Fall is one of my favorite seasons! I love the leaves changing colors, the brisk temperatures bringing jeans back to the center of a wardrobe, and the coziness that comes with going back to school and getting into routine after a crazy summer. This is what our routine is shaping up to look like this year...
Jeff
Jeff is in his 4th year of teaching at Rogers HS and is beginning his 4th different teaching assignment! :) This year he's teaching all geometry--a couple regular geometry classes and three classes of honors geometry. I thought he'd get bored having the same class every hour, but he really likes it! He's really getting into being the nerdy math teacher--buying books entitled, "Here's Looking at Euclid" and singing songs on his guitar about the quadratic equation and such... The kids and I got to stop by his classroom the other day and we loved seeing him interact with his kids. It is impossible to see him at work and not know that God has called him to this specific teaching assignment. :) He's just finished coaching girls soccer again this fall, and we were excited to catch a few games before the weather turned too chilly...
Ellie
I am getting the best of both worlds again this year by working part-time! After working full time last year at LMS as a math teacher, I am now back at LSE job-sharing with my good friend, Melissa, in a 4/5 multi-age classroom! It's a dream! We decided to split up the schedule without rotating Wednesdays...so my schedule up until February is working Thursdays and Fridays and then I'll switch in the spring to Mon-Wed. So the kids and I are really having fun on our days off together. Most of the time we stay home and get the everyday things done--laundry, dishes, naps, baths, picking up toys, etc.--but each week we find fun outings to go on. Sometimes we meet up with the Van Sickles and Edmondsons, other times we see grandparents or run errands. After staying home I always think that I could do this everyday, but then I go to work and think I could do THAT everyday. Confirmation that this is the perfect fit for us right now!
Grace and Josh
The kids love all their days--weekend days with Mom AND Dad, stay-home days with Mom, and "Grandma" Dianne days with, yes, their amazing babysitter, Dianne. Dianne is the mom of one of my co-workers who also watches little Brooklyn, my co-worker's daughter. Brooklyn and Gracie are only 3 days apart in age, so they get along--and work on sharing! :)--really well. Brooklyn is trying to teach Gracie how to go potty on the "big potty" and to go down the slide (both of which Gracie resists at this time!) and Gracie yacks Brooklyn's ear off playing all sorts of pretend. They are quite the pair. I think Joshy just observes the whole thing. :) Josh is working on SLEEPING right now--it seems that he does NOT want to miss out on anything, so he just likes to take catnaps. In the last week he's found a whole new world...now that he's SITTING. And, when he can get a word in edgewise, he's beginning to talk: "Da-da-da-da-da" is his favorite and he loves to blow bubbles with his lips.
We are blessed beyond measure!
