Ch-ch-changes...

Wow! So, tonight is pretty surreal for me. I realized that tonight marks the first time in my life (ok, technically, only my whole life since age 5) that I am not getting ready for "back-to-school" tomorrow. Tomorrow, my colleagues will start back for the week of preparations and many other of my friends & family in other districts will start back with kids. There is a little part of me that's sad, because for as much complaining as I've done about my job over the past 6 years (and I know, it's been A LOT!), there have been some really great things and great people, like...

...good projects (though I won't miss grading those!!)...

...fun trips (we went to Southern California with Flowing Wells every year)...

...awesome guest speakers...

and cool dissections...So, that's the part of me that's a little sad. Change is hard for me--especially stopping/changing something that I think I'm really pretty good at. So, even though there are many things about teaching that I've really, really NOT enjoyed, there are a good number of experiences, students, and other teachers that I will miss!

But...being here at home and teaching my own little guys is something that I am so excited about. And, what's awesome is that for right now, I will be making about the same amount of money that I would have been if I was back at school and we had both kids in daycare. I'm still working as a sort of contracted educational consultant for a company called Adaptive Curriculum. And, as far as work from home stuff goes, I am also working for Brian's cousin, Nikki, doing some blogging & website stuff for her company (more on that once everything re-launches).

Then, I will be watching Andrew's "bff" Avi & his twin sisters at their house two days a week (usually Wednesdays & Thursdays) while their mom is at work (she's a nurse). That will start this week. I'm sure it will be a bit of a handful at times, but Andrew and Avi play great together. And, the girls are on the same eating & napping schedule as the big boys. Really, the only "odd one out" is Eli. So, I think we'll get by ok.

It's a great solution for both of our families--saving them quite a bit off daycare costs and giving us some additional monthly income. I think it will be really good for the kids to have some social interaction. But, with it only usually being two days a week, we still have time at home for other activities, projects, errands, and the gym (which we finally feel like we have time for again & just joined with a new place that we really like so far).

So, I am really excited about how different life will look this year from the past 3!

There will be a lot less of this...

(although with Andrew's love of lizards, I'm sure this won't be the last one I'll be holding)

...and a lot more of this!...

Which, for right now, is exactly as it should be! :)