At last!

At last... I finally have my 'all-clear' to start work! After many days of waiting, numerous phone calls and filling out paperwork, I am set to work in the classroom on Monday. Oh happiness! I'm just excited to start this new adventure and to get out of the house (I'm sure Phil is ready to have me out of the house as well)! I will be working in a Special Education classroom with 13 students. There is one teacher and four aides (including me), so I'm not exactly sure what my duties are or how many students I will be assisting. It will be a new experience for me, as I have not dealt with students in the classroom before (only outside the classroom participating in recreation activities). But, I know that while some days I will be super tired, I will be able to come out of this job with a lot of experience and many stories.
Phil is ready to have a second income to the family and to finally be able to have the house to himself for bits and pieces. We will have to work with mixing schedules for the first few weeks (I will be 7:30a-4p Monday through Friday and Phil will be 3p-11p Tuesday through Saturday). I'm sure we will be able to make it work. I mean, we're finally in the same city, so now we won't have to deal with time zones, cell phones and random other messes.
As for other details, our house is decorated and ready for Halloween. We're not sure how we'll celebrate the day, as Phil works late, but I'm hoping that a lot of cute youngsters come to the door to show of their costumes and take away the candy that I'm sure I'll be eating :)
We successfully had our first house guest this past week. Phil's high school friend, Ross, was in town for an oil show, so he stayed at our house for a few days. Ross and I were able to go to the airport a few nights to have dinner with Phil (otherwise Ross would not have been able to see a lot of Phil) and then we spent the rest of the time hanging out at the house and driving around Midland. If anyone else is in town, we would love to have you (it got Phil and I into house decorating/improvement completion mode, but I know I could always find more projects for his honey-do list)!

Settlin' into our home

We continue to settle into our new home and get used to being near to one another for more than a few days at a time. So far, no major problems or injuires have happened, so I would say that we're doing okay :)

As for other details, Phil continues to stay busy at work while I continue to perfect my Domestic Diva skills. I have enjoyed using the new kitchen utensils and accessories to mix, bake, stir, whip and cook a lot of new recipes. We've also stayed busy with trips to Home Depot, Target, and Wal-Mart to continue the quest of making this apartment our home.

I did have an exciting week last week as I interviewed for a position in the Special Education classroom at an elementary school. The day after the interview, they offered me the position (thank goodness)! Unfortunately, there has been a lot of confusion with my paperwork, so while they thought I would be in the classroom this past week, I continue to wait for everything to get put in place. Cross your fingers that I'll be a working woman by the end of next week.

In the meantime, I've been perfecting my skills around the house. The biggest accomplishment thus far has been putting together some shelves to go over our fireplace (I'm pretty good with a drill, if I say so myself). We're still putting together our house, but for our first place, it suites us very well (although more kitchen space would be nice...). I also have started swimming with a Master's swim team, as well as volunteering with Special Olympics swimming. It's such a joy to be helping out with a program that serves the population that is so near and dear to my heart. There's only 5 swimmers right now, but each of them has such a great personality and attitude, so I'm loving the 90 minutes that I get to spend with them each week.

Other excitement to the Midland area was that President Bush made a trip here for a fundraiser. Phil was able to go out on the runway and be one of the main people representing the airport. President Bush was here for about 3 hours, but the week leading up to it, Phil was pretty busy talking with Secret Service and other personnel. Being the celebrity that I am at the airport (I am Mrs. Tiedeman, after all!), I was able to go up to the Operations office and see Air Force One land.

Hopefully the next time I write, I will have made a successful transition from Domestic Diva to an employee of the Midland School District :)

Top Ten Countdown

Phil and I were watching our wedding video yesterday and I asked him what he would always remember from that day. He listed a few memories and then I listed mine, and we thought that we would share our 'Top Ten' list with everyone, since a lot of people didn't get to experience all of the action and activities that went into 'Wedding Week 2008.'

Our Favorite Memories:

• Party Bus (the bridal party rode in a 14-person shuttle bus from the ceremony to outdoor pictures to the reception. All we can say is that our bridal party rules at Karaoke-- especially 'We Are the Champions').



• Speeches at the reception (Cousin Ben, Joel, Kari and Tom did a wonderful and amazing job).

• Joel having WAY too much fun with the dollar dance (we think he enjoyed dancing with everyone in Phil's line a lot more than he should have)!



• Sparklers (Katie didn't want bubbles or rice to be thrown for some pictures, so when she saw a picture of a wedding in which the couple walked under sparklers, she was sold). The bridal party held them over our heads as we walked under the line of brightness. Then, they had a competition to see which person's sparkler would last the longest-- nice job Tommy Chimo.
  


• The facial expressions on our bridal party's faces during the ceremony (everything from Kari's extreme and wonderful smile to Kayley's blank stare into space to Tommy's frown/smile magical act).



• Our ring bearers walking up the aisle and then getting a piece of candy from Joel (yes, our groomsmen asked if they could get a piece after they walked down the aisle as well).


• The parent dance (God bless the polka)!


• Joel using the bushes as a restroom during outdoor pictures (and Cousin Ben capturing it on Eric's camera).


• Elise (Phil's cousin) singing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song during the reception (in order for Phil and I to kiss, someone had to sing a song with the word 'love' or 'kiss' in it). Missy commented that Elise should get bonus points for singing a song at a reception with the word 'weiner' in it.


• Cousin Ben commenting that everyone had sat down before the head table during dinner time (it was verbally caught on our wedding video).

Phil's other favorites include: taking off the garter, seeing Katie walk down the aisle, and our first dance.

Katie's favorites: Daddy/Daughter Dance, having Hudson assist me with opening up my presents at my bachelorette party (Hudson: 'what's that?' Katie: 'Um, my pajamas?'), and seeing our bridal party camped out on Grandma Katie's living room floor putting together our wedding favors (Rachel: 'This is not acceptable. We can do better than that.')

And so many more! Those were just the ones that will always and forever make us smile when we remember them. Of course, the more serious ones of seeing our friends and family come together to help us celebrate is the greatest one of all :)