This Years Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox greeting

Here's our Christmas card for this year. I know it's probably so tacky to just do it through email, blog and facebook...but this year this seems to be about all I can handle! How about if I just lie and say I decided to "go green" this year and save the trees? :) It still turned out pretty cute, though! Thanks to the once again AMAZING Mandy Lyon for the family picture, I love it! She was so patient with us, through Aaron's crankiness, all of us swatting at ferocious mosquitoes between and during shots, and all of the fun that goes with getting pictures taken. She still makes masterpieces!

Homeward Bound

What a month! I wasn't "allowed" to write about what's been going on, but now that things are finalized I have the green light. A few weeks ago, I took Aaron to the Ear Nose Throat doctor on a Tuesday and was told he needs his tonsils and adenoids out. So, I scheduled his surgery for that Friday. When I got home, Mike was there and said we needed to have a talk. He told me he had just gotten laid off. I had to cancel Aaron's surgery an hour after I scheduled it! We've been worrying about this happening and praying that it wouldn't. But, God has other plans for us and thought we needed a serious lesson in humility.

Fluor, the company Mike has been working for, has been struggling with the economy because power plants and oil refineries have been pulling out on contracts-they can't afford to get things made or fixed. So, next up on the money blood sucking food chain come the workers at Fluor. So far, about 2,600 employees have been laid off. They held on to Michael for as long as they could, though, which meant a lot.

I keep looking around at our house, knowing it's probably the nicest house I'll ever live in, and kicking myself for ever thinking I "deserved" more. And what are our landlords going to say when we tell them we have to terminate our lease 2 months early? We don't have money to pay the "early termination fee". And every time I drive through Sugar Land I think about what a nice place it really is, and how blessed we were to live here. I have made some of the most incredible and amazing friends in the world and it kills me to think of leaving them. How will I survive without my Mandy?

Michael's dad offered him a job back home at the machine shop doing quality control. I am so grateful for his offer. Part of me is so excited to move back home to be closer to family. I love the mountains and the smell of sagebrush when it rains. I love four wheeling and shooting and camping and sweaters and hot chocolate and green chili. I love the slower pace of life and Colorado summers. I love the small town parade during Stampede and making fun of the low rider and tractor "floats". I love the holidays at my parents house. And just think of all the free babysitting! Plus, my AWESOME sister-in-law, Kathy lives there, and she has kids that are the same ages as mine. Born to be best buddies! So, there are some of the reasons I'd love to be back in the San Luis Valley.

But..... then the other part of me dreads it. I'm so used to living in the city where everything is only a few miles away and anything and everything you could ever want is just down the street! The biggest and most exciting store in the valley is a Walmart. No Pei Wei...no Target...no Old Navy...no Hobby Lobby...oh, I'm tearing up already. I think the hardest part is that moving away from home made me feel like I grew up and made something of myself. I got a fresh start. And housing is a completely different thing. No HOA's to make sure the neighborhood stays well kept. You can have a really nice house next to a run down ghetto house, and many of the houses are over a hundred years old, so finding one that isn't falling apart will be fun. We'll live with Mike's parents for a while until we can either save up for a down payment to buy a house, or we find a decent house to rent until we can save up for a down payment. (There is only one apartment "complex" there, with about 20 units. And, at $250 a month, you get what you pay for...shady shady shady.)

Anywayyyyys, back to trying to be positive. We're moving by Thanksgiving so I've been busy trying to start getting things boxed up and set aside. God knows what he's doing and everything will work out!

I did some 4 month pictures with Kate in our living room....these are a few of them! She did pretty well and I have to say, I think they turned out pretty good considering I did it with a regular point and shoot camera and I know very little about photography. I think I'll have to save up for a "real" camera and learn more about photography. I'm hooked!


At 4 months, Kate weighs about 13 pounds and is doing great! She's in th3 30th percentile...so at least she's on the charts! I think she might be teething already, though. She's really cranky and drooly and chews on everything. Or is that just how babies are? I don't remember! Isn't it strange how after each kid, you feel like you have to learn a lot of things all over again?

School is going great. I'm feeling much better now that we have things established and the first day of school excitement is over. I'm actually wishing Whitney had some friends that I could homeschool at the same time and have my own little class. That would be so much fun! She's moving right along. And, I think that since it's cooling down (it's been in the 80's this week!) I'll start taking them to the park every day to play. It'll be nice!

Oh! And I've decided to not do my shop anymore. I've dropped the prices on everything and I'll just sell what I have listed and that's it. I'm really relieved about it, actually. It was a fun run, I learned a lot, and now I have lots of cute stuff! I've just decided that it has been the one thing that has sort of tipped my sanity scale, and my kids' attention is worth way more than that shop could ever give me!

Annnnnd, we're going back to Colorado on Saturday and will be staying for a whole week! I can't even tell you how excited I am to go home! I hope the leaves are changing on the trees. I absolutely LOVE fall there! I'm hoping to get to wear a sweater...that would be great. So, I'll have a nice update when I get back! Buh-bye!

Homeschool Diaries...Week One.

Oh my gosh, that was just too good!!! A really good friend of mine is homeschooling, too. She had this video up on her blog and I just about died laughing! I must have watched it ten times!!! I love the part where it shows the kids, "Unique" and then the dad..."Eeeeek."

Things are still going...well, they're going. It was kind of rough last week because everyone else started school here, too. There were a lot of times and tears when I was wondering what on earth I was thinking. All the other parents were so excited, and the kids were all lined up at the bus stop with their new clothes and new backpacks and the look of excitement. We drove by the school and there were kids playing on the playground and I suddenly had this freak out session. Yeah, it was a rough week. Then I read all my friends blogs about their kid going to school for the first time with their cute pictures of their smiling kids...sigh. I've looked forward to that day for so long and imagined Whitney getting on the big yellow bus with her big smile and a wave good-bye in the window...and now to realize that it isn't happening is hard. But...I just keep remembering that I prayed about it and I knew it would be okay.

Another thing that was hard was going out into public the first week of school. I felt like I was "coming out of the closet". Nobody else had their kids with them, accept for some toddlers and babies. The cashier in the checkout line asked (in her deep southern accent), "Girrrrl, why aren't you at school?" and Whitney proudly said, "I'm homeschooling!". And then the greeter lady at Wal-Mart said, "What!?! Isn't she old enough for school yet?" And I was cranky and told her that Whitney had health problems and it was easier to just homeschool. Which...is sort of true...but it seemed to satisfy the lady. People told me it would be like this, but I'm sure I'll get used to it and it won't be a big deal.

I'm starting a new curriculum with Whitney. It's called Saxton and it's supposed to be really good. She's doing very well so far and it makes it all worth it when I see her progressing and understanding things, and when she makes a mistake she wants to go back and try it again until she gets it right. She loves doing her science and science experiments most. Oh! And my good friend, Sarah is teaching her piano lessons on Mondays! She loves her teacher soooo much and is really excited about it! I got her a Disney beginner piano book and she can't wait until she can play it.

Well, that's probably enough for today! I hope you all had a great first week of school and have a great weekend!

*Nat*

So, remember the kid who smashed our car??? We got a call a few days ago and it was his DAD! Turns out, the police tracked him down and the kid told them he didn't know he'd hit the car. His dad is an ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR for a trucking company!!! So he drove by our house and saw the car and knew right away that there was NO way he could have hit the car and not known it. The kid eventually fessed up that he just got scared and drove away! Now we have their insurance information and everything will be okay. The kid got a ticket...and I'm sure a good chewing out by his parents. Poor guy, it's hard to learn things the hard way.

Of course, I know what it's like to do something really bad and freak out and hide. Literally. When I was...gosh...probably either late middle school or freshman year, I was sitting in the front passenger seat of the van in the garage waiting for my mom to get something from inside. The van was running, and during some freak (okay, not freak, they happen all the time) moment of insanity I decided to see what that big long lever sticking out by the steering wheel did. The drivers side door was still open, and who knew, the lever switched gears on the van and I had "accidentally" put it into reverse! The van started rolling out of the garage and then "CREEEEEEEAK" the drivers side door hit the side of the garage door and bent completely backward until it was touching the front of the van. Then, it kept rolling out into the street and I was able to unbuckle my seatbelt, jump into the drivers side and step on the break. Oh my gosh, I was HORRIFIED!!! I knew death was imminent and nobody would come to my funeral from my family because they'd be too mad at me. So, instead of going inside to tell mom what happened, I decided to take sanctuary in Ginger's dog house. And there I stayed for a few hours until my dear sweet Daddy came by. (I seem to remember his face in the doggie doorway and he was just trying not to laugh). I think he then handed me a letter that said something along the lines of "When you're ready to talk, we'll talk." To make a long story short, punishment was not death and the van did get fixed and I eventually passed Driver's Education class. (Wow, huh!)

But, like I said...it stinks to learn things the hard way. And in the wise words of wisdom from Michael Brimhall, "The best policy is to come clean."

Things are going pretty well for the most part. Our Freestyle got smashed already. I mean, I KNEW it would happen eventually because that's just our luck. But, I didn't think it would happen THIS fast! A kid who just moved across the street came to our door on Saturday and told us that his "friend" had given him a ride home from football practice and when he backed out of the driveway he smashed into our car and then sped off. It really touched me that the kid came and told us what had happened. I worry about him though, being the new kid at school and turning in a fellow football player who, by his behavior, doesn't seem to be the most praiseworthy kind of person. I hope he doesn't get beat up or something. So, anyway, the State Patrol came over and did a report and they'll get the kid at school. Wow. Here's a pic...

Things with homeschool are going pretty well. I can't believe how much Whitney is improving. She amazes me! Here's an example of her handwriting. (We were learning about adjectives)

Not bad for only four weeks of Kindergarten, eh? And I didn't even tell her what to write or how to spell anything.

I've started making beanies for my shop. They're really popular right now, so hopefully they'll sell well! I've seen them selling for over $20!!! So, being the nice person I am and not wanting to rip people off, I've listed mine for $12. Let's see if not being greedy pays off. Though, sometimes with all the dang glue gun burns I keep getting I should try to cover the cost of band-aids and burn cream? Just kidding...just kidding. Here are some of the beanies I've listed.



Annnnd....that's about all I can think of at the moment. We're all doing well and healthy and I hope you are, too!!!

Love,
Nat

I used random.org to draw a winner for my Bella Bling giveaway, and the winner is.......

Stephanie Wesley! Congratulations, Stephanie! Leave me a comment to know which item you would like from my shop!

To everyone else who entered, THANKS!!! I really appreciate your support! If you would like anything from my shop, too, I'll give you 25% off of your entire order!

*Nat*