End of Summer Wrap Up

As we draw closer to the end of the summer season I am faced with the fact that my kids are getting older and are preparing to go to school yet again. This means many things to me. 1) It means that my days of sleeping in are almost over. Damn! I love to sleep in. I hate mornings and I've hated mornings all my life. The only time mornings are of an advantage to me is when I have to grocery shop after I drop off the kids at school...the shelves are stocked, there aren't very many people in the store and these 2 things together make for a quicker shopping experience for this busy mama! 2) I'm getting old! My kids are getting older and therefore I am getting older. This doesn't please me. Who knew when I started my family that I would be judging my age by how fast my kids grew up. Not fun guys, really not fun. 3) I get some time to myself during the day so that I can do things around the house without little feet getting in my way. I can also crochet and sew Christmas gifts with the element of surprise and not have to worry about them walking in on my project and ask me "Whatchya makin mom?"

As I look at my beautiful children I can't help but miss their "baby-ness." Alexander is going into the 8th grade. In 5 very short years we will be sending him to college (or so we hope) and he will be out on his own. Then will be the true test of how we were as parents. Will he be a successful, independent 18 year old and able to live on his own without his mommy & daddy? I sure hope so! My little brainiac Andrew is going in to the 3rd grade. I was looking at his pre-K picture, his first year at OLLV, the other day and couldn't believe how much he's grown up. I have no doubt that he will be successful in the 3rd grade there this year. And then there's  my little princess Meganne. Hard to believe this little spitfire will be entering Kindergarten. Good luck Mrs. Marsh is all I have to say.

Harder to believe is how fast this summer went. I had many plans to sew, relax, crochet, swim with the kids, have play dates with friends and the summer just didn't have enough days to fit it all in. No play dates occurred. It was hard to take them to my Aunt's to swim because her heater broke and turned her pool green and by the time she got it fixed, we went to Cali for a week. Then my Mother in law came to spend a week with us and we returned to Cali for yet another week. That was a good chunk of the summer. The kids had a great time being able to spend it with their cousins and I was enjoying the cooler weather. By the time we got back it was time to start getting ready for school again. So, yes, the time flew way too fast. Oh well, it was well spent.

Stephen continued his job hunt and it has still not turned into anything, but I can say there may be a light at the end of that tunnel. There has been a lot of communication between him and a company based here and in California. Positions in Cali may be coming up, but nothing is set in stone. So, until it is, he's still gainfully, if I can use that word, unemployed. All I can say folks, is LIMBO sucks!! We keep saying our prayers, we keep our hopes up and we keep leaving our fate in God's hands. I know we will be taken care of, I'm just sick of waiting!! (As is Stephen.)

So, all in all, its time to wrap up our little summer story and move on to the next chapter in our lives. Wish us luck, keep us in your thoughts and prayers and thanks for reading.

The Drive

So we took a 2 day drive to Oroville, CA and back so that Stephen could go to a job interview for General Services for Butte County. The drive was interesting to say the least. I got to see parts of California I had never seen before. Namely the Imperial Valley. I have never seen so much farmland in my life. And 8 HOURS of it! Now I see why California alone can feed the world. Geez! As for Oroville, it was a cute, old little town. The houses were cool and the ones I saw were built in probably the early 1900's. It was very green there, which is much the opposite of Vegas. I kinda fell in love with the place. However, it's not looking too promising that Stephen will get the job. :( He got a 77% on his Oral exam and it placed him in the 5th group of second interviews. We think the Environmental Engineering question probably hurt him and the fact that he wasn't hispanic, a woman or a veteran probably docked some points as well. So, he's driven to fill out more online apps, get his own business off the ground and get involved in the part time job he was offered by a company here in Vegas. So, we'll see what the near future brings! I have faith, still, that God will lead us in the right direction and lead the right job to Stephen.

I'm getting old

This past weekend I spent in Boulder City celebrating my 20 year High School Reunion. Twenty years ago, when I graduated, I had not a thought or care in the world to think to the future this far. But yet, here it was. It's very hard to believe. I went to the 10 year one and everyone looks the same as they did 10 years ago, which is good for all of us I think. It was so neat to see everyone, re live some high school memories, and even be able to talk to people I never spoke to in High School. While some things do change, like the "un-popular" kids (of which I was) talking to the "popular" kids, other things don't change. The "clicks" still hung out together, as they should, because those were the people who were friends in High School. Some people look the same and everyone enjoyed looking at all the photo memories that were saved even from our Elementary School years. That was cool! All in all, it was a really fun weekend and it was nice to hang out with people I haven't seen in years. So, my thanks go out to Mike who put the whole thing together, to Summer and Jennifer who did all the decorating, and to those who donated their talents, like Tyler who took all the photos, and their mementos! Now I guess I get to go back to feeling old! And to think, we'll all be almost 50 at our 30 year reunion! Ugh!!!!

Cha-cha-cha-changes

So as I sit here in front of my laptop I can't help but think about all the changes we've gone through in the past 12 months. Some are good, some are bad. I've lost some very good friends, my kids are growing up and finished their pre-k, second grade, and 7th grade years. My daughter has lost her first tooth. My 13 year old is beginning puberty (ugh.) My 8 year old is gaining leaps and bounds on the drums. My husband turned 40 and coincidentally got laid off on the same day. We face the unknown in careers for the second time in our marriage. He has an interview in Northern CA that may or may not lead to anything. Some really good friends are moving to Hawaii and we will miss them tremendously. And the list goes on and on. It's hard to believe, sometimes, how life can throw you some really terrible curve balls. But I also can't help but think how lucky I am to have the wonderful husband and children I have. I worry about what's to come, but at the same time I know and I have faith that the Lord has our back. He will provide for us like he always does. We may have some bumps and bruises along the way, but I know we will survive.

I will miss my 5 year old being in Pre-K and the cute things she brought home to me this year. On the other hand, she will bring home equally cute things from Kindergarten. I will miss my 8 year old being in the best number at the Christmas Pageant this year, but there will be another Christmas pageant and I will be just as proud. I will miss my 13 year old's "baby" years as he now enters the realm of adulthood. I know our relationship will change as he grows older, but he will still always be my first baby. And, if my hubby gets a job in Northern CA, I will miss our life here in Vegas, but I know there will be great things to come no matter where we end up.

He's out of his mind!!!

So, as I was folding laundry today, Stephen had on CNN. The president was speaking in North Carolina (could have been south, wasn't paying close attention to the location.) Anyway, apparently that state has at least a 9% unemployment rate. So, the President's big idea was to start a program to get people trained as Engineers so that they can get hired in the private industry or start their own. Hello? Stephen's an Engineer and he hasn't been hired yet, so now he's going to have to compete with a whole bunch of people that are suddenly going to flood the Engineering job market? How is that fair? HIRE HIM!!! Don't give those jobs to new people!!! Anyway, it pissed me off that the President thinks that's a great solution to the joblessness of the American people, meanwhile my Engineer Husband still sits here unemployed!!!!

Summertime

Well, It's officially summer vacation for my beebles and I have to admit, I have no idea what we are going to do with our days to keep us busy. Since it's still hard to make any plans for anything, we have decided to take things day by day. I know we will go to the library weekly, we have some things we can bake, we have a sprinkler to play in in the back yard and there's the Video games they desperately want to play from morning till night (which isn't going to happen because I believe in exercise and imaginative play and NOT gluing themselves to the TV and the video games.) Although I look forward to summer vacations because I like to sleep in and not be committed to anything, at the same time I feel like it's not a vacation since I'll have to find ways to keep all 3 busy and happy. I will also be trying to keep them out of Stephen's hair so he can continue his job hunt. So, what to do? I guess enjoy my time with them, relax when I can and do my best to make them as happy as can be. Wish me luck!!!

Changing nutrition

Since I'm working out about every day and trying my hardest (with the exception of this week) to eat better and lose weight, I thought I'd share an article that I thought was brilliant. They've changed the food pyramid to the icon of the plate with all the healthy foods you should eat. I love it. It makes sense and I hope I can incorporate this into my diet. Here's the link to the article. Give it a quick read and see what you think. New Food Plate