This week, we both enjoyed the short week of work and long weekend with friends. I was busy at work Monday-Wednesday, helping kids with homework, preparing for our literacy event next week, and running the after-school tutoring 2 out of 3 days. Our literacy event is a book giveaway and, while I'm still waiting to pick up the donation from one bookstore, I have over 600 books in our living room ready to find a good home with a middle-schooler. We're planning to have a little game to "earn" the books and have them divided into genres so each kid can pick a book they'll like.
The other news from work is rather sad. We found out this week that, due to under-capacity in the Seattle School District, Meany Middle School will probably be shut down next year and the kids sent to other area schools. A bilingual school and an alternative school will move into the building instead. With the state-wide $5 billion deficit, it looks like Americorps programs like the Washington Reading Corps (the program I tutor with) might also be cut for next year. So, my current job, in more ways than one, probably won't exist in the fall. I'll get to finish out my 10.5 month term, so there's no real danger of being suddenly out of a job, but I'm just concerned about the kids I work with and whether they'll make it at a brand-new school with no tutors to help them catch up to grade level...
On Thursday, we went to Caleb and Laura's house for Thanksgiving. They go to our community group, have been married about a year longer than us, and have a very cute 3-month-old baby girl. Before leaving, Kayle and I made twice-baked potatoes with bacon. They turned out well, but we forgot to factor in the time to mash the potatoes with a hand-masher and were, consequently, about 20 min. late to dinner. Fortunately, we weren't the last ones there and, with all the amateur chefs, dinner wasn't on the table for another 45 min. after we arrived. We also brought fresh pineapple and corn. There eight of us there (plus baby Grace): Kayle, Angie, Caleb, Laura, Joe (from Dutch House), Henry (now lives with Joe), and a new couple (Amy and Tim). The meal was so nice and featured turkey, stuffing casserole, gravy, mashed carrots with rutabaga, jello salad, pumpkin pie, and ice cream pie in addition to our potatoes, pineapple, and corn. We talked for a long time after dinner and, randomly, ended up singing hymns out of some hymnbooks they had with Kayle accompanying on a keyboard. We missed our family but ended up having a very satisfying Thanksgiving...
On Friday, we went to Paula and Jeff Irwin's house for a game night. We brought fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies (but ran out of chocolate chips and only put about 1/3 of the normal amount from the Hinkle recipe- as a result, they tasted kind of like plain cookie dough at the end) and milk. There were lots of cookies, leftover pumpkin pies, and other snacks too. To Kayle's dismay, we played Progressive Charades again (or, as they called it, "the Hippie-Pirate-Ninja game" for no explicable reason). This time we played with only people/characters instead of any random noun, and it was funny to see multiple Captain Jack Sparrows, Edgar Allen Poes, Obamas, Bill Gates, and Wall-Es (and I thought I was creative!!). I had a good time since it was fun to get to know and meet the other 12 people there (most were familiar faces, including Joe, Caleb, Laura, Henry, James, etc.). Kayle perfected his charades strategy of avoiding all embarrassment by simply pointing at objects and people in the room- it is surprisingly effective for him. After the game, we watched Wall-E and I almost cried when Wall-E didn't recognize Eva at the end...it's amazing how emotionally invested one can get in a cartoon...
Today, we mostly just lounged around, finishing our laundry and grocery shopping. We caught up on e-mail, did some checking around on the computer, and read. A four-day weekend seems rather long, but I guess we've been pretty busy too... Tomorrow, Kayle and I are going to church in the morning, and Kayle is planning to go to a all-male video-game night in the evening. I'll probably finish sorting, labeling, and boxing up all those 600 books while he's gone!
Only 2.5 weeks before we board the plane for Michigan! And only about 2 weeks before we've been married 6 months...how time flies!
Until next week (and with love),
Angie and Kayle
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