Quick update

I haven't had much time to post in the last few weeks. Starting school with a new job, and new schools for the girls, has made us all a bit crazed. My parents are a huge help. My dad and mom take the girls to school for me in the morning, and I pick them up after school. For those of you who don't know, I'm working a .5 job. I work from 8:30 to noon. It is awesome! I can run errands or do my homework after school. Sometimes I've just collapsed on a chair and zoned out to the boob tube. :)

J is doing awesome in school. She's made a really good friend, and is doing well with her school work. F is having difficulty with the new grade, new school, new friends. She is struggling with her academics. We work hard on her reading every evening after dinner. It feels like an uphill battle. I sure pray that we can get her caught up.

So far things are running fairly smoothly down here in Phoenix. (aside from my dog) We have a routine down. After school, we hop in the pool to cool down, then my dad makes dinner. After dinner, we do our homework. F and I usually do this until bed time. Jamie will zip through hers, sometimes with help from Papa, and then maybe get an hour or half an hour watching TV or the computer. It is a nice routine. We'll have to think of something different to do when it gets too cool to swim.

Joe is still up in Idaho by himself. He's awefully lonely. He leaves for The Netherlands at the end of September. He will be there until the end of March. He may get to come home for Christmas, we hope. At least he won't be at home by himself for as long as previously thought. We was maybe going to be over there for 4 months, and then at home for the rest of the time. That would have been too lonely for him.

I'll try to post pictures later. Maybe I'll try a slide show! :)

Good Bye, Maggie, My Sweet Dog

Maggie, my dog of only three years, is gone. She had cancer in her spleen. She seemed fine until last Friday. She's been acting off for the last few months, but we just thought it was because she was getting old. (She was 9) She went down hill fast today. So my sister took Maggie to her vet. They did xrays and saw a tumor. When they brought Maggie into the exam room, she was on a table, but she still managed to wag her tail when she was me. She was such a good dog. I'm going to miss her very much.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I haven't had a chance to post much since I had to report to school. Busy, Busy, Busy! I have three students, and am working part time. That is awesome!!!!!!!!! I've had fun planning for them too because they are all very close in ability. Fun, Fun, Fun! Since they are in my room all day, and we're working on periods, I planned an OT period, PT period, and an art/cooking/speech and language period. The OT, PT and SLP are excited to work with me on this plan. :)

The girls are doing great with school. They've gone two days. They were a little bored, but are making some friends, so all is well. :)

Oh, gotta go! I have to go read with Faith. I'll post pictures later. :)

Relaxing weekend away!

Joe and I took a relaxing weekend away, just the two of us. :) It was so wonderful. We went to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort. It was so relaxing and wonderful. We got there Friday night and at dinner at one of their restraunts. YUMMY! Saturday I had a pedicure. This entitled us to use their spa all day. They have an awesome pool the roof of the spa. No kids are allowed up there, so it is quiet and peaceful. It is probably more peaceful in the winter when all of the airconditioners aren't running. We watched the sun set up there, and then sat and enjoyed the evening air. It was very romantic. We are going to do this again for sure! :)

New School District Grattitudes!

1. A lot of what I got critisized for at my last school, this school embraces!
a. Inclusion as much as possible.
b. Academic focus until the student goes to the after high school program! HELLO! I tried to do that with my students. If there was a chance they could learn to read, then I was trying very hard to teach them to read. Certain very influential people though I should just be working on social skills and life skills with these students, and not academics. This was one of my biggest "head butting" things. Social skills and life skills can be taught in every grade, but if a student has a chance to learn to read, then I'm going to take that change and run with it! High expectations are a good thing.
c. Para's in this district actually get training that they can use! They have supervisors at District who take care of them. They aren't under the sole guidence of one special ed teacher in the school. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!! If the para needs training on something, then the district person will take care of it. Thank goodness!
d. We don't have to do all of the work for billing for medicaid! And they don't do any academic, or specialist traing (speech, OT, PT) billing outside of the therapy room. That cuts a lot of money from their budget, but also a lot of work for me!
e. They use a really cool software program that actually communicates with Power school. This means if someone's address changes, or their phone number, it will change in our program as well. That is totally cool!

That is totally cool! I'm excited to be working with this district. Seems really great so far! And while I was sitting there listening to all of their values that were mine last year, I felt so good. I felt validated that I'm a good teacher and that all of the poeple who disagreed were wrong. Or at least just don't have the same values as me. :)

I'm going to go to my school tomorrow and meet my principal, and anyone else who is there. I will get my lap top! Wahoo! I get one to work on IEPs. We get to take them to meetings too to makes changes on the IEPs and take notes. Isn't that neat? :)

Happy Birthday Joe, Jamie, Faith, and Gavin!

We had a mass birthday party this evening at my mom's house! Joe, Jamie, and Faith just had their birthdays. And Gavin, my super cute nephew, is about to have his birthday. So we had one big party! It was fun. It is so nice to see all of my family. We filled up the table, and that is with two of my siblings and their spouses missing. When we're all together, we have to put kids in the kitchen at the kitchen table.

I'm so glad I'm going to be here for all of the birthdays from now until May. :) And all of the Sunday dinners, and all of the holidays. :)

I got a job!

I got a half time job at Desert Sage Elementary in North Glendale. I am going to be working with the very special ed again. Basically what I do up here, but I will only be half time! That is awesome because I will have more time to spend with the girls. :) And I'll have more time to work on my Master's. I have to do an Electronic Portfolio, and a research paper this school year, so I'll have a lot to do! It is nice to go to Phoenix all set up and ready to go. :)