PA Days, Busy Days and Lonely Days

We seem to have had our share of PA Days in the past month...2 in the last few weeks and family day coming up on Monday! The latest one was spent in the woods with 5 kids and a dog playing war. Murphy wasn't very good at keeping hiding places a secret! It didn't seem like an activity Hannah would enjoy, but since her favourite book series is the Hunger Games, she felt like Katniss climbing up trees and hiding from the boys! We all had a great time!

I've been getting a fair bit of supply teaching work both from the public board and the one private school I supply for (yay!) but it is sporatic and unpredictable. Last week I worked 4 full days, the week before, none. I often don't know until 6am if I will be working that day or not so I keep my plans open and fit in household stuff on the days I can. I do find that the busier I am, the more I get done. Take a day like today for example. For some reason I felt I was going to get a call and had nothing planned. No call came and so far I've spent my morning blogging, looking out the window, thinking how lucky I am to have the opportunity to have a day at home and listening to how quiet the house is...even the animals are all asleep! It's almost too quiet. Poor Jason has been very busy at work and doesn't have the luxury of too much free-time...I'm sure he's making a to-do list for me as he reads this! It just really validates my decision to go back to school to become a teacher. I'll look forward to more consistent work in the future but enjoy what I'm getting for now.

Skating on the PA Day

Testing my blogger app on my new iPhone. Don't think I can upload video straight from here...drat.

Dinner

I told the kids they could have whatever they wanted for dinner as long as it had ham in it (trying to use it up and running out of creative ways to use it). Hannah's having ham with Kraft dinner, Henry's having a ham and cheese sandwich, this is what Jack chose:
Just realized the photo isn't so great...that's ice cream!!

No Photos :(

Haven't blogged in a while cuz I haven't been taking too many photos but I decided that doesn't mean nothing's been happening. I got hired to supply teach at a private school about a month ago (poor pay and not really teaching since I supply for the co-teacher who mostly does marking, scolding and paper work) and the next day got an interview for the public board which I've really been waiting for! I've been in about 3 days/week at the private school and it feels like playing school! Everything is on paper (at this particular school) in triplicate with highlighting and time keeping. Kids sit and copy work from the board and work in workbooks. Only tidy, identical work is shown on the walls. Nothing that I learned in teacher's college, but that's ok. It's all good practice. I was even in their school concert up on stage in hundreds of parents' photos and videos! But in the meantime, I got the job with the board...signing papers today!! That means not only am I now eligible to supply teach, but I also have access to all available long term occasional job postings which I was unable to apply for until being hired by the board! This was the first step I was waiting for so Merry Christmas to me!
In other news, Hannie's got a stomach bug, Jason's got strep and I've been fighting something for 3 weeks now. It doesn't feel too Christmassy with green lawns and 8 degrees today, but there are countdowns - calendars, chalk boards, paper tear-offs, move the marker - all over the house so I know it's coming!

Happy Birthday And!

Sports

This happens this same weekend every year...Jack's summer and winter sports collide.
It is the playoff weekend for baseball, a sport Jack has played all summer at a very non-competitive level. This is also the weekend of Jack's first tournament in hockey, a sport Jack plays more competitively through the fall/winter and he's their goalie! We're lucky it's a local tournament so often we can fit it all in (poor tired Jack) but when 2 games are at exactly the same time, it's a tough call. We weigh all the factors in making our decision: which would Jack rather play? (often he can't decide). Will this game eliminate the team from further games? Will the team suffer without him? He started baseball and I always think should finish it with his team, but Jason feels that hockey is way more expensive and at a more competitive level and that his team counts on him more as their goalie. So last night the decision was made that he would miss baseball to go to his first tournament hockey game. His baseball team was not short players so although they would miss him, it wouldn't be detrimental. I was at a wedding so couldn't be there for the game...turns out the other goalie for our team played the whole game!! They take turns and I had assumed it was Jack's turn in net!! Next time I will ask!! Oh well, this morning Jack played an awesome game in net, their team won 4-2 and we're off to a baseball game followed by a...oh no, will it be hockey or baseball? They're at the same time this afternoon!

Back to School!

Yippee! It was time for some routine around here...first day went off without a hitch and 2 out of 3 kids got all their friends in their class. The other has met a new friend already and has a fantastic teacher so I'm looking forward to a great year!

Now if we can just get me into a school!