Thursday, October 28, 2010

This first year teacher gets a "F" in blogging.

I'm not sure if I still have any readers out there, but thought I should update on our busy summer. The last time I blogged was in May after I found out that I got my first teaching job. I'll give you a short version of what we were up to this summer.

At the end of the school year, we celebrated the retirement of both my parents. After 30 years of teaching, they decided it was time to start a new journey. I still can't believe they aren't teaching...even though I have taken over for my mom and teach in what was her room for 15 years. I am happy for them, and sad for the kids that don't get to have them as teachers. I can't keep track of how many times I get complimented on my parents. :) I'm proud to be their daughter. Here's a picture from their retirement party. What a fun night celebrating with all of their teacher friends!


After finishing up the school year, I got to help my mom chaperone her last Washington D.C. trip with a group of 8th graders. We visited NYC, D.C., and Philly. The kids had a blast, and I must say, I did too!
We got home (barely...thunderstorms made it a close call) and two days later, we flew to Colorado to be with my mom's family for the 4th of July. We got some good hang out time in, visited Rocky Mtn. National Park, and got to see fireworks over Lake Loveland on the 5th of July! Yep, they were canceled on the real holiday due to thunderstorms. Notice a theme? All in all, it was a GREAT visit. Just as I suspected, Jeremy LOVED Colorado and proposed that we move there immediately.
Upon arriving home, I started working at the migrant summer school in town. I got to work with 4th graders, which was a nice change. I LOVED my summer job and am really hoping that I can do it again next year.

At the end of July, one of my very best friends, Lindsey, finally married Ethan. She looked gorgeous, as always, and we all had the best time. At the rehearsal...
Getting dressed...
Me and Holly...don't think we got one of the three of us...
The Barskes...holding their name cards. Linds was freaked by seeing "Lindsey Barske" :)
And I had to throw this one in. Us with Ang and Sam and our new friends from England, Gareth and Jenny. These two were such a blast that Jer finally wants to visit England! Can't wait for that! We had such a great time dancing the night away. What a fun celebration!In August, Jeremy took his final class of A & P. He passed and started paramedic school in September. He also now works rescue shifts every third night at the fire dept.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary, but apparently forgot to take a single picture. We went out to dinner at Portland City Grill...awesome food and an amazing view of the city!

We attended yet another wedding of a high school friend, Grant. More fun was had on the dance floor.

For the life of me I cannot remember what else went down in August besides preparing for my first year as a classroom teacher. Lots of anxiety and stress over that one! Next, updates on the house and my first year teaching.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Life is good.

What a month May has been. It has been quite a roller-coaster and I just couldn't blog about it while going through it. Now that I've made it to the other side, I am able to look back on the past month with a little better perspective.

As most of you know, I spend the majority of my time substitute teaching at one of the middle schools in town. It also happens to be the middle school I attended, and my parents teach at. Both of my parents are retiring this year (which will probably be a blog post all on its own!). They are excited, and I am happy for them (mixed with sadness). The retirement of three teachers in the building meant the opening of positions in the building. I applied for the language arts/social studies/reading positions, and at the beginning of the month, learned that I would be interviewed May 5th.

The interview went well and I had support from the staff, but was told that I was not moving on in the process. This was quite the controversy and I won't go into details, but I will say that I wasn't the only one shocked and upset.

It turned out there had been some miscommunication and I was called the morning of the 12th to come in for a 2nd interview (and hour and a half later!). At that point, I really didn't expect that I would be getting a job, but a week later (the 19th, or last Wednesday), I was told by the principal that he was sending my name on to the Superintendent as recommendation for hire.

So, on Monday, I met with the Superintendent and was officially offered a part-time position teaching 6th grade CORE!! I am hopeful that there will be opportunity to add time to my day, but if not, I'm just happy to finally have my foot in the door.

I should add to this update that during this process I also quit my 2nd job at Pier 1. I wasn't happy there and I felt like I had been burning the candle at both ends for quite a while. Coincidentally, I put my 2 weeks in the same day of my first interview, and worked my last shift the same day I was offered the job. I am waiting to see if I got a position I have applied for for summer work, but either way, I am so happy to be done with retail!

So, that is the update on my situation. I am starting to plan for next fall already. I'm really excited to meet my students and start my dream job!

Fireman's Wife

Here's another post that is long overdue. I apologize!

It is finally official. Jeremy completed his probationary year as a volunteer firefighter with Newberg Fire Dept. last March. In April, he and the other former probies were officially sworn in as members. Here are some pictures of the event.

I got to pin his badge on him. :)
I am very proud of him. He has put in a lot of time and hard work. I am so excited to watch him reach his dream. Jer is currently pulling shifts every 6th night and working hard in paramedic school. He really his blowing me away. His stories are unbelievable. I can't imagine what it is like to be a first responder, but I am so thankful that we have the men and women that we do in Newberg. They are beyond dedicated to their job and the people in this town. We are lucky to have them!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Houston, we have a sidewalk!

This post is long overdue. So long in fact that I can't even remember when this actually took place. Back in April, I think. Oh well, what's important is that we finally have a completed sidewalk and approach to our driveway!! I am in love and super happy with the finished product. This was just another project where my handy husband could show off his talents. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Here's one last before...
Jeremy and Reese (a friend of ours, fellow fireman, and concrete installer!)


Ta-Da!Ooops! How did that one get in there? You're welcome.

And just because I was outside with the camera...an update on the house behind us (which is already outdated!) and a pic of the new window sign Jer had made for the company truck.
It took over a year to come to an agreement with our neighbor and the city. But the stars aligned and the project is finished. Now, if our tax return would just get here...we would get that front and side yard in!

So, this one time...

our furnace stopped working. We're not quite sure how long it had been. We realized we were making the "it's kinda cold in here!" comments more and more often. After a couple days of the temperature not raising above 62, the husband sprung to action. When something like this occurs, I usually stay far away in an effort to not add to the frustration and/or cursing. So, I was safely inside snuggled under a blanket (because our house was freezing in April), watching t.v. After a good half hour of him banging around in the garage, I hear, "I think I just figured out the problem!" He yelled for me to grab my camera. Reluctantly, I left the warm blanket behind and headed for the garage to see what could possibly need the attention of my camera. That's when I saw it.

When Jer had taken the last possible pipe apart, this is what he found.
So, he grabbed some gloves and pulled it out.And found that a bird had somehow managed to either fly or be sucked down the very small tube on our roof that takes in fresh air for the furnace. And that's where he met his fate and turned our house cold.It was the funniest/grossest/craziest outcome, but the moral of the story is our furnace is now working and we didn't have to pay a repairman to come out and see why!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Egg-citing Easter!

Thought I'd do a quick post with pictures from the Newberg Easter Egg Hunt that the fire dept. puts on every year. The egg hunt is set up at Jacquith Park which is right across the street from us, so I walked down to visit with Jeremy and take some pictures of the event.

Jeremy directing parents and kids on where to go.
Carson and Uncle Jeremy. Notice Carson has his own set of turnouts on :)Carson and Papa searching for eggs.McKenzie brought Hayden down...the boy we've babysat for since before he could talk and now he's 6!Another one of Carson and Uncle Jeremy in front of the ladder truck.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Ours was busy with church, lunch, and visiting Grandma Quinby, who happened to be celebrating a birthday on that day.

twenty-four

I celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday a week ago today. Actually, it was more of a birthday week. My actual birthday was uneventful as I had to work and Jer was at the fire station all night. I did celebrate with some cake and a bubble bath though, so I can't really complain! :)

Holly was in town for an extended weekend and we had a "girls night" with Linds; except for the fact that Jeremy crashed our dinner. We got cupcakes and rented a movie to celebrate all three of our birthdays.

I rounded out birthday week with family dinner at Chevy's. I got a yummy strawberry margarita and fish tacos....and we had more cake! ha! I've had enough cake to last me quite a while!

With birthday money in my pocket, I made a trip to Ikea with my friend Brittany. We recently purchased a really inexpensive side table at Fred Meyer and I was looking for a cute and inexpensive lamp to place on it. Mission accomplished!

Close up of the lamp shade with the light turned on...I also found the perfect curtains for our master. I'm planning a post on our bedroom updates, but for now, here's a sneak peak of our curtains...I have mixed feelings about turning 24. While I know it is by no means "old," I feel like there's no more messing around. My list of life goals to hit by the big 3-0 is becoming even more real. I REALLY hope to check off a big one on the list this spring/summer and finally get a full-time teaching job.

I've done a lot of reflecting in the last week on where my life is at and where I hope to be a year from now. I am very blessed to be married to my best friend and the most amazing man I know. We are fortunate to own two houses...one of which we are lucky enough to rent out and cover the mortgage payments. We own two vehicles. We have both found the professions that we feel called to do. Now, we just have to get those jobs! I'm really looking forward to the year ahead and knocking out some of those goals!