Just Posting Pictures....

James' 17th birthday, and Mark's first dinner he cooked all by himself - ultimate chicken fingers and french fries!

Halloween Pictures

Bye-Bye Post Office Job

For the last 4 months I have been in the process of applying for, testing for, and training for Data Conversion Operator for the USPS. This job would be a part-time evening job four nights a week. That process ended last night when I made the decision to "give it up" so to speak. For the last two weeks, I have been working 6pm to midnight (that's after working my day job - which I would never give up - I love my job and everyone I work with!) The training requires one to encode mail that the scanners at the post office are unable to read and one must due it with a very low error rate and a high speed rate. In and of itself, this job would not be difficult for one who loves to type (me!) and the hours are doable. The family was very supportive and pitching in extra to take over the things I normally did in the evenings. The hard part of this training was 1. remembering how to encode the multitude of different types of mail, keep your errors low and still type the required rate of speed and 2. the lack of sleep. Being up at six in the morning with the kids, seeing them off to school, getting myself off to school, being home an hour and half then leaving again for 6 hours and not getting home until after midnight. Getting through the workday and then subsequently the night on 4 -5 hours of sleep for the last 2 weeks was extremely difficult. (I did it with the help of Lift-Off- a B vitamin drink and 5 hour energy drinks! Anyway, after 2 nights this past week where I really struggled to pass off the typing tests, I was really behind. I have had a lot of friends and family praying with and for me but ultimately if this was the path that HE wanted me to be on, then I would make it through this training. I firmly, deeply and faithfully believe that and last night when I knew I wasn't going to be able to pass this one test and move on, I relinquished that responsibility and said okay, I'm done. I told one of the trainers I was done - I have no regrets and no disappointments. I am proud of myself for trying my best. I think it's good for the kids to see that I attempted something that was at times difficult and even though it didn't come to fruition, they are able to see how an adult handles trying something that doesn't work out and the attitude of acceptance and faith that I have toward that. When our children try for something -I'll say sports as that is what my kids are into the most - and do not make the team, or make a team they didn't want etc... it's easy for us to say, "have a good, positive attitude" "there is a reason for everything" etc.... but it's even better when they can see that we as adults can go through the same type of situation and come out of it with a positive attitude. This job would have been helpful financially, but the positive is that the training was paid for and I made enough to pay for some specific truck repairs we needed. HE provided the way for that. The other positive (beside the fact that I can actually sleep more than 4 - 5 hours) is that I believe I am meant to be home in the evenings with the family and Mark said as much to me. He was glad I was going to be home and he had really missed me. That, is really all I need!

Summer Pictures by Kaylie

Kaylie has been camping 3 times this summer and I let her take my digital camera. It was hard to let go and trust that my camera would be taken care of (it stays in my purse and not even Mike is allowed to touch it) but Kaylie did a wonderful job of being responsible and taking some great pictures. I think I have a budding photographer on my hands. Or maybe it's just that she has been blessed with an artistic gift and taking pictures is just another way for that gift to come out. Either way, she took some great pictures. Notice the heart shaped cloud in the lake picture?

Yeah, Back to School!

I might be one of the few mom's who's happy school has started back up. I love the first month and a half of summer vacation but after that, I think even the kids start missing/needing/wanting a routine. I know I tend to get more done when I'm working than when I'm off during the summer because I have to. I can't just put things off "until tomorrow". I did get a lot of scrapbooking projects worked on/done but not many of the clean the basement/junk projects done. Somehow those projects really aren't all that appealing!
Mark was and is excited about 4th grade and I feel a bit lonely in my lower grade hallway knowing he is now in the upper grade hallway and I won't be seeing him as much. Mark did come by my room and gave me a quick hello and kiss yesterday which made me smile.
Kaylie started 9th grade and first day of school was yelled at by her teacher for borrowing a sheet of paper. Same teacher made another student cry for chewing gum in her class. Hopefully this isn't a sign of a bad year.
James is in his junior year (can't believe he only has one more year of high school before graduating!) Nobody told me concurrent enrollment classes are so expensive! Okay - I know it's tons cheaper this way than paying for college classes, but still! $79.00 for text and workbook for Spanish and $90 for calculus calculator!!!
Heavens! Keep him in prayer as he's got a really tough school schedule this year. On the bright side, senior year should be fairly easy!
As hard as it is to watch your children grow up and be independent, I miss being needed as much. But I am proud of all of them!

Paper Bag Mini Album

I made this for a friend at church who just had a baby - I'm pretty proud of how it turned out so I just had to show it off. Not sure what I did wrong but all the pictures are out of order and one page is missing.....hmmmm.... okay, figured it out and missing page is now there! Yeah, me!

Brotherly Love...

It amazes me how close these two boys are. One's going to be turning 17 in less than 5 months and the other is almost 10. There is quite a few years difference in ages between them, but that doesn't stop them from playing and usually annoying each other. You can definitely tell they are brothers but what is even more special is that they get along so well. As they grow older, my hope is they will be the best of friends also.

Update on Summer....

Two weeks ago the Triple Crown Softball Tournament was taking place in Park City and my niece Adrianna and her team Arizona Ice were playing in it. We got to watch her play, enjoy cooler weather in Park City and Kaylie was in heaven getting to spend time with Ashlynn, who wanted nothing to do with watching her sister play ball. So we got to have her with us, and it was wonderful having that time with her under our roof. Kaylie and Ashlynn were inseparable.

James' Long(er) Hair is Gone....

It's been about four years that James has worn his hair in a longer style. It all came to an end yesterday when he showed up after work with his new short faux-hawk. His job has a pretty strict dress code which includes hairstyle. He has for the most part kept his hair a bit shorter for work but not by much that one would notice. However, he was told by the "big, big boss" that he needed a haircut so when Mark was getting his hair cut, James got his cut also. Though, at the time I was there, his hairstyle stayed the same - just shorter and above the collar. When he got to work, he was told the big, big boss still would not be happy and he needed to go shorter. So after work, off he went back to our favorite hairdresser and friend and had it cut again. I almost didn't recognize him when he walked in and it was a total surprise. As much as I miss his long(er) hair, (and yes, I felt a bit emotional about it) I like his hair this way too. (I'm glad a took a picture earlier, just because, or I wouldn't have had a before and after shot.)

Random Pictures of Our Summer So Far....

Kaylie's New Summer Do!

Dear Blog.....

I've missed you. It seems such a long time since I've visited you. Life has been super hectic and busy as it always is during soccer season. This spring season was slightly different this year, as instead of 3 kids in soccer, there were only 2 this time playing. Kaylie decided to run track and I think we've got a track star on our hands. She excels at the 100 meter, 200 meter and relay. She has enjoyed it immensely all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. I watched with great pride on her Honor's night as she received her Presidential award. Mark's soccer team remains undefeated so far again, 4 years in a row. He's got a great team and a super coach and it's been fun watching Mark start to find his stride in the game. James' season is over - it ended on a win against Granger and even though James struggled with some of the coaching decisions, he proved what a great captain he is on the field and the leadership skills he possesses. Tryouts for club are in a couple weeks, so we won't have much time to rest before it starts up again! Schools almost over but until then, work is busy with CRT's - no rest quite yet!

A Recipe is just a Guide

I love to bake. I love to bake homemade bread, dessert breads, cakes, pies, cookies - you name it. Oh, I don't bake much anymore due to the fact that if it's in the house, I'll eat it. That and the fact that the weight just doesn't come off at all anymore! So, it's a rare occasion that I bake. But today was a day that I decided I wanted to make some peach muffins. I love the Sweet Memory canned peaches that are in a cinnamon and brown sugar syrup and I decided to use those to make the muffins. I always like to try out new recipes so I got on foodtv.com and looked up a recipe for peach muffins. I found one that I liked that had a pecan and brown sugar crumb topping and I got ready to make some muffins. Now, when I bake or try a recipe, I use the recipe as a guide and almost never follow it exactly. I'm not afraid to experiment! So as I'm putting together the recipe I modify, add blueberries, add cinnamon, increase the baking powder, add juice from the can of peaches, deleted the crumb topping, added pecans to the batter and decided my batter would make better peach pecan bread! So I lowered the temperature, poured the batter into 2 loaf pans, added pecans to the top of one loaf, and baked for an hour. I then added a light powdered sugar glaze over the top when they were done baking. Ohh, heavenly bread! The texture is a cross between dessert bread and a muffin so it it so incredibly moist and yummy! Wish I could share it with all of you, but the problem now with using a recipe as a guide, I don't think I could duplicate it exactly - I don't use exact measurements- I just eyeball. But this is definitely one recipe that I'm going to try and go back and write down all my changes!