A Little Closer

Last night Matt and I literally spent a couple of hours (if not more) getting all of our hotel reservations for our trip to New England. I didn't realize how expensive it would be to stay in a hotel for 10 nights, and no hotel seems particularly cheap up there. We did what we could to save when we could. We definitely have all of the important stuff booked, plane tickets, car rental and now hotels. Too bad the trip is still a ways away!

What a week!

I am so glad that I decided to go down to Ft. Lauderdale for my abuela's funeral. It was definitely hard at times, but it was also great to see family. My abuelo has a lot of wonderful people that care about him, and I don't know if I ever saw that growing up. Of course, it's hard to see what others lives are like when you just spend a week or two a year with them.

Tuesday was a rough day at school. I certainly kept my students on their toes wondering when the waterworks were going to turn on! The day was made easier with all of the wonderful teachers that I work with. I love my job! Things have been much better since then, and I am looking forward to our half day tomorrow and the weekend. It's another busy one, but it's ok. Summer's right around the corner! :)

In loving memory

My dad's mom, Abuela, passed this morning around 10 am. It seems like it all happened so quickly. It's times like this when we reflect on the past and look to the future. I am always thankful for the time I get to spend with family and friends, but I know I take it for granted until time is up. I am glad I made the decision to go down for the viewing and funeral. I can't imagine what my Abuelo is going through right now. Even though Abuela is much better off in Heaven, we will miss her here.

Vacation planning

Since we found out Matt is going to be hired on full time after his contract period is over, we decided to plan a vacation to New England. We will be flying up to Boston and spending a few days in Maine and New Hampshire as well. We have the flight and car rental booked. We don't have all of the details planned, but we have a good idea of where we will be and when. I know mom is very disappointed that I don't remember the family trips to Boston. It just makes for a good argument not to take kids on vacations. Maybe we'll leave them with the grandparents when we want to travel... :)

SAT testing

My students have been SAT (Stanford Achievement Test) testing this week. I have an awesome homeroom, so it really hasn't been a bad week. They have all been quiet during the test and even when we were done so we didn't disturb other classes. I can't say all of the teachers have been as lucky!! I am not looking forward to tomorrow when we have a normal schedule. I'll actually have to teach 5 classes instead of just 2 or 3. I know the kids are glad to be finished, but they tend to get antsy after being still for so many days in a row. Too bad I'm not giving them a test like the English teachers are!!

It is finished

Matthew did our taxes today. I think next year I will leave the house while he is doing them. We thought we had all of the papers together, but a lot can happen between when we made the pile to when we filed our taxes. Our tax return is very disappointing, probably because we liquidated some stocks to buy our beautiful home. Oh well. It will cover our dinner out tonight with a couple from our Bible study. And there's always that economy stimulation check!!

Almost finished!

It has been 2 years in the making, but I am almost finished with my Christmas tree skirt!! My goal was to finish all of the cross stitching over spring break, and it was done Sunday. I still need to go back and do the details, but I am putting it off for now to work on my nephew's gift. Sometimes I wish I could do other types of needlework, but for now, I have plenty to cross stitch!!

New Blog

As all good bloggers go, it seems as though the first one is always how exciting it is to have a blog. Well it's just fine and dandy.

This past weekend we had a mini family reunion with Matt's mom and her family. Barbara, Mimi and Gramps stayed at the house with us, and Mark, Gary and Monett stayed at a hotel. I do wish we had more space for people to be able to stay here rather than going to a hotel, but that just wasn't in the first house budget! We had a great time. Saturday morning we made a trip to the zoo with about half of the other Jacksonville residents. It wasn't bad once we got through the ticket line. We also got to go to our favorite fish camp, which is like being in a stuffed zoo. It was a nice ending to my spring break!