Love

It's so easy to remember the planning of our wedding. Hunting online to find the best deals to fit our VERY small budget. Sitting in the living room with our crappy printer and so carefully printing up each and every invitation on vellum, making sure I didn't touch it so as not to smear. Going dress shopping and finding the perfect dress and hoping that you would love it just as much as I did. And of course choosing the vows that expressed exactly how we felt about one another.

Four years ago today I married the most wonderful man I have ever met. He's the perfect mixture of nerdy and charming and he's my best friend. I am so lucky to have met someone that would literally change his life to be with me. He has moved across the country with me (twice), held my hand during MS struggles, helped me make a handsome little man, and finished off each night telling me "I love you". I feel very lucky to be living the life that I have and even more lucky that I get to share it with my husband. Happy Anniversary Andy!

Warning!

Before you start reading, I will come right out and say that this is not going to be a happy go lucky post. I'm in a blah mood, therefore you will be getting a blah post. But I promise I'll try to throw in a new and improved picture of Logan at the end.

I, Rachel McKenna, am going to finally admit that I miss Arizona. Bits of it, not the whole thing. I miss my friends, A LOT. And I do miss our really small and cramped house, minus the scorpions that stung me. Also, it would be nice to jump into a pool that is just down the road from me, even if it did feel like bath water. Most of all, I miss my school. Today all of my AZ teacher friends are getting up extra early to go into work and greet one another, share what they did over summer break, and gear up for another school year. One that starts next week, which is crazy to me. I love how the beginning of the school year is another fresh start with a new set of students that I get to know and love. It's just such a strange feeling to go into Target and to not look for sales on wide ruled notebooks, folders, crayons, glue, etc. I really think this no teaching thing is getting me into a depressive state. My kid can only do so many funny things during the day, I need new material that I can share with Andy from my classroom.

So, now that I have admitted the ugly truth about missing AZ, here is the promised picture of Logan. Enjoy!

Thank Goodness!

We finally have a little bit of good news...the sale of our house is closing tomorrow! It's been such a pain to have to wait for this, and then to leave Arizona without the sale being complete. Our credit with take a bit of a blow with the short sale, but we'll build it back up by the time we want to buy again. It's a nice weight lifted off our shoulders.

Job hunt 2011 still continues. I've found a few jobs out there, but have now resorted to filling out applications for paraprofessional positions. As long as I'm working with students in a school, I know I'll be happy. Hopefully being a parapro would open up the doors to actual teaching positions in the future if I don't get one this summer. It really is depressing though. I feel like I'm taking a huge step backwards in my career. I've worked so hard to build up my resume, but it didn't seem to work. ::sigh:: I am currently working on staying positive. Kind of difficult, I'm not gonna lie.

Bad news...

I didn't get the job. Blah. Onto more applications.

Today my tummy was doing belly flops

Today was a pretty important day. By important, I mean the day that really could decide whether I have a job or am a stay at home mom. So, pretty much deciding my future here people (and no, I'm not being dramatic). I had to teach a lesson to a lovely group of 1st graders, and hope to goodness that I didn't mess up. I think it went ok. I went over on time a bit, but that's normal for me. It's pretty difficult to teach a lesson in 30 minutes. Give me 45 and I'm good to go, but 30 is a bit rushed. Just my opinion. I'm crossing my fingers...and my toes.

It's strange seeing what the date is and realizing that if I were still in AZ, I would be getting ready to start putting my classroom together. School doesn't start until September here! I am missing my AZ buds a lot lately, hopefully I'll meet some gals that are just as awesome as my AZ peeps.

In other news, Logan is officially 17 months. That's pretty darn close to 1 and a half. Which is very close to 2. He's pretty hilarious. He took it upon himself to throw my shoes in the bathroom sink today. Where he got this idea, I do not know. However, I believe he has a shoe fetish since he is always walking around wearing our shoes and loves to pick out his own shoes for the day. He's talking more than ever. I swear he learns a new word everyday. The only problem is that when he learns a new word, he uses it constantly. For everything. Eh, he's pretty special.

Hopefully my next post will have good news!

Fingers crossed

I had an interview. Pretty exciting stuff since I expected that I would never get called in for an interview and would be a stay at home mom forever, thus never having enough money to buy clothes again. However, I was received the blessed phone call and rushed my butt to a school for an interview. I then decided I bombed it and was not going to get the job. Until I received another phone call. I now onto phase two of the interview process in which I must teach a lesson to a small group of 1st/2nd grade children. I'm scared shit-less. I've taught lessons before, but I just keep thinking about how this could be the one an only interview I have in Michigan and I could lose out on the job. The job that will bring me money so that I can buy clothes. Can you tell I love shopping for clothes? So, my fingers are crossed, I'm going to try to write the best damn writing lesson I have ever written in my lifetime, and I'm going to hope and pray that I blast away the competition.

On a side note, we LOVE being back in the mitten. Grand Rapids is awesome. Logan has already seen both sets of grandparents multiple times. There's a ton of stuff to do, and I've been able to get back in touch with a lot of old friends. I never realized how much I missed living here until we moved back. It has also reminded me of how much I really did not like Arizona. I actually have a slight sunburn from being at the park the other day. In AZ, going to the park in the summer is not happening unless you'd like to burn your tush on the hot plastic slide. Life is good.