Drew started his new job as princpal of Parker Elementary this week. He is already loving it and has his office all set up. He is getting to know the staff this week. I was so fortunate to have been offered a preschool teaching job at Westbury Methodist, which happens to also be on our street. I will teach 2 year olds again, but I will not have Hadley in my class, and we will go 3 days a week starting this fall. We have been driving around alot and exploring the area. Even though I grew up in Houston I don't know a thing about this part of town, so it is fun to get to know our new surroundings. We took the kids to the Galleria on Sunday to watch the ice skaters and they loved that.
This weekend is our 6th wedding anniversary. Our best resident babysitter, my mom, is in OKC with Ashley so we're going to go out to dinner next week when she's back. Saturday we're planning to take the kids to see the Toy Story 3 movie--they are really excited to see it. We DVRd the Cars movie awhile back and Hadley is obsessed with Mater. Super feminine. She starts asking for Mater at the beginning of the movie and won't stop until he appears. Drew introduced the kids to Candyland, Memory, and Chutes and Ladders, and they will sit forever playing the games. Too bad for me that I detest board games and card games of all kinds. Anything for my little darlings though, and anything that keeps them quiet is a big plus.
Hayden and Hadley seem unfazed by the news that we were supposed to move to North Carolina this week but instead we're moving to Houston next week. Kids are resilient and in their own world it seems. Hayden and Hadley have had a week at a new summer school but tomorrow will be their last day since we are moving. Drew's last day with AISD was last Friday. So tomorrow we really will begin to pack.
Hayden and Hadley have been enjoying our last few weeks with our pool. We take them swimming in the backyard every evening and they love it. Hayden is starting to really swim alot better and Hadley loves to swim and splash and go under water. They are into Handy Manny and like to talk about the tools. Hadley likes Flicker and Pat the Hammer and Hayden likes Turner. Both kids have been playing with this Duplo Lego set that we have and they'll play with it forever. It is one of those kind of annoying toys because they want Drew and me to build stuff with it which falls apart immediately. They love a new CD that their Nana and Pop gave to them and sing BINGO and all of the other songs non-stop.
So our move date is next Thursday, June 24th. The kids and I will drive to Houston that morning to my mom's house, and Drew will stay behind to help the movers and then he'll drive Abby the Cat to Houston that night. I'm sure 2 and a half hours in the car will be plenty with Abby. Bailey the dog (and Ashley) will be in Houston at my Mom's house as well, so it'll be a full house, with Mom, my family of four plus a 19 pound cat, plus Ash and Bailey. A sidenote--we had to give our rental company our cat's weight and our realtor didn't at first believe us that Abby was a 19 pounder.
Hadley turned 2 this past Sunday. It is hard to believe that my baby is two years old. Very cliche. She had a Tinkerbell party, with a Tink cake and ice cream! It didn't rain, which was wonderful since her party was in our backyard. Hadley and her friends had a big time playing at our sand table and running around.
Drew graduates from UT tomorrow. My mom and dad will be here to celebrate with us. Drew's parents and my parents were all here when Drew defended on May 5th, and it was wonderful. Drew was born to give speeches, and he sure gave a good one that day. He spoke for about an hour, and then he got his signatures, and he and I were off to get the paperwork all over campus so that he could actually walk tomorrow. My mom babysat that night while Drew and his parents and I had a celebratory dinner out at Eddie Vs. Tomorrow night after graduation Drew and I are going to celebrate again!
We are moving on June 17th. We will all fly to Raleigh that day, all of us except the Abby Cat. Drew and his dad fly back to Austin on the 19th, then they will drive one of our cars with the Abby back to North Carolina. I will not be traveling with Abby this time--lucky me. Poor Drew and Tom...
This afternoon during our showing we're going to drive up to UT so I can see where to park on Wednesday for Drew's dissertation defense! I have never once been there to the UT campus (other than a football game) since Drew started school there 23 months ago. Drew's parents are coming Tuesday, along with my mom, and then my dad is coming on Wednesday. There is going to be quite a crowd there I have heard. Drew's co-workers, the dean of Education at UT, and a handful of others will be there in addition to his dissertation committee. This journey began so long ago for Drew and me--we both can hardly believe that the climax of all of our moves and all of our hard work has finally arrived.
We have been busy these past few weeks getting the house set and staying out of the house. Hayden finished this course of swim lessons, and he had a blast each time. Hadley is still in the middle of her course since she just goes once per week. Her teacher said she might qualify for the 3 year old class next time since she is fine with going under water and is ok putting her face and ears in the water. Hayden is in the 3 year old class, so it would be funny if they were in the same group.
Tomorrow is water day at school. It will be insane I'm sure. My co-teacher is 8 months pregnant and I don't want her to strain herself so changing 10 kids in and out of their wet bathing suits will be interesting.
We have been busy with our swimming this week. Hayden started on Tuesday afternoon and he loved being a big boy and doing things by himself. He told his teacher Miss Amy that "I will do it all by myself" when she tried to help him down the steps into the pool. He followed all of the directions she gave him and was really proud of himself. He had his 2nd lesson on Thursday afternoon. Hadley had her first swim lesson of the season this morning. She loved every minute of it, and she did a great job of getting out of the pool by herself, throwing the ball into the water, jumping in to fetch the ball, floating on her back, and kicking to the side. I didn't get any action shots of her since I was in the pool with her, but I got pictures of Hayden during his actual lesson since I got to sit on the side for that one (hallelujah!).
Hayden also did great riding his bus all by himself this week to Mills Elementary for his speech. I all but lost my mind watching him drive away from the church on that huge bus by himself, but he thought it was big fun. His speech teacher was impressed that he didn't fuss about the bus at all and just went with the flow. Thank goodness there is a carseat on the bus for him and that Mills is just a couple of miles away if that.
