The end of the semester is almost here

I can't tell you how excited I am!  As much as I enjoy my job, I really cherish my summers home with my boys.  We'll be going to the pool, to Stone Mountain, to the zoo, to playgroup--all very fun things that we don't get to do nearly often enough during the school year.  I'm going to help Kamu learn his colors and numbers better and since he's already pretty good with numbers, we may start working on letters.  He wants to do everything Patrick and since Patrick is such a good reader now, Kamu wants to learn his letters.  Whenever he does a drawing, he points out the "letters" that he's written on it.  Very cute!

Then there's our cruise in Alaska with the Morrey family in June!  We are so excited about this trip--it will be such a fun time for all of us.  We'll get lots of time together in an incredibly gorgeous setting!

This summer will be different because I am actually working.  I'm teaching a class online as well as a lab two nights a week.  The lab doesn't start until 8 p.m., so Jason will be home and we can still have dinner as a family before I have to leave to get there.  I'm more nervous about the online class than the other one.  While I've taught this particular class before, I've never taught a fully-online course.  I've asked for help from another professor who's taught it many times online and she's got fantastic suggestions, so that brings me some peace.  I'm just nervous because I've heard that online courses are really challenging to teach and require a lot of time.  I sense a lot of work getting done during the boys' Quiet Time and some late nights, which means that the house will just have to stay a wreck.  Alas!  After a year of unemployment, we need to rebuild our savings and this seemed to be one of the best ways to do it since I can still be home with the boys.  Unless we need it for some reason, though, I'm not doing it next summer.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Patrick chooses to read this summer.  Now that he's confident in his reading ability, he reads all the time.  I'm excited to see what books he gets from the library to keep him interested.  He's so fascinated by so many different things.

I'm excited to have some time with just Melkamu.  Patrick's going to be at tennis camp for a couple of mornings one week and soccer camp another week, so we'll get some great one-on-one time.  He's such a fun kid and his enthusiasm for everything makes me smile nonstop.

I'm not sure how it will be with me working this summer, but summers are often less-stressful for our family as a whole.  While my job is a great one, it's still hard having a two-working-parent family.  A lot of the little things get put off until my breaks, so those will get done this summer--car services, plumbing issues, etc.  There's always something that needs to be done but it is really nice to have some time in the daytime hours of the summer to get them completed!

However, I'm signing off for the next week or so until finals are over.  (Next Wednesday at about 7:30 p.m, or 9 days, 9 hours, and about 37 minutes.  Not that I'm counting.)  I have a million papers to grade and final exams to write but once they're all done, I'll be back with more photos!