Prepping For the First Day of School

Our fun-filled Friday continued with a trip to the mall for haircuts.  Up to this point, the girls had gotten haircuts from a friend in Thief River, so this was their first full-on salon experience, complete with shampoo, cut and blow-dry.  I think they felt a bit like rock stars.

Hard to tell in this picture because they are so serious,
but they were pretty tickled at this experience.

Playing Tourist -- Fredericksburg Trolley Tour

Friday was a very full, fun day.  We started the day with Open House at Parkside Elementary, where Elise met her teacher and got settled into her classroom.  From there, we headed to historic downtown Fredericksburg for a Trolley Tour!  I've been wanting to do one of these since we moved here, and I'm glad we did.  The guide gave a great overview of Fredericksburg's history (both in the Colonial era and the Civil War era), pointed out several of the key historical buildings, and taught some trivia (the town is named after King George II's son, crown prince Frederick; all the streets in the original downtown area date from colonial times and are named after members of the royal family at that time...Charlotte, William, George, Sofia, Amelia, Hanover (the family name)).

On the tour, the guide pointed out Colonial Cupcakes, a locally-owned bakery located in a historic building.  Anja really wanted to go there, so once the tour was over we stopped in and got some treats.  The girls particularly liked the Sprinkle Bar, where they got to top their cupcakes with sprinkles.

Elise's Third Grade Open House

Oh my, how is it that Elise is already a 3rd grader???  When I get my computer back I will post a picture of her going to preschool to see how she is grown.  Or, if you are on Facebook, I probably have pictures there in one of my albums.

Anyway...Today was the general Open House at Parkside Elementary.  We all went to support Elise (me, Jason, Anja, my mom and dad).  We met her teacher, Miss Fitzsimmons ("Miss Fitz") and several kids in her class (one of them we ran into later at the mall and chatted with her some more.  Fun!). 

 In her class there are two girls named Elise, so Elise has to learn to write her name as "Elise R."  Honestly, I thought we might avoid doubling up like that. Oh, well.

Elise put all her things away in her desk, got settled and ready for the first day of school!

Anja's Kindergarten Open House

I cannot believe Anja is going to be in Kindergarten!  Last night the whole crew (me, Elise, Jason, my mom and dad) all went with Anja to her Kindergarten open house. 

We were very excited to find out that Anja's friend from YMCA camp is in her class!

Anja found her desk and put away her things.

We are looking forward to an exciting year!

Anja and her teacher

A Day Full of "Ups"

Some days are just good and yesterday was one:

• I am still without my computer, but I found out it will cost only $90 to repair (from a local repair place.  This is in comparison to the $300 - minimum - estimate I got from Best Buy, after which the guy figured that meant I would just junk my computer and buy a new one).  That is an estimate, so we will see how close the actual bill is, and if the repair fixes the problem (fingers crossed!), but $90 is a heck of a lot less than several hundred!

• I GOT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE BACK!!!  Monday afternoon I realized I didn't have my driver's license in my wallet.  After frantically searching EVERYWHERE (including ripping out the lining of a purse after I saw there was a hole in the lining and thought the license could have slipped through there and gotten into some hidden recess of the purse.  If you think I'm crazy about this, please know that I "lost" my keys in that way about a year ago).  I remembered the last place I had for sure had it, so called every place I had been since then to see if I had left it there.  No dice.  You may think that losing a license is no big deal, but this was my Minnesota license.  I hadn't gotten a Virginia license yet (yeah, yeah, I know, but who wants to go to the DMV??).  So, I couldn't simply just get a replacement license because to do that I would have to go to MINNESOTA.  And, oh yeah, I would have to LIVE there so they would have a place to send it.  UGH, big problem!!!   And how was I going to get a license in Virginia without a current license from a different state?  Then yesterday, I got a wonderful call from one of the businesses I had been at on Friday and they told me they FOUND my license!!!  This was one of the places I had already contacted to see if they had found it, and when they were cleaning yesterday there it was!

• I am BACK TO WORK, helping people in the public libraries, and I LOVE IT!  I was hired by the area library system earlier in the month and have been training for the past two weeks.  Training wrapped up on Wednesday and yesterday I worked at the England Run branch.  I didn't realize how much I had missed working and helping people until yesterday and I left work with a skip in my step and a smile on my face.  It is a good feeling knowing I am making the world a better place!

Southern Things I've Learned

Last week my computer broke and I still don't have it back, so I am making due using public computers at the library (yay! for public libraries) and borrowing computer time from Jason and my parents.

Until I get my computer back, I will add some quick posts.  Last week I started job training with the public library and have come into contact with lots of people from this area.  Some things I've learned:

• GRIN = Girl Raised in the North
• GRITS = Girl Raised in the South
• Yankee = someone from the North
• Damn Yankee = someone from the North who comes to the south and stays
• Anyone who is offended by being called "honey," or "sweetheart" should not live in the South

Up until last week, most of the people I had chatted with or been friendly with here have been Jason's colleagues, who are Damn Yankees who moved to Virginia to teach at the university and, though delightful, have not given me the same introduction to Fredericksburg and Virginia that I have been getting working with locals at the library.  I'm not sure if I will ever feel completely at home here, but it sure is entertaining and enlightening!

A Job!

I am delighted that I have been hired at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library system (CRRL for short).  I've been hired as a sub for the Adult Reference area and am really hoping it will be the first step to a permanent position.  I started training this week, and have about one more week of training to complete before I can start subbing.  Thus far, I have been very impressed with CRRL (here is their website, Librarypoint.org ).  The library is one of the best in Virginia and has been recognized with national awards as well.  The library buildings are beautiful, and the staff is enthusiastic about their work and very good at what they do.  I'm looking forward to learning a lot from these talented people!



This is the headquarters library for CRRL. 
It is in the historic downtown area of Fredericksburg.



How Come I'm Still So Busy?????

For months, I have been looking forward to having time for "real life" after I finished my masters.  I just knew that being done with school would give me TONS of time everyday to blog, read, go for walks, call friends, play with the dog, and all kinds of other things.  But I haven't been able to!!!  WHAT HAPPENED???  I've really been thinking about this a lot because it's been a huge disappointment.  I've been done with my masters almost two weeks, and I haven't had much more free time than I did when I was taking classes.  Here's what I've decided:  I really DO have more free time, but I am filling it with things I feel now can't be ignored (things I HAD to ignore when doing my masters because EVERYTHING had to be ignored then).  So, my "free time" is being filled with cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and unpacking boxes (still!).  The good news is, now that I have figured out where my free time has gone, I can get it back for other things (like reading and calling friends) by simply not cleaning, doing laundry and going to the grocery store!  hehe

What a Weekend!

Done with my Masters = more free time =  BRING ON THE FUN!!

Last weekend, after finishing my masters, I was determined to take the girls out and enjoy life a little! 

Saturday

Saturday morning we headed to the farmer's market, where there were a few special things going on, like face painting...


The girls showing their scary poses after getting dragons painted on their faces.

and a visiting tractor...

After that we headed to Alum Springs Park, one of our favorite parks in Fredericksburg.  The girls wanted to hike in the creek and we decided it would be a great opportunity to take Dutch out for some fun.

Dutch loved being in the water.

The young naturalists, trying to capture critters in the water
 (and anywhere else they find them).

Of course, Dutch found the muckiest places in the creek to walk and swim through.  He had a blast and so did we, but afterward he NEEDED a bath.  Fortunately the PetSmart by us could get him and he came out looking and smelling much better.


Looking and smelling much better after a bath!

 

Sunday

Sunday we headed to the Fredericksburg Fair and had a TON of fun!



Elise and I on the Ferris Wheel.  From the Ferris Wheel
we could see the whole fair, including the mud run, which drew
the largest crowd of anything at the fair.  It was kind of fun
to watch from up in the air.

Bumper cars!  I haven't done these for YEARS!
It was Anja's first time...

and Elise's first time, too.

Elise is pretty brave about rides.  Too bad her mom is a wimp!
Elise went on these high-flying swings by herself, and had a smile
a mile wide the whole time

She looks so small!  Way to small to be on that ride,
as far as I'm concerned.

Jason and Anja waiting for Elise while she went on the
high-flying swings.

Brave Elise humored us woosies by going on
the merry-go-round with us.

The merry-go-round, one of the few rides I will go on.

We had a great time!

The animals are still the favorite of all of us.

The petting zoo had some unique animals who
were very friendly.  The owners were selling cups of grain
to feed the animals but smarty Elise ripped up handfuls
of grass from next to the pens to feed them, for FREE!



YMCA

I've never belonged to a YMCA or really even visited one.  But here in Fredericksburg, we have a YMCA close to where we live and they have summer day camp that a lot of kids in our area attend.  Anja has been there several days this summer, and this week Elise had her first days there.  Both girls love it, and have met lots of kids who go to their school.  Elise's age group does crafts, swims in the Y pool, goes on hikes, learns songs, and goes on field trips (this week they went to the water park in town).  Anja's age group operates much like a preschool class, with reading time, activities, and some "motion" time (either on the playground or in the gym).  Once a week, Anja's group has a splash day, which she has LOVED.

Splash day at YMCA day camp!

The day I went school shopping with Elise, Jason spent the day with Anja and one of the things they did was to attend the YMCA anniversary party, where there were some special activities.

Anja loves the playground at the YMCA and we love the static it creates!

She insisted on sitting in the baby swing, silly kid!

The fire fighters were at the YMCA anniversary party...

and Anja got up close!

Drumming on exercise balls = awesome!  Anja is still talking about this.

We are going to take advantage of the swimming lessons at the YMCA in September, I am looking forward to seeing how they operate.

Tae Kwon Do, Take Two

In Thief River Falls, Elise and Anja had taken Tae Kwon Do.  Elise did it for one year, and lost interest last spring.  Anja started last September and was still gung ho when we moved.  Finding a TKD place here has been on my To Do list, but I hadn't looked into it too much.  Last weekend we met a woman who works at a TKD gym very near where we live, who really talked up the instructors (medals at the Olympics and World Championships) and told us about a special trial month which would cost very little.  So yesterday we headed over there and met with Master Lee to learn about how he runs things.  There was a big disappointment:  this TKD place is affiliated with a different Tae Kwon Do association, so the testing requirements are different and Anja basically has to start over as a white belt.  The good news is that the instructors are very nice, have good teaching techniques, and the two masters are from Korea (the "home" of Tae Kwon Do) so the instruction feels pretty authentic.  The bad news is that being from Korea makes the masters kind of hard to understand.  I'm sure we will find it easier to understand them as we are around them more.

Tonight was Anja's first real class and she was super excited.  Of course, things are run a little differently, and that was a challenge for her, but she was a trooper and did her best!  I'm sure there will be some bumps in the road as we get used to new instruction, but so far it seems like we have found a good place!

Mastering the Masters

Happy days are here again! 

With the crown the girls and Jason made.

 Last Friday I finished my Masters degree!  In January, 2011, I started a masters program in Library and Information Science.  It took me 31 months to finish, and except for the last couple of months, I was working full-time and parenting AND doing graduate classes at the same time.  I worked on school work early in the morning, during lunch breaks at work, in the evenings, and usually all day Saturday and Sunday.  There was little time for anything fun.  I turned down invitations so often from friends for get-togethers  that they just stopped asking.  It has been a looong haul and there were many days when I just wanted to quit.  But I didn't.  And last week, I finally finished! 

On the evening of the last day of my last class, Jason cooked a delicious meal and got a special bottle of wine, and he and the girls made me a crown to celebrate.  It was a great day, the first of many to come!

Life This Week

Wow, I cannot believe how this week has felt!  So much has been going on, it feels like it's been two weeks instead of one.

Monday, I drove Mom to the airport in D.C. so she could catch a flight to Minnesota (well, actually to Grand Forks, ND, which is close to Thief River).  My dad retired this week, his last day of work was Wednesday, and they close on their house next week, so there is a lot to get done up there!

Also Monday, the girls started a new day camp at a place called Paragon, which is a gymnastics training center that runs camps during the summer.  The girls do arts and crafts and typical campy stuff, and spend a lot of time during the day playing on the gymnastics equipment (which they love, so we will be looking into gymnastics classes for them).

Tuesday I had a job interview!!  It was with the public library system here, and was for a sub position at the adult reference desk.  The library system only promotes from within and everyone starts as a sub, so this was an interview for a foot in the door.  The interview went well and yesterday I was offered a position!  I am SUPER excited.  I know I will have to work my way up, and that is just fine with me.

Wednesday I submitted the final assignment for the final class of my Master of Library and Information Science degree.  Thursday and today I had to log into the class web site to contribute to the class discussion, but that was pretty stress-free and easy.  So, I am now done!  (I am doing a separate post about the Masters degree).

Thursday and Friday were pretty low-key.  The girls were at camp and most of the work for my degree was done.  I have rewarded myself with some down-time walking outside and watching some movies.

Life is good!