Five on Friday: A New Job And A Walking Baby

What a fun few weeks it’s been! With a birthday, some fun new milestones for Caleb, and a new job for me, it’s been an exciting few weeks in the English household.

1) A Walking Baby

Ladies and gents, we have a WALKER! Woot! Caleb has been pulling up on furniture and cruising for a few months but he finally took his first steps last week.  After only a week he is already so steady on his feet and loves walking around our house holding random objects and waving his hands in the air.  It’s pretty much adorable how proud he is of himself and my heart about explodes when he walks toward me with outreached hands and the biggest grin on his little face.  Watching him grow is the BEST!

2) Last Full Week Of Teaching

After six weeks of being back to work, I am finally in the home stretch! I have three more days of work in this German teaching job before the classroom teacher gets back.  While I’ve enjoyed some things about being in the classroom, I am definitely excited to be back home with my kiddo and enjoy some slow, silly time with him.  Jordan only has a few more weeks until summer and we are so excited for a few fun months together after the craziness of these last few weeks. Although I was pretty pumped to be at school when we get allllll the teacher appreciation week treats from our awesome PTA parents…

Pizza at 10:45 AM? Yes please!

3) Yummy Recipes

I had a lot of fun searching Pinterest for some recipe inspiration these past few weeks and even though I haven’t had a ton of time to cook, we made a few of my favorites this week.  Monday was this tuna noodle casserole for my birthday (a comfort food classic), Tuesday was edamame spaghetti and meatballs (have you tried soy/edamame pasta? So tasty and so healthy!), Wednesday were these delicious quinoa black bean stuffed peppers, and Thursday was leftovers.  I love weeks where I’m on top of my cooking game!

4) A New Job

One super fun update…I got a new job! I’ve been wanting something I could do part-time from home and when a friend suggested teaching ESL online, I was all about it! After a pretty in-depth interview process, I got hired to teach with VIPkid, a company that connects American teachers with elementary school students in China for one-on-one, online English lessons.  Since the students take classes at night Beiijing time, all the teaching I do will be between 5:00-9:00 AM CST (while Caleb is sleeping or Jordan is home to watch him).  I can also occasionally work weekend nights (weekend days in Beijing) if I want to earn a little extra cash!  I can set my own hours, all the curriculum is already created, and it pays well. So basically it’s a stay-at-home mama’s dream job! I had way too much fun finding some fun little items to set up my “classroom” in our basement and I am nervous and excited to teach my first classes this Saturday morning.

This was my favorite dollar section find for the wall behind me while I teach!

If you’re looking to make a little extra money, I definitely recommend checking out VIP Kid! All you need is a Bachelor’s degree and experience working with kids, even if your degree or experience aren’t specifically from teaching.  I’d be happy to help anyone through the interview process, so check it out and message me if you want more info or advice about it all! I’ll keep you guys updated on how it goes as I start to teach more classes in the upcoming weeks.

5) Birthday Celebrations

I turned 27 this week and we had fun doing a few little celebrations! We’re doing a big combined birthday/anniversary/Mother’s Day date night in a week or two so we didn’t do too much this weekend.  Per my request we enjoyed some delicious breakfast for dinner on Saturday night and Monday (my actual birthday) Jordan surprised me with some donuts.  It wasn’t a wild celebration by any means, but I was grateful to spend the evening with my hubby and my bubba.  And now we get to look forward to our fancy date night in a week!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, friends!