What's new...

We decided to take advantage of Obama's "Cash 4 Clunkers" plan. We traded in our '97 minivan and got more for it than we originally paid for it. Not a bad plan! :-) I never really wanted a minivan. It just made sense at the time (when gas was around $4 a gallon) to not keep the Jeep Cherokee. We did improve gas mileage with the van, but with Obama's deal, we have improved even more! And we didn't have to sacrifice too much space to do it... ok, we did give up a couple of seats, but I now have a much better vehicle - well worth the trade! I bet you're wondering what we got, huh?
First I must start with a story... it all started back in 1992. My dad bought a GREAT car that eventually became mine (the payments became mine too!) I LOVED that car! I got married and Dave also loved that car... until it was totalled in 2001. We have spent the last eight years missing that car. So we made the best attempt to replace it.
The trouble is, that it was a Honda Civic Si Hatchback, and those are no longer made in the states. So, we found a car very similar - a Honda Fit Sport. We got the same blue exterior and black interior. We bought a manual transmission because that is what the Civic had. We are loving it. And let's face it... it looks way cuter than any minivan. :-)

Getting Ready

I have started getting ready for the upcoming school year. I am excited for what lays ahead. I made a trip to the teacher supply store and was totally overwhelmed. There is so much that I don't have anymore. I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff... mostly because I didn't want to move it across country when we moved 7 years ago. I gave some stuff to Dave when he went from teaching middle school to teaching elementary. This feels like my first year all over again... starting from scratch. The only difference this time is that I have some idea of what I lack. My real first year, I was too ignorant to know what I was missing. :-)
As overwhelming as it is, I am enjoying setting up. It is fun to once again have a classroom. I have a lot of work to do, but I know that come August 11, I will be ready for those little kiddos.

My new job

It has been forever since I have blogged. A lot has gone on since April. For starters, I got a new job. It officially won't start until August, but I have already started getting ready. What is it? Well, I will be teaching Kindergarten next year at Westview. I am going back to the classroom after an eight year leave. I am excited and nervous all rolled into one.

In other news, Emma has now completed 2nd grade. She is already calling herself a 3rd grader. Our school corporation is "reconfiguring" and next year Emma will go to Northview. She is not excited about it being her 3rd school in 3 years. :-( The good news is though that with this move, teachers and students are all moving. Even her Dad is moving. Yes, Dave is going to be at NV next year. He will be and "interventionalist" for 4th and 5th grade.

Anna completed Kindergarten today. She is now proudly calling herself a 1st grader. We get to be at WV together next year. (Preschool-1st at WV and 2-5 at NV.) It will be fun to have her with me for another year.

All that has kept things very busy around here! We have been winding up this school year and with all the changes, we are now gearing up next school year. I know the summer is going to FLY by! But hey, at least we get summer break! And we are officially on it, as of today. :-) And only 5 more days until we fly to California. :-)

nothing earthshattering...

It occured to me that I hadn't posted in awhile. So I thought I would write something, however, I can't really think of anything to write about. Hmmmm.....

Life is good. Busy. But good. We are ready for just 8 more weeks of school. Then we're off to CA for our annual trip.
Here's something exciting... last summer when we flew out to Cali, we got bumped in MN. They offered us $$$ for dinner and 4 free roundtrip tix. The next flight out was only 2 hours later, giving us plenty of time to eat. So, we took the deal. We weren't sure exactly how the free tix would work and what kind of charges they would throw in, but still, we knew it would save us lots of money.
Dave made our reservations recently and the only extra charge was the tax. So 4 tickets to Cali ended up costing us $100. Not a bad deal! I hear there will probably be a charge for each bag we check in though... but still, we got a great deal! No complaining here!

So, that's life here. Like I said, nothing earthshattering....