Sorry that it's been a while since I've updated our blog. It's getting harder and harder to find time to do that!
After a summer of doing pretty much nothing, our family is already wishing it was summer break again! School started up for me on August 13. I am once again teaching 5th grade and am looking forward to a great year, particularly after the craziness of last year (with maternity leave, a long-term sub, combo class, class being split, etc.) As of yesterday, I am glad to have 34 students, though it is nothing like the 20-student limit in primary grades. A new 4th/5th combo class will start this Tuesday. Since I'm so close to the limit (35), new students will now be put in that class. Also new this year, my grade level partner, David, and I were given permission to do a "block schedule" this year. That means we'll be team teaching this year. David will teach all of our 5th graders Math and Science, and I will teach them Language Arts and Social Studies. We'll do P.E. together, but we'll teach our own Writing. I'm so excited because it should cut down on the amount of planning required! Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. I'm also coaching volleyball this year, and so immediately after school, I'm rushing off to the courts. There hasn't been any time for me to get any prep work done after school... So, already I feel like I'm constantly trying to catch up.
Jason started school on Aug. 18. In addition to his usual 8th grade History classes, he gets to teach
International Baccalaureate,
classes this year. (It'll take me too long to describe what I.B. is, so if you're curious, click on the link for more info.) He's excited about that, because the kids who typically take those classes are higher level thinkers who try to reach higher expectations. He can do more with them, actually "teach" rather than disciplining all the time. Jason is once again coaching volleyball after school. He had 50 kids show up to tryouts! It's taken awhile, but he's finally chosen his team of 12.
Both of us have to rush after practice to go pick up our kids! This year, they're going to 2 different places. Gracie is in preschool! She's going to Shining Star Preschool at Northwest Church 5 days a week. We felt that she needed more than what home care daycare was providing. Now, she gets to participate in circle time, do centers, crafts, story time, etc. She is loving it! I could only get a picture of one of her teachers (Miss Elaine), and this other girl would not move- I have no idea who she is.
Jeremy is at a new home daycare this year. One of the things that drew us to this place is that in addition to Mona (the owner), she has other people working for her so there won't be times when the daycare has to close at the last minute due to illness. They love him- what's not to love- he's so content and easy-going... until he's hungry! Jeremy is no longer army-crawling. It's "normal" crawling now. He's super fast and gets into everything. He's been able to pull himself up on things for a while now, but he's getting braver, letting go and able to just stand. Grace started walking at 11 months. Jeremy's almost there- so who knows... he might start walking really soon!
Grace and her new bike (It was really hard for her at first, but now she's a pro! She and Jason are able to go on long bike rides around the block now)
Jeremy got his first big ouchie last week. He fell against the glass patio door (slider) at daycare. We're sure it's the first of many, many more ouchies to come! After all, we do call him, "Bear!"
On Saturday, we went to our first Zoofari at the Fresno Zoo! We didn't know what to expect... really long waiting lines to get small samples of ice cream? It wasn't like that at all! The longest line we were in had 4 people ahead of us. We enjoyed eating A LOT of ice cream. Grace definitely ate more than her share, and her favorite was the Cranebow Sherbet (Rainbow Sherbet)! Jason and I both agree that our favorite of the night was the Strawberry Peccary (Strawberry Lemonade). Yum! Poor Jeremy- he didn't get any of it. Luckily, he doesn't know yet what he missed out on. The night did end with us waiting in a long line- for face painting (actually, arm painting). There were tons of choices- giraffe, elephant, seal, monkey, etc... What'd our daughter proudly walk away with? An octopus- a bright yellow one at that!
My sister has been away teaching in Taiwan these past 2 years, but luckily, we've been able to see her every summer in Edmonton. This year, before settling back into life in Canada, we convinced her to come to Fresno for a visit. How she agreed, I don't know, between the crazy heat (triple digits!), and the fact that I put her to work in my classroom almost half the time she was here... Thanks to Grandma, we were able to visit San Francisco without the kids. If they had been with us, we wouldn't have been able to do as much as we did. Even though we've been to San Francisco many, many times, there is still so much we have yet to discover about that city! Here's a quick summary: We stayed about a block from Chinatown, walked along the bay at Crissy Field, saw the Cool Globes on display (totally neat), unexpectedly came across Fort Point, explored Haight-Ashbury area (Jason wanted to revisit Cha Cha Cha, which is located in that area so we ate dinner there- not as great as we remembered), walked through Chinatown to get to North Beach where we listened to live music at Cafe Trieste (don't go there), rode a packed streetcar to get to the Ferry Building which we really enjoyed exploring, walked around Fisherman's Wharf, visited Pier 39, saw the sea lions, ate lunch at Cafe Boudin, had dessert at Ghirardelli Square, and lastly, waited 45 min. to ride a cable car. It was a lot of fun! Thanks, Sarah, for coming to visit us! (Unfortunately, most of our week's pics are still on my sister's camera, but I have posted a few more in our Photo Album). 