I swear she's not old enough, but apparently I'm wrong. Time sure does fly, my first baby is officially registered for Kindergarten! Registration was Wednesday night and we brought both of the girls. Luli has been very excited about registration and could not wait to go. When we walked in the school, I got a fluttery tummy. And, well I won't lie, I teared up. I'm emotional, what can I say! Then we got to the cafeteria where the meeting and registration was taking place. Oh god. All I could envision was my little baby getting her tray of food, and sitting at a big table with her friends and class. Luli and I were holding hands and I felt her getting a little jumpy, then she looked up at me and said "Mommy this is so exciting." Yup, tears again, it was indeed exciting (and yes tears as I type).
First we had to sit through an hour of informational meeting stuff. And if you know my kids, when they are excited, sitting down and listening to an adult they don't know isn't on the top of their list of things to do! But they were well enough behaved. After the info session we had to wait for our number to be called to do registration, and we were number 29. I told Oscar to take the girls home and get them ready for bed and come back to pick me up. That worked out well, and our neighbor (also our babysitter's mom) was the one who did our registration. So it's official, my first born baby is headed to school, whether I'm ready or not, she sure is!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Who's a Bobcat?
I AM! I AM! Who has a contract Teaching position?? I DO I DO!!! It's official, I will be teaching 5th and/or 6th grade ESOL in Manassas City. I'm so excited and can't wait to get started. But it is especially nice to start the summer off knowing I have a job and I don't have to worry any more. A huge weight has been lifted! I have to take two summer courses in order to finish my ESOL endorsement by December, which takes away some of my free time that I wanted to lavish the girls with. But all in all I'll still have lots of time to play. One class will be done before the end of school in June, so that one doesn't really count. Then I'm taking Spanish for three days a week for 6 weeks in the summer. It's only half day so we'll still have the afternoons free for bowling, playdates and swimming. I am super bummed that our summer movies will probably not happen, unless the movie theater changes the days of the week it happens on this summer. But it'll be great to brush up on my Spanish.
More about the J-O-B! I had a few interviews with different administrators and everyone was very nice. I especially liked the Principal's demeanor, very straightforward. He didn't mince words and got straight to the point. I liked that, you didn't have to guess at what he meant or wonder where you stood with him. The department is really trying to get and retain a good department, and I'm super excited to be a part of it. I think the job will be very interesting. And while I do love the Middle School, I think the 5th and 6th graders will be fun, maybe even less jaded than the 8th graders can be! I got the news last Friday, and took the weekend to think about it and negotiate salary. Monday I accepted the job and have been grinning ever since (well except on Wednesday which was an especially trying day at work...). Thursday night I received my official acceptance letter in the mail. Super exciting!
I called our favorite restaurant to make reservations for Sunday brunch for this weekend, to celebrate the contract. And after I hung up I realized that Sunday was also Mother's Day! HA! So I guess we'll be celebrating that also :)
More about the J-O-B! I had a few interviews with different administrators and everyone was very nice. I especially liked the Principal's demeanor, very straightforward. He didn't mince words and got straight to the point. I liked that, you didn't have to guess at what he meant or wonder where you stood with him. The department is really trying to get and retain a good department, and I'm super excited to be a part of it. I think the job will be very interesting. And while I do love the Middle School, I think the 5th and 6th graders will be fun, maybe even less jaded than the 8th graders can be! I got the news last Friday, and took the weekend to think about it and negotiate salary. Monday I accepted the job and have been grinning ever since (well except on Wednesday which was an especially trying day at work...). Thursday night I received my official acceptance letter in the mail. Super exciting!
I called our favorite restaurant to make reservations for Sunday brunch for this weekend, to celebrate the contract. And after I hung up I realized that Sunday was also Mother's Day! HA! So I guess we'll be celebrating that also :)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spring? Summer? Spring?
It's unclear what season we are in right now. Though I suppose it is typical for Virginia that we have two weeks of beautiful Spring weather and then straight into hot, humid Summer. This Spring has been a really lovely time for us, we've been able to enjoy our yard and all of the hard work we started putting in to it last Fall. While we didn't take too many pictures of the backyard before we started working on it, it is SAFE to say that it needed as much work as the inside of the house. We hauled out ONE TON of trash (seriously the dump weighed it) from the yard. Part of the yard was set up like a farm, with very deep rows and needed to be dug up and levelled. It was back breaking work, but we did it, and now that part of the yard is the most beautiful. The grass is coming in so nicely. We've been working in the yard every weekend. Which actually made me totally forget about going to my Aunt's house one evening to see another Aunt that was in town...eek (and if you know me, forgetting engagements like this is totally unlike me!).The weather has also been so lovely that the girls have been in the bathing suits and running through the sprinkler.
I have had some really special moments just watching the girls laughing and running around the yard. The other day I was just watching them running all over and laughing so hard, it brought to tears to my eyes. It's so nice to have them outside running around in our nice big yard. And the scenery is pretty nice, our forsythia's bloomed really nicely and the honeysuckle is just about to bloom. We've mulched and landscaped and planted flowers, and seeds for wildflower gardens. I can't wait to see everything just pop up. And next year the yard will be even nicer given all the work we are still putting in to it...but we're having a great time doing it!And it's official, we are now "Southerners," I planted a Saucer Magnolia. Though it's small now, it will grow to be 20'-30' wide, and 20'-30' tall! BEAUTIFUL!
Spring Break
We had our Spring Break two weeks ago and we had a great time. Monday was a bit drizzly but other than that the week's weather was beautiful. Oscar's sister and her family were in town at the beginning of the week. Oscar took Monday off and we all met up at the zoo for the morning. The rain wasn't bad at all, just some sprinkles on and off. The best part of the rain was that it scared off all the people and the zoo was pretty quiet. The animals were easy to spot and we actually went into a few places i hadn't been in on my other visits to the zoo, like the invertabrit house!
The kids had a great time running around and being together. It's really nice getting the cousins together so they can have good memories and grow up knowing each other. When we left the zoo we were off to Mama Eisha's for a yummy Mediterranean lunch. Before we left we took some cute pictures of the kids in the Zoo sign.Other fun Spring Break activities (that I forgot to bring my camera to) were: Tuesday I brought the girls to the school I work at so they could see and know where I am. Yes people do work on Spring Break at schools, most office personnel and all administrators work even when the school has snow days. Another thing I learned on the job!
In the afternoon we all had our Dentist appointments. For Fiona it was her first time, and she did great. She actually had to do it all by herself because I was at the same time, very brave gal! On Wednesday we went to our friends house for a playgroup, which was actually a surprise Baby Shower for one of our preschool mommy friends. It was a lot of fun, and so great to get to see all the ladies (and kids) again. Thursday was a big day for Luli, she had her 5 yr well check up which meant her kindergarten shots. She was very good, took the hearing test, vision test and blood pressure. She answered all the doctors questions and then cried for the shots. I have never cried for the girls shots, I've always just felt they were necessary. 
But I cried this time, it was heartbreaking to hear her begging to stop. But four shots later and a quick hand-off of the present bag from the nurse and tears were gone- well Luli's tears were anyway. Then we were off to lunch with Daddy. Friday we ended the week by going to the movies to see How to Train a Dragon. It was really cute and a fun little adventure for us.I didn't have any pictures from Spring break, but this pic of the girls laying in my bed together is really adorable, and totally unstaged, this is how they cuddle. And then another in their St. Patrick outfits.
A lot to catch up on!!!
Ok so the blog has not been priority one lately. There are multiple reasons for this the biggest two are my job, and the weather. I also have so many posts planned in my head that it seems a bit daunting to start it. For example this post was supposed to be something about it being my 200th blog post, who knows how many posts I did on the website www.lourdesjoli.net. But it's not, so we're moving forward and going to play catch up. I guess I'll chat up the job here first and then get to the other posts today and this week...
The job is going well. I'm working hard at it and trying to do the best I can. I came into the position only to find that the woman prior to me had basically not done any of her job in the months that she was there. I found stacks of hundreds of discipline reports hidden in different places. I had to input them all into the students records, sometimes write letters home (some of them were too old to write letters home about) and then alphabetize and file. Sounds like fun, right?! Well it was work, and they paid me overtime, so that's good! People seem relatively pleased with my work and I think in the end it'll help me find a teaching position. It is kind of hard to be in a job day in and day out watching other people do the job you really want to do. But I'm biding my time and taking whatever learning experiences come from this job to help my teaching. You may not think there could be too much from this job that would change my teaching, but you'd be surprised.
Have I given details on this job? Hmmm, well I'm basically the discipline Admin Assistant, so I see all the disciplinary incidents that happen in the school, input all the incidents in the records, write the letters home, get them translated if need be (another thing no one else had done), and other office duties. There seems to be the same kids getting in trouble, but it's not just the same kids, it's the same teachers sending the kids out. At some point the teacher needs to adjust how they interact with the student...now I know there are some bad seeds but they can't all be that way. And frankly a lot of them are very sweet and respectful to me when I deal with them. I'm a firm believer in respect begets respect. Anyway, there's a trend. And there are a LOT of teachers that NEVER write any incident reports and they have these kids too...so?
The people at work are really lovely. I have a lot of fun and really enjoy being in the school. I do not enjoy waking up at 5:25am though. I don't see the girls in the morning at all, though rumor has it Luli wakes up just after I leave. "Someone" says when I close the door it wakes her up. Oh well, can't leave it open! The girls had a bit of an adjustment period, but seem to be doing really well now. Luli used great communication to tell me how she was feeling and it was a bit heartbreaking. I felt really badly for her, but at the same time I did not feel guilty for going back to work. Now they are great, back to their old selves. They go to school and off to the sitter. It's a lot more work for Oscar bringing them to school, then picking them up and bringing them to the sitter. But it's working out really well.
Ok one post down! Happy 200th POST!
The job is going well. I'm working hard at it and trying to do the best I can. I came into the position only to find that the woman prior to me had basically not done any of her job in the months that she was there. I found stacks of hundreds of discipline reports hidden in different places. I had to input them all into the students records, sometimes write letters home (some of them were too old to write letters home about) and then alphabetize and file. Sounds like fun, right?! Well it was work, and they paid me overtime, so that's good! People seem relatively pleased with my work and I think in the end it'll help me find a teaching position. It is kind of hard to be in a job day in and day out watching other people do the job you really want to do. But I'm biding my time and taking whatever learning experiences come from this job to help my teaching. You may not think there could be too much from this job that would change my teaching, but you'd be surprised.
Have I given details on this job? Hmmm, well I'm basically the discipline Admin Assistant, so I see all the disciplinary incidents that happen in the school, input all the incidents in the records, write the letters home, get them translated if need be (another thing no one else had done), and other office duties. There seems to be the same kids getting in trouble, but it's not just the same kids, it's the same teachers sending the kids out. At some point the teacher needs to adjust how they interact with the student...now I know there are some bad seeds but they can't all be that way. And frankly a lot of them are very sweet and respectful to me when I deal with them. I'm a firm believer in respect begets respect. Anyway, there's a trend. And there are a LOT of teachers that NEVER write any incident reports and they have these kids too...so?
The people at work are really lovely. I have a lot of fun and really enjoy being in the school. I do not enjoy waking up at 5:25am though. I don't see the girls in the morning at all, though rumor has it Luli wakes up just after I leave. "Someone" says when I close the door it wakes her up. Oh well, can't leave it open! The girls had a bit of an adjustment period, but seem to be doing really well now. Luli used great communication to tell me how she was feeling and it was a bit heartbreaking. I felt really badly for her, but at the same time I did not feel guilty for going back to work. Now they are great, back to their old selves. They go to school and off to the sitter. It's a lot more work for Oscar bringing them to school, then picking them up and bringing them to the sitter. But it's working out really well.
Ok one post down! Happy 200th POST!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Funny Things Fiona Says...
I've been meaning to post a few of these for awhile, and hopefully I remember some of the really adorable things. Fiona has a really remarkable vocabulary but given her age she's still prone to some mispronunciations. I took a linguistics class a few semesters back, it has been really interesting to see her progression through sounds and know that her "mispronunciations" are totally normal.The most common sound mishap for her are words that start with "s," because of this she pronounces "s" words by dropping the "s" and pronouncing the rest of the word. She has no problem with "s" sounds in the middle of words. Here are a few of our favorites...
- mokey = smokey "Pahpah, this fire is mokey"
- quare = square
- noman = snowman
- no = snow "look a the no mommy"
Some other adorable ones that I'm just not about to correct are
tippa twos = tippy toes; she'll sing "i'm dancing on my tippa twos"
mehasin = medicine
brussel brouts = brussel sprouts "i like brussel brouts, them green"
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
More Snow? Really!
For some reason Mother Nature is pounding us with snow this winter, well not just this winter, this week! We got the 30 inches from Friday- Saturday and the area has still not recovered from that. Many are still without power from that storm, and the roads are certainly not clear --though this is no worry for the Forrester. Last night we started yet another blizzard, this one with high powered winds which make for some worry about whether we'll remain lucky to keep our power as we did with the last blizzard. (who gets more than one blizzard in one week?)
The snow started really lightly last night with a mix of sleet (delightful) which kind of made us feel like this storm wouldn't be so bad after all (calling for 16 inches). But we woke up this morning to a pure white view out the window, not because everything was covered in snow but because it's total whiteout. At times you can't see the house across the street or next door. The wind is crazy and Luli is begging to go outside. I haven't taken any pics yet of today, but I will. If you're wondering what it looks like though, just look at a piece of printer paper, or a white wall...that's pretty much it.
In our food news, we have continued to cook and eat well...Oscar's complaining of some gained weight. I made banana bread last night, and Oscar and I made a plato typico Honduran breakfast (pics to come on both) this morning. No one is going hungry over here. And that almond cake which I had good intentions of pawning half off on some neighbors, has been ingested in full by the Santiagos (with complaints about how much cake we're eating as he forks in another bite).
The snow started really lightly last night with a mix of sleet (delightful) which kind of made us feel like this storm wouldn't be so bad after all (calling for 16 inches). But we woke up this morning to a pure white view out the window, not because everything was covered in snow but because it's total whiteout. At times you can't see the house across the street or next door. The wind is crazy and Luli is begging to go outside. I haven't taken any pics yet of today, but I will. If you're wondering what it looks like though, just look at a piece of printer paper, or a white wall...that's pretty much it.
In our food news, we have continued to cook and eat well...Oscar's complaining of some gained weight. I made banana bread last night, and Oscar and I made a plato typico Honduran breakfast (pics to come on both) this morning. No one is going hungry over here. And that almond cake which I had good intentions of pawning half off on some neighbors, has been ingested in full by the Santiagos (with complaints about how much cake we're eating as he forks in another bite).
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