Labor Day Weekend/Kiersten's Bday

Well, it came & went with a wimper. We were so busy still unpacking that, unfortunately, we almost forgot it was her birthday weekend. She seemed to really like the cake & the Elmo & Big Bird toys that were on it. And of course, chocolate is her favorite flavor!
The house is starting to look like a home, and it has actually FELT like a home since we got here. We're so happy to be here! So looking forward to spending lots of time on our porch, watching leaves change color and getting Kiersten into the culture here. LOVE THIS AREA!!

What a week!

I am TIRED! We started the loading of boxes & "stuff" last Friday. Hard to believe today makes a week. We've been in the house since Sunday, and I've been working since Monday. Must say, it's wearing me down.
I have, at the moment, 3 85-minute classes. I start with 8th graders, have a 40 minute break that will become a duty next 9 weeks, then I have 2 classes back-to-back, 7th graders, then 6th graders. Then I have planning beginning at 1:45. Planning! I've not had a planning period in 3 years! It's nice! On September 14th, the regular schedule starts, and I'll have 6 40-minute classes, plus a reading class. Not sure what exactly I have to do in there, but it begins at 7:45.
Kiersten's birthday is Sunday. So hard to believe she's going to be 2. Seems like we just celebrated her first birthday! We're having her party tomorrow, complete with a Sesame Street cake. I'll hopefully remember to post about it Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. Looking forward to seeing mom. It'll be a while before she comes back up, so we're going to make the most of her time.
Off to class now!

Summer's ending...new life is beginning!

It's going to be an interesting year. Instead of getting a classroom ready and picking out a back-to-school outfit, we'll be moving boxes and setting up house. We've finally made an official decision to move to the Asheville area. While we don't have teaching jobs yet, we're going to be subbing full-time in Henderson County, and will also be offering our services as sub bus drivers for the county. It's going to take some creative budgeting, but I think we can do it. Hopefully we'll have a divine hand in helping us settle and find jobs within the year.
We went to Susan's house last weekend to begin our job-search. We thought it would serve us better to actually be IN Asheville to look around for available jobs and housing. We were offered positions as brass instructors at a local music school. While at the moment there is no pay, we'll be actively recruiting, and will hopefully pick up a few students to supplement whatever we make subbing. I've included the pic Susan took of us before we went to see the owner & the guitar teacher. We don't often get pics of just the 2 of us, so it was nice.
We'll be going back to Asheville/Fletcher next week to visit some houses properly, not just driving almost aimlessly as we did last week. Mom's going with us this time, since she'll have a stake in where we live. We're very lucky to have her joining us! Absolutely no way she'll live that far from her grandbaby!

Stuff

I'm slacking off again. Almost a month since the last blog. We've been pretty busy, celebrating our anniversary just a few days after Father's Day. Then we went for a week to Richard's dad's house to spend the 4th. Very nice. Got good & baked there! I'm going to include a pic of Kiersten on Papa's boat. It's the first time she's been on it since she was just under one year old. She LOVED it!
We then took care of my grandma (Abuela, or "Bella" to Kiersten) while mom & Elsa went to California to see Carmen & her family. It was interesting to watch her interact with Kiersten. They seemed to enjoy each other, except first thing in the morning, when Kiersten woke up. She wakes up grumpy, like me, and grandma is pretty loud all the time. So, when grandma would say good morning to her, it was pretty loud, and she didn't like that.
Today is Andrew's birthday - we'll be spending tomorrow with him, as he has to work all day today. He'll go out with his buds this evening. So hard to believe he's 25! Do I feel old! I'll get pics posted tomorrow or Saturday from our day at MB!

Father's Day & a bit of excitement

Unfortunately, we didn't have the large crowd for Richard's day that we did for Mother's Day. Luckily, it didn't mean less adoration for his 2nd celebration. The pics were taken at the end of the day, before we went home. We asked him to choose his menu for the day, and I think we went through 2 or 3 menu choices before it occurred to him that he'd love to have a Puerto Rican menu. No problem! We had arroz con garbanzos, pork roast, tostones and maduros. I finished it off by making quesitos with guava paste & cream cheese. Now for the culture lesson: quesitos are a PR dessert that we discovered at the Miami airport, and found again on the island. It's a puff pastry with cream cheese filling, and sometimes can have another filling (i.e., guava paste).
Later that night mom called to tell me that the across-the-street neighbor's car was on fire! Wow! The local FD took almost half an hour to respond! The nearby town of Hallsboro answered the call first, and because they were called after the 3rd try to the Lake Waccamaw FD was not answered, they didn't get there till 20 min. after it all started. Because the car was so close to the trailer, the siding melted & then the house caught fire! Luckily, it only got the front corner, and no one was staying in that room. Needless to say, we're a little wary now of the FD here & hope & pray that we don't need them late at night!!!

The Oreo - It's Instinctual!

Kiersten was given an Oreo this weekend as I was making an Oreo Eclair Cake, and this kept her little fingers out of my work. Next thing I know, Elsa asked if we'd taught her how to eat them, because there she was, pulling it apart and licking the cream! Richard & I hadn't eaten Oreos around her since she was too little to imitate us, probably around when she was maybe 3 mos old.

Goes to show....eating an Oreo seems to be an instinctual act, not to mention a messy one! lol.

One more milestone.....

Richard converted Kiersten's crib to a daybed a couple of days ago. So far, so good. She's not fallen out (yet!) and each morning, she greets daddy at either the side of her bed or the door. She LOVES climbing in and out (hence the foot stool close by).

She also can place her shapes into the proper slots on her Laugh n' Learn Playhouse (squares in a square slot, triangle in the triangle slot, etc). This one almost brought me to tears, as I first noticed it when she wasn't even looking. I asked Richard if he put it in there, and he said he hadn't touched it. It's like she's just putting them in there with no fanfare, as if it's just something else she does, and has no idea how cool that is. Of course, we had to show Abi as soon as she got here yesterday!

We're super excited around here lately. School will be out for the kids on Tuesday, and the teachers' last day is Friday. Then I'm home for another 2 months! I can finally spend more time with my little girl & hubby.