Job Nibbles and Gratitude

As of today, Steve appears to have 3 pretty serious job leads, he is on at least his second interview with each. They are in Idaho falls- Idaho, Lexington- KY and Tuscan- Arizona. That is right, I keep saying there is major change coming and big decisions. There are pros and cons to each.
We appreciate all of your concern and prayers.
This has been a sweet opportunity to recognize the tender mercies of God through the kindness of you and others. It has been an eye opener of what is important. We feel humble and although we get nervous about the decisions and prospect of moving, the bitterness is gone.

The Fall trip to Indiana.

I headed to Indiana last week for my 10 year class reunion. That was fun, but proved to be stressful for me. Maybe next time the class vice president should do it. He is so fun and his wife is amazing. They would be great!
Anyway, the best part of the trip was seeing the nephews and family. Buddy and Carrie took a couple days off and the cousins hung out a lot. I love visiting, and it is always heartbreaking to leave. I love them all so much. Zac loved sleeping with his "Ma" every night, and I loved just being with my mom and seeing Buddy more this time.
We went to the zoo, made cookies, had a sleep over with the cousins, carved pumpkins, colored a lot, wrestled (well not the grown women) ate well, spent time at mom's, Buddy and Carrie's and Dad and Regina's. I was also able to see some family and friends that popped in around all the festivities of the reunion and running with the kids.
It was a nice trip that always goes fast and ends with tears but great memories too.

Party Pooper

We are grateful for a baby coming, for our family, and for our health, and the nice things that we have. We are glad to live where we do. It is beautiful, and I love the sun shine and the smell of sage brush. Our house is coming along nice....aside from a few more things that should hang on the walls, our house is feeling like home. I love the yard and even the dog that sometimes makes me crazy. I am really liking my job and my co-workers. I am just about finished with orientation, in fact next week I will be more on my own. I love that Jenna is liking school, and that I feel safe with them at day care on the days that I work. They are truly loved there. Things are coming together at church. We are making friends and have callings there.
The scary things is that Steve was laid off about 10 days ago. LDS General Conference and optimism were very helpful and we were hopeful..."life is a journey", but after only 10 days and 20 resumes and a gambit of online job applications, we are starting to panic. He had such a good job that he enjoyed. He and 3 other colleagues didn't know the day before that they would receive a letter the next morning laying them off because of lack of monies and business at the firm, blaming the economy and lack of funds transferring from a client in China. He and the other 3 were the most recent hires.
We felt humble, then bitter toward his employer who made him big promises for partner, then jaded and dejected, and now panicked. The thought of moving again breaks my heart- esp for the kids. Also the cost of it all, and the potential of losing it...family is most important, but good credit is helpful! :) Plus I love my van and somewhat unkept yard. It's not luxury, but I love it.
Isn't it interesting how you respond to things in relation to your partner? He is calm and optimistic and so am I, once he panics, I follow in place. He has done awesome as Mr mom, the house is clean and the laundry is done, dinner is made and the kids love him home, but it has offered time for him to think and worry while I was working the past 2 days. Maybe tomorrow we will feel better. One thing is for certain, there is change a-coming, and although I have never hated change, this time, I didn't choose it, and don't feel up to the heartbreak or "going with the flow"... there are lots of factors now, 2 of which are small and sweet and will be confused.
I hate a party pooper, but today I don't have it in me to muster up something optimistic and hopeful. It just wouldn't be genuine. Well, I can honestly say that I do trust that things will be ok, it's just getting there from here.

There's a BOY in there!

 

Can see him reach out and grab his feet?
That is fun huh. Yes, it's a boy. I thought that it was a girl, but I have been wrong all three times. I have always hoped that my intuition out of utero is better than in utero. Anyway, we are excited.
Zac got to come along with Steve because of some changes in plans (Jenna was at kindergarten). Anyway, Zac said that he didn't need a turn on the table after me because there wasn't a baby in his belly, "if she puts that soap on my belly, she will only see food: peaches and pizza." He saw the baby's toes and counted them. He seems vaguely excited about it all. Steve saw "the part" he wanted to see. He is thrilled for another, likely wild, boy. (smiling) Jenna will be thrilled. BTW the 2nd is a tricky 3D, see if you can see a partial profile, hidden behind some "stuff"...

Kindergarten Update.

Kindergarten brought more stress than I thought it would. I didn't realize how much was expected of them. I overheard some older woman at work talking about how kids go to Kindergarten to learn to write their name. I was thinking, that these days you need to know how to write your name and how to recognize all the letters, (not just sing the alphabet) BEFORE kindergarten or "have you thought about the remedial class?". In November there is a second assessment, where the kids are supposed to be able to, among other things, blend sounds together to make words, express ideas in print, and write all the letters of the alphabet, Upper and lower case. This blew my mind. My barely 5 year old is supposed to write sentences and sound out words after 3 months of kindergarten? So she can recognize an "s" and a "t" but now she is supposed to know that an "s" and a "t" together make a "st" sound. I am not as flabbergasted and dejected now, she is doing fine. Every night we work on writing letters and go over her skills sheet. It's interesting to see that children at even a very young age have their best way of learning. I am working on learning why it is in her brain that she can recognize a "Gg" and has a hard time with "Dd". What makes her click? Flash cards aren't as effective with her, she has to relate it to something.
Anyway, I could go on and on, I have learned that even if you read to your kids every night since infancy, and even if they can sing their alphabet and know how to write their name, that they need some "schooling" before school actually starts. I have taken the approach that I would not drill my kids prior to school, and took no interest in having my kids know the states and capitols before kindergarten. Let them be little kids! play in the dirt, run, use your hands, cut, glue, make a mess, play with other kids, go to the park, see animals, play pretend, build forts, manipulate puzzles, bang on play musical instruments, dance and be silly in the living room, Love using your body to move, and your hands to make things. Know your colors and shapes and count, go to preschool to reinforce this and to learn how to take turns, wait in line and interact with others besides your siblings and parents. These were my priorities. It has been an eye opener. Zac and I are going to start sooner with letters, not just the alphabet song and his simple name. I am going to try to have him recognize and name all the letters out of order before kindergarten, the trick is getting him to care that a "u" is a "u". Any suggestions are welcome.

By the way, Jenna is really liking school, and the one on one time with her has been good in the evening working on letters, I just have to be careful not to "teach or drill" too much or she turns off and her brain turns to gew. She has made friends, most of them boys, as has been her pattern- probably because of her great relationship with her cousin Mason since she was a baby. She is proud of her book bag and cares very much about wearing a bow in her hair. She really likes her teacher, and I am so glad. We are all going to survive, it's these firsts that really teach us, right? I may look back and laugh at myself when our last goes to kindergarten, but the reality is that the first kid does teach us so much because there is just no instruction book on this stuff, and to top it all off, each child is different and the world changes with time, so basically I'll never have it figured out. I'll just do my best and love 'em, that should stay constant.
Here is a picture of Jenna on "picture day", I figured this would be better than the official one from school.

Date Night

Last night Steve took Zac on his first "hunting" trip. They dressed in camo and drove up the mountain to see if they could call-in any coyotes and just look at any animal that showed up. Zac has been asking Steve if he can go too whenever Steve goes in camo to hunt this past season. Zac was so excited. They had fun, Steve said that they saw a lot of deer, but that no coyotes came in when they called.

Jenna and I ate and shopped, just the girls. It was fun to talk to her at dinner. We went to Pizza Hut and to Robert's Crafts to browse, and then we bought a few pumpkins for the front porch. Steve and I both enjoyed spending time with them individually, we like the little farts.