January *
First thing after Christmas we packed up my dear wife Pamela and moved her down to Texas by herself. I would stay in Tennessee with the family and maintain my job there while Pamela would start her new job at Dallas ISD, at least that was the plan. Her license did not work out the way it was supposed to and she had to leave that job before it even began.
This was a hard time in our family that tested our faith. Should Pamela return home or stay in Texas, what would we do without her, what would she do if she came back? Trusting in the answers to prayers she stayed in Texas and found a job in Corsicana, Texas, a district that had a need for me as well.
Things worked out so quickly that we were able to come down to visit for Xander's birthday and get a tour of the town. At that point we thought we would live in Corsicana, Gun Barrel City had yet to pop up on our radar.
February*
I was able to get a job interview lined up just in time to catch a plane to meet Pamela for Valentine's Day. She was able to pick me up from an airport in San Antonio where she was attending a conference. We both prepared romantic surprises for each other and happily discussed our ideas for this new and strange Texas adventure we were embarking on.
Much to the dismay of the people in Corsicana I did not have a Texas license yet. They are expensive to apply for! They had hoped to hire me on the spot. The interview went extremely well and I mentally prepared myself to break to the news to my fellow educators and my students in Memphis.
March*
During Spring Break we were able to travel down to Texas and see Pamela. We were able to come to Gun Barrel City for the first time and see where we were going to live. Even better we were able to bring Mommy back to Memphis for a short while.
We were blessed that Pamela's grandfather was able to visit with our family for Easter. We had a great Saturday going to a playground and then it was off to the church to hunt for Easter Eggs. On Sunday we dressed to match and took pictures for Pamela to see. She missed us so much!
I spent much of the school year obsessed with the new standardized test that the students would be given. We were given a list of standards to focus on and those standards became what I thought about, wrote about, taught about, and even dreamed about. I was so happy when the students told me that the writing prompt on the test was almost identical to one I had already given them. They were prepared and they felt that they had done well.
However, it turned out that Tennessee would throw out all those results due to inconsistency in the grading of the tests, so I guess I'll never really know how well they did. Part of me screams, "All that stress for nothing!" But the other part of me knows the truth, those kids felt successful, who cares what the scores were, the kids felt good; that's what matters!
April*
At the beginning of the month I said my final good-byes to my students and friends in Memphis, Tennessee. Things did not work out for our family there but I love the people there and the city all the same. It was a challenging school year and it was a challenging way to say good-bye. I was tackled at one point by over 30 children giving me a massive group hug. It was sweet, and a little scary...
I drove to Texas with the dog and met Pamela in our new home in Gun Barrel City. We had a sweet romantic reunion, and then I started work at my new job! The new job was challenging in that I was starting at the end of a school year. I ended up not really doing much with the students other than finishing out the year with them as I was instructed to do by the administration.
Within just a week of moving down to Gun Barrel City I drove Pamela and the dog back to Memphis to pick up the boys and Jane and bring them down south to Texas. The move went so much more smoothly than our move to Memphis did. We took it as a sign.
Xander's primary teacher dropped off a gift and said good-bye.
Moving into our home was a true blessing. Half the ward was waiting for us when we arrived. We have never had so much help with a move before! We truly felt blessed and welcomed. The true challenge of this move was getting all the stuff unpacked. Of course the boys were happy to help...
Pamela and Curtis on our anniversary.
We observed our fifth wedding anniversary by not going out but rather spending time with the boys. After so many weeks of being apart this anniversary was more a celebration of our family than anything else.
Pamela's students had the opportunity to preform at Derrick Days, a local holiday celebrating the discovery of oil in Corsicana. Xander and I had fun on our ride and he was very sweet to the horses.
May*
I decided to make Cinco de Mayo a big deal with my classes. We had a lot of fun and the students were pretty shocked that Cinco de Mayo is not an independence day and that it is more important in the United States than it is in Mexico. They were also shocked to learn that it has nothing to do with Day of the Dead. Common misconceptions I've faced for most of my career.
Our family went to Grapvine together and had a great time at the aquarium.
The most difficult school year in my career as a teacher came to a close. Summer had finally arrived and I was more than ready to relax and spend some much needed time with my family.
June*
Pamela and I went out for her birthday and had a nice time. My Mother came to Texas to visit us and share in our crazy.
Throughout the summer I took the boys to various events at the libraries and tried to make every day of the summer count.
Shortly after my Mom left we got a present from her and my Dad. A trampoline!
July*
For the 4th of July we went to the Fishery in Athens. We learned a bunch of cool stuff about Texas fish and saw a really great fireworks show.
The boys spent much of their time playing outside in their pool, on the new trampoline, and just running around. I also kept busy taking them to various places and events.
August*
Pamela and I returned to work during the beginning of the month and then Xander started school yet again toward the end of the month. It was good for our family to get back into routine and work.
September*
During this month I focused a lot of time on my classroom and on teaching. I spent a lot of time talking about various Latin American Independence movements.
October*
October was a lot of fun for our little family. Pamela and I got away together to go to a wedding in Wisconsin. It was such a beautiful place and I truly enjoyed being able to go out on my own and walk around.
We returned to a long celebration of Halloween. Looking back on it, it seems like we went to a ton of events with the boys dressed up as one thing or another.
Among our Fall festivities of the month was also visiting Yesterland Farms, a great experience for all of us!
November*
November started off on a high note. I was able to go on a field trip with Xander to Wits End Ranch. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my little guy and his class!
We had such a blast in November traveling to Alabama for the first time. Pamela's grandfather moved away from East Tennessee and is now in Alabama. We had a great time spending Thanksgiving with him.
December*
Our last big trip of the year was going off to Ohio for Christmas. It was a wonderful trip. Jane spent the trip with her family we spent the trip staying with Pamela's grandmother. Pamela's cousin Malcolm helped us out a lot with our boys. We were able to do many things in Ohio including go to the Columbus Zoo!
We hope you have enjoyed reading about our big moments and hope that you had plenty of your own as well. Here's hoping for another great year in 2017!
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