Gabrielle's ABC Book

We drove down to Utah to celebrate Gabrielle's 2nd birthday and to meet my new niece Tabitha. Gabrielle is such a smart little girl so I thought I'd make her a little ABC book for her birthday. After the long week with my car accident, it was nice to get away from it all! I've included pictures of the book since a couple people asked to see it. They aren't the best pictures, but you'll get the point.

Emily and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Synopsis:

From the moment she wakes up with a headache, things just do not go Emily's way. The situation does not get any better on the way to her first day of work, in fact it gets worse. No wonder Emily wants to move to Australia! In Australia, everything is upside down, so maybe a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day can become a wonderful, terrific, really good day. Emily encounters even more bad news when she rear-ends a mini-van and has no idea how that happened!! And Emily's auto mechanic isn't at all happy with what he sees and gets a little carried away with adding up the "damage"! Looks like Emily may have to get a new car and pay off the old one she just bought less than a year ago. This terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is enough to make anyone want to go to Australia!

Happy Father's Day!

My weekend wasn't just filled with making the cutest cupcakes ever....my parents were in town to celebrate Father's Day. My dad has done so much for our family and works extremely hard. Even though I haven't heard my dad complain very much, I know he has a lot to put up with at work and he just keeps on trucking. I love you father! :)

Cutest Things Ever!

My mom and I made the cutest mini cupcakes that I have ever seen! My mom called me on Saturday while I was out and asked me to look for a couple items to make a new, cute recipe. When I asked her to describe it, I freaked out because my friend Kellie just blogged about it a couple days earlier. I told her it looked too hard to make but she told me that there was now an EASIER and QUICKER way to make these little guys. I was so excited! You can get the directions here.

I felt so hip making them on Sunday. This is definitely my new favorite and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them. I wish I had a party or shower coming up so I had an excuse to make more!

Aren't they just so cute?!?

Speechless

I have tried thinking of a title for this post but I cannot think of one. There have been so many emotions and feelings running through me lately and I can't narrow it down to a couple words.

Another school year is over...and what a school year it has been. A year ago I was saying goodbye to teaching for awhile and stepping into a new adventure. Little did I know that my adventure would have more twists and turns than I could ever imagine. If you've followed the Life of Fife this year, you know life wasn't exactly the way I had planned. I didn't expect to stop nannying after a couple months, search for a teaching job last minute, become a Dual Language Kindergarten teacher, work three jobs at a time, have to make a decision about moving to Utah or not, teach first grade, etc, etc. But then again, I didn't expect to fall in love with my little bilingual kiddos, fight to keep a school open, receive a new and much needed view on education and administration and most importantly...strengthen my faith and trust that everything will work out in life even if it leads you down a different road.

I have been greatly blessed this past week. I put a lot of energy and hard work into this year and I thought people noticed but I was always nervous there would be no jobs available for me and that maybe I'd be further down on the list than others and not have a chance. I got an e-mail from an old principal I used to work with 5 years ago when I first moved back to Washington and she said she would love to hire me after the in district transfers close. Anyone in the district who have contracts have first dibs on what is available around the district. A few days later I saw the principal I worked with at Woodin. Before saying anything else, she said she wanted to hire me and she would call me as soon as the district transfers closed. The next day I saw the principal at Shelton View who told me he called the Director of Human Resources to personally tell her that he believed in me and to do everything she could to get me a job. In reply, the HR director said she remembered who I was and she thought she had something for me.

In district transfers closed at 4:00 today so now it's just waiting to see what is available. I got a call from the Woodin principal today to set up an interview if all goes well (this was before 4:00). She said she wished she didn't have to go through the interview process because she already knows she wants to hire me. She also said that I would be getting a lot more phone calls from around the district. I told her she was the first to call me and she said she knew she was the first and that she was going to work very hard to be the last as well. I couldn't stop smiling all day today. She really wants me! I proved myself even though I didn't speak any Spanish! And to hear that others have been talking about me just completely shocks me.

Ok, so I guess the title of this post doesn't match with everything I had to say, but I can't think of a word to sum this all up. I guess right now it would be grateful. I haven't had any interviews yet and I haven't signed any papers, but I feel like I have already come out on top. This year has changed my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined. For that, I will be forever grateful for every road I traveled on this year.

Girls Weekend

Vanessa's birthday is this Sunday and my mom is coming into town to help celebrate. I love when we three get together! I've been scanning our old family slides (there are thousands!) over the past couple of years and have loved coming across classic family pictures. I'm sure I'll post more in the future. Here's a look at the past, Vanessa. Happy Birthday!