Sunday, October 31, 2010

Update on the Marcano Clan

So the semester is FLYING by. It seems like just yesterday it was Aug 1 and I was starting my new job as a counselor at Round Rock High School. There is so much to do - it feels like a marathon that I'm trying to keep up with.
Jessica is in 3rd grade at Great Oaks Elem and making some great new friends there. She especially enjoys the two hours of lone time with mom during our hour commute to and from Round Rock each day. She also enjoys being in the after school care with the YMCA and getting to play with her classmates after school.
Lily is in Pre-K and proving to be just as smart as we always suspected. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me. The other day she was complaining about something and said, "Mom, it's off the hook!" Where does she get that? Her Pre-K teacher commented that she picks up on things even the teachers seem to miss. On one assignment she was to color the like leaves the same color. It meant on the row. She found one on the top and bottom that were the same even though one was turned at a different angle. The teacher asked her what she was doing and she said, "Aren't we supposed to color the same leaves the same color?" The teacher took a closer look and noticed she was right. Lily enjoys staying after school while her daddy works to do "homework". The homework is usually a worksheet his kindergarten kids have done that day. She loves it and wants to do anything Jessica is doing.
Gavin started in daycare this fall. They were wrapping up potty training when he got there, but he tried it and is doing pretty well for a young 2 yr old boy. I'm fairly impressed. He even went a couple of days with underwear with no accidents!! Way to go Gavin. He is so cute and such a sweet heart. He is speaking more and more each day. I think the structure of the day care is really good for him. He loves to sing to us and bobs his little head in time to the music. Lately his favorite songs have been "Happy Family", "Old McDonald had a farm", and "5 little monkeys".
Jhonny just got accepted into a Masters of Ed program through UTA. He starts next week as a probationary student pending his GRE exam. He is loving his job as a Kindergarten teacher. His first graders (Kindergarten from last year) are showing up the whole school! They scored the highest on the TPRI test than any other 1st grade class and I believe they did better than any class has ever scored. Everyone of his kids from last year was "developed" in all areas. He didn't even know what all the congrats were for when the Principal and other teachers stopped by to tell him. The challenge now is to get his class now up to par. The first grade teacher of his bilingual group is stopping by frequently to tell him to stop doing this or that - i.e. He contacted DeVry University where he graduated and the recruiter sends him shirts for all his kids. DeVry sent him some new ones for this year. The first graders wanted to know when their new teacher would get them a shirt this year. LOL.
The latest news is that we're listing our house. We hope that it will sell by next summer, but we shall see. The hope is that some day we can move everyone to Round Rock so we can have more family time. And maybe my kids besides just Jessica can see their mom more than just on the weekends.
The last news is that we're planning a trip to Idaho for Christmas. We would love to see family - and especially spend a little time with Grandma and Grandpa Ellis. I hope it will be a white Christmas for a kids. They don't get too much of that. Maybe we'll get to see some of ya'll up there this year. I may not have another chance to post again for a while. So! Until then!!