The Nitty Gritty

This week crawled at a snail's pace. I thought Friday would never come! But it did! Thank goodness! Isaac met with his advisor, Dr. Stauffer. His plan is to finish the first draft of his dissertation by May 5th. Then he can make revisions and have it defended by the time we move. One of my former student's mom is a realtor so she is going to help us sell our condo. We have a meeting this Thursday to discuss list price. We went hiking on South Mountain two times this week. The weather has been amazing. I want to take advantage of the desert landscape before we move this summer and before the heat kicks in.  We saw Beauty and the Beast yesterday. There are a few new songs. We love playing them and singing along.  The boys are getting really excited about the move. Will built a Lego set today with lots of green legos and told me it was Missouri. He's also excited to go to a new school. The kids at Carminati say a lot of inappropriate things so Will is hopi...

Hey everybody! Isaac accepted the position at University of Central Missouri!! His start date is August 8th. We are so excited to move to Warrensburg. It's a small town of 20,000 people. We've been searching the real estate there and it is very affordable. This will be the first time I've moved somewhere without seeing it first. I've been doing a lot of searching with Google Earth and I have to say I am really impressed with the town. The homes are very well kept. This weekend I started to get super jazzed about our move. I'm not going to teach in a classroom next year so that will be nice. I'm going to apply for jobs to teach online. I can't wait to move back into a house with a garage and private yard. It's just all going to be great! I told my principal and colleagues that I won't be returning next year. They are really happy for our family. My principal was very supportive and said some things that really touched me. I am going to miss Car...

Wow! A lot of exciting/crazy things happening with our family! Monday morning, 8:00 am sharp, Valdosta State in Georgia called Isaac and invited him to fly out for a campus interview. Two hours later, the University of Central Missouri called and offered Isaac the job position! Since Georgia invited him for an on campus interview, he asked Missouri if he could wait and give an answer in a week or so. Isaac left for Georgia on Wednesday night and came home Saturday afternoon. He'll find out if he gets a job offer tomorrow from Valdosta State. Then, we'll have to decide where we want to move. We're grateful for the opportunities, but super stressed about relocating and making a big move this summer.  Today is our last day of spring break. We decided to stay close to home and just relax. We biked 4.5 miles on Monday, riding to Kiwanis Park and back and 5 miles on Tuesday, riding to ASU and back. The weather was perfect. This is the time of year when Tempe is filled ...

Hi family! Here is our family update! Isaac:  Isaac's interview went very well. He went to dinner with the search committee Tuesday night. He said he really enjoyed everyone's company. Wednesday, he taught the Intro to Music Methods course, met with the Dean and Human resources, mingled with the students, and did a research presentation. He did very well on his lesson and presentation. When he met with the Dean he explained that the person who is offered the job will be the director of music education and will be teaching 12 credits a semester. The 12 credits include placing and supervising student teachers. Isaac said he never felt like he was getting grilled. The staff was very nice and they shared some good conversations together. One of the members of the search committee was named Alan Zabriskie and said he was from Ogden, Utah. Turns out he is the son of my Jr. High principal! The education world is so small! He was very helpful showing Isaac parts of Warrensburg and...