Gone Baby Gone...

Matt here. A picture of Cone Head. he just had his manhood limited.

Christmas Card Photo Attempt #1

It used to be hard enough just to find a good picture of me and Matt together. Now we've added Zeke into the mix and it's become even more difficult. He is a little ball of squirming, jumping energy. Here is attempt #1 - please notice poor little Zeke and how tightly Matt is holding the leash. I think he's blinking from the flash.

Attempt #2 - a pretty good picture except for Zeke's glowing, "robot dog" eyes.

Too bad I don't have very good photoshop skills...

It looks like we'll just have to try again. Hopefully next time we'll get it right!

New Job!

Going in to my second year of subbing, I knew that teaching jobs in this area are few and far between. I figured I would be lucky to stay busy with a job every day and even luckier if I was able to get another long-term job like the one I had last year.

You can imagine how disappointed I was when about a month ago I got an email from the district explaining that the application pool for long-term positions was closed to substitutes. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to accept. It didn't seem fair that the district would deny me the chance to even apply for the same type of position I had last year. So, I decided to go out on a limb and email the HR director. I'm not generally the boldest person when it comes to these type of things, but I knew if I didn't ask him to give me a chance to apply, I would feel horrible about the missed opportunity all year. To my surprise, I got an email back from his assistant, letting me know that she had put me in the application pool and that it never hurts to ask! I am SO glad I went out of my comfort zone.

I was now in the application pool, but heard nothing about any open positions for a few weeks. Then, out of the blue, I was called for an interview! It was at a school in the Mukilteo District that I had never subbed at and knew no one. I practiced my interview questions and prayed all day yesterday before going in to the interview. I hoped that through my nervousness they would see that I'm a good teacher who would take care of the class during their teacher's maternity leave. The principal told me they would make their decision and let me know by early next week. Now the hard part was over... I had done everything I could and just had to wait.

Well, I didn't have to wait very long! The principal called me last night to tell me that it was an easy decision - they chose me for the job! It was all I could do to keep it together and stay calm and professional on the phone. As soon as I hung up, I was jumping and smiling and hugging Matt! I will be teaching first grade at Odyssey Elementary (go Orcas!) starting after winter break and going through the beginning of May. I couldn't be happier. It will be like having my "own" classroom for a few months - with my favorite grade!

Yay! Yay! Yay!