January recap

January is coming to an end. Yaaaay. Not that there is anything wrong with January except that it is cold and dark and long. If you like that sort of thing.
On the workfront, we are getting used to our temporary classroom space. The folks at the church have been so patient with us and that is a good thing since we are going to be there for another 8 weeks. It's like we are the guests that never leave! We moved in with a few necessities to tide us over for the week or so we were expected to be there. We tried to go back late Friday afternoon and get more equipment and supplies from our water damaged classrooms, but the restoration company just put everything into one giant pile and so we couldn't get to anything. Our administrators have been outstanding in trying to make sure we have everything we need to do our jobs. That helps! Ellyn, my paraeducator, was out of town this past week and her sub was a newly hired speech pathologist, fresh out of grad school. Michelle is Wayne's age almost exactly! I really enjoyed getting to know her. The kids really liked her. It was so cute, one student said to her, "Is Mrs. V your mom?" Another student wanted to know if we were sisters. I went with that.

On the homefront, we celebrated Jenny and Nina's birthdays yesterday with a dinner at Jenny's house. Marmar and Wayne were not able to come to the party, but we understood. It is hard to believe that Nina is two already! She is quite the talker and is putting together two and three words. Here are two pictures from last night and then a video from the night that Nina was born. So precious!

Jen, Sue, Sally, me with Nina and Abbie and the cake

"I'm going to wear these all night!"

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Today is my sister Jenny's birthday. She is an amazing woman who always thinks of others first and never calls attention to herself. Jenny is calm and never overreacts to anything. I am not like that by nature, but I try to emulate that behavior because it is so attractive. Jenny is such an outstanding mother and grandmother. Her son Arne paid her the ultimate compliment when he said that Jenny was to her granddaughters as Pawp (our dad) was to his grandkids. So true.
Love you, Jen!

Moving Day

After all of the confusion of last week, things are starting to settle down a bit at work. On Friday, it became clear that we were going to have to find some temporary space as there was no chance of getting back into our building any time soon. (Our building is actually an old KinderCare that was unoccupied for years, then was purchased by the local high school district. My special education cooperative rents it from that school district). There are so many hoops to jump through before the restoration can begin (like getting three bids and then choosing one etc) and there is lots of restoration to be done, let me tell you. There was a lot of damage to the ceilings as well as water damage pretty much everywhere. We found our temporary space thanks to my walking partner Lynn. She is on the vestry at her church and said that they has some Sunday school space we might be able to use and it all ended up working out. Today our staff was able to go back into our damaged building for about an hour to get necessities, then we went over to the church to get set up. It was very productive. I am looking forward to seeing the kids tomorrow. I have really missed them!

Have you missed me?

I have been neglecting my blog and all of my faithful readers (all 3 of you!). It has been a very weird week. Not bad, just very weird. It started a week ago. I received a phone call around 4:00 last Sunday afternoon. It was Eileen, my boss, telling me that she had just gotten a call telling her that a pipe had burst in the building where I work. Since we live so close to the building, I told her Jack and I would run out there and check out the damage. It was not good. There was water everywhere, including coming out of the ceiling. The pipe for the sprinkler system had burst due to the cold weather and so it was one big crazy mess.  The week continued like that. So many phone calls to parents and families. And the update changed daily. The bottom line is we are moving into temporary classrooms this week.  Busy times.
On a lighter note, we did have the pleasure of babysitting Abbie and Nina on Friday night. Arne and Beth were going to Bruce's (Arne's dad) birthday party and we had offered to go to their house to babysit. Sally and Matt stopped by for awhile, too. The girls were adorable! Never bratty and always sweet. One of my favorite moments of the evening was when Abbie ran by a picture of her and Nina and she stopped, touched Nina's face and said "I love my sister!"
Another weird happening this weekend was my dermatologist's appointment yesterday. I saw a dermatologist who was new to the practice and the first thing she said to me was, "Does your daughter teach Spanish at the high school?" It turns out that Sally has her son in class and the dermatologist pleaded with me to put in a good word with Sally for her son. It was quite an interesting experience! She also told me how Sally made her son feel better by saying just the right thing to him one day in the hallway.
And lastly, I loved spending time with my mom this afternoon. Sue and Karen went to the Bears game...big win! It was pretty profound thinking of the difference between today and earlier in the season when Jenny and I hung out with mom and Harriette. Hard to believe that was this season. So much has changed.
Later, gators...thanks for reading!

Back in the saddle

The first week back at work has been just fine. We have been blessed with good weather and by that I mean it hasn't been subzero temperatures or blowing drifting snow. The snow melted late last week when it was 50 degrees on New Year's Eve and so the pavement has been dry and quite negotiable for the morning walks. That helps.
Speaking of New Year's Eve, we went to a very fun neighborhood party at Christy and Steve's which they co-hosted with two other couples. It was a great time and we even made it up past midnight! We had no plans for New Year's Day, but then all the kids were wondering if we were going to get together. I texted my nephew Kjell who just moved in to a new townhouse and offered to bring a party to his house. Marmar has not been feeling well (some sort of flu, upper respiratory tract infection) and so she and Sue were not able to come. We missed them. Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina came, as well as Jenny and Jay, Wayne and Julie, Sally and Matt, and me and Jack. We made homemade pizza and it was a super cozy night. Very low key and relaxing and not too much food after all of the holiday eating. I didn't take too many pictures, but did get a couple of quick videos. One is Abbie and Nina dancing and the other is Wayne and Arne imitating their mothers and aunt dancing. We can't help it. That's how we dance!