Tucsonan Villalpandos

Monday, September 5, 2011

Pictures

This is our Sunday night HBO/dinner group. Iva & Carlo are on the left, and Sarah is in green. I have known Sarah & Iva since 7th grade. Look how tan James is!! :)

On my side of the family we had a lot of news this month. My Mom has a lot on her plate right now. First, my Mom's only sister had a heart attack. Aunt Sherrie has been in bad health for years and has had heart attacks before. The Dr.'s said if she does not have a transplant she will probably pass within the year. She has chosen to not have the transplant. Mom is hoping to fly out to see her next month. Next in news, my Mom was told that she has Type 2 diabetes. On a positive note, now that she knows she can make healthier lifestyle choices. With the right diet and exercise Type 2 diabetes can be manageable. The final piece of August news was Tricia & Michael announcing that they are pregnant! They will be celebrating their 3 year anniversary in 2 months, and he has been like family since the beginning. They knew a long time ago that they wanted to be married, and have been talking about marriage ideas for awhile now. Michael graduated this May and Tricia is graduating this December. Originally a trip to Disneyland was planned this December for Tricia's graduation, but now if all goes as planned the trip will also include a small Disneyland wedding. If you are on Tricia's facebook, please save congratulations for later, as she is waiting for more details on how far along she is to announce it to her friends.

August

Hello Family & Friends! It has now been 4 months away, and we miss you all dearly! August was more of the same for James and I, work wise. He continues to stay in good spirits while working at the Hilton. He sacrificed a great job with some of the nicest co-workers you will ever meet to come out here, and it has been frustrating that no one has scooped him up yet. Keep your fingers crossed!! I missed 6 days of work this month because of being sick. I was sick for 2 weeks and finally went to see a Dr. and was put on an antibiotic. I had a bad reaction to the antibiotic and became even sicker. In the course of a week I was in the e.r. hooked up to an i.v., saw and ear, nose & throat specialist, went to urgent care 2 x, and saw our primary physician once. I was on and off 7 different meds within a couple of weeks. I haven't been sick for years, so I guess this was my body's way of making up for it. Despite being so sick, it was nice spending so much time with James. We have both been working a lot, and he has been working every weekend. Somehow he kept me in good spirits at the e.r. and at the e.n.t. specialist when I was getting a laryngiscope put down my nose (pray you never go through that!). I am a very lucky wife!!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

End of July

This last week my class got a special visit from Amber & Abby. They already knew of Amber & Abby because I use pictures of Amber & Abby to demonstrate how to sit criss-cross, stand in line, etc. Amber led them through a few songs. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully they'll be able to visit again sometime during the year.

The first 2 weeks of school have been challenging. There has been a lot of tears from the kids. The majority of them have never been in a school setting, and it's a long school day. 8:15-3:15. The first day I had 16, and now I have 25. The cap is 30. The first week I was bit and had to go to a worker's comp doctor to get my arm checked out. Luckily the skin didn't break. Despite all this, I have also had my share of good moments. They are settling into the routine and learning the rules, which is making things a lot easier. I get a lot of hugs now, and love the look on their faces during read-alouds. It's nice having my own classroom again after 2 years of subbing. James has come in to meet my class, as well as my Mom & Amber & Abby. I also have extremely nice co-workers. My neighboring kindergarten teacher is very sweet, and we work really well together. Across the hall I work with a first grade teacher who moved here from San Diego with her boyfriend May 9th, 2 days after James and I! She got her credential from the same school as I did, and moved to Tucson in pursuit of teaching, too.

James is still being a good sport about working at Hilton, and is still fighting the fight to get a different job. Earlier this week he had a phone interview and an interview in person for 2 different positions, and is getting really close to landing something. We feel lucky that he is getting opportunities. I am looking forward to having weekends together soon. As of now he works Saturdays & Sundays so we only see each other evenings.

Earlier this week my hotmail account was hacked into, and a mysterious link was sent out for a Canadian medication website. A surprising amount of people clicked on the link, and were wanting to know if James was working for them. No he is not selling Canadian drugs! (lol) Be wary of future e-mails from me only containing a link with no messsage (don't click it!). :) Hopefully the problem has been solved, and I can keep my e-mail address-I've had it for 11 years!

Mid-July

Mid-July I had a lot of help from Tricia, my Mom, James, and my friend Sarah setting up my classroom. It was so much work, and I never would have finished in time for back to school night if it wasn't for them. We literally finished 30 minutes before families started showing up. I had a good turn out. 15 families came.

Sadly one of the days my Mom was in my classroom their home was broken into. All of their jewelry was stolen. My Dad had a few pieces and my Mom had a big collection that she was really fond of. She is heartbroken because she had so many pieces of sentimental value, including jewelry that was her Mothers'. It is very sad, but we are grateful that everyone is safe. They have put security measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. Within 2 days of that happening Dad on the Villalpando side fell from a ladder while doing yard work. Luckily he only suffered minor injuries, and we are so grateful that he is safe, too.