Transition Time

Serious-wasn't it just September? Now we are looking at the ending of November with Thanksgiving being tomorrow. I always swear that I will get better at this stuff, but honestly, who am I kidding? As much as I love to blog, I never seem to have the consistent time to do it. Anywho, here's an update of our lives for September and most of November. Unfortunately, no pictures because the hubster had to move the iPhoto library over to the iMac desktop which is currently dismantled as we have company coming on Friday.

September
The first part of September was going really well, and I really need to learn to keep my mouth closed sometimes and not ask when the ball is going to drop. Yeah, the ball dropped big time. The hard drive with everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) I have ever done for my teaching career suddenly died. I literally told Brett on the phone Monday before I left that it was making funny noises before I left school, and by the time I got home, it no longer functioned.

After about a month and half of trying to get it fixed (one on the side job and two professional clean rooms), we got the official word that is was completely unrecoverable at the end of October. Of course, I was livid, and all heck broke out needless to say multiple times. Lots of you did/didn't do crap that was probably a waste of time. I still contend that if we had sent it off right away that the data would have been recoverable, but that is neither here or there. Thus the move that I thought was going to be less stress and work went into overdrive, and it hasn't really slowed down.

Starting from square one is never really fun for teachers, but I am starting to fix that it is going to end up being a good thing, especially when that much work is lost. I luckily have some of the stuff printed out thank goodness, but there will be a lot more creating than I expected. However, it has actually been more of an inspiration since I have to be creative and search things out. The other big plus is that I have my best buddies like edhelper, pinterest and teachers pay teachers to ease some of the pain. Not really sure how I survived without them. I am hoping to make blog (hahaha-I know this ironic since I can't seem to keep this one up) to track the things I am doing. I at least finally started a class blog for my kiddos.

October
October is usually my favorite month. Fall finally comes to Texas, and our wedding anniversary and my favorite holiday are both in October. However, this October was literally unbearable. Hubster and I spent a lot of time arguing over the dang drive, and I got the official news during October. It seemed like the first of many dings I kept getting. I was on a roller coaster of emotions.

We had some trouble planning our anniversary this year (probably will for a long time) due to the added significance of the date, my mother's death. It is really hard to be in a mood to want to celebrate when someone you wish were here to celebrate isn't. My biggest wish was to spend time as a family, and I definitely believe my mom wouldn't want us to not celebrate our anniversary. This was one was actually a big one since it was number 5; this is the first major marriage milestone.

My baby sister, E, called us earlier in the month to ask if we would come to her volleyball game on our actual anniversary. She plays for a university near where my parents lived, and they were playing at home and wanted to dedicate the game to Mom. Since she never asks us to do stuff, we knew it was important to be there for support. We made our normal dinner trip to Ihop a breakfast trip, and then the three of us headed to our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun this year because Little Man is up, moving, and interested in everything! He was so full laughter at getting to run up and down the rows of pumpkins being chased by Daddy, and he was so amusing since he felt the need to try and pick up every pumpkin twice his size. After a short stop at home, we grabbed my grandma to head to Waxahachie. We made a pit stop at my paternal grandmother's. We hadn't seen her since right after Little Man was born. It was a nice short visit, but I did have to tell her that my mother had past away. It was a little easier than having to explain to some random friend of my mother who didn't have any idea that she had past. I wasn't thrilled to tell her this information because I know it is going to get back to my real father, and it chaps me to have him know any of my personal information. Part of the reason I haven't sent new pictures to her is because I have no desire for him to have any knowledge of Little Man. The volleyball game went really well; E's team played amazing and basically handed the other team their butts. E played at top form, which was nice since sometimes she gets nervous and plays badly when we are there. It was nice to see all the girls in shirts for my mom, and E has really been blessed with an awesome coach who looks out for her. It was his idea to play the game for my mom. We went to dinner with E and some other family, and it was nice to get a chance to chat with people. The only thing missing was that my other sister, K, had to be at work.

The next day Hubster's mother came and got Little Man, and we headed to a staycation in Dallas. Things started out fairly well. We had gotten a room at the Fairmount Hotel, and they ended upgrading us to a king and sending up chocolate covered strawberries and champagne when they found out it was our anniversary. We also got a chance to finally share the bottle of the same port we toasted with at our reception (Messina Hof's Ivory Ports of Call). I had found it the summer before our third anniversary, but between cutting my finger open, getting pregnant, and mom dying, we hadn't had a chance to even open it. We then hit up the Dallas Museum of Art. Then we found out that the night art display we wanted to see and why we picked downtown Dallas happened the night before. A little disappointed, we headed to dinner at Lark in the Park which over looks Klyde Warren. Well, I should say did because there is now a new restaurant  actually in the park that blocks the view of it. While the food was fairly good, there was a very limited selection, and it kind of paled in comparison to place we had been in the past. After dinner, we walked around a bit so I could play with my camera a bit, and then we stopped by the new restaurant that didn't seem to have a name for dessert. It wasn't bad, but again, nothing to really write home about. We finally went back to the room and got some sleep. Sleeping in was nice, and the Fairmount had an excellent breakfast buffet even if it was a bit on the expensive side. There Oatmeal Brulee completely makes up for it, and I would highly suggest it if you like oatmeal. We had a little bit of time before we had to be back home so we visited the Sixth Floor Museum (the JFK assignation museum). I had been once before when I was in high school, and Brett hadn't ever been. It was a nice end to the staycation in Dallas.

Life went on fast forward, and it was suddenly the weekend before Halloween. We hadn't really had time to put up decorations, and I hadn't even picked up a pumpkin since we decided to go the cheaper route. I hadn't even had a chance to fix up the costume I planned to put together to go with Little Man's Minion costume. We did manage to go to Boo at the Zoo at the Ft. Worth Zoo the Sunday before, and Little Man was so excited. He really loved looking at all the animals; the bears were especially popular. I got a chance to carve my pumpkin on Sunday, but it molded before we could put it out. We hardly got any trick-or-treaters, so the whole thing was kind of a bust. Needless to say, I welcomed the dawn of November.

November
Work has been busy between the To Kill a Mockingbird projects and International Week. I have had so much grading, and I can't ever seem to get it all cleared away. I also had a good evaluation at school as well; I am thankful for that since things got a bit messed up with some changes. Finally having Thanksgiving break has been wonderful thing.

This month should have been renamed the sick month. Since the end of October, we have been to the doctor several times and one ER trip with Little Man. We have had ear infections in each ear, a stomach bug that caused vomiting and diarrhea, and breathing issues. Hubster got what Little Man had, and he also passed it to my grandmother, uncle, and two great aunts. I had a touch of the diarrhea but otherwise was unscathed. Both of our allergies have been a hindrance due to the lovely flux in Texas weather. It has been nice that the cold finally came in since it will be killing a lot of this stuff. I feel horrible that Little Man has apparently gotten my gene for allergies and asthma.

We have spent most of break cleaning house, and we finally got things reorganized in our bedroom and some of the middle bedroom office/craft room. I also got most of Little Man's summer clothes sorted out and finished packing away the last of the infant stuff. As much as we hate to part with Little Man, it was nice that he was able to go daycare the last three days. We will have the next couple of days. We did manage to squeeze in a small date to the movie. Tomorrow, we will spend the first part of Thanksgiving with Hubster's mom, brother, grandfather, and my grandmother in Denton, and then we will head over to Grapevine to spend the evening with some of my cousins. Plans for Friday are bit in the air. I am still deciding on braving some of the Black Friday stuff- I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving. Great for those who want to, but I do think it is pushing it a bit to have things starting on Thanksgiving. Then again, I also don't think the movies should be open on Christmas either. Hubster is planning to get some yard work done, and then we have friends coming over for a post Turkey potluck. Saturday I will most likely go into work to grade some of the projects I have been avoiding, and I think we will try to do some Christmas stuff on Sunday as Brett has to work some the following weekend.

While everything seems to be in transition always for our little family, this coming Monday will usher in a big transition for Little Man. Today was his last full day in the infant room (cue the crying from momma), which is his last baby thing left. As of Monday, he will begin the transition process of going to the toddler room a whole month early; he should actually be going until the end of December/ beginning of January since he won't be 18 months until then. However, the Miss Ds think he is definitely ready for it. He will actually be doing Montessori lessons once he moves up, and he will be full time in the toddler room a week from Monday. While it is an exciting time, it is so hard to believe that he is already such a big little man, and it is so hard to let his babyhood drift off without shedding a tear or two-okay maybe more like 9 or 10. One would never believe that such a little calm thing would grow into such a ball of energy and independence. Thankfully, his new teacher seems like a sweetheart, and I feel somewhat comfortable leaving him in her hands. Now if we could just decide on whether to do it all over again or not. While a bit of pain to go through, I think we are getting to a point where it might not be too bad to have to take it all back down again, but then again a certain person changes his mind all the time.

Next up...
Yah for Christmas time and birthday celebrations! I will hopefully have pictures next time of the gifts I give to Little Man's infant teachers-if I can ever decide what to do and get them done-along with his new teacher's gift (I am hoping to do a school supply cake for her). There is also Christmas planning, presents, and events to post about as well. My next big project is looking like it might actually be a DIY kitchen for Little Man since he loves the ones at daycare so much. Not sure if I can pull it off in time for Christmas. There is also the start to birthday planning! So nightie-night blog land, and I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving tomorrow for those in the US. For the rest of the world, I hope you have a wonderful plan old Thursday.