February was a mixed bag.

So many good things happened this month... the two biggies being I GOT A JOB (well, mostly. almost? its pretty much in the bag...) and we had our first out of state (out of country even) guests. My aunt Doris and second cousin, the lovely Miss Tristan were here for an entire week. Most of which sadly, I had to work (but not so sadly, I was working at my BRAND NEW JOB. Woop!). We did manage to show them around the beautiful city of Austin, enjoy some fine dining (and by fine, I mean BBQ at the Salt Lick), take in the movie Coraline (in 3-D no less), and have some close encounters with prehistoric looking wildlife. It was wonderful to have some of my family here and the house has seemed awfully quiet since they left. Their visit left me wishing we lived closer but resolving to make it to Canada soon (and more often) to visit. Hoping for a road trip before the baby arrives. Way before.












I had a brief fantasy about feeding this fella out of my hand but it turns out, ostriches are rather frightening close up. As he ambled up to the car, I got my little handful of pellets ready... and then last minute I let out a yell, dropped them, rolled up my window, and just took pictures instead. It was not one of my prouder moments.

As for my new job... it does not become official until I pass my second Texas teacher exam (which is scheduled for next week) but I am working as a sub (a very hard working sub) in the room in the meantime. It is an early childhood special ed position, which here is Austin is officially referred to as a PPCD position (but please do not ask me what that stands for). The kids in my class (8 of them) are all 3-5 years old. The room and materials were left an absolute MESS by the previous teacher (who left her post rather abruptly after hitting her retirement date) so I have been frantically organizing and planning. I am ridiculously excited about the job however and so grateful that it came along at such an opportune time (now I will be able to have things planned out and prepared in plenty of time for the arrival of the behbeh). Its also at a school that is about 10 minutes away from our house. And did I mention that almost all of my kids leave at 10:45? I am hoping this will mean that I can get most of my paperwork, planning, and preparation done during the actual school day and will not have to spend long hours after school and on weekends doing these things which will be even more important next year. Here are some "before" shots of my room.












The month has ended on a sad not however... Curtis' Pawpaw (his paternal grandfather) died last Friday night. Curtis has been in Amarillo the last couple of days attending the funeral. My thoughts have been with Tim especially in the last few days. He has a lot on his plate right now and losing a parent is never easy, no matter what your age. Wish I could have been there to support my new family and pay my respects... Raymond Jinkins will certainly be missed.