Summer is winding down

I was given the opportunity to teach full-time for a few months this school year. The technology (computer) teacher is on having to be on bed rest so she can't make it back to school. She is due in September. Then she'll take her maternity leave. The principal asked for me personally to take over for her. I'm really excited about it. I spoke with the teacher yesterday and told her, "Are you sure you want me doing it? You know I don't know much about computers!!" She said not to worry because for the first 6 weeks or so the school is still waiting to get back all of the "internet release forms" from the students. (they can't go online, or even touch the computers, until all forms are signed and returned) I did not get the Special Ed position I was hoping for, but I'm sure this one will work out just fine for me. It's a much easier case load. I really only need to prepare 1 lesson each week- the kids only have technology one day a week. So by Fridays, I should be great!
Fred is enjoying his new career as a CO. He's on second shift (2-10pm). I'm not all that thrilled about it, but I think it's going to work out well. He has Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, which is nice because it breaks up the week for us. I'm still not used to him staying home in the mornings. He did a side job last week and got home around 11am. I freaked when he walked through the door, "What's wrong? " He answered, "Nothing, I'm done working." (meaning, he was done working the side job he was doing). Well I thought he meant he was done working for the prison and said, "What do you mean you're done, you quit the prison?!?!!" He said no then I screeched, "YOU HAD TO BE THERE HOURS AGO!!!" At this point, he thinks I'm a total freak. "No Jeanette, I still have an hour before I have to leave." Oh I was so confused. It was the worst feeling!
I'm getting better at it. I'm waiting for the funny prison stories. But there really aren't any. I guess it's not that fun of a place. He did have to have a discussion with an inmate about how he could not keep a toad as a pet. "But why not? I'll take good care of it." It's like dealing with 7 year olds.

School starts on August 4th. I can't believe Eli will be in 5th grade and Emma in 3rd. Wow. They are getting old. Funny how they are and I'm not!

So here are some off-the-cuff ramblings..... (yeah, like this entire blog isn't
*I've been seeing a chiropractor for the last few weeks. Seeing for adjustments, massage, and PT, not for a fling. I don't have time for that. lol I've never felt better in my life. I guess the accident I was in 3 years ago did a number on my neck. Your neck is supposed to have a curve to it and there's space between your vertebrae. Well mine had absolutely no curve and my vertebrae were starting to close. Scary stuff. He called it pre-arthritis. Double scary. After just a few weeks, I've seen tremendous changes. My posture is better, no more lower backaches, little to no shoulder tension, and my jaw isn't sticking so much. I'm going 3x/week for 6 weeks. Eli is going 1x/week because his neck wasn't as curved as it should be. I'm all about overcoming small issues before they become big problems!
*I have a midterm for my Educational Psychology course that I have to take by Saturday. I'm feeling slightly confident. I'm sure I will do fine. I just wish I was more motivated to study instead of doing this.
*We found out that our tortoise, Squirt, is a girl. Much to Eli's dismay. Yeah, he's quite upset about it. He gets mad if you call Squirt "her" or "she". I think it's funny. Yes, there really is a way to tell if your tortoise is a boy or a girl. That is another thing that is funny. The females have a flat-bottomed shell. The males have a concave part to the underneath of their shells. It's so they can, uh, um, climb better. Yeah, that's it. (well that's what I tell the kids) If you need it explained, ask your mother.
*We organized the garage yesterday. I'm still waiting for my scrapbooking room to get done.
*We bought a new car about 3 weeks ago. The van was starting to have too many issues that we didn't want to keep dumping money into. Instead, we'll dump money into a payment. It's a cute, sporty little red Kia Spectra. I'm sad it's not a van, but it's a fine car for us.
*I had my physical today at the doctor. It's only something I'm proud about because it's been over 5 years since my last one. We finally have insurance. I'm happy for that.
*I have a crappy tooth. I was just complaining about the kids' teeth and now I'm stuck with one. I had a tooth capped a few years ago. I guess it needs a crown. A $500 crown. For $500, I want it to have a tiara instead of a crown. Perhaps with some sapphires or rubies. But then again, rubies might look like I have bits of blood on my tooth. I'll have to think about that.

summertime and the livin is....ah, sort of easy!

So tomorrow is the BIG DAY. Fred will be graduating COTA. I am so proud of him. I'm even a bit surprised that he likes it so much! These last 9 weeks have gone by so fast for us. Well, fast for me at least, Fred says they were excruciatingly slow! He's gone through restraint training, tons of physical training, weapons training, and he now knows what it feels like to be PEPPER SPRAYED! (oh you know as soon as I scan that picture, it's going to be on here!). Yes, there's even a picture! Someone snapped one right when he was getting sprayed. He's standing there with his eyes closed and his hands on his hips and this yellowish stream heading right towards his eyes. His sergeant sprayed him twice. Once on the eyes and another time across the mouth. Apparently the sgt didn't even like Fred's goatee. Fred said it was pretty much the suckiest thing he's ever gone through. He said it stung and burned for a long time.

I am so proud of him. Words can't even explain. I can't wait to see him tomorrow at the ceremony. We're driving down to Tucson with the wife of another cadet.

On Friday we leave for the weekend to go camping with friends of ours, Larry and Cindy and their 2 cutie pie girls. I'm really excited. They are such fun.

So far the summer has been a good one. The kids and I went to Pittsburgh for 2 1/2 weeks. We had a blast. It was the perfect amount of time- the kids really didn't get homesick like they did last year and we had just enough time to squeeze in everything we wanted to do. Although we didn't get to go to the zoo and I would have LOVED to spend way more time with family and friends, it was a perfect trip. The kids were on their very best behavior and really had fun. Today we went to the pool. There's a really fun one just a bit north of here. E and Em both brought a friend so I was pretty much left by myself- ahhhhhhh.

Well, better get going and getting everyone ready for bed. We're planning on leaving by 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Stupid teeth

Oh my gosh, I'm so mad at my lazy kids. We were at the dentist today because Fred's benefits kicked in. Hooray for insurance, or so I thought. Well it is nice, until you have 2 lazy kids who don't brush their teeth (or lie and say they do). They each had to have 2 teeth pulled. 2 EACH!! That's on top of Eli already having 2 pulled a few years ago. Holy crud! My 9 year old will have the mouth of a 90 year old if he keeps this up. I even heard him tell the dentist, "oh yeah, I brush my teeth 2 or 3 times a day for about 2 minutes". I popped my head into the room (as I was just next door with Emma who was completely wigging out) and mouthed, "Oh he is so full of it!". I told them there are 2 people you can never lie to- your hairdresser and your dentist! So they are both going to need a spacer- Eli will have 2 now. And Emma has a crud load of fillings to have done. I was excited at first because I know our insurance is only $20-$45 per filling, but that's for the amalgam (metal) ones and I will NOT have those in my kids' mouths. The resin composite ones are, ah let's just say, they're a bit more. Holy crud. Just when we think we see the light at the end of the financial tunnel.

Oh well. I guess that's what the "big tax man in the sky" had in mind for our stimulus check!

Emma's Dance Recital

Ok, so I'm a bit late on this. Emma had her first dance rehearsal on May 17th. She took a jazz class at Club Dance here in Queen Creek. The studio is super cute and Emma loved it. This is their dress rehearsal- we were not allowed to video the actual performance. We will be buying it (hopefully they have some left!) so if you want a copy, let me know.

Look at her struttin her stuff! *she's the one on the left, you know, the cutest one!!*

Summer is officially here!

Aahhh! Summer is here! The kids (and I) were done with school last Friday (May 23rd). I spent the last 4 weeks of school subbing in Resource - special ed. I really had a good time. The kids were great and the staff was even better. There's talk of having me hired on full-time for next school year. I'm pretty excited about that.
Well Fred is just wrapping up week 4 of COTA. Next week he'll be working regular shifts down in Florence. Which is nice because he'll be home every day. Eli has been taking his absence very hard. E's such an emotional kid anyways and with Dad being gone, he's been quite the handful. He hasn't been bad at all, he's just been moody and upset. He's getting better. He knows this is just temporary. Sundays seem to be the hardest on him because that's when Fred leaves. We spent about 20 minutes during church last week outside so he could have himself a good cry. Better out than in!
I surprised Fred with tickets to see the Police last Saturday. Oh my gosh, was it awesome. Elvis Costello opened up for them. I was in heaven! I have loved Elvis Costello for as long as I can remember. Sting came out and sang "Allison" with him. Double yoi! And dang, those two are aging quite well, I must admit! Fred has loved the Police ever since he was little. He didn't even know they were in town. I was originally trying to get tickets to see The Cure, but they were too expensive and all they had were bad seats left. So I thought, what the heck, and I just looked to see who else was coming to town and lo and behold- it was the Police! Money VERY well spent!
The kids are enjoying their summer break so far. Em and I had our annual end-of-the-year pedicures done this week. So fun! I love this little tradition. We started it when she finished Kindergarten. It's a fun way to start the summer off. We've been so busy with friends and sleepovers too! I don't think they have spent an entire day at home by themselves yet! I'm a little bummed that we don't have a pool in the new house, but that's just less work for me to do! I did like having everyone over for a swim though. Last night E had a friend and Em had 2 friends sleep over. Yeah, it was crazy loud here! Loud, but fun. :)
We're getting ready, and excited, for our annual trip up to the Burgh next week. Haircuts- check, pedicures- check, air tickets- check, spent a second thinking about packing- NO CHECK! The kids are so excited to go to Kennywood. E has big plans of going on the Racer until he and Aunt Jan both puke! Aim high, little buddy, what a goal. I'll see if I can bribe Em to ride anything this year. I dragged her on the Racer last year and I thought she was going to have a heart attack- sorry, poor thing! "Oh no, Em, it's not that fast! Yeah, I think she lost all trust in me for the day. Between the zoo, Kennywood, Janell's (pizza and the bakery!), seeing friends and family, perhaps a trip to the museum, I'm sure we'll have a fun-packed trip!

Till then.......

He blinded me with SCIENCE

So Eli had a science fair project to do. And in accordance with true Hendricks style, we did it last night. We went to the fair this evening and to our surprise.... ELI TOOK 3rd PLACE in the 4th grade group! Woo hoo! Go ELI!! He teamed up with another boy and they titled their project "Which Style of Paper Airplane Flies the Farthest?". They tested 3 different styles and wrote up a whole report about it. I am so proud of them. They really did a lot of work for it. I was a bit sad when we didn't see it on display in the hallway, but that was because it was in the library with the rest of the winners!

My dad is awesome!

Oh my gosh, my dad is hysterical. I never really "got him" until I became an adult. I mean, wouldn't you be embarrassed by this too?!?!!

I love you dad. Thank you for making me smile.

PHEW!

After 14 grueling weeks, I am finished with my Special Education course. I passed the final with a 92%. It was a little lower than I would have liked, thank goodness I'm a good essay writer (well more of a good BS'er!). My final grade for the course is a 97%. Can you believe it?? I've NEVER had a 97% in any class (well maybe except for art!). I am so stoked. I think I'll take the kids to dinner to celebrate.

Ok, so now that stress is behind me..... GET ON WITH THE UNPACKING! :)

Just one more thing to take on!

Ah yes, I think it's time I jump aboard the blogwagon. Because I have nothing better to be doing with my time!

Here's the quick update of our lives.....
Eli is 9 1/2 and is just wrapping up the 4th grade. He is still taking piano lessons (and doing fabulously) and is playing soccer (still waiting to make that first goal!)- it's his 4th season.
Emma is 8 and was baptized in March. She is wrapping up 2nd grade. She's taking a jazz dance class and is just so darn cute! Both kids are becoming quite the little bookworms in their spare time.
Fred left this evening to go down to Tucson for COTA training camp. He's going to be a corrections officer in a state prison in Florence, AZ. Yes, you heard me right! Can you even imagine Fred as a prison guard? I can't either, but the benefits will be sweet!
I am substitute teaching K-5 and focusing on Special Ed. I am taking courses online through Rio Salado to earn my AZ teaching certification. I really think I might go with SpEd. It seems the more I try to talk myself out of it, I talk myself into it! I'm subbing full-time in a resource class until the end of the year. We're done with school on May 23. I can't believe it. This year has flown by. I have my SpEd class final tomorrow (and you see how I'm spending my study time!) and I'm not even nervous about it. I totally freaked at the midterm. I got a 100% and it was worth it, but I freaked when I was studying.

On for the NEW news...... as most of you know, we decided to rent our home and downsize. We moved, literally, across the neighborhood into a house that was just about half the size of the other house. I couldn't be more in love with my new house!! Seriously. Less to clean, less to heat and cool, no pool to take care of, did I mention less to clean?? I'm lovin it.

Well I should wrap up this for now. I'll let YINZ all know how I did on my final. Check back.
Same bat time, same bat channel