One more day until we get a week of vacation! I’ll be at a literacy conference tomorrow though, so vacation kind of starts tonight. Unless you consider the fact that I have to leave the house at 6:30am tomorrow morning and won’t be home until 5:30pm…. so maybe vacation starts tomorrow night.

Anyway, prepare for a rambling post. I am SO ready for vacation. Things seem to be falling apart around here. Coming apart at the seams. We are all pretty ready for a break. Unfortunately I have a Vaca To-Do list that’s quite extensive. Sigh.

I’ve applied for several jobs this week. I REALLY would like to get one of them, though I’m barely prepared for interviewing. One of my top vaca to-do list items is to prepare for interviews, on the assumption that I will indeed get one. Positive thinking, right?!

Eve is doing well, as far as I can tell, except I think she has two cavaties. We have a dentist appointment in June so we’ll know for sure then. Lex, however, isn’t doing as well and I’m hearing troubling reports in all areas regarding his behavior. We are working with him and trying to figure out what’s going on. Reports of anger, aggression, and just plain meanness. Not his typical personality! The guilty mommy in me thinks it must be because our schedule is a bit chaotic this year, I’m not as available as I have been in the past, we have long days, frequent daycare, and he’s on a bus every day. But the realist in me is trying to prevail and hold strong to the idea that maybe it’s not all my fault. :) Maybe there are other things going on, developmental changes, social structures forming, etc. We’re working with him. It hurts my heart though to hear reports of him being aggressive and mean to peers.

And I’m just so tired. I keep thinking, “It’s just for this year,” and Alan keeps saying, “We just need to get through this year,” but in the back of my head I know that if I get a job (which would be a good thing!) then next year will be even harder. Teaching all day every day. Being responsible for 18 little minds for an entire year without anyone else to fall back on. That’s a lot of responsiblity! And I just taught a disaster math lesson today, in front of my supervisor. She was nice and pointed out the good parts, but we both know it was a disaster. Ugh.

And I’m just so tired. So. Tired. Always.

On that note, it is after 9pm and I have to be up early (as usual) so I’m going to stop bitching on the blog and go drink a(nother) glass of wine, fold some laundry, chill with my hubby and Colbert, then go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

Eve asked for ten more minutes before bedtime and since we had a really good start to our evening I decided to give it to her. So now I have a few minutes of time. I could go wash the dishes or sweep the floor, but instead I’ll ramble here for a bit. I haven’t checked the camera lately so I’ll have to rely on my memory!

Top on my mind is the job hunting process. One of my least favorite things ever. I’ve been fairly spoiled in the past and gotten many jobs quite quickly. I’m hoping the same applies here. I applied for two jobs already and didn’t get selected for an interview on either. One was a total long-shot though, so I’m not too disappointed. I just applied for another one today and I hear another is coming up soon. Either of these would be awesome to get. I really just want to get hired and be done, then I can focus on my school work again and start planning for the next step. I’m not a very patient person, you know. For now I’ll continue to tweak my cover letter and write my application essays and thank my mother daily for her advice and editing support. :)

The weather is starting to warm up and that makes me immensely happy. Any day that I don’t need a jacket and gloves, or sunscreen, is a good day! (Yes, I know I should be wearing sunscreen every day and blocking all those wonderful rays, but really that just will never happen.) The kids got out their bikes and scooters this weekend. Eve even tried riding her bike again. I’m hoping this is the year she’s back at it and we can take those family bike rides we were hoping for last summer. Unfortunately she is a very nervous rider and fell, scraping up her cold, bare knee. Not bad, but enough to make her even more hesitant to ride. Sigh. Lex, on the other hand, was flying! I think we are going to invest in new bikes this summer. Bikes that fit them properly and aren’t covered in rust and duct tape. When I mentioned it to the kids they both seemed uncertain of the idea. “But I like my red one,” said Lex about his too-small bike, and Eve asked why she couldn’t just ride her pink one, the one we got for free that’s covered in rust but has a basket on the front. I thought to myself, “Shiny new bikes, kids, why are you not salivating at this idea?!?!?!” but instead just said, “Ok, we’ll see.”

The kids’ school is doing a Artist in Residence program where they have a local famous artist come do a big project with a select group of kids. The project is going to be a big mural for the school and Lex is one of the selected kids. He’s pretty happy about it. The just got started last week but I’m eager to hear the details as they go along. They sent home a really nice letter listing the criteria for selection, which included creative, motivated, team player, etc. All nice things to hear about your kid.

That’s all for now. If you need to read a little more check out the adorable birthday party little Kate had this weekend. Wish we were there. :)

Off to put my own little birthday girl to bed. G’night all.

Action Adventure game on the XBox 360!  Yep, this just happened.  Hubby paid good money to Microsoft. Never thought I’d see the day. :-)

Lex just said to Eve, “You don’t like peas? I’ll eat them for you!”. Maybe there is hope for him after all.  :-)

I, on the other hand, just said, “There’s not much in your Friday folder this week.” To which he replied, “Mom, it’s Thursday.” Sigh.

Dear March,

You have done an excellent job coming in as a lion.  Thank you for the wonderful snowstorm.  You gave us a day of dense, packable snow that we used to make snow balls, snowmen, snow penguins, and snow bunnies. 

My little snowmen

Lex made a snowman for the mailbox.

Eve wanted a penguin, so we all worked together on that one.

Then you gave us a day with light fluffy snow that made the world look beautiful.  You gave us over two feet of snow that provided me with an excellent workout each day, especially shoveling Wednesday’s heavy snow and then walking through very deep snow to dig out my heat intake thing.  I learned, fortunately not the hard way, that it’s important to keep that thing clear.

This snow bank greeted up Thursday morning when we went out to shovel again.

Lex had to climb over the bank just to get out the door.

Notice something different about that car Lex is clearing off? More to come later…

Eve brought Bitty Baby out to play. I’m such a mom (or dork) that I had to stop and put her hood up and fix her jacket.

Eve took a few minutes to recline on the giant snow bank by the tree.

We’ve got a bit of snow out there!

Lex is getting pretty good at helping with the shoveling. He doesn’t love it, but he does it. Sometimes Eve helps too. Today they worked hard to get the end of the driveway clear.

I tried to go out the back door today, but no luck. This is what happens when we don’t shovel.

The intake thing is in there somewhere.

Our propane tanks are buried in that mountain. I figured it would be good to dig them out as well. I got the tops cleared off and found we had plenty of propane so I stopped. It was COLD today!

The district canceled school for two days, which wasn’t the best timing since this was my first solo week in kindergarten, but we’re all taking advantage of the break.  Tuesday was a tough day at school and I was ready to lay low Wednesday.  The kids both have colds and we were facing a very hectic week, so your lovely snow provided a forced slow down.  They are both feeling much better this afternoon.

Now that we’ve had this storm, your final hurrah, could you please show us the lamb.  Just last week I taught my kids the saying, “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb,” and as much as we’ve all enjoyed the lion, we are ready for a little lamb.

Winter and Spring table decorations. We just can’t decide which one is appropriate!

Sincerely,

Tessa, ready for some sunshine.

Do you think March reads my blog?