Bricks 4 Kidz

Big changes this year. Moving, new schools for the girls, new jobs for Joe and me. Well, Joe is with the same company but he has a new job. He is now working in Metrology. What ever that is, measurements of how the machine puts the memory on the wafer? I think. My new job is with Bricks 4 Kidz. They are a company that teach math and science through the use of legos. I've done transportation, space, natural disasters, and invention units. The kits we are are very cool and inclue gears, pullies, motors and battery packs. All very neat. We make moving models. We even made a dragster that the kids got to race. The girls are adjusting well to school. Jamie is doing well in middle school. She has adapted. She doesn't like middle school, but then again, who did? Not very many people. Faith is loving her school. She told me that I would love to work there because the teachers have so much fun. :) That is a sign of a good school. Both girls have made many friends. Faith goes out to play, even in 108 degree weather. I wish it was that easy to make friends as an adult! We are enjoying out house. The location is great. We live close to everything and are in a good school district. But most of all we enjoyed the pool this summer. It is rapidly cooling down though, and we aren't in it as much as we used to be.

Will this work?

I have been trying to publish a post for some time and it hasn't worked. This will be my last try. I'm thinking of moving to Wordpress, where my sister now blogs. We are now in Phoenix, and getting settled. I have a very part time job. It is only about 15 hours a week. So I'm still looking for a full time job. Joe is doing well at work. Faith loves school and has made a lot of new friends. Jamie doesn't like school very much, but who loves middle school, right? She is making friends, so that is good news. we live in a great neighborhood with nice neighbors and lots of stores around. I hope all is well with you. If I get a new job, I'll post all about it. :)

We're moving, Finally!

We have had the house packed, and cleaned our town house. Now we're ready to hit the road early in the morning! :) We'll be in Phoenix on Tuesday. And our stuff will come to our house on Wednesday. In the meantime we are staying in hotels, one room hotels. Jamie isn't too happy about this. She is really wanting some alone time. :) She has her own room in our new house, so she'll be getting some of that.

See you in Phoenix!

In a month and a week!

In a month and a week we will be moving to Phoenix, AZ! Wahoo! I will be closer to my family! Joe has to go down there on Thurday for a couple of weeks and will then come home to help us move. Just a month ago it seemed so far away! Now we're letting the rent company know, and other companies that we are moving. The movers came and looked at our stuff so they can give Joe's company a quote on packing us. That is right! I don't have to pack! Wahoo! :)

Here we come Phoenix! Here we come hot weather! And sun!!!!!!!!!!!

With this ring, I thee wed, again 25 years later

I went to Phoenix last week, by myself, to watch my parents renew their vows and have a grand party afterwards. It all went great. My mom had a huge suprise for us! A couple of years ago when she got the idea to do this, her and her best friend, Annette, went and bought a wedding dress. We thought she was going to get married in her dress that she wore to Katie's wedding. Which is a very beautiful dress, btw.

We had the party in my parents back yard and it was beautiful! The weather was perfect, and the help that volunteered to help my parents were great! It was nice for us kids to just relax and enjoy the party instead of having to do all of the grunt work.

One of the best parts of the weekend was that I got to hang out with my sister Katie for most of the time! We got to chat and just be together, which was my favorite part. She lives in Virginia and is about to have a baby boy. So I won't get to see her for a little while, unless I can fly out to see her this summer.

All is well and we should be down in Phoneix in a couple of months. It will be nice to get settled, although, we are renting a house and should only have to live in it for a year. So we won't be able to get too settled.

Jamie is about to go on a camping trip with school. She's super excited and can't wait to spend time with her friends.

I am going to go to the beach with some girl friends next weekend and am super excited for that. :) :) :) Luckily Joe has the weekend off so he can be with the girls while I'm gone.

I hope all is well with all of you. :)

Sunday Gratitudes, a day late

I haven't done these for a while, so I think it is high time I get back into it!

1. I'm grateful for the chance to fly to Phoenix to spend time with my family as my parents renew their vows for their 25th wedding anniversary. :) It is going to be a fun time and I'm looking forward to see my sister Katie. She's very pregnant, so that will be a fun thing to see too. :)

2. My girls are both healthy, and happy. Faith is steadily improving in school and Jamie is excelling. How blessed I am to have two such wonderful girls.

3. I recently started making a menu for the month, and am suprised at how much easier it is when dinner time comes and I know what is for dinner! I'm thankful that I'm able to feed my family and that it is a little easier now that I'm a little more organized. :)

4. I'm grateful that my husband has a good job and that this job can move us down to Phoenix so we can be closer to my family. In a little over 2 months, we'll be in Phoenix! :) I'm so excited.

I hope all is well with you. I'd love to hear what your grateful for! :)

Some of my Favorite Things

These are some of my favorite things:

To Drink:



To Wear:



To Eat:



To Watch:



To Wait for:

Falling down the hill

Ok, now that I'm 40, I'm falling down the hill that I went over last week. And it seems like I'm falling fast! I'm patiently, okay, maybe not so patiently, waiting for my Oregon Teaching certificate to come in the mail. They are still processing certficates that were received in December! Mine was received at the end of January, and expired in February. Luckily they gave me an extension until the end of school.

Next, the rolling down the hill continues. We are trying to clear our storage shed of all the clutter we haven't needed, but still want. This means that we are going through a lot of boxes and bringing everything to our house to store in our garage. The movers, which are coming in June, don't go to storage sheds. YIKES! We are about 3 months away from moving! I'm sure those three months will go by fast. It sure seems like a long time from now.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the friends that I've made here and trying to have a 1/2 way normal life for the girls. Jamie is still taking piano lessons and Faith love to play with her friends. Life is going pretty well, even with all that rolling down the hill. :)

Standing at the top of the hill!

I'm standing at the top of the hill! I'm looking down at where I'll start walking in two days. YIKES! I'm about to turn 40! Where did the time go? I don't feel 40, and I don't think I look 40. I sure don't dress like a 40 year old. Should I dress like a 40 year old? I like my converse, and vans. And the kids seem to relate to me better when I wear those shoes. :)

I don't mind turning as long as I don't have to act like it or look like it. :)

On my way to being a teacher in Arizona! and Oregon.

I am almost finished with all of the assessments I need for my Oregon certification. I passed the PRAXIS and Special education assessments. Now I just need one more assessment on Child Abuse prevetion and anit-discrimination.

Luckily these assessments work for the state of AZ as well! Whew! I want to take my assessment to be a high qualified Reading specialist as well before I get my AZ certification. I am pretty sure I need to take one class, and then I'll be set for AZ. Wahoo!

Joe is coming back from Holland tomorrow. Then he'll be off to Phoenix some time in March. We'll follow him in June when school is out. Which as of now is June 10th. There are a few days they can add on at the end of the school year if there is money. This is highly doubtful in my eyes. And why bother! It is the end of the school year, it isn't like there is a whole lot of learning going on the last few days of school anyway.

2 NY's resolutions

I have two resolutions for this year. 1 will be helped by me moving to Phoenix. I want to better my relationships. I have already started working on this by calling my mom and sister more often. I need to call people more often. I've been very lazy about this.

Number two is to try to get my triglycerides down by March. I am going to schedule my 80,000 miles check up, aka my 40 year check up. That's right! In March I'll be 40! OMGOSH! I would like for my doctor to be happy about my cholesterol this year. :)

So what are your resolutions for this year? Do you have any?