Pray!

Last time I posted was 6 months ago. A whole lot has happened since then. Read on. Warning: it may get a little long. 6 months is a lot of time for a lot of things to happen. Kudos to you if you read all the way to the end.

First and most important, this little cutie joined our family 2 weeks earlier than planned, on January 30 at 6:22 am.  She weighed 7lbs, my biggest baby so far. She came with a full head of hair and is C's mini-me. She absolutely loves her sisters and has eyes for her daddy.  That picture is part of daddy's father's day gift where we wrote why we love daddy so much. Tomorrow she will be 5 months. She's rolling and talking, giggling, and gaining so much personality.  Seriously, she's my happiest baby. She makes me heart rejoice every single day. And seriously, those thighs! those knee wrinkles! I have another baby who has the most beautiful brown eyes that will get her anything she wants when she looks right at me.

Then in April, this happened (though in April it was just foundation; this is picture from end of May, early June):

Here's an updated picture from just a few days ago with awful lighting.  We only really visit our house in the evenings when people aren't working so as not to interrupt what they are doing. It's really a gray color, not tan like it looks in the picture.

We've been given a tentative final walk-through date of August 2nd, then we can move in around the 7th. Pray that it's sooner than that! Seriously, pray. Why? Because my bro-in-law had zero faith in our builders and didn't think we would be done in 4 months from April (which is what we were told) because his house that he was building was taking for-ev-er to build.  So, he made a deal with us that if we were done by August 6th (I swear it was August 9th, but he says the 6th) he'd take our whole family to Sizzler. C LOVES Sizzler!  He's now watching for Sizzler coupons and kicking himself for making that bet. But, he's a betting man and can't help it! Haha! So, we have been given Aug. 2 as our date, but let's just make it earlier so we're for sure done by his date and we can get that steak dinner, ok? OK! :-) My mouth is already watering.

In May this little girl graduated from Kindergarten:

That's her last day of school.  If you look reeaaaaallllll close, you can see her two front teeth are missing. To say that she loved Kindergarten would be an understatement. She cried on days when she couldn't go because of illness, or when Kindergarteners didn't have school for testing or other reasons. She is also so.freaking.excited to go to first grade, and I'm just not quite sure how I feel about that. BUT, like it or not, it will happen.  She'll be in first grade, in Spanish Dual Immersion with the same teacher she had in Kindergarten.  Mrs. Y. is moving on up to first grade to teach the Spanish part of Dual Immersion. We're so excited for C and she's stoked to learn Spanish. I'm beyond proud of what she accomplished this year, especially because she came to Kindergarten not wanting to read on her own (she loves being read to) and now she tries reading most things. I just love her!

Now, these next pictures I'm posting are for a little bittersweet remembrance. Sorry, the lighting was not great.

This happened on the last day of school, but I actually made the decision way back in March. So, this day loomed for 2 months, 2 very long months. After 10 years of teaching, I chose to not come back to teaching next year. *sigh* There. I said it. Seriously it was one of the HARDEST decisions I've ever made. When you work at a place like Timpanogos Elementary, what seems like a simple decision becomes an extensive internal battle accompanied by lots of prayer, thinking, debating, conversing with your spouse, wondering, deciding, changing your mind, changing your mind again and weighing the pros and cons, and so much more.  I couldn't ask for better people to work with. Not when I taught first grade and not when I taught second grade. Timpanogos peeps are my 2nd family.  We've gone through a lot together. We've cheered and cried, stressed and rejoiced, stayed more late nights than we wanted, and come very early in the morning more than we would like. That place will forever be my 2nd home. Even my principal said there will always be a place for me there. I cried when I told her my decision. It hasn't set in yet, because ya know, summer.  Every teacher has summer, but boy oh boy when August rolls around I might just be an emotional wreck.  My first born will be going to Timpanogos for 1st grade, and I won't be walking through those doors with her trying to shake of first day nerves. It will be different, but in the end, I feel like my babes need me at home more than we need me to work. So, my solution: substituting.  It's not a job to brag about, but I know I can help out my Timpanogos family by being a reliable, GOOD substitute. The nice thing is I can choose to just sub for them if I want to.

So there you have it. We're building a house and going down to one income. Doing things backwards. But it feels good, and right. I'm excited to be home with my girls and scared outta my freaking mind, especially when E reminds me of how good she is a throwing the world's best tantrums! But we're learning how to handle things better and I think maybe me staying home will help those tantrums go away for the most part. Please pray that happens!

Until the next update. Chao! (That's Spanish for good-bye! ;-) )