Ahhhh, summer

Ashley is coming tonight!  We are so excited! 

I am so happy to be on summer vacation!  Nathan is too, of course.  Unfortunately, he's sick right now.  He might have strep throat.  His throat looks horrible!  We're going to the doctor's tomorrow morning, so we'll see.

We've seen Elin twice now.  She is so adorable!  She was really shy when they first got there at Mom and Dad's, but she warmed up after a while.  She was running around and smiling by the time they left.  She has little shoes that squeak when she walks.  They are too cute! She has her braces on her feet, and she does a good job walking in them.  The second time we saw her she warmed up even faster.  Felicia gave her lots of attention and she really warmed up to her.  She had Elin laughing so hard!  It was so cute!  I took a video of it, and I just watch it over and over.  I can't get enough of her laugh!  She just leaned over and said, "Hi!" to Elin when Elin bent over to pick up a card on the floor.  Then she would burst out laughing.  She thought it was so funny.  Elin also loved the horse my mom found for her at a yard sale.  It was in great condition.  It's like a rocking horse, but it doesn't rock.  It has springs.  Elin sat on it and figured out how to get it to move.  She loved it. 

Nathan and I went camping last week with the Atwaters.  It was so fun!  We went to York's Wild Kingdom for the day, then we went to find a campsite.  We found a really nice one, and set up our tent.  Nathan was so excited about the trip because he'd never been camping before.  Everything about it was so exciting to him:  putting up the tent, building the fire, cooking his own hot dogs over the fire, playing with Joseph and Ephraim, swimming in the pool, etc.  That night we had hamburgers, hot dogs, and marshmallows.  The next morning we had eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns.  It was so yummy!  After we took down the tent and packed up we went swimming at the pool and then headed out to find a  beach.  We couldn't find one that didn't charge an arm and a leg for parking, though, so we decided to just go home.  The kids were a little disappointed that we didn't go to the beach, but it was getting close to lunchtime anyway.

We've decided to send Nathan to a private school next year.  It was a big decision, but we feel good about it.  He's going to go to Boxberry.  I loved what I saw online and I've heard good things, so I checked it out.  I think he's going to love it.  They do lots of hands-on learning, art projects, field trips, guest speakers, etc.  It's going to be great.  He did go there one day before school got out to visit and be assessed by Jess, who will be his teacher in the fall.  She said there are going to be 8 or 9 students in his classroom, grades 3-6.  This is great, especially compared to 28 or so if he stayed at Oxford Elementary.  The large class size at Oxford is one of the reasons I started looking into different options.  His class size last year was fine.  He has 18 in his class, but there were three 3rd grades this year, but there will only be two fourth grades next year.  No, thank you!  I think it will be a great move for him.  The only thing that worries me is the financial aspect.  It's going to be about 500 dollars a month.  I think it will be worth it, though.

I'm also looking into doing something different, too!  I need a change from the classroom and stress of tests and paperwork, so I applied for a job at Western Governor's University, which is an online degree program.  I would be evaluating papers that college students submit in the field of education.  Unfortunately, I haven't heard back from them, though.  The other negative thing, took, is that I have to start out part time for six months before I go full time.  I'm hoping to get a job at a place like Sylvan to make up for the other hours until I can work there full time.  We'll see.  I hate not knowing exactly what I'll be doing.  I like to have things planned out!