Saturday, August 9, 2008

Exciting News!

Amanda is the new guidance counselor at Oltman Jr. High School in St. Paul Park, Minnesota! The school is part of the large South Washington County school district. It's all very surreal because she's wanted to be a guidance counselor since she was in middle school, finished her master's degree two years ago, and hadn't been able to get a job in the field she wanted. We had a discussion recently about at what point, after how many years of trying, should she focus her energy elsewhere. Soon after that conversation, she found the posting for this position, applied, got an interview...and now here we are.

The job starts in less than two weeks so we've got a lot of little things to figure out still - our daily schedules, how those fit into our daycare schedule, possibly getting another car (Yes, car, no minivan for this household!), etc. But even though there may be some uncomfortable changes, it's the kind of changes that occur when something good happens. Or as Marlo Stanfield put it, "That's one of those good problems."

I'm very excited for Mandy and extremely proud of her!

In other news...Julia got a hair cut a few weeks ago. It was quite a drastic change, but she likes it a lot and had no problem with getting it chopped off.
Here are before and after pictures of Julia in a gymnastics outfit:



Finn is still very fond of his sister, even with short hair.


I was feeling left out so I tried out some new styles. Here is the best one I came up with. And by "best", I mean worst.


And we couldn't leave without a picture of the lady with the new job!

6 comments:

Mom said...

Kudos to Mandy!!:) You can really tell the difference in Julia's hair by the length of the ponytails. I'm glad I beat sis!!! Not sure about your other comments thought???? Can't wait to see you all in a couple weeks. Love to all. Mom (Grammy)

Torey said...

The spam comments have been deleted.

You and Jayne should start your own blog and just have commenting competitions. Seriously. Or not.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Mandy!!! I hope your new career is all you want (and worked so hard for) and more! Julia's hair is still very beautiful and probably easier to manage :) Finn is an absolute doll (not in the exact sense, but you now what I mean). Torey, that "do" is for you!! Very suave. Awesome! I would have posted earlier (oh, like about 9:42 p.m. or so) but we were gone to a house warming party and didn't get home until, oh, 9:40 p.m. :( Seriously. Or not.
Keep up the good work w/the blog, I'm lovin' it!
Jayne
p.s. idontknowhowtosetupablog imaskeeredtotry

Ember said...

Congratulation, Mandy!! That's so great! Way to not give up. :D

Torey, is that some gray in your hair?? Geez...

Monica said...

I am Daniels sister and Hannes sister in Law.
I read Toreys comment on Hannes swedish blog and was touched by your words and your compassion. And it was so true. It is the most beautiful and sad story.I don´t think anyone could have missunderstand you.
You seem to be a lovely family.
If you ever get to Sweden or if you want to know more about Hanne get in touch monica.lind@edu.falkenberg.se

Anonymous said...

Torey I see that Julia isn't the only one with a drastic hair change!