So, what are those Clarks up to anyway?

I am illegally updating my blog really quick during school hours because my normal afternoon blogging time was pushed aside due to a faculty meeting. Yes, a faculty meeting. I have resumed teaching music in the public schools! Five years ago, when Peter was in his final year at K-State, I took my first job as a K-2 music teacher at Central Elementary school in Wamego, Kansas. I had a really good experience there, but knew we would move when Peter was able to find the job he wanted. We moved to Kansas City, where I worked for a year in the Turner school district and left teaching to stay at home with Piper when she was born. When we moved back to Wamego my plan was to start up my Let's Play Music classes again (which I have) and continue to stay at home with Piper and Graci. In July I was contacted by the high school band director that my old position was open at Central. I was very excited for the opportunity, but worried about finding someone I trusted and knew well to take care of the girls. I was able to find a wonderful sitter with lots of experience that I also attend church with. I applied and got the job and have been happy with the decision to go back, although at times it is difficult. I am comforted to know that just from working one year we will be able to pay off our student loans. We are not finished adding to our family, but we have felt since Graci was very small that a larger break between children was the right thing for us to do. Right now I am rehearsing with 2nd graders for their "Winter" program, "The Abominable Snowman: Friend or Foe?" a program I wrote when I was here previously. I am so excited because this time around it is going to be even better! That's it for today. Ah, this was a true blog post! Tons of rambling and no pictures!

Graci's Other Costume

Apparently 18 months is an age where some children don't like being dressed up in costumes. Three of my friends with children this age could not get their kids into costumes. Graci obviously is not one of those children. This cute costume was suppose to be worn by her buddy, Kate. Unfortunately Kate screamed every time she would walk past it in her house. When her mom said, "If only we had a Minnie Mouse costume. Kate loves Minnie Mouse." Guess what I happened to have in the basement? Only a Minnie Mouse dress from the Disney Store! (hand-me down, of course, we have already established that I do not plan costumes ahead of time). Anyway, my friend loaned us this, but since we already had the bumble-bee we took a few pictures and let her donate it to another child.

Piper started preschool last month. We've been talking it up for a while, so much so that every time we would pass the high school Piper would proudly state, "I'm gonna go to school at the high school. That's my school." Her school is called, "Little Raiders Preschool." The Family and Consumer Sciences department has a childhood development class. The high school kids are paired up with a toddler and they do different themes and activities with the kids. Enrollment wasn't very high this Fall, so Piper has "two big friends," Stacey and Hannah. She gets to go to school two to three times a week for almost three hours at a time. This picture is from her first day of school. She was so excited to use her personalized backpack from her Nona.

Jack-O-Lanterns

Peter and I carved pumpkins this year. Having never earned a merit badge for woodcarving, my pumpkins are usually of the generic nature. I spend about 15 minutes carving mine, while Peter is etching away with some fancy, in this case twisted, idea. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but his is the one with the top that is carved to resemble a brain. I wish they were from our own garden, but unfortunately we underestimated the power of squash bugs and our pumpkins were ready in early July and quickly rotted in the hot weather. Instead we bought them from our "next door" neighbor's market. Oh, and we roasted the seeds. Yum!

Halloween!

Wow, it's almost been a year since I updated my blog! Ha! I'm going to try and update my blog once a week on Wednesdays from now on. Anyway, we had a great Halloween! The girls are still young enough to be fooled into thinking that the Trunk-or-Treat at the church is the main/only Halloween event, so we were able to keep a tight rein on the candy accumulation. And, as always, the only reason my girls had costumes is because I had help from others, so thanks to Peter's sister, Allyson for the bumble bee costume and my friend, Ashley for the sunflower costume. I had several comments on how the costumes coordinated...yeah, planned that all out myself.