Our Merry Christmas

Our third Christmas as a married couple is coming to a close. It's funny how some things are the same every year - the menu at Grandma and Grandpa's house, missing the comfort of our own bed, traveling back and forth between our two home towns multiple time (this year it was probably a record number of times with 5), packing the car like a game of Tetris (even more complicated when you can only put waterproof things in the trunk because it leaks and it rained SO much)... but some things change. The kids in our lives are all growing up! Tyler's brother Lucas spends most of his time on the phone with his first real girlfriend. Sophe and Chloe are starting to play better together. The Nintendo Wii was the big gift this year and all the kids are already sore from playing it so much.
























This is our first full-sized Christmas tree! My brother Johnny helped us bring it home one blustery evening and he also helped to set it up. I compensated him with dinner. Our cats have thoroughly enjoyed the tree - their own personal jungle gym apparently. Maxwell poked his eye on a branch pretty badly the very first night it was up so I think he learned his lesson. But Edison. Edison has been a very naughty cat this year. He scaled the tree in about 5 seconds flat and perched on top for a while before he and his brother were shown their semi-permanent new home in the guest bedroom. I've really had to fight to keep this tree intact. After our New Year's Eve party, we'll let them destroy it.



















Tyler's good friend Brandon is an avid fisherman who, in the off-season, crafts some incredible fishing lures. Tyler's grandfather has always enjoyed woodworking and handmade things so we commissioned Brandon to make one for him. Isn't it nice?









































I love giving gifts! I always have one or two that I am especially proud of and this year's winner was for Tyler's mom. I put together a gift basket with some of her favorite types of items: apples, snowmen and even a nativity. I wish I could do something like this every year for everyone on my list. Coming in a close second on my favorite gift list would be some artwork I found for Tyler's sister Sophe's room.



















At one of our family get-togethers, we played a fun game where each of us were to make a holiday item out of nothing but aluminum foil and Tyler's grandfather was to pick his favorite one. He chose Chloe's big candy cane and she won some chocolates. Like my cute little gift on the far right side of the pic? It was a creative, fun and inexpensive activity that each person seemed to enjoy. Next, we played Dirty Santa and I ended up with a 2-qt crockpot that I really wanted! Yay!



















Lastly, Tyler's sisters and I made gingerbread Christmas trees! Although the kit was designed to make just one tree, there were two of each size cookie so we made two squatty trees instead of one big tree. Worked out well because sometimes there are sharing issues as you might imagine. I also enjoyed baking decorating sugar cookies with them.

We had a pretty great Christmas and we hope you did too!

Something to look at.

Dirty Dishes

I often complain that doing the dishes is my least favorite chore, especially in the summer. Who wants to have their hands in hot water when it's 80 degrees in the kitchen because the oven has been on? I just want to relax after cooking and eating - sit on the couch with Tyler and watch TV.

I've been doing a lot better about the dishes recently. I've decided to no longer consider leaving a sink full of dishes for tomorrow as an option and that has worked pretty well. Doing today's dishes today really does save a lot of trouble. A few minutes of chores here and there saves a lot of time and effort later. Such common sense, I know.

I found this Amish wisdom somewhere in the blogosphere this morning and it is most definitely worth sharing. For me, it's worth printing and hanging up near my kitchen sink. I hope it inspires and humbles you, too.

Dirty Dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes,
They have a tale to tell
While others may go hungry,
We're eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss
For by the stack of evidence,
God's been very good to us.

Searching for a Job

Here's the rundown on what exactly has happened concerning my job search in the past couple months. Background: I just graduated with a B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences from UK, I am provisionally certified as a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) meaning I have studied in 10 different areas of family life and after many, many hours of training (a job!), I will be a CFLE. My experience working with children and families recently is not all that much - I worked for the YMCA last semester in an after-school setting with 40 kids. I've observed in a local Montessori school and I LOVED it. If I could do anything right now, it would be Montessori! They next training planned for this school isn't until NEXT summer though. I'm on their list for possible part-time help though.

*Stars indicate clues that I should have picked up on*

A couple months ago, just after settling in to our new house and unpacking the last box, I got brave and began searching the news paper for possible jobs. Preschool teacher. I drove across town that same day hoping to simply check out the facility and possibly pick up an application if I liked what I saw. I ended up accepting the job! The staff were friendly and *most* everything seemed to be in order. They asked me to go ahead and complete the application there and while I was doing it, they informed me that the owner was on his way over to interview me! (I was not dressed or prepared to be interviewed, but hey, it's a preschool...) The owner was an 80 or so year old man who started the facility over 30 years ago. He led me around and explained what a day was like there and he was obviously very interested in me. Back in his office, after *reviewing my application momentarily* and briefly discussing my pay, he offered me the job - teacher in the 4-year-old class. The part of me that was scared that I couldn't find a better job took over and I agreed to take the job. I figured in the 2.5 hours spent there, that I had seen enough to know I could function there. When I got in my car is thought, "What did I do?" I called Tyler realizing that a good wife would have waited to make the final decision until AFTER discussing it with her husband! Tyler was surprised and excited for me. I was set to start work in about a month.

The week before I was to start, I received a text message from a friend I graduated with asking if I was going to start working there. Apparently she had seen my name on a list of teachers and she was making sure it was me. I was excited to know someone working there and it reassured me that the place was a good enough place to work. I asked my friend to call me back when she had more time to talk about it and let me know all she knew about the place. She never called me back (either because she was too busy, or *because she didn't want to burst my bubble*).

First day. I reported to work last Monday at 8:30am and it seemed that I was just randomly put into a room (one that needed extra help, not one where I would receive good training!) It was the room that I was supposed to start teaching in the following week as the new school year started, but after about an hour in there a few things started to become clear:

*No one was in charge of this classroom. There were 17 4 year olds basically running wild - wrestling, kicking, hitting, crying....

*The other employee could only control the students a LITTLE better than me. (It's no surprise - I don't have a very authoritative presence!)

*The activities were only *loosely planned out*. 4 year olds need something to do constantly and with proper instruction to stay out of trouble. Not knowing the ins and outs of what there was to do or where to do it, I was basically helpless.

*I discovered the other teacher was only part time! After her one hour break, she returned for a little while, then left at 2:30pm! So after she left, in came a "floater" (couldn't they come up with a better word for this?). This girl proceed to YELL at the students in an effort to control their actions. It was nap time and if a student was not being still and quiet, she should YELL things to them like, "SERIOUSLY? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" This is no way to treat a child... I found out this "floater" was a college student who had been working at the facility for only 2 weeks. I don't know what her major was or her background with kids, but for some reason she thinks YELLING and basically belittling is the best way to control children. She would not allow them to visit the potty during nap time and, if they were not being still and quiet, she would make them stand up beside their cot as punishment or she would take their blanket away (How can you expect a child to fall asleep standing up or without a blanket???????) Not surprisingly, two students wet their pants during nap time because they were too scared to ask to go potty! I felt SO bad for them!

Enough complaining about the first day. Although it was rough both for me and the students, I just chalked it up to me being new and them being given so many different teachers that they didn't know who to listen to.

I'm getting lost as I try to write exactly what this experience was like and that's exactly what I felt like while I was there - lost.

Day two: No better. Even less organized. Even more timeouts and incident reports (no major injuries thankfully!) and even more disappointment in the facility. Not to mention it took me over an hour to get home because of a wreck. My best friend called me on my way home and after telling her about the trauma of the past two days, she convinced me that it was completely OK for me to quit. I trust every word she says. When I got home, I talked it over with Tyler and I immediately made a call to that Montessori school I'm so interested in. The principal wanted my resume and information ASAP so I e-mailed them to her. They following morning, I called the school and made arrangements to meet with someone and discuss my quiting. Surprisingly, I was not that nervous or upset about the meeting itself because I was so sure about the decision. It made sense for me to go ahead and quit and not wait until the new school year started. The hardest part was feeling like I was leaving the kids - like so many other teachers they have had leave during the past year. Good thing they have since moved on to the next classroom with new teachers and hopefully more control. I started crying a little when I was talking to the office employee about how great the kids were.... She was COMPLETELY understanding. And she was even interested to know more about the Montessori style because I used it to help explain my style of teaching and learning. We agreed I would finish out the week which gave me a grand total of 4 days working there.

This goes on my list of jobs held for less than a week: Baskin Robbins - 2 days, preschool - 4 days. Tyler says it's not a trend because you have to have 3 events to call it a trend! haha

I was so thankful they didn't have me give 2 weeks notice. Something I should have mentioned earlier - the girl I graduated with that worked at the school put her 2 weeks notice in the day before I quit. This also helped me to know it was OK for me to not continue working there. I have yet to hear the entire story from her, but she said there were "just some crazy things going on".

I should mention this about this place: It IS an OK place for children to be. I saw no signs of mistreatment aside from the YELLING. I did not spend time in other classrooms, but I saw enough to know that other classes do have things more under control. Would I send my children to this school? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Just because they might put my child with people that are ill-equipped (people like me or people that use YELLING and INTIMIDATION as their main tools). Untrained people.

Leaving the campus on my last day of work was one of the best feelings. I was free. I hate the feeling if being a "quiter", but it had to be done. I've learned many things from this experience. All the *CLUES* I should have noticed will help me make better decisions about jobs in the future. I have even more respect now for teachers, especially those who are made to teach too many children. They deserve less students and MUCH more money.

I am hesitant to take another job. I certainly won't without doing more research about the facility and the position. I am thankful for this experience and most thankful that it is over.

Thanks to those who took the time to read all of this!

Kittens!

Tyler's family had two litters of kittens in their backyard recently and were happy to share them with us. Tyler's is the white and orange one and mine is the grayish one. We've yet to name them. Any suggestions?

Birthday Celebration!

These are just some pictures from Tyler's Mom's 50th birthday weekend. She had a surprise party at the end of VBS and Tyler and I were able to surprise her by being there the day before she expected us. The next day we all went to see the Stephen Foster Story which is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year. We also went to the Stephen Foster Restaurant which was yummy!

We've Moved to Our First House!

So the move is complete and we're very happy with our first house! It's been a lot of fun having new things like a garage, a yard, and a kitchen table! The neighbors are very nice too. We just need a bit more furniture before we can have people spend the night with us, but feel free to come visit when ever you can!

Weekend in C-ville

Tyler and I visited in C-ville a couple weeks ago to see Suellen for her birthday. Here are just a few pictures of the kids doing what they do best - playing.

Jumping Peppers

~Jumping Peppers~