It is really happening...

Well, it is almost official.  I got my substitute teacher's license and starting in the Fall I can substitute teach kids in Pre-K all the way to Highschool.  I thought for sure there would be problems with it as far as my bachelor's degree goes.  The reason is because I had my original birth date back then and no social security number so I thought for sure they would tell me that is not me or say something about it.  I was all prepared to explain everything about my birthday ordeal but I also gave it to God and said if this is the right choice He would make it happen.  And it went a lot faster than I thought it would.  I still have to go to the school office and fill out a bunch of paperwork but I can start subbing next Fall.

It does make me quite nervous as I see the kids nowadays.  Even our Kade said "mom, you don't want to be a sub.  Kids are really mean to subs." :)  So I have no idea how it will go or anything but I am giving it all to God.  And besides, I can be pretty mean too. :)  I am just ready to do something else besides taking care of little ones and what I love about it is that I get to come home at the same time our kids get off school and I will be able to stay home with them during the long summer months and on days there is no school.  So, I'm thinking it is an ideal in-between job while the kids are young before I get out there into the full-time working world.  It is also nice that in our district they have a big need for substitutes so I should get as much work as I would want and they even increased the pay this year because they had such a hard time finding people.

It will be a lot different at our house, I can't even imagine not having all the little kiddos here every day.  In a way, it makes my dreading summer so much better because it is the last summer I have to do it with all the kids.  I haven't told some of the parents yet which I'm not looking forward to because I know how hard it is to find a good daycare.  But I'll have to let them know soon.

waiting for Spring...

taken on April 15

It's been really hard this year to wait for the Spring to come.  There is still a lot of snow in our yard but at least it is melting bit by bit.  Just yesterday we had a little snow storm come thru and watching the huge snowflakes falling down was like a perfect Christmas Eve scene except that it made me angry. :)  It is just not the same when it happens in the middle of April and we're so eager for green grass and T shirts.

Well, to help us cope with this winter wonderland I asked the kids if they would like us to buy a trampoline this summer.  They got really excited about that because they love trampolines and going to people's houses that have one.  I explained trampolines cost a lot of money and in order to buy one this summer we will have to all do our chores and save all the chore money together until June/July.  It is really nice to have a goal for the money kids save together.  Especially for Kade, if he doesn't have some goal for the money he doesn't care if he gets any and so doesn't care if he misses some chores. :)  He has also been wanting a tablet for his birthday that's coming up in August, which is not cheap so we made a deal that if he wants one he has to pay for half of it with his money.  We started that when he first really wanted a more expensive toy and I really like that he feels ownership in the gift when he helps pay for it.

So, the trampoline is a good incentive I thought and something for the kids to look forward to in this ugly weather.  Truthfully, I want the trampoline just as much as the kids do because I'm once again dreading the full house of kids going wild when the school is done.  I'd love it if it was just my kids here and once in a while some extras for play mates but summer days get very long for me, being stuck at our house with up to 9 kiddos.  I'm just excited that my parents get to come and we can tackle some projects together.  We're also planning a road trip to Canada with them and we're all really looking forward to that.  Now if all the snow just melted away...
 

new smile

Today I got a new smile!  A temporary one but still new.  I am so glad I am done wearing that retainer.  Eating with it was almost impossible so at home I would leave it out for hours only to frantically look for it when someone knocked on the door. :)

Last week I had these "healing caps" put in which was weird because metal screws were sticking out of my gums.  I took a picture of it to put in here but I must have deleted it because now I can't find it.  Oh well, it was pretty gross anyway. :)  Today I went to my local dentist who took those caps out and put the screws in there that will hold the crowns.  It took him almost 2 hours because he had to keep adjusting everything and trimming and stuff.  Once he got those screws in there he made a mold of the 2 missing teeth using the stuff they use for teeth fillings.  So that is why it is temporary, these teeth are not durable, don't have the right shape or color.  I think the part I hate most about this whole process is how many appointments it is taking.  I just want to be done!

But, today I am glad for having teeth where a big whole was and for not having to think about the retainer anymore.  You would have to really study my teeth under a bright light to notice that those 2 are not mine so it's really nice that way.  Now I have to let the gum tissue heal up (it is all black and blue on the very top where the implants are) and in a couple months they will put 4 crowns in the front so that they all have the same shape and color.  At this point, I am just happy to not have missing teeth though. :)

Here are a couple pictures, not sure if they show the teeth well but just so you have the idea.  My lip was still numb so it was hard to smile even. :)  I like that the teeth are not so big anymore, the retainer was big and bulky so this is 1,000 times better.


  

Easter

Easter Sunday - probably the 50th take :)

Just thought I'd put some pictures from our Easter on here.  I put most of them on fb but just so we have them in here too.  We had a very nice Easter, even though kids didn't get much time off from school because they had to make up for the snow days.  So they only had Friday off but it was nice having them home and it was even better that only Emily and Aveah were here from the daycare kids.  It makes it so much more peaceful when it's just the 5 of them. :)  On Friday we colored boiled eggs, made a craft about Jesus's tomb and for snack we had "resurrection rolls".  I have seen people making them and this year I wanted to do it with the kids so that we can talk more about Jesus and real meaning of Easter.  Marshmallow represents Jesus, melted butter represents oils, cinnamon sugar represents the spices they put on his body.  Then we wrap Jesus in the crescent roll which represents white cloths and put him in the oven, or a tomb. :)  When the rolls come out of the oven after "3 days" you cut open the roll and Jesus is gone.  Kids loved it, even though the older ones knew right away that the marshmallow just melted.  They tasted good too so it was great.  If we had more time on Sunday morning I would make them for breakfast since that's the day Jesus was risen but it worked out good.  It was nice to spend time retelling the story with the kids and going over all the days before Jesus's death.

What made me pretty upset was that Anika and Emily came home on Thursday telling me there was a real Easter Bunny in their class, that he left candy and footprints and pieces of fur and stuff.  They really believed what the teachers did and I don't mind the school talking about the Easter bunny but making all the kids believe it's real is not right.  Especially kids like Emily and Anika are going to believe anything.  It was kind of the same thing as before Christmas there was a real gingerbread man coming to their class and it took me days to convince Anika that wasn't real.  So I had a talk with Ani about it and had to explain it's ok to pretend about the Easter bunny but we don't believe in it and it has nothing to do with what our Easter is about.  Even though she was a bit sad at first, she was excited about our little projects, cleaning the house, making Easter cupcakes and stuff and forgot all about it.

We usually get together with Ehren's family on Easter Sunday and kids have an egg hunt but this year Ingrid's and Seth's family couldn't come.  So we had Ehren's parents and Kjell and Jess over for lunch and did the egg hunt with just our 5 kids.  Kade is getting too cool for it now and he's been really wanting to hide the eggs this year so we let him do that.  It's nice seeing the transition from being excited to find the eggs to being excited to hide them.  There was no mention of an Easter bunny, kids know that it is us hiding the eggs but they still love it.  It was a bummer there was snow everywhere and so cold out, so we just did it inside this year.  It is a lot more fun to run around the yard looking for them.

So we had a very nice family Easter.  I was glad when Saturday came too because Ehren had to help with sound at church 3 nights in a row before that so the kids only saw him little bit in the morning each day.  So having him home on Saturday and Sunday was very nice.

 

Anika has her eyes closed on almost all the pictures

looking for eggs

dividing the treats they got :)