Moving On

Rob's Job

Rob is finally traveling and getting into his job.  He's happy to feel useful.  Not that he wasn't helpful around the house and to his family, but you know what I mean.  As much as you think you'd like to be paid to do nothing, it gets old.

Travel so far has been lovely.  A day trip to Indianapolis.  Two days in Omaha.  Hotel and food paid for, with mileage reimbursed for more than he pays out in gas.  Which means we could afford to fix up the car that he's putting all those miles on.  Sweet!  (Well, he flew to Omaha.  That's a little far.)

I know a lot of people don't like travel and the strain it puts on families.  But this is WAY less stressful than the in-town teaching gig Rob was doing every Tuesday and Thursday night.  Ridiculously so.  Plus, at this stage in our lives, it's not such a bother for me.  The kids kind of maintain themselves.  In the past, I would have been bitter that Rob was out and about, enjoying good food on someone else's dime, while I'm at home taking care of the kids.  Now he reports his travel days and I say, "I'm so happy that you're experiencing great things!"  ...  I think we've been prepared for this job.

(Though I'm not looking forward to his full week trip to Seattle.  That won't be as much fun on the home front.)

...  Also, it's adorable to watch Rob brush up on his German.  He frequently gets company e-mails that are in German.  So we've picked back up a subscription to the German Liahona, and he's been pretty good about reading it regularly.  ...  Again, I swear this job was created just for him.

Oh.  He's also already being recognized as knowledgable about his product and how to use it, as well as being a good presenter.  And that always feels really nice.

Tamra

I'm in the home stretch at Cincinnati State.  Last semester.  Last 3 classes.  I will walk on Sunday, May 5th (as a heads up to any friends or family that may want to come and celebrate with me - Mom, Dad, nudge, nudge) and we'll throw a big party!  This has been an awesome journey and I've loved the experience, but it's been a huge sacrifice for my family.  So we're going to celebrate the closing of a chapter and the starting of a new one.

We talked to the kids about how these were my last 3 classes before I graduated.  Elijah was like, "Well, yeah, if you pass the classes."  "I'll pass them."  "Yeah, but what if you don't?"  "That is NOT an option."  "Yeah, but, what if...?"  "No.  I will pass them.  It happens to be somewhat under my control.  I've worked too hard to not pass the last 3 classes."  Elijah was still like, "Yeah, well, I'm just saying..."  :)

I'm starting to look ahead past graduation, which is hard to do.  The world is murky out there, and there are no clear paths.  I'm trying to keep an open mind and yet be as prepared as possible to grab any opportunities placed before me, including the ones I make for myself! 

My next step to becoming a certified interpreter is to earn a batchelor's degree.  So I signed up for my first on-line class from BYU and I'm taking that alongside my 3 classes at Cincinnati State.  I have about 30 credits until I'm done with my degree from BYU, and I'm shooting for having that finished by Decemeber 2014.  It'll be a degree in Family Studies, which seems about as useful as a degree in Watching The Grass Grow, but I'm not above having a fluffy degree.  It's a means towards an end, not a notch on my Check Out How Cool I Am measuring stick.

Also, I'm really excited to run a Tough Mudder with Rob and my brother, Keith, in April.  Who doesn't want to run 12 miles and voluntarily get jolted with 10,000 volts of electricity along the way?!  And that WILL be a notch on my Check Out How Cool I Am measuring stick.  For sure.  (Hey, Budge, want to join us?  April 27th.  Think about it.)

Miciah

The best day of her life was Christmas day when she received a sewing machine from Grandma and Grandpa Tungate.  The worst day of her life was 3 days later when we started putting together the craft desk we bought her and found out that a piece was broken and we needed to order a replacement part.  She bawled like a baby.  I told her that in the grand scheme of things, she would hardly remember that she had to wait a few weeks to put her sewing machine on a desk.  She responded with this:  "After you're dead, and I've finished feeling sad about your death, I'll STILL be upset about not having my desk for 2 weeks."  That's intense.  Girl needs her sewing machine desk.

She was thrilled, then, when the part arrived on Friday and she was finally set up to go.  She's read the entire sewing machine manual, and most of the "How to Sew" book we bought her.  She knows how to thread it, properly position the bobbin, and has just figured out a zigzag stitch.  She's so excited.

Over break Miciah and I had a reading contest.  She beat me without breaking a sweat.  She won, as a prize, The Double-Daring Book for Girls, which she is loving.  She came to me and said, "Mom!  You can dye your hair with koolaid!"  Things could get interesting around here.

Last week was the Spelling Bee.  Remember how Miciah got second place last year?  Well, she qualified again this year but really, really didn't want to do it.  She asked her father if she had to, and he told her no.  So she approached the teacher in charge and asked to be moved further down the list.  She was moved to 4th alternate and so Miciah happily watched the contest from the audience.

I gave her a little, "Hard things make us better people" pep talk afterwards.  I told her I was a smidgen disappointed that she didn't rise to the occasion and hoped that next year she'd think about competing.  Then, after she went to bed, I said, "Well, she's obviously my daughter."  Rob was like, "Yeah.  That pep talk coming from the woman who didn't want to walk to the front of the room when her name was called to receive a scholarship.  And all you had to do was stand there and get your picture taken!"  And what's your point?  Hey, at least I DID it.  I didn't want to, but I did it.  And I'm sure deep down it made me a better person.  ...  Oh, whatever.  She doesn't have to do the Spelling Bee next year if she doesn't want to.  I'm SO fine with that.

Elijah

Ball o' Energy.  Every year about this time we wonder why we don't own a personal gym for that kid.  January through March are our hardest months with him BY FAR.  He just doesn't have enough room to run around.  Not that he would if we bought a bigger house, though.  There just aren't enough inside spaces to contain his boundless energy.  We do a lot of redirecting strategies.  They don't work, but we try them.  (Next year we're buying a Y pass before winter starts.  No joke.)

Over break Elijah did a reading contest with his father.  Elijah hates reading.  This is evidenced by the fact that, despite our pleadings and his school assignments, he refuses to read anything beyond first grade-level books.  He's in 3rd grade.  Not cool.

So Rob figured out a motivational tool that put Elijah in a bind.  He hates to lose more than he hates to read.  Elijah read more over break than he had in the previous, I dunno, year?  He even earned a BookIt award from school for the first time ever.  Rob's decided to do the contest with him every month, and Elijah has now earned the right to have reading time before bed.  He loves feeling grown up and being allowed to stay up later than normal to read a book.  He proudly brings us the books that he's read at night so Rob can count the pages and mark them on his chart.  It's a win for everyone.

Teancom

Apparently $10 worth of cars as incentive for going to church with a good attitude has totally paid off.  The last few weeks, he's happily gotten dressed himself, and been the best behaved child of the 3 during sacrament meeting!  What's that about?  We're enjoying the break from insane mornings of wanting to pull your hair out, when you're supposed to be getting spiritually prepared to commune with Heavenly Father.  Again, I'll buy him cars until he's 20 if that's all it takes.

Teancom recently was nominated 1st Grader of the week.  He felt like a super star.  It has been reported back to us that he is happy, a fantastic student and a great friend.  Also, he tells us that his classmates frequently call him "the cutest" and/or "the smallest."  One even said, "You're the cutest in 1st grade, but that's cause you're the smallest."  He is the smallest.  He's teeny.  And he's adorable.

Teancom can read!  For a long time he would tell us, "But I can't read!"  And he was mostly right.  He's something of a perfectionist, so sounding out words was troubling to him.  I would sit with him on my lap and we'd take turns reading the pages of his book.  When it was his turn, I could see the mental struggle he was having with himself, fighting the urge to just give up.  Well, he stuck it through long enough that he now can read nearly anything he wants to.  I think the last time I let him say, "But I can't read!" was 2 weeks ago when I finally responded with, "Nonsense.  You can read really well!"  He's reading full verses of the Book of Mormon with us on a nightly basis, only needing help with really big words like "necessity" or proper nouns.

Both of my boys started reading really well in the middle of 1st grade.  Miciah was reading like that in the middle of kindergarten.  Then I realized that they were all 6 years old when they learned how to read.  Straight across the board.  Miciah is just a year older compared to grade level.  Not that it means anything, it's just interesting.

And that's life here.  Sorry this was so long, but I haven't been updating like normal recently.  I do more watching and pondering as opposed to writing down and trying to pin down experiences.  I kinda like it, actually.  ...  Also, Blogger has decided they want me to pay to upload more pictures, which depresses me.  Not that it's a lot - $3 a month - but still.  It's usually enough to stiffle my dwindling desire to post.