There's only ONE....

word that describes me best these days.....

Take a look at the picture below and see if you can take a wild guess about which word I could possibly be talking about.....

If you guessed....STRESSED...you are correct!! There are sooooo many things going on right now at the Weite House that it's AMAZING that Jason and I are keeping our heads on straight. I'll give you a little run-down to keep you posted on this CRAZY, BEAUTIFUL little thing we call LIFE!!!

1. Obviously we've added another cutie to our bunch and are now a family of FIVE! Taylen is officially 2 months old as I type and we are loving all those fun little things babies bring along with them. Things like: dirty diapers, night time feedings, sleepless nights, and just those little "worries" that parents of newborns always have in the back of their heads: "Is she getting sick?", "Why's she crying??", etc....

2. We've decided to make a MAJOR move up to Des Moines this summer....we've enjoyed Ottumwa tremendously and this town has been pretty wonderful to us, but it's time to move on to the next stage in our lives. With Trey starting kindergarten, we figured it would be the best time to take the plunge!!! So, on top of the new baby and two other adorable kiddos, we are taking on the biggest challenge of our adult lives....moving our family!!

3. Jason interviewed with and was offered a position in the Des Moines Public Schools, where he'll be teaching high school special education and coaching varsity football, which has ALWAYS been a goal of his. Jason is the most dedicated and passionate person I have ever met and LOVES everything football! He's super excited to pursue varsity coaching opportunities up in Des Moines and I know there are hundreds of high school athletes that will benefit tremendously from his football expertise and abilities. We wish him lots of luck and success on the upcoming season...we'll be there cheering and are always his number one fans, of course!!!

4. Once Jason got the news and signed his contract, we put the house on the market, hoping for a quick sale, given our time frame. We received our full asking price offer and officially sold the house about 2 weeks ago. The buyer's financing was secured, the inspections are in the works, and we will be closing on the morning of June 17th. So, great news there....

5. We've spent the last 6 weekends (LOTS of GAS at these ANNOYING prices) up in West Des Moines looking for a house of our own. After many, many looks at many, many different types of houses, I am happy to say that we put an offer in on one about a week ago, which was countered, and we accepted!!! Assuming all inspections go well on that end, we will be closing on that house on the afternoon of June 17th and moving that weekend...(oh, the thought of packing and moving all our stuff makes me cringe, but I know it's part of the deal)

6. In the midst of traveling back and forth, I received a phone call letting me know that I had an interview with the Johnston Community School District, which is a suburb a little north of Des Moines and not a far drive at all from the house we ended up wanting. Johnston is a fantastic school district and I was stressed, to say the least, for the entire week leading up to the interview. Long story short, I received a phone call three days ago saying that everything went extremely well and they wanted to offer me a job, BUT, they are waiting on a few preschool issues to clear up. See, the new Governor of Iowa (who I did NOT vote for) doesn't really put a lot of effort into supporting educational issues. Preschool is one of the areas of concern and if legislation doesn't pass to keep it, Johnston will have 3 preschool teachers that will have the right to take any openings in the district that they are qualified for. (Three of those spots being one of the teaching positions I would get!!! See why I'm stressed??) If they keep preschool as is, then I'll be good to go and will hopefully be signing a contract soon....So it's just a waiting game for now. My mother in law just informed me this morning that they announced on the news that the politicians say the preschool issue will be among the last issues to be decided on. Which is rather annoying!!! I keep telling myself that worst case scenario, I could sub for the year now that I've already had an interview and then, hopefully, get hired on the next year. I'd really, really like to stay in the classroom, but we'll have to see how things work out....

So, as you can see, there are A TON of things going on around here, all of which are keeping us on our toes!!! I will conitnue to keep you updated as things progress....

I know above I said that there's only ONE word to describe me these days: STRESSED!!

Well. I lied because I'm also EXCITED and PROUD.....

ESPECIALLY of these little ones........

They, without a doubt, are the most important things in my life and the driving force behind everything Jason and I do. Our one goal is to create a healthy environment and provide them with the opportunities to be the best each of them can possibly be. When it's all said and done....every second and millisecond of STRESS will all be worth it!! One look at those adorable faces and there's no way anyone can possibly disagree with me!!!