So...Its been a while...

It was brought to my attention by a certain sister of mine who has issues updating her blog and lives out of the country (therefore the blog being my only way of keeping up with her) that I have not updated my blog in a while.

Really wasn't a surprise to me...Life has been one big carnival ride since August.  Let me catch you up a little bit (although I know a lot of you already know most of this):

August:  We started August with a Richardson Family vacation.  My parents, grandparents, both sisters and their husbands, and all 8 grandkids descended upon a lake house on Lake Brownwood. We had no cell service and is probably one of my favorite vacations ever.  We played games, talked, cooked, did crafts with the kids, fished, bonded, loved, and even snuck in a little daddy daughter lunch date with us 3 girls and my dad.  We were sad that it had to end.  

September:  The end of August and beginning of September started our school year for the girls.  Mary Kate started in 3rd grade and Brianna started full day Pre-k.  They both loved it and loved their teachers!   September also brought Mike's last (hopefully) year of his Master's Degree.  In order to help pay tuition and gas expenses commuting from Rotan, I started working as a substitute teacher in a nearby town.  I was fortunate enough to be assigned quickly to a one week long term sub position in 5th grade and then to a one month long term sub position in 4th grade.

October:  The end of the month brought the resignation of the teacher that I was subbing for for the one month position.  It was not entirely unexpected.  I was told that if I could get certified before the next board meeting then they would vote on my contract...oh and the next board meeting was mid November.  I frantically registered for the EC-6 Generalist Teachers test and an Alternative Certification Program.

November:  On Saturday Nov. 2nd I took the teachers test on about a weeks notice.  On Tuesday the 5th I found out I passed the test and on Friday Nov 15th I signed my first teaching contract.  It was definitely not what we had planned for the year but it has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling opportunities I have had the pleasure of having.  I never imagined myself as a working mom, and yet now I can't imagine myself not teaching.  I try not to think about how dumb I was when I decided to change my major a semester before graduating college and didn't do my student teaching.  Never make major life decisions when you are 20!! I wish someone had told me how stupid I was being and made me finish my degree in teaching then when I was literally student teaching away from being certified.  Not that I would have listened.  But anyways, I digress.   The week before Thanksgiving brought the Nutcracker and my two little ballerinas were in it.  MK was a mouse and Bria was an angel.  They did an amazing job and we enjoyed ever second of it.  We were also glad when it was over as we had a lot of rehersals!!!

December:  December brought snow and ice early.  We had an unseasonably cold winter this year as did the rest of the country.  We celebrated Christmas at our house this year and enjoyed having our own traditions.  It was a relaxing day.  My parents came out and celebrated with us and helped us eat a fabulous dinner.

January:  January brought big changes to our household.  After much prayer and consideration, we decided to move the girls to the school I am working at.  It is a bigger school with more opportunities for GT instruction for MK and also it is a lot more convenient for me especially with Mike out at school every monday.  This also meant that the girls changed ballet schools and now go to one in the same city I work in.  We absolutely love Ballet Abilene and miss it dearly but I am thankful that we can have the girls in a ballet program.    As a BONUS!!! at the beginning of January we found out that Mike passed his fall semester of Hebrew and was only one semester of Hebrew away from graduating!!

February:  The end of January MK finished as the runner up in the 3rd grade spelling bee (2nd out of 36 in the spelling bee, but out of 230 3rd graders in the school), so in February, on Valentine's Day, we went and watched her compete in the Regional Spelling Bee against 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  She did quite well and finished 6th ahead of many of the Junior High kids!  We were so proud and she is already planning her trip to the National Spelling Bee next year!!  February also brought the move of my parents.  They were called as the Pastor of Northwest Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio Texas.  It was very sad to see them go after living near them for the past 4 years.  We have cherished that time to be so close and can't express how much we miss them!! However, we know God has big plans for them in San Antonio and they are so excited for a fresh start and a new house and a new church and the "Big City"!!

March:  This month has been so busy already even though we are only 10 days in.  It started with my Principal calling me into the office and asking me to take a position next year teaching 5th grade Math.  This is a great opportunity and I am so excited.  The move was based on my out of the box teaching strategies and how well she has seen me do.  This was a major boost of confidence for me as I sometimes still doubt myself and my effectiveness as a teacher.  This week is Spring Break and I haven't been so happy for it since college!  That is also why I have time to type up this lovely post.  We are relaxing in San Antonio with my mom and doing all the touristy stuff like visiting the local Emergency ROom...what?  Wait....you don't normally do that as a tourist...well let me tell you, the Emergency Department at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital Westover Hills is phenomenal.  Trust me...we saw them all as they all came in to try to figure out what the rash that was consuming my daughters body was.  They didn't figure it out but they ruled out all the bad stuff and we still thought they did a great job.  We will head to Austin tomorrow or Wednesday and visit Kim before heading back to Rotan and Mike who is missing us!!

Well...I would love to say that I will update this again in a couple days or regularly for the rest of the year, but I can't.  Truth is I don't know when I will update it.  I have about a million blog post running around in my head, but no time to blog it.   I hope that I will have time this summer to catch everyone up again, and who knows, maybe I will surprise us all and post something before summer...stranger things have happened!!! And Shonda....You now owe me a blog post!