MOVED IN!
The big news is... we moved into our new, new house! We officially closed on Wednesday, March 8th and we started moving a few things in that night. Then on Thursday, we moved the rest of our stuff, including our beds, and we slept there for the first time on March 9th. I took Friday off, which was really nice because then I could get some things unpacked and feel like I wasn't living in total chaos. Now it is March 19th, and we are feeling mostly settled, but we still haven't emptied out all of our storage unit stuff yet. We did get the appliances and some other big things out, but we are kind of waiting until the weather warms up and we can paint our garage before we get EVERYTHING out of the storage unit.
It feels really good to be moved in and actually feel like this is where we are supposed to be. I didn't have that uneasy, hesitant feeling I had when I was unpacking everything in our other new house. I actually was like, "Come on! Let's get everything unpacked and get settled!" There is still a lot to do with the lawn and a fence and the garage, but it already feels more like home than the other house ever did for me.
As I write this, Gabe and Caleb are outside playing basketball across the street with Noah Rolph, Gabe Appleby, and some other boys that live in the neighborhood. I just love the way that they can come and go and have friends around. I also love the 13th ward that we are in now. There's some really good, fun youth for the boys. Avery still seems to find something wrong with most people she meets (eye roll), but she's got a couple friends. One of them is a girl named Clara (I don't even know her last name).
Job next year?
The other big thing that's been weighing heavy on my mind lately is that I still don't know what I'm doing next year. I had that other job offer to go work at Central next year, and I was totally planning on that from about mid-January to mid-February. I told all my students I was doing that next year, I told the principal and the other teachers, etc. But then I took a day off school one day and actually went over to Central for the day and job-shadowed Cherri Hart (the lady who is retiring) and it was soooooooo boring! Like, I couldn't even stand being there for the day. Plus, Central is a very different place than the junior high or high school. It is a run-down little building with a small amount of students that all seemed like they wanted to hurt me when I passed them in the hallways! lol Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it just didn't have a great vibe. So I thought about it for another day, and then I went and told Mike Bennet (the principal of Central) that I, in fact, was NOT going to be taking that job next year. He was really good about it. But then, of course, my current principal at the junior high was immediately asking me, "So, does this mean you'll still be teaching here next year?" And for that, I still do not have an answer.
I REALLY want to only work 3-4 days a week! I don't want to work every single day. I hate feeling like I have to do all the grocery shopping and house things on Saturday, and then we have NO time to play as a family! So, I've been kind of looking around at some other job options, but so far I haven't found anything that seems perfect. Who knows... maybe I will teach another year. I'm just kind of waiting and hoping this perfect job presents itself in the next couple of weeks! :{
Caleb is on the track team
Also, Caleb started track! This is a new sport for Caleb and I'm pretty sure he's just doing it because there are some cute girls on the team, but also one of his teachers (Mrs. Hassard, his agriculture science teacher) is the coach and told him he should do shot put and discus. So Josh and I went to Twin Falls the other day for his first track meet. It was a lot of waiting around for his turn, but he did really well! I think he threw the discus 85 feet and he threw the shotput about 32 feet. The coach said that's really good for someone's first time ever.
Avery and Gabe aren't really in any sports right now, but Gabe keeps busy going to Tuesday church activities, mayor's youth board, and he's taking an ACT prep class right now that's ever Monday and Wednesday for two hours after school. Avery just finished up the tennis season at the end of February, which she loved. She would just go practice at the fieldhouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January and February. I think she will do that again in the summer, but the high school tennis kids run it and their real season started just barely, so they can't do anything with the kids for the next few months. Here is a picture of Gabe with his friends watching Taycee participate in the Distinguished Young Woman pageant.
Oh, and basketball season was awesome this year! We went to almost every home game. Carter is on the JV team (he is a sophomore), but he often played some of the Varsity games too. The Varsity boys ended up going to state, but they got out on their second game, so I think they ended up taking 4th overall in the state. It was still a really fun season to watch.
Here are a couple more random pictures. Josh spoke at Avery's school and Zeus went along and pretended to be a police dog. haha I also have some pictures here of me teaching, courtesy of a boy named Dawson who likes to take his BeReal every day during English class!
I think that's all for now!
