No School!

Last night the Austin area had a winter storm warning and snow showers scheduled for this morning at 8:00 a.m.  The kids had to be at school before that and we are roughly 25 minutes away from their school until we move in tomorrow.  So we all got up early and checked the district website once more before heading out.  The residents here are not accustomed to driving in icy conditions so we left extra early to give us plenty of time to get there early.  We pulled in to the elementary school and I walked the kids in.  The office was in chaos as the district instituted a 2 hour delay to school just minutes before, so the phone was ringing off the hook from parents who had already dropped their kids off telling people not to come back, that the staff was there and they would just keep the kids they had.  The secretary remembered me from yesterday and asked if we felt at home with this weather.  I asked her if I should leave the boys or take them with me.  She said to leave them and they could get to know their teachers and some of their classmates before everyone else showed up.

After walking the kids to their classrooms and briefly meeting their teachers I headed back to the car to tell the other kids and Ronny about the 2 hour delay.  We then headed to Ronny's office to drop him off and then the older kids and I found a bagel shop to wait out the two hour delay.  I asked Ronny to keep an eye on the district website and let me know if anything else changed.  Ronny had a presentation to give today and called to tell me people had started calling in to work saying they were staying home because of the weather.

Just as we were leaving to take the kids to the school, Ronny called to let us know that the school district had decided to cancel school for the day just as people were dropping their kids off after the 2 hour delay.  Nice!  So we headed to pick up the boys.  Shortly there after Ronny called back to let us know Apple had closed their offices until noon because of the weather.  Funny as he was already there.  He opted to stay and consider the time spent as flex time as he is taking the day off tomorrow to help with the move.

So tomorrow we will have try number 3 to get the kids to school!  Of course the movers are scheduled to show up at the same time I need to drop the kids off.  Should be fun.....

We made it!

Texas!!!!

We finally made it to Texas just after midnight on Saturday (or should I say Sunday!).  Harley made it too even after a delay in our flight due to a broken over head bin.  He was very happy to see us when they brought him up.  We made it to the corporate apartment and had the kids finally settled down about 2 a.m.  Needless to say we did not make it to 8:00 am church, opting instead for a somewhat peaceful Sunday after the kids had slept in a little.

This last week was one hectic marathon with finishing school, grades, preparing for the movers to come, having them there, and cleaning the house before heading to the airport Saturday evening.  I could not have gotten everything done without the help of both our mothers who graciously took the kids out to play so I could get things done, wonderful friends and neighbors who came to help me clean, gave us a room to sleep in, and drove us to the airport.  The only thing I wasn't able to do was make it to Aaron's grave one last time before heading out, buy my wonderful Mother in Law loving placed a heart shaped wreath there before she left.  Thank you all sooooo much!

School Registration has been one big headache today. I knew it would be difficult but ahhhhhh! So TX does not recognize ALPS (Accelerated Learning Program) as Talented and Gifted, nor do they recognize that on Charley's transcript that H stands for Honors. I also explained that Charley was designated TAG in OR before moving to UT but they wouldn't accept that either even though it was the same system (essentially its just letters we are talking about here!) Also because UT calls their classes by different names they do not recognize Charley as having completed Algebra nor would they accept the Jordan District's explanation nor mine as a licensed Utah Jr. High math teacher. So they are making her take 3 math tests to verify she has sufficient skills to master Algebra at the Univ. of TX at a cost of $145 that we get to fork out. When I just asked if they would test her themselves for TAG again they said yes but it would take up to 30 to do the testing because there were 2 others in line in front of her and they can only do one at a time, really????? I asked why they couldn't accept the national Explore test administered by ACT that she had a perfect score on or why they couldn't just call the ALPS department at the district to have her scores faxed over, really this shouldn't be sooooo hard. So needless to say, today has been rather frustrating!

We move into the house Wednesday morning and Ronny thankfully is taking the day off to give me a hand.  I am looking forward to getting settled and back into a normal routine!

7 Days and Counting

Move Date is January 25th!  One week away.  There is so much to do between now and then but we are looking good.  Harley has been cleared to fly and thus far the weather is going to cooperate for him to get on the plane.  (It needs to be at least 25 degrees for him to fly according to the vet).  I only have the kids closets left to go through, otherwise I have gone through all our junk, I mean stuff.... and have purged quite a bit.  I am pretty sure I cut our stuff in the basement by at least half.  I love to see those trash pages and boxes ready to be donated leaving my house!

The boys are officially done with school as they tracked off this last Wednesday.  Nana is doing her best to squeeze in one last visit before we leave and entertain them while Charley and I finish out our last 3 days.  I am surprisingly caught up on my grading and will finalize my grades before leaving school Thursday afternoon.  I have started cleaning out my classroom and will hopefully been done with that on Tuesday.  A new teacher has been hired and hopefully I will get to meet with her before heading off.

The movers arrive Friday morning to get the house packed up (so grateful someone else is doing the heavy work this time around!).  The truck gets loaded Saturday and we fly off Saturday night.  The kids are all off having one last day of fun with their friends and cousins here and I am home with a quiet house.  I can't remember the last time the house was quiet on a Saturday afternoon!

Ronny has been in Texas since the first of the year and has thus far enjoyed his new job.  We are anxious to reunite and be a family again.  Our van made it safely there this week so Ronny will be able to pick us up from the airport when we get in.  It will be nice to have him there to coral the kids and dog as it will be midnight when the flight touches down and I expect we will be all tired and on edge at that point.

The bishop called this morning and asked Charley and I to speak tomorrow.  Just what I needed!  Looks like we have one more hoop to jump through so that is what I'll be doing tonight.  We love our ward here though so if they want to hear from us one last time then we are happy to serve.  We will surely miss everyone here but knowing we will visit often tempers that hurt just a little.