First Post...

After reading my friend Karla's blog and enjoying her witty sense of humor, I got to thinking about starting my own blog. I am so very bad at keeping in touch with friends and family so I think this will be a great way for them to see what is going on in our lives and hope it does a better job of opening up those lines of communication than I have been doing.

Just a short on what we have been up to recently...

• Selling Boyscout Popcorn - Shawn is the Popcorn Kernal and both boys are trying to sell as much as possible to earn money for scout camp this next summer. Luke still talks about getting to ride the horse from the movie Hildago at camp last year. The boys have a blast and learn a lot at the summer camps.
• Music! Music! Music! - Luke is in band at school and is working at mastering the bass clarinet now. He has played the alto and regular clarinet too. I think he gets bored or maybe it is just that bigger is cooler. Gabe has started playing the violin this year. So far he is liking it but he had his hopes set on the cello. I guess bigger is cooler...
• Campfire and Math is Cool - Maia's campfire meetings have started back up for the year. Her group got a pizza party this last Wednesday for collecting many, many soda can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House charities. Maia was a big contributor. Her music teacher gave her about a 5 lb bag of tabs to turn in. She is also involved in the after school program Math is Cool. They practice all sorts of math throughout the year and then at the end of the year a group of them compete against hundreds of other 4th and 5th graders at a regional competition. She is feeling a bit overwhelmed because the worksheets she gets are for math that she hasn't learned yet. I hope she sticks with it though.
• Shawn is busy, busy, busy - Shawn has been busy with long hours at work and scouting. As mentioned above, he is the Popcorn Kernal again this year. That means we get to have boxes of popcorn in our living room for the whole month of October. He is in charge of making sure everyone in Luke's troop has the popcorn they need to sell and that their money is all accounted for at the end of the month. He has been doing the training for Assistant Scout Master position for Luke's troop also this last month. He doesn't want the responsibilities until Gabe moves into Luke's troop after this school year. Gabe is still in Cub Scouts and Shawn is the Den Leader for his Webelo's group. It will be nice next year when Luke and Gabe will be in the same troop and we can consolidate the meetings.
• Stay-at-Home Mom - The economy has really hurt the company I have worked for these last 5 yrs. Usually they let me have the summer off to be with my kids and then they hire me back in the Fall to my part-time accounting position. I called to let them know when my kids were starting back at school and found that I no longer had a position. I have since found out that they are hiring no one at this time and are actually laying off quite a few people. The whole time I have worked for this company they have been growing like crazy and now we have hit scary times I guess. I am enjoying my time off though. It is nice to be able to do laundry and all that while the kids are at school and actually have time to run errands if I need to. It is also nice not to feel constantly rushed during the weekdays. When I was working I would get home just in time for the kids coming home, help them with homework, do dishes while I was starting dinner, get dinner on the table and rush out the door to scout meetings or whatever was going on at the time. Then rush back to get the kids showered for the next day and into bed. I can plan a little better now at least and feel a little more in control of the house and our time.

Friends and family please drop me a line or leave comments on what is going on with you and how you are doing! Be back with more soon....