Early December Update

Well, well, well. Another post! And so soon after the last!

Things have been moving right along around here. We finally got our first big snow of the year that stayed on the ground. We got a snow day out of it on Monday - it was debatable whether school should have been cancelled or not, but I'm not complaining!

June was hilarious in the snow for the first time! She just kept running around getting mouthfuls of snow and eating it! It didn't seem to bother her that it was cold or wet, she just wanted to eat it. But what doesn't that dog want to eat?! Then later that night when the snow was falling again, we walked her around and she kept jumping up in the air to try to catch the snowflakes in her mouth. It was quite the sight and I wish I had a picture or video of that.

June's first walk in the snow!

Trying to eat the snow 

Sunday afternoon we cut down our Christmas tree and put it up. We didn't get the chance to decorate it until Tuesday night... oh well. It's done now. I'm always so torn between wanting a pretty, matchy-match tree and wanting the nostalgia of a hodge-podge tree.

Hodge-podge.

You know. The tree covered with macaroni ornaments, clothespin reindeer, and puzzle piece wreaths with your school picture in the middle that you made in elementary school?!

Yeah, that one.

It's fun to get out each ornament and remember why you got it or who you got it from. They bring familiarity to the season. But the matching ones look so nice! Maybe next year I can talk Zach into having one of each...

Teaching has been going well. That's an understatement; teaching has been going VERY WELL compared to last year. It's amazing how different the groups of kids are each year. This class has been so much more easygoing, independent, and advanced than last year. It's been fun to do more things with this class because they can handle it and I'm not dealing with downright rude & naughty behaviors every two minutes. That's not saying this year has been an entire cupcake, easy, breezy class. I've got a few who are challenging enough to make up for the rest of the class when it comes to behavior.

The countdown to Christmas Break is on! Only 7 more school days! Our last day is Friday, December 21 and we've got a whole bunch of stuff packed in there: regular lessons, plus Christmas lessons, students making crafts for their family members, plus a fun sledding day and a Christmas party... whew! Somehow it will all get done!

Zach's been a busy beaver. He's still working at CPS. He was one of six people from the whole division who got asked to be on a new technology team. CPS bought their salesmen iPads and Zach's really good with that techy kind of stuff so they asked him to be on this team. They have to meet and put together a presentation about new apps and the best ways to maximize the use of the iPad on the job. They have to present for their big conference this winter which I think he's a little intimidated by but he'll do a great job. Especially since it involves technology and farming and teaching others how to use it to their best benefit.

He also got asked to go a weeklong event in February out in California where they will tour a bunch of farms... and something else that I can't remember... whoops. I need to listen better and ask more questions.... All I know is that not many guys get asked to go and they asked him, so that is pretty cool! I'm super proud of him! He works really hard and puts a lot of time and effort into doing his job right, solving tech issues, dealing with unmotivated co-workers, helping the guys in the shop, keeping schedules organized, and taking care of his customers. So it's great that others have been noticing - not just me! :) Had to brag him up a little bit!

Zach's also been going through Fire Department Training since September. He has class two nights a week and then one Saturday a month (which thankfully went down to one night a week starting this week!). He carries a pager/radio thing around with him now and has gone out on a few calls: one was a garage fire and another was a single-wide trailer fire. Since he's still in training he has to wear a bright orange vest that says CADET on it over the top of his fire gear - and he can't really do a whole lot at the scene besides stand around and ask questions. But he's getting his face around the guys which is good. The class goes all winter and into the spring when they test out in April... April 13 to be exact. Which is three days after our baby is due... Here's hoping she's three days late or that he can pick a different test date!

Baby's doing good. She's moving around lots in there! Being kicked and poked and prodded from the inside is a straaaaaaaange and very unique feeling... Here's a picture from this week:

23 weeks

There's no denying there's a bump! As you can see, I need to buy more maternity shirts since the ones I have stick out at the bottom because they're not long enough. It turns out that Big Rapids doesn't have maternity clothes at ANY of the few stores we have (Meijer, Wal-Mart, Peebles, JC Penney) so I'm going to need a shopping trip to Grand Rapids very soon. Plus, as you CAN'T see from this picture, none of my pants really button anymore and are being held up by a rubber band around the buttonhole. :)

Moral of the story: none of my clothes fit. And that's okay. Because I very happy there's a baby in there that we get to see and hold in April!

Love,

Sarah