Well, it's been a couple weeks since I last posted...sorry! A lot has happened!

Right before school ended, I found out that my position at Lincoln Elementary as a teacher's assistant is available for next year! I didn't think it would be available because kindergarten enrollment is going down next year (at the end of the year, it was at about 22-23/class vs. 26/class last year) and there already is a 1st grade assistant teacher. But, the first grade classes are going to be at about 25-26/class (maybe higher if we get new kids before school starts, which is a possibility), with a few pretty needy kiddos. I haven't been assigned a grade level yet, but I think I'm going to move up to 1st grade with the kiddos from last year because of the needs and numbers. Then we'd probably just have one assistant per class. I still would like to have my own classroom someday, but after seeing how few openings there are and after 482 teachers from MPS were laid off and are now looking for jobs, I'm happy to stay in my position and have a job at all.

I also was able to snag a summer school position right before school ended. I was originally looking into helping out with special education this summer, but after some persuasion by me and a coworker, I was able to get a job assisting one of my Lincoln coworkers with her summer art classes. So basically, I show up for 4 hours a day and help kids paint. Not a bad gig! :)

In other news, I went to Madison last weekend and spent some time with Jennifer. It had been so long since we'd seen each other...I missed her! Anyway, we were catching up at Starbucks and she told me about how she wants to hike Longs Peak in Colorado before she turns 30 (at the end of August). After some discussing, we decided to do it together! The details aren't totally worked out, but we're tentatively thinking about going the week of August 8. Jennifer's family has cabins out there, so all we'd have to worry about is gas to drive out there, food, and anything extra we'd want to do. We would go out there and do a couple shorter hikes to get our bodies used to the elevation change and then we'd do Longs Peak in the middle of the week. The Longs Peak trail is about 7.5 miles one way and you have to start at 3 am to be off the mountain before the afternoon thunderstorms come. It sounds super intense, but exciting!