Labor Day Weekend

So much to update on this week :)

Monday I met with all the other teachers in our school district and we received our chrome books. Because of a STEM grant, all science teachers in the district will have a class set of chrome books for our kiddos. Everyone else will get a class set in the next 1-3 years so lucky me~ That means my teaching is about to get a face lift and I cannot wait!

Tuesday our principal gave us the day to get our rooms ready. For me, that meant cleaning out the junk from the previous teachers. It was a nightmare, but thankfully I have an amazing friend Kristin who came to help clean, along with her two oldest kids! We worked a miracle and I am so grateful for her help! Not only did Kristin help me clean my room, but she donated supplies to my classroom. Talk about selfless. Thank you thank you Kristin!

I brought in my vacuum to clean out every drawer/cupboard. Rigdon rocked it.

Kristin cleaned out every cupboard and did pretty much anything else I needed. She's the best ever.

Madelynn scraped every piece of tape on the tables and cupboards...bless her

Tuesday was also our anniversary. Oh my gosh....three years! I love Justin soooo much and I'm thrilled that he's MINE. We went out to eat at El Gaucho in Tacoma. We did their four-course meal which was amazing! I had delicious beef tenderloin, the famous Caesar salad, Halibut, and "blackberry" sorbet (the blackberry part, we think, was missing...). Justin had shrimp, fennel soup, filet mignon, and strawberry cheesecake. It was to die for...Love you Justin!

The rest of the week at school we worked on implementing our school's new progressive discipline program. It's still in the works, so that's a little nerve-racking to me. Being new to the school, I'd like the kids to believe I know what the heck I'm doing, but looks like I'll be implementing the "fake it 'til you make it!" philosophy until administration makes a decision.

Thursday night Justin and I went to the temple with some family names. We went down to the baptistery to find it completely empty and dark! Ha...it was so slow, the workers were delighted we showed up! We did some temple names along with our family names, then did their initiatory work on top of that. We loved it! We decided to make temple service a regular part of our life, so we've committed to going to the temple once every other week.

Friday Justin took the day off and I brought him to my school with me to set up all my tech-work. He fixed my classroom printer (which makes him a bit of a celebrity at my school as that problem hasn't been fixed for 3+ years), and hooked up my projector, document camera, and my chrome book. He's seriously the best! We took the car in to get a new battery because it wasn't starting correctly all week. James and Bonnie came to visit for the weekend, so we met up with them for Mexican food in the afternoon. That evening we played games at Jon's house and had pizza.

Saturday we did a lot of yard work and then drove to Gig Harbor. I shopped at Loft and we skipped rocks on the water at Fox Island. It was gorgeous weather! That afternoon Laura and I went to a baby boutique in Sumner. Her baby is due in early November, and I'm throwing a baby shower for her at the end of this month. She made her wish list and then we got gel pedicures. Love it! That night our friends Julie and Jeff had us over for dinner. We played "Pegs and Jokers" afterward.

Sunday we had the whole family over for dinner potluck style. We made BBQ pork sandwiches for everyone. After our fabulous lunch we did our annual fantasy football draft. That night James and Bonnie stayed the night and we watched "The Ghost and the Darkness."

Labor Day Justin and I took it way easy. We went to Sherwin and Williams and picked out a few paint colors for our bedroom. After painting a few spots around the room we decided on a color and had two buckets of paint made. We rested up and then started painting in the late afternoon. We got the whole room painted with two coats, then left to babysit Clara so Jon and Laura could go out. When we got home we were pleasantly surprised that the paint looks wonderful! We love the new look and can't wait to update the bedding and decor. All in good time...

We went with the color on the right.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for me. I had all day today to get the last minute touches finished. I'm getting my hair cut and colored later this afternoon. Hey - teachers gotta look good the first day of school too ;) I'm totally nervous. Last year on the first day I felt like throwing up, and I knew at least half of the kids already! This year...oh my goodness...I think I'll watch Freedom Writers tonight to give me motivation. Ha! Wish me luck!