March

March...in a lot of the United States it is the beginning of Spring, and this year South Dakota has decided to follow suit.  We have been enjoying 50-60 degree weather and sunshine.
We have also begun to prepare for the girls' arrival into this world.  We set up the cribs in the nursery.  We are preparing a place for them in their room.
We have also settled fully into our new house.  We cleaned up the yard, pruned the trees, and raked the leaves.
Below are pictures of our cribs and our new house (WE HAVE TREES! in west river south dakota that is a hot commodity.

My students need you

I am trying to get a set of whiteboards for my students to use in the classroom.  Here is a link.  If you can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=368208

Visit with the girls

Today we went to the doctor to visit with our girls. During the ultrasound we got a surprise. Elisabeth, who was breach the last time we saw her, has decided to flip over. Both girls are now head down...that's good, I hear.

Kati is about 2lb 10oz and Elli is about 2lb 12oz. They are both growing at the appropriate rate. Everything is going well.

We are going back in three weeks.

Bye for now,

Matt and Jenn

House

This is what the flood did to the basement.

The floor buckled from water damage.
Flood water.

We're finally in! We finally got to move into our house about 2 weeks ago now. We were very grateful for our friends here in Kyle for letting us invade for 2 months, but we sure are happy to be in our own house again. The house is exactly the same as our first house, so it was easy to move things in.

Jenn and Elli and Kati are doing well. We are looking forward to 2 or 3 months from now when we get to hold our girls. We are very very excited. Jenn will most likely be having a C-section near the end of May.

George and Ryne (our dogs) are doing well, also. They are enjoying having their own space as well.

School is going well. Our students are learning and are happy, so all is good. We have just about as much school left as Jenn has pregnancy.

We're looking at another snow coming tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too big a storm. Our students' education is at the whim of the weather.

Well, bye for now.

-Matt, Jenn, Elli, Kati, George, and Ryne

Help out

Hey guys,

TFA (Teach for America) is trying to get a huge Pepsi Refresh grant (250 K). The grant would allow us to continue our efforts in urban and rural public schools. It would allow us to further fight the battle of educational inequity. Here's the link to vote for TFA for the Pepsi Refresh Grant. Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Vote Now!

Girls!!!

Hey all,

We went to the doctor today, and...we're having girls. Elisabeth Marie (Elli) and Katherine Faye (Kati). We are very excited. When I scan the pictures in, I'll add them to the blog.

They are both healthy and only one ounce apart. Daddy's girls are doing well. The due date is June 4th, but I wouldn't be surprised if they came early to mid-May.

Bye for now.

No go...

So...we heard back from the licensing advisor at the Indiana Dept. of Education...and he says that since we went through an untraditional teacher preparation program, we are required to have three years teaching experience before applying for an Indiana reciprocal license. So it looks like we will be out here for one more year...seeing our students grow up in front of our eyes. Prolonging the departure...

I will be putting up a video of our flooded house soon. I just have to have 5 minutes to relax first. We had parent-teacher conferences last night and this morning.

One great thing...my kids took their Unit 6 math test and got a 91%...that is the highest they've gotten all year, and the highest score I've seen at Little Wound in the 5th grade...they were so pumped...and I can't lie...so was I.

Well now my random ranting is over so bye for now.

-Matt and Jenn

oh, and we get to see the babies next Friday!!! I could distinctly feel each baby yesterday...it's more real when you can feel them.