the opportunity to get into all sorts of trouble!  Before I really had time to take a deep breath and get myself into a routine, the unexpected happened.  I started getting job interviews!  I really didn't expect this since the district I thought I would end up in hasn't posted a single job yet.  I thought I would get the most interest there because I know A LOT of people in that district and getting a teaching job is supposed to be all about "who" you know, not necessarily about "what" you know.  So, Hannah and I got home from Jon's parents' house on a Saturday night, and Jon suggested that we priceline a hotel in Denver.  He wanted to watch the Nuggets game, and then we could also eat at Snooze the next morning.  Snooze is a great breakfast joint in Denver, so Snooze for Mother's Day sounded perfect! 

 Hannah missed her Daddy a lot while she was gone, so I actually got to eat my breakfast,while it was hot, with very little disruption.  It was beautiful!  Also, Snooze was handing out flowers to all of their mother's, so my delicious breakfast also came with a free flower...bonus!

 By the time Hannah got to me, she was done taking photos.  This is the best one that I could get of the two of us.  I think it's an appropriate "mother's day photo!"

 Once we got home, we hit the ground running...literally!  I have a couple of goals for the summer...the first one is to get a free shirt from the Jack Quinn running club downtown.  To get a free shirt, you have to attend the run ten times.  It's a 5K through downtown, so the plan is to meet Jon downtown after work and run/walk it...I would love to eventually run the whole thing, but I must take baby steps!  My second goal for this summer or possibly late fall is to hike a 14er.  That's a mountain that is 14,000 feet high or more.  We've never done a 14er before so it's a good goal for us this year.  These two goals definitely require some serious training, so we have been outside A LOT!  We are fortunate enough to live within walking/running distance of two great parks and a several different trail heads.  We have been trail running, speed walking, doing the Jack Quinn, and hill climbing.  We are hoping to do "The Incline" this weekend which is a one mile hike that goes up something like 3,000 feet.  That's a lot! We tried to do it last weekend, but it was raining.  Hannah's loving all of our "training" because she gets to play at the park a lot, since the end of a couple of our runs is the park. 

With all of this stuff going on, I have also been interviewing and saying goodbye to "my kids."  I had the pleasure of teaching seniors in my student teaching, so Hannah and I have been doing some "senior stuff" like graduation.  I also cleaned out my classroom and took all of my student's work that I wanted to keep.  This was definitely emotional for me, although I can truly say that there are few things more gratifying career-wise than having students run to you for a hug or encouragement during their last day as "children."  I was so moved by graduation and saw, possibly for the first time, the impact that my life had on these kids.  It's so bittersweet...and I already miss them!  This picture is of Hannah at my school where I "see my friends."  She loves going there to see "my friends" and frequently asks me to "take a picture" when she's there.  Cute, right?

The best news of the last two weeks is that I have a job!!!!  I went to four different interviews within the course of one week.  I really didn't expect anything exciting from these interviews and chalked them up to "good practice" because they were in a school district where I had zero connections.  I got a phone call on Wednesday morning, that actually woke me up.  It was the principal at one of the schools (the one that I had the least chance of getting) and she informed me that I was her top candidate, but that she couldn't get a hold of my references.  Being that graduation was the day before, I wasn't surprised.  I told her that I would go see them and let them know.  So I did, and by noon she had called me to ask me if I could come for a second interview!  I was really surprised to hear that I was her top candidate, especially considering all of the other job-action that I had received that week.  I went in the next day and within ten minutes of leaving her office, she called me to offer me the position!  I cannot express how excited I am about it...I will be working with the "rougher kids" in the school and will also be teaching two writing classes, which is my passion in teaching English.  I think this job is going to be perfect for me, and I never would have suspected it.  I am also completely relieved to have a job in May, as I can spend the next couple of months planning out my classes.  I get to go meet the entire department, find out about my classes, and brainstorm ideas on Wednesday.  I am super excited about this!  I have to give all of the credit to God because He knew what I needed when I didn't even know.  I look forward to the next year...and I am REALLY looking forward to having a paycheck!  It will be the first time, in the eight years that Jon and I have been married, that we will have two, full-time, paychecks!  So I am sure that the next few months are going to fly by, and I am totally looking forward to it.  I am FINALLY going to be a teacher!  A real teacher! 

Relaxin' at Grandma and Grandpa's

A couple of weeks before I was done with school, I decided that I really wanted something to do at the end of the year...some way of celebrating the fact that I was officially done with the program.  I never planned to "walk" at graduation because I wasn't really graduating...I just did a post-bacc program, so I didn't really see the need to celebrate anything..."yea!  I am finally gainfully employable, in the career that I chose 7-8 years ago!"  It just doesn't seem that exciting to me (but more on that in another post).  SO...as the end got closer, I really felt like I wanted to do something fun, but also something relaxing.  So after talking with Jon and his parents Hannah and I were buying last minute plane tickets to Texas.  Perfect for Hannah because she is easily entertained there and perfect for me because I wanted to relax and celebrate the fact that it was summer...what better way to do that than to go swimming every day?!?

 On the airplane and getting excited for our visit!

 The plane ride went quickly for Hannah who slept most of the way, so we were with Grandma at the airport that much faster!  Also, Grandma greeted her with candy necklaces!

 It took Hannah about ten minutes before she was asking if she could go swimming.  The kid LOVES the water and really tries to spend the majority of her visits in some kind of water, whether it be the pool, hot bath (above), real bath, or shower.

 All of the swimming gets Hannah tired pretty fast, which equals crankiness, so we tried to mix it up by adding a few other activities.  One day we went to a children's museum in Waco.  It was a little boring for myself and Grandma, but it was perfect for Hannah.  It was just the right amount of activity, without being too overwhelming.  They had all kinds of vehicles for Hannah to "drive" which IS one of her favorite things to do in her free time.  They also had lots of costumes that coordinated with the vehicles.  Hannah's currently dressed as a firefighter, while driving a school bus.

 Firemen like sports cars too!

 Police cars with walkie-talkies! 

 Cowgirls in wagons!

 This was the best area!  Lots of dress up, but it was everything from "cow-gear" to Mexican dresses to Asian dresses to sombreros!

 Does this really need explanation??

 And wood shoes from Holland!  Amazing right??  This is definitely the best picture of the whole trip in my opinion!  Hannah was so excited to try on all of the shoes (she's totally going to be a shoe-a-holic one day).

 Also, we went to the Dallas Aquarium, although I didn't get any good pictures there.  The most exciting thing for me was getting to see the "monkey park."  Hannah talks about the "monkey park," requests this park regularly, and has even gotten upset with me because I took her to a different park.  For a while, I had no idea of what the heck the "monkey park" really was.  One day I was talking to Cindy and the topic of a "monkey park" came up and she knew immediately what Hannah was talking about.  This (above photo) is the namesake for the "monkey park."  Creepy ole' dude right??  Hannah thinks so too, but that creepiness does not take away from her love of this park!

I

 As soon as I saw it, I knew the reason for Hannah's obsession with the monkey park.  They have an old fire truck that kids can play in, climb on, etc.  Check out all of those levers and knobs!!  It's no wonder she loves this park.  We spent a considerable amount of time in the fire truck!  Hannah loves "big trucks" right now which can range from our neighbor's F-150 to real fire trucks to the garbage truck that picks the trash up twice a week to anything else that looks like a "big" truck to Hannah. 

 I mean look how happy she is driving the thing!  So stinkin' cute!

 The monkey park has lots of attractions, but like I said, she loves to drive.  Along with that, I really should say drive/ride, because she loves to ride just about anything that looks stable enough to climb!

 Like the camel statue or the elephant statues at the monkey park too.  Apparently these guys were hungry though because they needed to eat some leaves first!

 Like I said, she loves to ride things!  She had a dolphin and an alligator (which she often claimed was a dinosaur) waiting for her when she arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She's riding the dolphin with Mariana's help because the dolphin was mostly really hard to ride on your own!

 Hannah loves the pool and loves to jump, so naturally she would really love to jump off the grotto.  I actually was able to capture an action shot!

 One of Hannah's other loves, although this is one of the most consistent ones, is bubbles.  She cannot get enough when it comes to bubbles, so it is a way that we bribe her into the bath sometimes.  Not great parenting, perhaps, but it works when we are desperate.  The last few times we did this (before our little vacation), Hannah would demand not just bubbles, but "Mommy's bubbles."  My bubbles are from Lush and I don't share them well because I don't get Lush products very often.  When we were visiting Texas for Christmas, I noticed that they had a Lush store in one of the malls and was thrilled.  Apparently they have expanded in the last couple of years and are more easily accessible.  Before I would either order it online or drive to Boulder specifically for the stuff which didn't happen very often!  So I am lucky enough to have several people that know how much I love Lush so I have been a little spoiled with it, although it's never in abundance.  So when Hannah began demanding my Lush, I was not about to let her have it!  Every so often, if I am feeling generous, I will let her us a little, but not every time!  So, Grandma took Hannah to get her very own Lush when we were visiting.  I was so proud of her, because look at that face...she knows how special it is!

 We spent a ton of time outside because the weather was so nice.  Hannah is pretty happy if she gets to play outside, even if she is getting roughed up a little by Grandpa!

Grandma had gotten some donuts one morning.  Hannah ate the one with the sprinkles and was happy.  There were some leftover the next day, although Hannah wasn't about to eat one because they "didn't have the colors!"  So, Marcela in a stroke of genius grabbed the box of baking sprinkles and added some to Hannah's donut.  Hannah thought that was amazing and decided that instead of eating the donut, she would focus a little more on eating the sprinkles.

These last two pictures are just Hannah being Hannah...she really knows how to live it up at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She knows that she rules the roost and has a blast.  Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa for such a great week.  Hannah had a lot of fun, and I got to relax, get a little bit of a suntan, and even got my nails done.  It was a good week...just what the doctor ordered after such a stressful few months!

Easter Silliness

This one's a little out of order because I forgot about it when I was doing stuff for Hannah's birthday!  Hannah and I had a great time doing Easter stuff this year.  We didn't make Easter cookies, although I would have liked to...we just ran out of time because I had a lot of school work to do before everyone came for Hannah's birthday.  We took the time to make dye some Easter eggs after church on Saturday night.  Hannah usually goes to the nursery, but we decided to let her come to "big church" with us since it was Easter.  She was a big fan of the music, although she covered her ears at first and said, "it's too loud!"  She entertained herself with snacks and coloring books and was perfectly behaved the whole time! 

Once we got home, we quickly got to dying eggs.  Hannah thought that dying eggs was the best thing since sliced bread!  She was is very busy and swears that she can do EVERYTHING by herself and her own way, so it was no surprise that she took over in the egg dying!

 These are the finished products.  We had glitter and dye pens and multiple packets of dye...no stickers, although I was a little disappointed once I saw how into it she was!

 Her hands did NOT wash clean right away, but they faded pretty quickly!

 As you can see from her cups, she kind of started to monopolize the egg dying...I only got to do 3 or 4, but that's alright because like I said, she had so much fun doing it AND bossing me around!

 Post pictures!

 I had originally planned to use the dyed eggs for deviled eggs for the next day's dinner, but I ended up having to make more because Hannah ate a bunch of the boiled eggs.  Until this time, I thought that Hannah did not like eggs.  She will spit out scrambled eggs, won't have anything to do with a poached or fried egg, and cringes at the mention of having eggs.  Not this time!  Apparently she really enjoys hard boiled eggs...I also thought that it might be a flook, but she scarfed down the boiled egg from my salad last night too!  So I guess she legitimately likes them...now she can get a little protein with her breakfast!

 Hannah got some sweet butterfly glasses in her Easter basket!

 Gotta love holidays...mostly Easter and Christmas because they are the only days where candy is consumed before breakfast!

We shared Easter dinner with our next door neighbors Johnny and Katy!  We had ham, which Hannah loved, potatoes, and lots of fresh spring-like dishes!  This is one of my favorite pictures that Hannah and I have taken in a while...the glasses were a big hit at Easter dinner too! 

Lots of Fun Stuff

We've had all sorts of stuff to do these last few weekends...we went to an "end of busy season party" for Jon's office, said goodbye to some friends that are moving back to Boise, attended a Gala event while Hannah got to play with her friend Max and a babysitter, and attended a friend's 30th birthday party!  That's all in two weekends!  We did manage to get in a little family time at Old Chicago to watch the first round of the NFL draft.  We had a great time playing together AND there just happened to be a person making balloon animals at the restaurant.  Hannah, of course, chose a horse...we were a little proud because she chose a "Blue Bronco."  As you can see from the pics below, we had a great time!

I love her!

Happily napping on the couch...I couldn't resist posting this one.  She's so peaceful when she sleeps!

My Baby's Three

First of all, my pictures are all backwards!  Blogger did some new stuff in my absence, so I guess you are just going to have to enjoy the photos in reverse order because I am unwilling to ditch them all and re-upload them!  Hello world!  I wasn't really sure if people were still reading or not, so that was my excuse for not updating.  As it turns out, all of the grandparents are reading so if for no one else, I'll post for them!

Our lives have been completely crazy these last few months!  I am doing my student teaching right now, writing insanely long papers, getting up at 5:00 am everyday, and applying for jobs.  It's also been busy season for Jon which means super long hours and stress.  Needless to say, we haven't had a ton of free time.  I am having an absolute blast with my kids and I love getting to hang out with high school kids all day.  I am pretty lucky!  I am looking forward to summer vacation though, which starts in 13 days!  We have a couple of trips on the agenda this summer, including a trip to Disney World and a visit to Louisiana, but for the most part we are just going to hang out around here.  We do technically live in a vacation spot, so I am sure we will be able to find plenty of things to do.  We have talked about hiking our first 14er (14,000 ft + mountain) and joining the Jack Quinn running club downtown.  I am really looking forward to a nice, relaxing summer.

Since my last post, the biggest news is that Hannah turned three years old!  I CANNOT believe that my baby is three.  Can I still call her my baby even though she's an older toddler now??  Yes! I will answer that for myself!  Since she's the only grandkid on both sides, we do her birthday big!  About a week before the first round of family came in Hannah told me, "Mommy, my birfday's coming up!"  The girl already knows how to celebrate her birthday week with class and style!

 This is the whole crew!  The whole family came in, but they kind of tapered their trips this time.  My side came in early and Jon's side stayed after for a few days.  So the first time that everyone was actually together was when we met up at the zoo (she had a zoo party...more on that with later photos).  Hannah was so stinking cute because she kept running back and forth between grandparents and Auntie and her Great Uncle Doug.  It was so clear that she was thrilled to have all of her "people" in one place.  It was adorable! 

 We got to have a family dinner after the zoo.  We did the zoo in the morning and then had dinner at our local Chilli's that night.  Again, Hannah was in hog heaven have all of her "peeps" available to do anything and everything that she asked!

 She wouldn't take a serious picture with us, but she would do the silly one!  I guess I do kind of love that about her!

 Grandpas are great!  (L to R) Jon's dad, my dad, Hannah, and Jon's grandpa.

 Grandmas are pretty great too.  (L to R) Jon's grandma, Jon's mom, Nan, and my mom.  I will let them argue among themselves about whether grandpas or grandmas are better!

 This kid is hilarious with the camera.  She's totally a poser!  It was a really nice morning to be at the zoo, which was a relief.  It got cold that night though and ended up snowing!  The cold front was coming in, so Hannah had to were her Uggs for the last time this season (at least I hope there's not going to be any more snow).  She also is sporting her "my BFF is a Giraffe" shirt that she got as one of her birthday presents.

 Finally to the zoo pictures!  We have a great zoo and Hannah LOVES it!  Who am I kidding, Jon and I love it too!  Hannah has always loved animals, but this year seemed like a good year to do a party there because she gets really excited when we talk about the zoo.  So we did and invited the whole family and a few friends...we had so much fun.  Hannah really loved getting to show everyone "her zoo."  Here, she's hanging out with her Great Uncle Doug...although she would correct me and say, "No!  It's just Doug!"  Either way, she loves him and was SO happy to see him!

 Ahh horses!  This kid adores horses...by far her favorite pasttime!  She is not a bit scared of them and I am pretty sure she'd have a break down if she got to see horses but then didn't get to ride one.  It is the highlight of her week when she gets to ride one!  I've always said that she's Hannah Wyoming (not Hannah Montana), so maybe the love of horses comes from her Wyoming heritage!

 Hannah and Auntie hanging out at the zoo!

 Grandma Joan and Hannah getting ready to check some more stuff out at the zoo!

 Is this the most adorable picture you've ever seen??  I cannot get over it!  (L to R) Westley (Hannah's third cousin on my side...more on that in a minute), The Birthday Girl, Max & Max's Mom(her buddy that she's known since birth), and Rye-bread...aka. Rylee (her BFF...other than the giraffe of course).  Does this look like a rockin' group of party-goers or what?!?

 Grandma Joan and Auntie outdid themselves again this year.  I mean, seriously??  I think the picture speaks for itself!

 Me and my girl!

 We also had elephant cookies (see Hannah's hand) and giraffe cookies!

 The weather was supposed to be so crappy for the party.  All week there was a huge chance of rain and a predicted high of 40 something!  That always happens for Hannah's birthday...when she was born there was a foot and a half of snow on the ground for crying out loud!  Every year, it is nice around her birthday and then a cold front comes through or something.  Every year I have planned something outside, and we always end up moving the party indoors.  This year was supposed to be the same...I just decided that if it was cold and rainy then we would just have to bundle up!  As it turns out it was a beautiful, perfect, Colorado spring day!  It started getting windy about 10-15 minutes before we left and then it all went south after that.  I was SO glad that the nastiness held off until we were done!

 My cousin Tricia is in the military and got stationed here in the Springs not too long ago (well it's been a few months, but remember we've been crazy busy), so I asked her if she and her son wanted to come to the party.  I know that her schedule can be just as crazy as mine, if not worse, so I wasn't sure if she would be able to make it or not.  I was delighted to hear that she was free!  I haven't seen her in ages, so it was super fun to see her and her new baby Westley.  She's in the middle of my dad and sister in this pic!  My dad was pretty excited to meet his great-nephew too so that was fun!

 Rylee feeding the giraffes for the first time...it was her first trip to the zoo...her parents and I have been planning this for a while so it was fun to get to play!  Jamie (on the right) loves the zoo, and says that they are going to get a membership too, so I am sure we will be spending more trips together in the future!

 Hannah feeding the giraffes!  She loves the giraffes, although she tells people right now that her favorite animal is the hippo!  When you've got so many favorite animals, I guess you have to rotate them every so often!

Giraffes are cool!  See, this was going to be the first picture instead of the last one!  I love our zoo so much.  This is one of the reasons...you get to be so close to the animals and really interact with them!  I think Hannah celebrated her birthday in style this year!  It's probably going to be hard to beat this zoo party...that's okay...if we need to do it there again next year, so be it because it was super fun!  Not only was it fun, but it just reminded me of how much I love this little person that's in our lives...and how she has captured the hearts of so many!  Happy Birthday sweet Nan!