The Pickle Jar in Poland: Emmy's first day of school, and other news

Emmy started "school" last Tuesday. She is now in a two day a week Children's Morning Out program at a church nearby. She will be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am - 1 pm. She had a great first day! (And second and third.)

Why, you may ask? Well, I have decided to accept an offer and go back to work. I will be back as a contractor for MSFT in support of a recruiting team. I had the opportunity to go back to work with a former colleague and I finally said yes. The company I work through called me earlier this year and wanted to know if I was interested in coming back full time, but I really wasn't. I only worked part time for them before (I was volunteering for the FRG still when I took the job and part time was all I could handle) and I know how time consuming it was then, I really didn't think I wanted full time with a toddler around.

But, I finally decided to call them when I heard another position was opening up with my former colleague. They were super glad to hear from me and basically just made me an offer. I hear there were two teams fighting over me. :) I am excited, though nervous, to go back. The job is not a difficult one, but 40 hours a week versus 25 will be a big change. Primarily, it is so we can have two incomes again for awhile, and since Charles is home during the day, the timing seems right. He will be doing primary Emmy care during much of the day. When she goes to CMO, he will go to school and do as much of his studying as he can. Then we will probably have our primary baby-sitter come one or two days a week as needed to give him more study time.

So, wish me luck! It will be a big adjustment for all of us, but we're up for the challenge. We are thrilled that Emmy's new "school" had openings in their toddler class, so it seems like everything just fell into place. The church (not the one we attend) is only about a 90 second drive away. We know folks at our church and other Army families who have sent their kids there. My mom checked out their website and was impressed with their philosophy and objectives so that made me feel good.

My mom was actually here for Emmy's second day of school. She decided to come down for a quick visit before her kids came back to school this week, so she got to go see Emmy's room when I picked her up last Thursday. Emmy sure was glad to have her Su-Su here for a couple of days! We had lots of fun and Mom was a big help while I "worked" my other new job...party planning!! My friend Jamie loved the shower we threw for Mary Ann this summer, so she decided she wanted to hire me to help plan two parties she was hosting the end of the summer. The first was a baby shower brunch last week (some not-very-good photos of that are posted in the August Album) and then this past Friday was a retirement dinner party. I did all the table settings, flowers, and cooked some of the food for each one and helped with set up, etc. It was lots of fun, but of course if you like to entertain, you know it's exhausting! It wasn't even my house and I was on my feet a lot and very tired afterward! I loved doing it and there are probably a few more parties in my future. Probably not enough to make a career move, but I sure do enjoy helping people make good use of the items in their homes and plan a fun, delicious, and affordable party for their friends. Some of the ideas I see online are fabulous, but who has that kind of money? Well, some people, but not most people I know!

Mary Ann was kind enough to come take some fancy photos of the events, so I will have those to show you later.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos of Su-Su's visit from her camera to share with you. More are in the August Album. Happy Tuesday!

A rare photo of Emmy wearing her sunglasses...usually they are off in about one second.
(Yes, we know the diaper and shirt look is a classy one)