Hectic Semester

It has been an extremely hectic semester. I have survived (I think) all my teaching duties and my own family is looking forward to Winter Break.

I got to know the area because I drove all over the place supervising student teachers. I have learned a ton about how the preservice teacher program works at my university and about how teacher education works in my new state.

My own children have adjusted to living in a new area. We have found cub scout packs and Daisy scout troops. We have made friends and gotten involved at a church.

Now I need to have a productive break...both to work on more unpacking/settling at the house we are renting and so that I can be ready for next term. Hopefully all of my classes will make so that I am not supervising student teachers next semester. I enjoyed the student teachers themselves...but the driving ate up a lot of my time. I really did no scholarly writing during the semester so that is one of my goals during this time when the kids are still in school and I am done with Fall term.

Long overdue update...

We had a super busy summer. We had trips: Disney World, visiting family. We had kid activities: Vacation Bible School, summer enrichment. We had work around the house: finishing projects to get the house up for sale.

Now that I am officially done with my degree and I have a new job, the house is on the market and we are renting in our new location. The kids are attending the elementary school that feeds into the high school where Jim is working. I am trying to get a grip on the workload of being a new professor....

Here are some pictures of our new place. It is just under half the size of the top floor of our previous house. Even though I tried really hard to get rid of stuff so as not to move things we no longer wanted, it is really motivating for cleaning out to be in a house that is smaller than either of your previous two houses. We are somewhat unpacked....but still, in the garage there is a pretty good pile of stuff to find homes for.

 Here is our front door. Our previous home was on a huge hill so that we always had to drive to a park to ride our bikes. Here the neighborhood is flat so the kids are enjoying being able to just walk out the door and ride their bikes.

 This is the view of our front entry way. As I said I am still finding homes for many things. The door to the right is the garage....it looks like a garage inside (so I did not take pictures). At the moment the garage has stuff, but is approaching the point where we might be able to actually park in it.

 

This is what is to the left of the front entry way. The boys' room is straight ahead, bathroom on the right, and Josie on the left.

 This is Josie's room.

Here is the boys' room. It will be changing soon. We ordered loft beds and new dressers for them. They should arrive soon.

 This is the kids' bathroom.

Here is the view of our great room from the end of the front entry way. To the right is the area with the master bedroom.

 This is still the great room. I am essentially standing with the garage door at my back. Behind the bookcase is a pantry in the kitchen area.

 Here is going into the kitchen.

 Here I am standing in the kitchen (back to the stove) looking at the eat-in area/dining room. We have placed a fan here because there are no ceiling fans in the kitchen area and it gets a bit warm when cooking.

 This is looking from the dining room table towards the great room. 

 This is standing at the other side of the great room looking toward the master bedroom. There is a nice little laundry room. There is actually a small hallway where I am standing, but I did not take a picture of it because that is where the cat box is.

This is from the doorway into the master bedroom. We were super excited to have tall enough ceilings to fully be able to set up our bed.

 This is in the master bedroom looking towards the bathroom.

The master bathroom.

 The other end of the master bathroom leads into a large closet.

 

Birthday Week!

I survived birthday week. Yes, with three kids (granted one is a set of twins) we ended up with everyone's birthdays within a single week...and that week is at the end of the school year here so there are often end of the school year activities going on too.

With graduation and getting ready for selling the house (and moving!) we forced the kids into doing low-key stuff. Each got to pick a place to eat. They had a small stack of family gifts to open. They each had a cake.

Andy's pokemon cake

Doug's Lego clone trooper

 Josie's Strawberry Shortcake

Josie also took watermelon in to her class for a special birthday snack, and Doug and Andy had popsicles with their classes.

Shifting focus

Now that the semester is done and I know where I am headed (I have a job!) I have to shift my focus. All of those little house things need to get to a finalized stage so that we can sell the house. I need to paint baseboard and trim, I need to paint the walls in the kids' rooms so that they look fresh, and I need clean/pack so that the house looks nice for showing. The after-graduate party got us started on being cleaned up, my mom worked on painting some trim, and my in-laws came and got my bathrooms wallpapered (yes...after two years I finally have a mirror back up and Jim hung towel racks and the toilet paper holder).

Oh, and I have to clear out my desk area on campus. And yes, the children will be out of school soon. 

God only gives us what we can handle...right?

Almost there....almost there....

Graduation--- check!
Diploma in hand and on transcript--- check!
Grading done--- check!

Well, I still have a few lingering GA responsibilities. I cannot complain because I mostly did what I needed to do to finish my dissertation this semester.
I have also enjoyed having relatives here around graduation. We had a party the day after graduation. I am fortunate because both my mother and my mother-in-law helped me clean house for the party.

Counting the days

Just a few days until graduation when I am "officially" done...

However, the stack of grading for the class I was teaching says otherwise.
Then it is on to figuring out moving. I have accepted a job at another university. It will be different teaching more classes. I will have to keep everything under control with teaching and family and trying to research/publish and just plain settle in. However, I will be gainfully employed and not just employed.

I might be a little paranoid

So I have learned that completing a degree that you have been working on and poured your heart and soul into and spent literally years of your life creating a project for might make you a little paranoid.
I have already emailed and stopped by and checked to make sure that everything is in place for me to actually graduate.
Everything is turned in. All surveys and paperwork is done. The dissertation has been completely accepted with no further edits necessary. I have my robe, tassel, tam, and hood (though they say not to bring your own hood to the ceremony) for the ceremony. I think I am ready....I just need to make sure to show up on time, have everything with me, bring ID (I have to have it to get the degree paper since doctorates are the only ones who can pick it up at the ceremony instead of having it mailed), and it says not to bring a purse or bag.

I have had a couple of interviews. I am just trying to figure out what the next step is and where God wants us to go.

I didn't bribe them...

Last night we had a Cub scout pack meeting. This is where the boys receive anything they have earned since the last pack meeting.
Due to Christmas activities, pine car derby, and various other events we were long overdue for my boys to receive what they have been working on.
There is a tradition in the pack we are in that when a badge is earned that represents a promotion in rank, the boys get to "paint" (read...color with water soluble markers) on someone's face. Each boy may choose who he wants to paint. Most paint one of their parents.
I have twins of course, and when they earned their bobcat badges Andy did my face and Doug chose someone out of the audience.

Last night one boy in my den got his bobcat badge, and the other four received their tiger cub badges. Of course, two of those boys were my Andy and Doug...and without me even encouraging it they found other people to paint. Andy was bound and determined to paint the den leader who likes to kid, joke, and pretend to do devious things. Doug found a boy scout who is the son of one of the other den leaders that he decided to paint. I am not quite sure how I managed to escape, but my face remained clear.

It's been awhile...I've been busy

Well, I got everything turned in so I think I should be on track to graduate. Now there's just the

1. Applying for jobs
2. Catching up on the grading for the course I am teaching
3. Catching up on my other GA responsibilities
4. Getting the house ready to sell (painting, finishing projects, packing and arranging for show, etc.)

I am hoping that all children are again well and healthy for awhile since we had some viruses run through the family. 

Oh, and Jim has a senior homeroom class so he has to chaperon Prom. I've never been to Prom (he was out to sea with the Navy when I was a senior). So we have a date.

My mother-in-law said it just felt wrong to write on her calendar "Baby-sit for Prom." 

Addicted to staying up?

I had an intense week or two of working on edits and getting it all "just so."
I got everything submitted on time (I'm sooooo thankful for electronic submissions) so now I am just waiting to see if the grad school found anything that needed to be addressed.

Oh yeah, and I am working on finding a job. A real job. A job where I get paid in money that covers bills. Knowledge is a good thing. But now it is time to move on.

Oh, and I need to get my body adjusted back. I got way too used to staying up late to work.