My how time flies!

I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last post. Yes, we did indeed survive the first week of school and now we've made it through the first six weeks. Let's see if I can get caught up.

The library has been busy. We've had classes almost every day of every week since school started. Not that it's a bad thing, but we haven't had time to get our library work done. Does that make sense to anyone who isn't a librarian? Our main focus, of course, is helping kids and teachers with research assignments and projects. But, we still have to order and process materials as well as perform maintenance on the collection. I'm behind on budget stuff and just about everything else I can think of. This week is TAKS retesting for juniors and seniors, and unfortunately there are enough students retesting that we need to use the library. The good news is that Mary and I should be able to get some of our work caught up during the down time. Don't get me wrong...we won't be twiddling our thumbs looking for something to do. It should be a productive week that will help us feel much more in control of our environment.

My other school work has been challenging. We've had a busy semester in Data Analysis and School Law and Internship. I've finished my major project for School Law, but I still have two group projects to do for Data Analysis. Also, the Internship has been pretty time-consuming as well. I have to log 150 hours this semester in a variety of principal-type activities. I've been working a lot on School Safety training and other stuff to get ready for our safety audit next week. I'm not going to have any trouble getting in the hours.

Chris is busy with school and band and quintet and South Arkansas Symphony. He's in Arkansas this weekend for SAS and two quintet jobs. They're playing in Hot Springs today...I think. All I know is that he had three things going on this weekend in El Dorado, Arkadelphia, and Hot Springs. The Paris band didn't advance to Area competition for this weekend, so he's not happy about that.

We've seen Nick, Angela, and Ethan a couple of times recently. We babysat for a while one Saturday while Nick was busy with a marching contest and Angela was working. We saw them again when we went to Nick's orchestra concert at UTA. Ethan and Angela didn't go to the concert, but we spent some time with them afterwards. Ethan will be 2 in December, so he's at that age when grandparents think the kids are adorable and fun but when parents think they're a handful. I do know that I don't think I have the energy to keep up with him full time, but we certainly enjoy the time we get with him.

Nick and Angela are working hard on getting certified to teach. Angela graduated from UTA in May, but she decided that she wanted to try teaching. She's finishing an alternative certification program this fall and should be certified and ready to teach by January. Nick is finishing his last semester at UTA and doing his internship for his certification. He'll graduate in May. WOOHOO!!! I'm really proud of him for working as hard as he has to get finished. Hopefully, they'll both land good teaching jobs in the Bedford/Ft. Worth area next year.

Natalie and Brandon were home this weekend for part of their fall break. They got in Friday night in time for the Paris-NL football game (not our best game of the year). We also went to a friend's wedding last night which was a lot of fun. They're on their way to Baytown to spend the rest of the break with Brandon's family. It was fun having them here, although I'm sorry that Chris didn't get to see them.

I'm going to take a nap and enjoy my afternoon home alone. Have a great week, and I hope to catch up sooner next time.