and closed!!!

Quickest update yet: WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE TODAY!!! We should have the keys on Monday! More stories about the signing and celebration to follow but I am tierd!

soclose...

Quick update: We got the last piece of paperwork (the one we've been waiting a MONTH for) on Thursday afternoon. So now the wheels are officially in motion. If everything goes as planned (HAHAHAHA) we could close on Friday. If not, the beginning of the following week.

We have signed another month lease for the month of October so we'll have a month to do everything. Tentative plan: clean, fix minor scrathes/holes/etc in wall, paint, new carpet and floors, move!

By the end of October we will be in our first house!!!

a lovely weekend...

I had a very busy weekend this weekend! Though, it was a very fun one!!! Jason had to work almost all of Saturday so I entertained myself by going to meet this lovely lady...little Miss Lizzy Jane Schendel. Her Mom Megan and I went to college together! It was SUCH a treat and though she is quite the crier I enjoyed my time visiting with Megan and snuggling Lizzy!

Me and Lizzy. She was 3 1/2 weeks old in this picture!

Then on Sunday my Mom, Robyn, and myself participated in Race for the Cure. I don't know exactly how many people were there but it had to have been dang near 5,000 and that is probably way underestimating it! We walked the 5K leg and it was very crowded. We already have our plan of attack in place for next year!!!

Amazing Grace to start the race!!!

Going through the starting line!

Mom and Me :-)

Robyn and I!

Sunday after I was full of energy after my morning adventure so Jason and I decided to go look at couches in Downtown Portland at City Liquidators. And since we were SOCLOSE to VooDoo Doughnuts we stopped in for a treat!!!

Regular doughnut with chocholate frosting topped with rice krispie's topped with peanut butter frosting! Heaven on earth!!! I'm sure it has a proper VooDoo name but I don't know it! Regardless, it was great!!!

And Jason finally go to try his Bacon Maple Bar!! I took a mini bite and it was amazing!!!

long beach...

We went on a mini vacation this weekend with our new friends Amy and Ian. Amy and I work together at school. We're both special ed teachers and become fast friends. Ian and I actually graduated from Skyview High School together but neither of us remember each other from that phase of life. We graduated in a class of almost 550 students!


We went to Long Beach, WA which is about 2.5 hours from Vancouver. My parents are debating getting a time share condo there and we were using up the last weekend of the season because my Dad "had" to go golfing and couldn't! It is a nice place, about 10 miles North of the actually town of Long Beach but only about a block from the beach.

We did enjoy some time in the city of LB walking around and visiting some stores, and just being tourists! We, of course, had to get some salt water taffy! Jason and I had actually been there in the early spring with my parents...I just didn't put it all together. Whoops!

Long Beach used to be home to the World's Biggest Frying Pan but the sign stating that was gone...so either there is a sign thief out there OR a bigger frying pan!

I really like watching kites...rainbow kites being my FAVORITE! I wanted one SO bad but didn't really want to pay a ton of money for one of those trick kites that are hard and require actually paying attention to the kite. So when we went to one of the many kite stores Jason asked the guy working there want the easiest kind of kite to fly is...

...it is the "Easy Fly Kite" Who would have guessed?!?!?! ;-) So I shelled out the 20$ hoping it would be worth it and was it ever! My kite was like a little shadow. It was SO easy to put together and to fly! I just let it up and went on a walk and it followed. I am in love!!! It was one of the best 20$ investments I've made in a while!

Flying my kite AND taking pictures! That is talent :-) That is seriosuly how easy it was! I would highly recommend this brand!

The Eeds Family at the beach!!!

seeing and dreaming in rainbow...

Starting a new job is never easy, and this year is no exception. I've previously talked about all the moving...after that was done, it was on to all the planning! Now, I do love planning but this took it over the top! The other resource room teacher at my school took a years leave of absence before the school year even started - which is why I moved rooms so many times!

The district then of course had to go through the process of posting the job which would hopefully lead to hiring someone. As of today, that has not happened. So for the last 2 weeks I have been scheduling, over-seeing, managing, and stressing over 54 Kindergartner's through fifth grades who have IEP's.

The above picture is my color coding system to keep everyone (mainly myself) in check. K = RED, 1st grade = orage, 2nd grade = yellow, 3rd = green, 4th = blue, and 5th = purple.

It has been A LOT of work trying to get all of this in order and it took me longer than I had hoped to get the whole thing up and running but I did! I have a wonderful para in my classroom and the substitute for the other teacher for the time being has been working in this district for a while and is awesome...and so is her para! Everything worked itself out and while there were definitely some color coded dreams...it is now a working reality!

opening doors...

Jason @ Home Depot

This weekend we bought a new front door handle for our house!!! To some, this may seem lack luster. But to us...it is a step we've been waiting for! Our roof and front door handle are being repaired on Tuesday. Our windows are being repaired on Wednesday. The re-appraisal should be happening Thursday as long as all the repairs go as planned! If everything (keep your fingers crossed) goes smoothly...we should be in possession of our home on the 21st of September.

We'll keep you updated!

concert in the park...

In years past we've always been away at this time of year but now, we live here! And I think we're better off for it! It has been so nice the past 2 months to be close to family and great friends...

Jason & I at Concert in the Park

My family has a yearly tradition of going to Concert in the Park at Tom McCall Park in Downtown Portland. This was our first experience and I'd like to think it will become a yearly one of us too. We got there right as the show was about to start but our family friends (really, in my mind, they are family) were already there and had enjoyed dinner together. It was fun to see the various "Shumaker" clan...they are a family we spend some Thanksgiving's with.

The view from our seats!

Stacy & I! She's due in a month!!! I'm so excited to meet her little girl Christine Elizabeth :)

Video of the final song of the night William Tell Overture. The booms are cannons!

whooohoo...

Jason got a job! Well actually, he got 2 jobs in 2 days! I'm so proud of him! And this is such a big stress relief for both of us!!!

Last week he had 2 interviews which both turned into second interviews and he ended up getting them both! The first job he got was his second pick...a job at a athletic center life guarding. For the time being, if the schedule works out, he'll keep it.

The second job was the one he was wanting. It is at Barnes & Noble! It is something totally different than anything he's ever done and he's definitely up for the challenge. It will start out part time and work his way up. They have you try all the jobs in the store if you want (which he does) and then you can work upwards from there! While I don't think it is the company he expected to be working for there is a lot of room for moving up...which is thrilling! One of the guys who interviewed Jason started out in his same spot 6 years ago and now is store manager.

Check back for updates on how it is all going!!!

UPDATE: Jason starts work at B&N on September 14th!!!

quick update...

So big day today...no pictures - sorry!

1. It was my first day of school at Helen Baller Elementary. It was mainly spent peaking in on kindergartner's to make sure they were handling themselves okay (some were, some weren't). Also, cleaning out 30 IEP folders and organizing them to my liking! Since it was the first day in a new school building for everyone there were a few hiccups along the way and I'm sure they will be the subject of an email or a staff meeting here shortly.

2. Our housing paperwork FINALLY got signed by the bank. So the time line in basically as follows: keep our fingers crossed that nothing else gets delayed, get windows fixed, get roof fixed, buy front door handle and get that fixed, keep our fingers crossed that nothing else gets delayed, wait for MetLife to finish "underwriting" - whatever that may be, keep our fingers crossed that nothing else gets delayed, sign official closing paperwork, keep our fingers crossed that nothing else gets delayed, get keys, new carpet/flooring, keep our (do you get the picture???), paint, MOVE!!! Whew!!! It is going to be a long few weeks!!!

3. Keeping our fingers crossed!!! More to come on this one soon hopefully. We're just trying not to jinx anything. And NO, we're not trying to get pregnant!

if we'd only known...

The below video is from our honeymoon (if my upload works right)...You might have to watch it twice to totally appreciate it. This was taken from the Catarmaran after an afternoon of snorekling and Margarita Ville...so take that into consideration.

When the video starts keep your eyes on the right side of the screen. You'll see the body of a plane flash through some open spaces and trees...then you'll see the plane start to take off...as you do LOOK for the YELLOW hotel building with the RED roof...that was our honeymoon building...so day and night...we got to hear the jet engines roar as they took vacationers home. It definitely shook the roof. This is what Sandals meant by "10 minuets away from the airport".

This picture is from our PLANE taking off leaving Jamaica...Our room was right infront of the tennis court on the far left...When we zoom in on the picture on our computer we can actually zoom in enough to count the doors at the hotel and figure out which one was ours!

Looking back it is funny...but at the time, on that first night (breakdown night)...it wasn't so funny!

crazy classroom...

Well it has been a bust week around here!!! Last Monday, so 8 days ago, I went into my new school :-) To make a long story short I ended up moving classrooms a few times over the course of 3 days...it went something like this. Move, unpack, repack, move, move, unpack. On the brighter side of things, this is logistically (and socially) a much better classroom!!!

Even as I post these so much has changed in 2 days! This is very much a work in progress and I'll get updated pictures up in the next few weeks...

I absolutely, positively could not (and did not) do this by myself! I had A LOT of Mom and Husband help! My Mom helped with the purging (recycling) of 8, yes eight, boxes of papers. I just hope I didn't throw too much away...I might have...there is only one thing so far my para has noticed that isn't quite around. But we aren't sure because those cupboards aren't 100% sorted out yet! My Jason helped by providing labor...aka...moving! He was there almost everyday and sometimes for 3 or 4 hours :-)

I am really liking this being closer to family thing. One day my Mom even came to help and then my parents took us out to dinner! Free labor and free food! Yeehaw!

I am also already really liking the school and the staff! Alot of the other special ed staff are young and fun...one even got married just a few weeks after us! I think I'm going to like it here and that feeling is worth all the stresses of moving to a new city, Jason quitting his job, and living on love!

More on my school, new friends, and crazy teacher life to come!