I realize I have not been keeping to my twice a week minimum! This summer is incredibly busy! Not to mention short – we only got 7 weeks off this summer! The first two weeks were great – we did some fun stuff but had time to laze around, too. The third week we had VBS and vacation. VBS was great, although we only got to go to three out of five days of it because of vacation. However, I decided to order the entire curriculum set that our VBS theme came from – Children’s Garden of the Theotokos. (I will link this later). No, I do not homeschool (well, right now my kids are only 2 and 4) but I plan on using it as supplemental education at home – hopefully it will last me several years as it has several units in it!

We took a vacation to Gatlinburg with my mom, my M-I-L, my sisters-in-law, and my nephew and had a great time walking nature trails, going to the Aquarium, playing putt-putt, swimming, and hanging out in the jacuzzi. It was beautiful up there! And I found a cheap warehouse-type bookstore! I always love to find used bookstores whenever I go on vacation! One night “the girls” (my two sisters-in-law and a friend of one of them and me) went out. It is funny to see the difference between 20-somethings going out and 30-somethings going out. I thought I looked fine in my jeans, T-shirt, and ponytail, but they had to dress me and accessorize me and do my hair! I had to admit, I did look better after the makeover and had a fun time with the girls. However, I can see that I care less about my appearance at this age – I mean, I try to look nice for work and church, but I can go out on a Saturday without makeup and in a ponytail and think nothing of it!

So this week is my fourth week of break, and I am in a week-long, 7-hours a day training to get certified to teach Algebra I. Yes, Algebra I. I know I’m an ESL teacher, but all of my freshmen fail Algebra, and sometimes they fail it again as sophomores. My only freshmen this past year that passed were two that I helped with Algebra homework every single day, and they still only passed with Ds. So this school year I am planning on teaching 2 blocks of ESL and 1 block of Sheltered Algebra 1. Sheltered just means it will only be offered to ESL or ESL transition students. My training is going well, and I understand most of it, but I am getting a little nervous about the new school year. I will be entering my TENTH year of teaching – and I still get nervous!!

I really appreciate my husband watching the kids this week so I can pursue this. In two weeks he has them all by himself again while I go to Murray State for my residency. He is racking up major Daddy hours this summer so Mommy can be career woman. I hope that next summer I can just STAY HOME all summer and veg out!!!