Break's Over

Ok, enough with the four-month long break from blogging. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about - it's more that I got addicted to Facebook and kind of fell off the blogging-bandwagon. I don't know if anyone even checks this blog for updates anymore but I feel compelled to blog again - mostly for my own benefit but feel free to join me if you wish.

So, what's new? The summer was great - aside from a three-week bout with salmonella poisoning. We went to Disneyland, swam, did swim team, swam some more, hung out with friends, bbq'd, and swam and swam. The girls are now back in school, enjoying their friends and teachers. Erika is in 8th grade, heavily into soccer and absorbed with her friends and her cell phone. Hailey is morphing into a pre-teen and is loving her 5th grade class this year. Kelcie loves her 3rd grade teacher and has become a peer mediator at school. Her job is to help kids with their disagreements out on the playground and she loves doing it. Eric is busy with work, teaching 3 classes this semester at the community college and keeping up with his Young Men's calling. We have hit a new defintion of busy at our house but I think it's just the season of life that we are in. He did manage to fit in some time for daddy-daughter pumpkin carving at Activity Days. Here's a couple photos:

Erika had a Halloween band concert this week and the students were allowed to dress in costumes for the night. Erika and one of her friends decided to dress as boys - much to my chagrin - but she was really into it.... here's a couple shots of that...



I am still waiting around for my fingerprint clearance for the school district before I can start subbing again. I started this whole application process 6 months ago and it's still not done so I am beyond frustrated. To deal with my frustration I have been doing a lot of this...

And I'm also on Day 6 of this...

My solutions for stress do not usually include either of these things but something has finally clicked in my head and I am finding that I enjoy pushing my body to do things I didn't think I was capable of doing. Some days it's hard to keep myself motivated but as the pounds and inches melt off, it gets easier.

I am also three classes away from completely my coursework for my Master's Degree - yay! I have decided to wait and do my student teaching next fall and I have also decided to teach middle school instead of elementary school. For those of you who think I'm crazy, naive or just plain out of my mind - let me assure you that I have thought this through carefully and that I know what I'm doing. Enough said...

So, there's the update and I will post more later!