New beginnings...

We started this new adventure with a party at our vice principals house! He and his wife put on a party for his and her school and it was an awesome time! They had so much stuff for the kids so the adults could hang out. It was great getting to talk to my coworkers outside of the classroom. 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

This year marked my 10th year of teaching and Jack going to 1st grade. He was so excited to get back to his friends and to keep learning. He still loves school and we'll enjoy that as long as we can. 

School is going great for me. I'm working harder than I have ever before but I have amazing coworkers that make my job better. We all work as a team and are supportive of each other. I think this is going to be a great first year!

On the road and posting about it!

The Hinksons are on our last family vacation for the summer. 😥 We are heading to Dallas for 5 days and then our friends Kristin and Dan and their two kids are visiting from Nebraska. I'm so excited to see them! 

This is how the kiddos handle the trip and us too. We are down to one DVD player so it gets touchy sometimes! 

I will post more later now that I can update from my phone! So excited!

Let the wait begin...

As some of you may know I have been trying to get a job in NWA for the past few years so that I can be closer to home. I decided around January to add an elementary education license to my music Ed. license to open up more opportunities. I was supposed to complete an Arkansas History course and take a Praxis exam to add the additional license. I called the state dept. last Thurs. to ask when the deadline for test scores was and they informed me that my life will be put on hold.  The state dept. is in flux right now and is changing the certification to a k-6 instead of p-4. They haven't decided the Praxis exam they want to count for that license and they will decide around August or Sept.  That means I will not be licensed by the fall and most likely will not get a job again. The demand for a job in NWA is high and they are not going to jump through all the education hoops to have me as a teacher.

In other news, Jack is learning so much with his new baseball team. He is realizing that he is not the best at something and that he has to work hard.

Nolan is being Nolan and we are trying to learn what his grunts and  screams mean. He does not like the inability to communicate with us and frankly neither do we. He is almost running now and has learned how to take small steps on a staircase on his own. At 16 mo. he can say the following: mama, dada, Jack, awesome, bye-bye, uh-oh, whoa, and he can roar like a bear.  He is a ladies man and a southern gentlemen. He has to say bye to everyone at the daycare when we leave and he blows kisses to certain people. He has a young southern lady who watches him in the afternoon and he has picked up on her accent. He has the most drawn out byes. I'll try to video it and post it.

Now or never....

Well, I'm back for those who follow....crickets.  Yes.  Anyway, I really want to keep a journal of some type to document how our life is going and our feelings and all that and this seems to be the only way.  I see the last time I was on here was when I went back to maternity leave so I'll catch up quickly.

Nolan is now 15 months old and was the perfect baby for the first year..haha!  I swear there is colic for older babies because he has it.  I think a little bit can be attributed to the fact that he got almost all of his teeth over Christmas break and that we probably have a little bit of a communication issue going on.  He is one stubborn and hard headed child...I know, I don't know who he could have gotten that from.  Anyway, we are plugging along with him and trying to teach him how to talk really fast.

He did have his first bang up job the other day.  I have always said that the fact that this kid does not listen when I say "no" that he is going to get himself in trouble.  Well, I was right in the bad way... We were outside and I was doing yard work and the boys were playing in the back of JR's truck.  Jack had gotten out and Nolan stayed in and was just exploring the cab.  All the sudden I look up and he is climbing on the tire cover and as I'm yelling "no" and "stop" he, of course, doesn't listen and continues to head dive over the side.  He landed on his head on the concrete driveway and I about flipped out!  Luckily, I am pretty calm in those kind of situations and I got him and put ice packs in the appropriate places and gave him ice water because he had bitten his tongue as well, twice.  I watched for symptoms of a head injury and he was sleepy but only took a short nap.  The next day he woke up with a bounce in his step like nothing happened.

Jack is doing fantastic.  He turned 6 on March 5th and I still can't get it in my head that he is a 6 year old!  We just finished up his first season of basketball and are going to begin baseball next week! JR and I both like baseball the best and can't wait to see how he does with coach pitched baseball.  He is picking up on JR and I's sarcastic humor and has become quite the little smarty pants.  We are teaching him when it is appropriate and not to be a smart mouth. 

That is enough catch-up for now.  I will post pics and such later!