Waiting

We are still waiting on job openings/postings.  None of the school districts Mark applied to in Virginia have posted jobs so we are just twiddling our thumbs waiting for them to post some. It's getting very annoying. We are leaving in 21 days. I want to start packing but it is still too soon so again just twiddling our thumbs.  I know I don't really want to start packing until I can really do it because otherwise I am just going to have piles of stuff everywhere and boxes in the way (which will drive me crazy) but I want to start so it won't be this mad rush at the end and so I can see how many more boxes we will need.  Sigh. I really struggle at times like this, when you are just waiting and hoping. I would love to be packing and talking to people in whatever city we are moving too so I could find a place to live but I have no clue where we are going!  We did go ahead and reserve a moving truck and storage unit for the summer so that is one thing we could do.  We also decided we would spend June in Utah with Mark's mom and go with our original vacation plans (Vegas, San Diego, Disneyland than North). I am glad we have decided this and am actually looking forward to that time in Utah. Utah is actually a really great place to hang out with your kids in the summer.  Mark's mom will be gone the first week of June so she will at least get a little break from us.  We are hoping Mark will not have to go to school the Tuesday after Memorial day (classroom checkout day, no students or meetings) and we can just head out to Utah but again we are just waiting to find out. At least we do know when we have to be out of our house, that is one known thing.
 In happier news, Mark did have a screening interview with the school district in Charlottesville so that was something. It is sort of a funny story. A few weeks ago they contacted Mark to set up the interview and he got to choose what day and time (May 01 or 02)  he wanted to have the interview. He picked his date only later realized he had a field trip at that time so called to reschedule.  The person he called was actually on a field trip themselves when he called (weird right).  So she said they would pick a new date and let him know.  So time goes on and suddenly its May 01 and Mark isn't sure what time or day his interview is.  So he got to school that morning, called the district office around 7:40 to find out his time and found out his interview was in 20 minutes (10:00 Eastern time)!!  Mark was pretty surprised. I am so glad he called! They chatted a minute to make sure Skype was working well then said they would talk again soon.  He called back at 8:00 (Colorado time) and started interviewing just as his school's morning announcements were being read. They lady was very understanding (he does work in a school after all) and Mark felt really good about the interview.  We were so happy he got selected to have this first interview and hope good things come of it.
 Even though this waiting is hard we still have good things going on.  Lydia and I went on a field trip with Jared's preschool class to a nature center in town.  We are heading to the zoo with his class on the 14th. We also just went to the zoo yesterday as a family.  We had some nice Spring weather around here after a week of 30+mph winds and 50 degree weather so we are enjoying it. I really dislike how windy it is here in the Spring.  We also went out and took family pictures yesterday afternoon. We went over to the Garden of the Gods, a very popular hiking area here.  They have beautiful red rock formations and are pretty iconic of Colorado Springs. I wanted to get pictures there because sooner (hopefully) or later we will leave here and they are so well known here.  Garden of the Gods is always in the top 10 things to see in Colorado Springs. I was so impressed with how well Jared and Lydia did.  I am excited to see the pictures.
We have also had some fun around the house. We often do art projects or "Marking" (coloring) as Lydia calls it. So one day I decided to do it on a larger scale.  Jared and Lydia loved it. I love how simply setting something up in a new environment gets kids so excited. We also do a lot of races around here. Jared, because of his love of CARS always wants to race so we line up by the couch and then run into the kitchen around the island and back to the couch. Its a nice little work out if you really try to "race".  He and Lydia love to race with the stroller and shopping cart.  I also used Lydia's crib to make a fort, or a castle if you ask Jared and a tent if you as Lydia.  They have appreciated it much more than the table forts of the past.

 I wrote some letters and drew some shapes on this one and had Jared connect the matching items like connect the dots.  Then I had Lydia go stand on whatever one I called out.

 We also played a fun parking spot game. I wrote basic addition problems on the top (like 3 + 4) and had Jared add that many cars in the parking spot and count them up.  For Lydia, I had her identify the number (1-5) at the top and put that many cars in the parking spot. In case you couldn't tell I love having hardwood floors!

Get Ready! Get Set! GO!

I love how much easier this fort is to clean up! And all the blankets stay upstairs where they belong and they actually play in it! Win Win Win.

We have been slowly checking things off our "things we want to do before we leave" list. I hope we really do get to leave but at least we know Mark has a job and we are grateful for that.