Thankful for Thanksgiving

It's been a full November with this new job, new sports, schoolwork, and travel.  I just finished my last day of November classes for my first month of this job.  I was able to teach 61 this month and hopefully more like 80-100 next month!  It's been exciting, fun, tiring, and interesting so far and I'm still falling a bit behind on some of the things I typically need/want to do.  That made it all the more nice to go out of town for Thanksgiving and put most of our usual cares behind us.  The kids loved spending time with their extended family as always and so did I.  Our day at Grandmama's was a little off without her laughter echoing all over the house, but we had lots of fun, lots of good eating, and lots of laughter ourselves.  Our 2nd dress-up Turkey Trot (which Gray dubbed "The Mayflower") was a success and the costumes did not disappoint.  The other hits of the day, besides the delicious food, were football and the golf cart.  Nothing like a gorgeous day spent outside in the country!  The golf cart was the stuff of our dreams as kids.  Each of us (then 5) cousins loved driving it with Granddaddy or Grandmama.  We were remembering how the grands would say "WHOMP!" when we'd fly over the ditches in the yard and how one of us drove underneath the big swing one time.  Such adventures that I'm thankful the next generation is now enjoying!

I got to end the Thanksgiving celebration with a trip with Daddy to see NC State play.  Here he is taking good care of his game day outfit as we eat in the car on the way.  Fun game, especially since we pulled out a win over UNC!

As we head into December, we have thankfully (and FINALLY, according to Julia) gotten out some Christmas decorations and it's starting to feel festive.  I'm debating on how many family things to plan this year.  It's not as easy as when the kids were little and home all day, but we still try to do a daily devotion (which honestly always starts out daily the first week and then it gets a little spotty after that) and some other traditions, like Christmas cookies, some service activities, St. Nicholas Day celebration, etc.  Gotta get to planning!  With my early mornings, I'm in bed too early to do much of anything at night and afternoons have been full of mostly helping Gray catch up on his schoolwork (which is one of my most difficult jobs as a parent actually...anyone want to take over?!  No? Well I guess I'll carry on then.  :).  Thank goodness for naptime!  Speaking of which, I've got two hours and lots to accomplish, so that will have to be the end of this update.  Have a great weekend!

I'm Fine, Fine, Fine.

It's been awhile since I posted and that's pretty much all due to my new side job, where I've been getting up between 3 to 5 every morning to teach...can't even believe how heavenly it feels to sleep till 5 now!  It's going great so far.  I'm actually happy to get up, put on some makeup so I look professional and not bedraggled, wander over to my corner in the study and see some cute Chinese children each morning.  And then I go and get up my own little Chinese pumpkin, which is just so funny feeling after being "in the homes" of Chinese families in China.  Anyway, it's working out and I'm doing fine so far, though probably will cut back a bit once I get some regular kids.  I'm often doing trial classes now, which is easy because it's the same lesson each time so not any preparation, but you do get a little tired of singing "I'm fine, fine, fine" and "BIG B, small B", etc.  It's fun to have a different lesson thrown in for variety.  I've gotten mostly little kids.  One little girl was probably 3 and looked just like Allie.  I taught half the class to the back of her chair because she had been sitting on her dad's lap and when he got up, she wasn't tall enough for her face to be in the camera's range.  She kept right on imitating my words though!  Such a cutie.  I feel like I'm getting better at it as I go and have been taking some workshops to help with my skills too.  So in short, I have had no free time anymore and I'm in one of those stages where I think, "How did I ever read a novel?!" and I fall behind in keeping up with friends, housecleaning, and many other things.  But I'm thankful for this job and hopeful that it's going to be a great fit long term.

In other news, Matt continues to enjoy his new job and get trained.  He's heading back to his old floor for some overtime shifts as well these days.  It's a good thing, but a hard thing that we both have jobs where we can basically choose how much we want to work.  Hard to know where the best balance is between providing financially for our family and giving our time to our family.

Joshua had an exciting week, as he did ultimate frisbee tryouts Mon-Wed and made the team.  His first middle school sport of, he hopes, many.  He'll practice 4 days a week and have about 10 games thrown in there.  He'll ride a bus to the away games.  It's all so grown up and official!!  I'm excited to see him in action.

And we'll be getting A LOT of chances to watch action around here over the next few months because the boys are back in the saddle again with basketball.  We just kicked our very little outside activities lifestyle into high gear, people.  Somehow I'm hoping the crazy calendar falls into place and we get more out of it than it gets out of us!

Pics from the last 2 weeks:

Props for my job--Walmart Halloween clearance

Allie the Pug

Julia's teacher suggested she have a playdate with her best friend in the class Karen.  Apparently no matter where she seats them, these two find a way to socialize!

This was Gray's doing.  Allie in the doll stroller.

Playdate with neighbor Caleb!

Celebrating Nanny's Birthday

Somebody loved the ice cream.  She later ate a bit of celery dipped in ice cream.  

Kid end of the table

Loved seeing the kids pair up and play while we waited for food.

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

6th grade contingent.

Sunday morning pic request for Joshua's google profile.  :)

Julia had to get in there too.

Back to Nanny's bday dinner.  Gorgeous tree to get you int he holiday spirit...though I feel like we just finished up summer.

Allie loving life at preschool.

Trying to keep the restless natives busy on these dark nights.

Thursday's mission: put together and freeze our Thanksgiving casseroles.  Allie and I succeeded! 

Such a busy week that she fell asleep while I had run in the other room to type this!  And now I need to follow her lead!!  Seven classes to teach in the morning starting at 3am. 

Reflections on a CrAzY week. Whew.

Let's back up to last Thursday.  I am always thinking ahead to what the future holds and specifically how I can help with the finances at different stages of life.  Matt works so hard but clearly it takes a lot of money to raise 4 kids, pay off hospital bills, save for college and retirement, etc.  And we don't even do much in the way of vacations and extras.  So maybe one day I will be able to get a full time job or even take some classes and start a new career.  But lately I've been thinking how much I love my preschool gig and how I wish I could just keep on doing that and still find a way to help with more $ making.  (Hence the selling off of the baby stuff, which turned out pretty well.)  Ding, ding, ding.  Cue two facebook posts within a couple days about this company VIPKID that lets you make good money working from home at odd hours teaching ESL to Chinese kids.  Saw the second one Thursday, investigated, and could not sleep thinking about how I should probably getting started trying to interview for it, and all that would entail.

So for the last week, I have been up at all hours preparing, thinking, stressing, interviewing, and seeing more and more each day how this job seems to be just the ticket for me.  It's a little like the autistic therapy I used to do.  You have to use very precise phonics which I already was trained in (e.g. "B says bbb, not buh; T says ttt not tuh") and it's totally ingrained in my thinking.  Also like the ABA in that you are one-on-one with a kid that is learning to speak English and you use very specific, limited phrases (not a lot of explaining or chit chat) and lots of encouragement.  It's also a little like teaching preschool because it's basic stuff and you have to make it fun and most of the kids I'll teach at first are 5ish.  And it's a little like life with Allie, not because she's Chinese- though that's pretty cool to get to connect with families in her birth culture, but because she's a toddler...another little human learning to talk.  I'm always trying to teach her words, encourage her when she uses the correct ones, get her to go a step further and use a whole sentence.  Anyway, this job seems well suited for me, though I am definitely nervous to start and looking forward to the point where I am just comfortable with all the ins and outs of it.  Finally heard I was hired on Thursday and theoretically I can be booked to teach any day now, though I am hoping to start slow, as I'm still trying to set up my teaching space, gather props, get organized.

So that craziness was happening all week.  Not much sleeping, filling up my free time, etc.  Add to that teacher conferences for Julia and Gray on the teacher workday Monday (the highlight for both--their teachers like them and want to help them with their focus/organization issues!) , Gray's return from Boston at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, Halloween Tuesday, Fall Festival at work Wednesday, Kids' Night Out Friday, and whew--not much time to breathe!!

Gray had a great time in Boston but seriously struggled to recover this week.  So tired, such a tough transition back to real life where unfinished, late projects are abounding in his world.  It's been rough.

Halloween was...trying to think of the best way to describe it...and I can't sum up in a word.  So I'll tell stories.  It's 4:30 pm.  Matt's at the store, I'm getting dinner ready, setting up candy to give out, locating costume parts for Allie, trying to get Gray to finish his homework and stop playing trains for goodness sake!!!! and Joshua announces that his costume that he wore Saturday night and did not like, did in fact need to go.  He rummages around awhile and shows me himself with black clothes, a mask, and weapons, and declares he will be a murderer.  Um.  ?????  No, my sweet, mild-mannered boy that still likes me to sing Jesus Loves Me at night, you will not.  Not happening.  He's fine with that but can't find anything else that suits him.  Matt returns and I put him on helping Joshua so I can deal with getting the other 3 ready and fed.  At about 5, they declare Joshua will be a ketchup bottle and they just need red construction paper and red paint.  Which of course we do not have enough to cover a human, but no problem- they will go to the store.  Sure, the neighborhood closes the streets in less than 30 minutes and Joshua's due to be on the other side of the hood, dressed and fed supper, by 6.  So I proceeded to stress, while taking looks out the window to find sawing, drilling, painting going on.  Oh my.  I get the 3 younger kids fed and about 5:45 am trying to get Matt and Joshua to eat because it's time to go!!  The ketchup bottle isn't complete but just a couple more minutes.  I get the girls dressed and put Julia on candy duty because of course there area trick-or-treaters already.

I checked on her once and she declared she had 3 "customers" and wants more.  :)  I just want one cute picture of my kids in their costumes but Gray now cannot find his Darth Vader mask and there's still drilling going on for the ketchup bottle.  Somehow, somehow, it all comes together and I get my picture, Joshua with a big swipe of red paint on his leg and me holding my breath that Allie in all white would not touch the still wet ketchup bottle!

Then we get ready to head our separate ways.  Matt drops Joshua off with his friends, who are going trick-or-treating sans parents this year.  Gray and Matt go to our neighbors and trick-or-treat with some boys and dads.  The girls and I set out to meet Robyn and her younger 3 kids.  I put Allie in our beloved jogging stroller and find one wheel is busted.  :( :( So I carry her down to Robyn's so she can ride with Caleb in the wagon.  Let the trick-or-treating begin!!

The faces of Halloween excitement.  Ha.  Don't let those expressions fool you.

I love this pic.  Reminds me of me and Robyn... I rely on her so much.

Allie just wanted to head on into Nanny's house as soon as Pa opened the door.  :)

Joshua declared it the best Halloween.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly and all had a good time, but it was kind of sad for me.  The end of family trick-or-treating.  All going our separate ways and not getting to hear about each other's night until the next day.  At this point, there hadn't even been time to hear about Gray's Boston trip, so I was feeling pretty disconnected.  But it was very fun to watch our little group of kids loving the night.  The big girls chatting away and running up to houses.  Caleb and Allie having none of our plans to let them out every couple of houses.  :)  After one house, they knew the drill and when they saw the big girls go, they started grabbing their bags and climbing out of the wagon.  At the doors, Allie would say nothing, give no facial expression, but just grab the candy.  Game on.  I let her eat some gummy bears and she has not stopped asking for her bucket or talking about "canny" since then.  She sat in her bed for 2 hours, till almost 10 Halloween night, just talking away.  Sooo much excitement.

And then there was Wednesday, where we finally got to sit down to a slower family dinner and hear everyone's updates on Boston, Halloween, etc.  The rest of the week went smoothly too and now we face a weekend with Matt home and not much that we really "have" to go to.  I do need to ask for your prayers for my dear friend Lisa, who has had a very tough week with neuro-muscular issues that are stumping the doctors.  Lots of tests being run and she will probably be in the hospital all week, if not longer, as they try to figure out what is causing it and how to get her back good as new.  Scary stuff.  Thank you for your prayers.  And have a great weekend!