Cleaning day...

So I have this weekend off, and you know what that means... Does it mean having fun together around Tucson? Does it mean being lazy and watching football all day? Of course not! It's cleaning day! So, how do Em and I go about a cleaning day? I can tell you, we have very different approaches. While I would just look around and see what needs to be done and do it as I see it, Emily has a slightly different approach...I'm sure many of you have seen that sight before. It means that one of the most feared weapons in her arsenal is about to be unleashed. Something that would even make Chuck Norris weep in his bed... THE LIST!
Yes, The List comes out when something needs to get done around here but needs a little bit more organization than the typical chore. Or you can take my theory and believe it's something Emily does to procrastinate and postpone doing something she doesn't want to. By the way, that picture's only half of The List. As you can tell, Annabelle was quite intrigued by the whole thing.
Actually, she's just a pooped pooch from the run I took her one earlier today. Anyway, feel free to give us a call to distract us from our many activities today.

Back in the classroom...

...at least for a couple hours! Yesterday morning, I went in to substitute for one of our regular preschool storytime volunteers. I had a chance to read with my co-worker Abby in 3 preschool classrooms--3 year olds, 4 year olds, and 5 year olds. It was so much fun to be hanging out with kids again in a classroom context, and it definitely made me miss teaching. I had forgotten though from my student teaching days in kindergarten how much energy it required to entertain small children for even a short period of time! Whew!

As we look at new project assignments at work, I am looking forward to hopefully working more closely with teachers and preschoolers as a literacy consultant/trainer--teaching again, but in a slightly different context than a traditional classroom teacher. I will tell you one thing I certainly won't miss...the mountains of paperwork and grading!

Here are some fun photos from my day in preschool...

We are reading a funny story called Gladys Goes Out to Lunch, about a gorilla that is looking for something delicious to eat other than bananas...the solution? Banana Bread!

The second story we read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Afterwards we reenacted the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Here we are being butterflies!

The Munchkin Goes Crazy!

So Em and I were watching TV tonight, and we happened to notice that our little rapscallion had a bit too much energy. This will probably become a common problem as I won't be getting home until after it gets dark, and walking in Tucson after dark is impossible because there are virtually no streetlights. Enough said, I'll let you watch.

Once more into the abyss...

Apparently my wife seems to be posting a bit more than me, so here goes nothing. Last week was ridiculously exhausting. I was on-call 4 out of 8 days. I've also only had 1 day completely off in three weeks. That day wasn't exactly relaxing either, as I did Story Town with Emily. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time hanging out with the kiddos, answering important questions and even signing a couple autographs. I'm just a little bit tired these days.

So, that makes my next few months so exciting!!! I'm in the hospital for 10 out of the next 12 weeks. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it means 80 hour work weeks, sleeping in the hospital every 4th night, and waking up and arriving at work between 5:30-6:00am. So, I'm going to be a bit busy for a little while. I'm confident I can do it, but it's gonna take me a few days to get back into the swing of things and increase my pace about 100%.

There is a bright spot though. I have this entire weekend off! Also, Em's family will be here all next week, and I have Thanksgiving Day off. It's gonna be nice to have guests again, as Phil and Greg's visit was great. I'm sure the Munchkin will enjoy having plenty of people around to play with her and spoil her by letting her sleep in their beds.

One final little bit of news. I have two weeks off in January, and we've been trying to come up with a plan for a trip. New York was high on the list, but we've decided to go to Washington, DC for the inauguration. I seriously doubt we'll be able to get close to the big speech, but being in the town during such a historic time should be exciting. I'll also get to experience DC again, now that I'm old enough to appreciate it a little more.

Well, that's my update. Keep both Emily and I in your thoughts, as it's going to be just as tough on her, not having me around as much. I'll try to put up some pictures next time, but until then, here's a funny dog...

Cheap Gas

...thanks to my Safeway reward this month, I paid 1.45/gal for gas last night. I couldn't remember the last time it cost less than $20.00 to fill up the tank, so I made Drew take a photo.