I am My Family…My Family is Me.

Uncategorized

I went to visit Ella at school the other day.  Outside their classroom, the kids had drawn “self-portraits”, and this is what I found as Ella’s masterpiece.  Instead of drawing just herself, she drew her whole family.  Preston is the one with the very large head.  I’m the one with the fuzzy hair, while Ella is just below Preston, and Audrey is the teeny one just to the left side of Ella.  No other kid in her class drew their whole family as their SELF-portrait.  While I’m probably reading too much psychology in to this, I do like that Ella identifies herself as a member of a whole–that we are not a family without her, and she is who she is because of where she’s planted.  She always draws all four of us, and it makes me really happy to see her draw the gigantic head (Preston), the fuzzy hair (me), and two appropriately-sized heads for the sisters.  Ella is one cool chick. 

In other news, Preston has settled in to Kindergarten teaching.  Pictures of his classroom (before and after) can be seen in our photo gallery page.  He often texts me during his lunch time to tell how much he loves his job.  He’ll also come home with some pretty cute stories, and the kids are truly warming up to him, often interrupting him during the day just to give him a hug.  He has to leave the house by 6:45 to get to work on time, and that’s darn early.  He never complains though, and makes it through the day like a champ, often working late nights after having some family time. 

I am tutoring in earnest now, and I love it!  I’m slowly gaining more hours and will also start some substituting in the English classes soon to make sure my teaching muscles don’t atrophy.  During the times when I’m not tutoring, I’m playing with Audrey and keeping the house in order.  I have said so many times that the days go by so quickly now, and while I feared I might be bored being at home most of the day, I have never had such a fulfilling type of “busy.”  I’m also back in to running, which I never knew I liked until two summers ago, right before I was pregnant with Audrey.  Now I’m running with a training group, getting ready for some 5Ks and the Peachtree 10K in July.  I’m keeping my goals attainable right now.  I’m proud I’ve made it back up to 3.1 miles (which once was impossible to me), but I’ve got a long way to go before I can make it even close to a half-marathon–baby steps, baby steps.  But I do love it, and I can say that I’m a little addicted to it. 

Audrey is long and tiny at the same time (is that possible?) and starting to look more and more like Ella everyday.  Both girls have Preston’s eyes and nose, and both have my hair (well, for the time being, Audrey doesn’t have ANY hair, so maybe I’m just being hopeful–bless their hearts!).  She loves sweet potatoes, apples, and pears.  She also loves to sing, which sounds more like extended screaming to anybody else, but because we know she’s a genius, it’s definitely singing to us. She has a great giggle and loves for us to tickle her!  Two Sundays ago, she was dedicated at church.  That was such a special time to share with our family and church family, and Audrey did a great job not crying or spitting up on our minister.  She now sleeps through the night, from about 6:45 pm until 6:00 am or so.  These five months have passed so quickly. 

There’s a lot going on in the Burt family, and I’ll try to do a better job of keeping the site updated, especially since we are now about to enter our favorite season, complete with all the festivals and pumpkin-picking that go with it.

Preston @ September 29, 2009