Hot Summer

Today was very hot, well, it's been hot. I can't believe it is August 10th already. Kev only has 7 more Saturdays of selling. Which speeds us up to October. Crazy. So we swam with our friends Eva and her children, Alfred and Hanna. It was so cute because Alfred doesn't know English, he speaks cute Swedish, and so his mom taught him how to say "Stop it", because I guess the girls were doing something (they were all having a blast, so maybe it got to be too much?) but it was hilarious because he was so intense in saying it. And so he would run up to the pool and say "STOP IT!" So strong. And then later Gabi was doing something and he would run up and say "Stop It, Gabin!" I loved it! I told Eva, we need to teach him another phrase, like, "I like you". ha! Anyway, so the kids had fun and Eva and I had fun chatting it up. They left about 4:30 (oh and you can see pics on her blog because I forgot my camera), and then the sister missionaries came over for dinner at 5:30.

Dinner was homemade pizza and salad and fruit. Rach made cinnamon roll-ups for dessert. I think dinner turned out terrible! My pizza had an odd taste, like fermented stuff, and I put on zuccini that we shredded before for zuccini bread, so I'm wondering if it was that, but I smelled it before using it, so yeah, I am not sure. Of course the sisters said it was fine. And then the salad, my salad dressing or something was off, I made my usual vinagrette and I don't know. And then the watermelon I had just bought today was bruised and stuff (went to Walmart instead of H-E-B!) So I was like, you guys, I'm so sorry. You have to come back again, and I hope you'll want to and not dread Sis Wadell's cooking. They were laughing. We also had new neighbors moving in so they went to talk to them when they left. I told them how I have the Preach My Gospel book and how I am still in the beginning because I am marking like, every scripture, and they were like, yeah, skip ahead to the lessons. So I am gonna do that! And this just in, Jake went from laying down to sitting up on his bottom tonight. First time. It was amazing!

It's over for the Summer Reading program at the library. We had a great time with it. Last year the Cedar Park library had more toys/goodies. This year, we were at the Round Rock library and there were just gift coupons to get free kids meals or doughnuts or frozen yogurt, etc. So we have had fun with it! Nice afternoon treats thanks to the kids doing reading, which they enjoy and do every night anyway.

We are now a part of the Royal Academy Homeschool group and they told us about a camping trip that a big group does, so we are going to do that the last week of this month, and I'm very excited! We stay in cabins, we get to swim and hike and do crafts and yeah, cell phones won't work and they say no electronics. It's gonna be amazing to be together without this stuff.

Just some cute pics... Gabi and Rach and Brooklyn swimming at Barton Springs. Grandma and the cousins. Rach and Jake. Rach and Gabs with BFF Olivia and Isabel when we went to CA in June. Rach looking beautiful with the every cheesey Gabs!

August Already!

So it's August. And I've decided it's official: I'm going to Homeschool Rach for 4th grade and do some preschool work with Gabs. I know it seems like a big undertaking but I have been wanting to do this for the past few years and now we are in a great commnity where there is a lot of support and a lot of great programs.

I will be using the ABeka Academy program and Math U See. I'm really excited. I ordered some fun history and science books and so yeah, I think it's going to be a great year! ABeka has online streaminig of lectures. They have previews and so the teachers look great! We are also going to do Rosetta Stone Spanish. It feels so good to take education into my hands. (Who knew I was such a control freak?!) But I'm excited about the history lessons and the science projects. The group we are with here has a sewing class where the woman has 4 sewing machines, so I am going to get Rach in that.

I will be able to have Rach watch a short lecture video while I go over letters and other preschool teaching moments with Gabi. On another blog, confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot, she has an excel spreadsheet of their daily/weekly calendar. So I have that now and so each week I will have it put up so that the girls can see what we are going to be working on. I also like the workboxes she talks about and I will wait for the curriculum I ordered to come in the mail so that I can make plans with the workboxes.

I know Jake will be getting more active, I am loving it! I know that we will have to all be flexible, but I really see this system working pretty good! Also, there are good free apps that Kev has on his phone like memory and flashcards that Gabs like to do, so we can have her doing that when Rach is doing something with me. Rach is full of ideas and wants to do things like make bread like the pioneers (not in the bread machine, lol!) and so it is great to have her ideas and into this as well. She also has met lots of friends at church. She has Heidi, Alexia and Melanie. It is awesome! Prayers were sure answered for us!! I hope the girls can stay close and enjoy each other at church. I wonder what our callings will be when we get them, I was thinking Primary because it's so big. But yeah, I used to be able to see Rach's interactions with the other kids in her Primary class in Rocklin, and here I haven't been able to see how she is with the kids, but she comes home happy and fine. In Rocklin there was already a clique. I think Brushy Creek ward is nice because there are a lot of commings and goings and so the kids lose that clique stuff.

I'm excited we will be here in the Fall, when Kev is done with APX so we can do things around here that we didn't get the chance to do last year. We plan to go to SeaWorld and see the bats and stuff as part of science field trips.

Last night we had dinner with our new friends, the Carlssons. They are from Sweden and so it is very interesting to talk to them. We met them at our other apartment complex as our apartments faced each other and we'd be at the pool around the same time. They are only here until February for Richard's work, and then they go back. We are really looking forward to getting to know them more! I will have to upload some pictures of the kids playing later! It was funny because before they came over for dinner, Rachael was wondering how they would play with their 3 year old, Alfred, because he only speaks Swedish. But we discovered (I told her this would happen) that "kids play" is the international language! I think the kids had a great time! I made lemon-pepper talapia, ceasar salad, fruit salad, wild rice and rolls. And Eva brought a yummy sticky chocolate cake with fresh figs and raspberries and whipped cream. Yum!

Eva has inspired me to get more caught up on our blog! So here I am, back in action. Nothing too eventful has been happening. Just Kev works long hours, but is making the moola to pay off debt, so that is great! We miss him though, since he works 6 days. Also, it's fun to be in the same complex as Lisa, Erik and Kyson. It's nice the cousins get to play and us adults get to get closer.

Until next time!

Austin and such

Holy cow time flies! I can't believe it is almost June. Sorry my wonderful public for letting you down. Ha!

We moved from El Paso and are now in Round Rock, Tx, which is north of Austin about 20 min. I LOVE it here. The people are great, the weather is great and it is just an all around nice place!

I thought I would type more but my husband just walked in the door. He is selling for APX again and doing great! It is such a blessing because my prayer is that we pay off our debt!

Jake is 4 months now and is over 18lbs and 25 1/4 inches long. He's so much fun! Rach has her last day of 3rd grade tomorrow and she is on the honor roll. And Round Rock has an AMAZING school district, so we'll see what else it can do. But then, now that we're back in Tx with lots of cool homeschooling families, I'm on that journey again of if I want to do that with Rach. So I need to keep doing research and praying. I want what's best and what isn't gonna drive us nuts. Gabs is doing great and we love the library and she is looking forward to Preschool. I mainly want to do that for the social aspect, but then, if I find other moms with kids her age if I go the homeschool route, maybe there is a homeschool preschool group? I heard of something like Joyschool or something, so I gotta look into that. Groups of moms that rotate around. So yeah, lots to look into. If anyone has any thoughts to share about this, I'd love to hear.

I have a pressure cooker now and I just ordered my canning set from Amazon. I can't wait to make my own jams and tomato sauce etc. Oh and from the garden I had started in El Paso, since we are here in an apartment, I just have a tomato and cabbage plant growing. Ha!

Until next time!

The Kids

So here is a recent pic of Gabs and Jake. Jake is now 7 weeks old and Gabi is going to be 3 next Friday!! I know I haven't even posted on here about Jake's birth. It's been a wild and crazy time with moving to El Paso right after he was born! El Paso has been great. Rach is doing wonderful in school and has great friends. She is a social butterfly!

Gabi has made friends with our friends that is a family of girls. They (the Lunds) have twin girls who are 3, so it's perfect for her! She loves to play dress up and polly pockets. She absolutely loves her Barbies! She has got a wonderful imagination.

Jake is just a BIG boy. I never imagined him going through clothing so fast. He is wearing size 3-6 month clothing! I'm so grateful for our friends that gave us all their old boy clothing!! It has really been helpful.

Kevin is doing well selling alarms out here. He enjoys working for Dorney. They are a nice family owned company and we are all in the same ward and it is nice. Oh, and being out here, we just got called as Ward Employment Specialists. Funny. Hopefully we can help!

Also we are working on our food storage and 72-hour kits and my mom has sent me so great links. This one has a nice list that helps it get organized of what one could have in their pantry. I like it because I forget what I have or like to cook with and so seeing this list on http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com/ helps me remember what else I need/want.

I will be starting a garden soon so I will upate this with pics of it as it gets going. I am curious to see how well it does here in El Paso! :) There are monsoons and things that I have never had to deal with so it will be interesting!!

Baby Shower!

My baby shower, planned by my great friend Stephanie, turned out so nice! I am really blessed with great friends and family. Stephanie planned a couple of games, the Baby Alphabet game and then measuring my waist with a ribbon. Our friends Kelly and her daughter won the alphabet game and Lindy won the ribbon game. It was a lot of fun! Then the food was amazing as Stephanie cooked a ton and then others brought some yummy salads! (I didn't catch who all made the salads! sorry!)

The gifts were great, Jake is totally set! I had a great time seeing everyone and I sure hope Jake comes soon. I know everyone is anxious to meet him! I've got about a week to go! Crazy.

Almost Thanksgiving!

Wow! Thanksgiving is this week!! I have so much to be thankful for!

I'm grateful for my sweet, hardworking husband. He does all he can for our family and I have been able to stay home and be with our children and keep house and bake and sew! It's truly a blessing. This has been an interesting year, a financially tumultuous year, but amazingly, we are keeping our heads up. God has been great to us and we have had many tender mercies!

Rach just ended her soccer season and I'm glad for the freedom of time we have been given once again. Especially now that I am nearing the end of the pregnancy and getting more uncomfortable. HA! Rach's team, the Blue Angels, just won their last game. It was a sweet victory in the fact that the team hadn't won a game all season... they did tie a couple though. I heard from another parent that the Blue Angels did so well last year that they moved them up a division this year. I'm not sure if that is true, but they were saying that may be the reason that the girls were struggling. Rach played goalie and forward and was good at those. We are still trying to figure out if we should keep her in soccer. She enjoys it. That's good. But I don't see her trying to excel in it, which, I rather her be in something that she can be passionate about. But since she's enjoying it, and it's a nice way to meet new girls and get exercise, I think, why not just keep her in it. How does one decide on things like this?? I think she will want to keep playing because her friends do.

We also just had her Parent Teacher Conference for the first trimester and she is doing very well. That was exciting to hear. She got a lot of certificates for her reading, she is top in the class in her reading level and how much she reads. I'm proud of that since I love to read, it's nice to know I passed that on. Rach is also doing excellent in piano. It is exciting to me to watch her fingers move across the keyboard, to see her talent growing. And she is loving her horseback-riding! She loves taking care of them and being out there on the ranch. I hope she can always have this opportunity because it is good for her. I don't see her pursuing anything serious in the horse riding, like competing or anything, but just going there and taking care of them, I think she just enjoys that.

Gabs is 2 and a half now and jabbering like crazy. Very imaginative. She loves pretending things. She is into Barbie, My Little Ponies, and dress up. She likes to play the piano too. If it's Rach's turn to practice, Gabs yells, "It's my turn, it's my turn!" and jumps into the seat. So then she plays all crazy and then quickly gets off. She also plays for us at FHE, and so we just sing something to her playing, like I'm a Child of God. I can't wait for her to be in lessons in a few years! Rach and Gabs play great together and it is fun to watch them. Rach makes some great costumes for Gabs. For one FHE a couple weeks ago, we talked about wearing the Armor of God and Rach made one for Gabs out of tissue paper and foil. Pretty funny. I gotta get the picture up here.

Baby Jake is growing well and kicking and having fun in my tummy. I'm at less than 60 days now. It's fun to think of him being here so soon. We're all very excited. I finished a couple of quilts for him, I'm excited about that. My mom is going to help make the bumpers and curtains to go with one of the quilts. I like that we are designing his nursery instead of just getting a pre-packaged one from Babies R Us. No big deal about those, I just like the fact that we can say, we did that, and that the blanket will stay with him forever. :)

I/we have been richly blessed and for that I am so THANKFUL! I just wanted to make sure that I said my thanks. I am grateful for our health, (this one thing I have been really thinking about lately, I have really taken health for granted!) and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and eternal families. I'm grateful for my calling in Primary, I love the children we have. I'm grateful for our families and our friends and our home.

If I've ever offended anyone or hurt anyone's feelings, I apologize and I pray that we can all become closer. Life is short and precious. I'm grateful to you all for being a part of our lives. We have learned much. Happy Thanksgiving!