Jake has been visiting for about a week, and the noise level in our home increased exponentially. I love hearing him play the piano, singing, and joking with the other kids, but man, he's loud. His visit has made a bid difference with Megan. She is back to her old self, no more pouting and moping. The two of them are laughing at each other all the time. It's good for a mother's soul.
We have decided to try another church. We really wanted to find a fit at the Nazarene church since it has been our home for so long. Unfortunately, it's not really working. We've been attending pretty regularly for about a month, and still no one seems to care that we're there. The kids in the youth group are not very friendly at all (typical of teens). Ken and I walked around the church grounds after service looking for a Sunday School class. We were pretty obviously lost and not sure what to do or where to go. Not one person asked if they could help. If someone you don't know sticks their head into your room, you'd think at least the teacher would ask if they could help us find a place. We ended up tracking down the pastor's wife, who gave us wrong information. Not a great experience. We'll try another church this weekend. I really want to find that place where we can feel at home. I want the kids to find friends. I want Ken and I to find friends.
It sounds like we'll be getting SoCal visitors. Some of Ken's former co-workers, and my karaoke friends are coming first part of May. Some friends from "that place I work" are coming the end of May. My dad is coming for Easter. Kind of weird. We lived next door to Disney for 4 years, with free passes, and got a handful of visitors. Now we are in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cactus, and we're like a hotel. Go figure. We're glad for the company though. We want to share our lovely new home with everyone. So, call ahead and make a reservation!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Plays, Soccer and Sunburns
We had a great weekend of kid activities. Megan was in her first play at school. I love how they gave her a part so quickly. She did amazing (duh). It was fun to see her interact with her drama peeps. I am hopeful she will establish some friendships quickly. No one wants to spend their weekends with mom and dad.
After a nightmare of paperwork, we got approval from CA and AZ for Michael to play soccer. You'd think he was defecting, not moving to a new state. But, that being said, we appreciate all the work people did to make sure all the I's were crossed etc. His team did really well. They won 3 out of 4 games, coming in 3rd in the tournament. Michael scored one goal and got 3 assists. I think he brought a little life into a team that had gotten comfortable and a little lazy. After they won their second game and made it into the consolation (3rd-4th) game, one of the boys said "Just think what would have happened if Michael didn't show up." Another boy said "We would've lost!" That really made him feel good. We did learn the lesson of sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Even though it wasn't hot, both Ken and I have dry, tender, red faces today.
Saturday night I took Mike and a couple neighbor boys to a movie to quasi celebrate his birthday. I accidentally found the $2 movie theater! I was just trying to find a PG movie (since one of the boys is only 10). We ended up watching Bedtime Stories. 5 people for $9.75! We will definitely go back there. The movies aren't that old and the price is definitely right.
Sunday we missed church in the AM because of soccer, but went to a concert they had Sunday night. It was a group that was started by the music minister at Portland First Church when I was a secretary there. How weird is that? Honestly, it was so long ago, I don't think he remembered me, but he was polite (18 years, man I'm old!) We like the church, but are not finding a lot of connections. Not sure why. We'll give it some time. It took me about a year to connect at our church in CA so I guess I can't complain too much after a few weeks. Wish the youth pastor would put some effort into getting my kids connected though.
Well, I'd better get back to work. I am enjoying the work from home thing. While I don't work 4 hours straight, I do put in my time throughout the day. I think that works for them as well as for me. They get responses to e-mails and requests promptly because I am checking every couple of hours. So, while I might not have work to do first thing in the morning, it will probably come in throughout the day. So, I take the morning and run some errands, or watch TV, or blog. Then I come back and work a little more in the afternoons.
We are lonely, so visitors are welcome! It's not too hot yet, so now is the time. Actually I don't even think it will get into the 70's today.
After a nightmare of paperwork, we got approval from CA and AZ for Michael to play soccer. You'd think he was defecting, not moving to a new state. But, that being said, we appreciate all the work people did to make sure all the I's were crossed etc. His team did really well. They won 3 out of 4 games, coming in 3rd in the tournament. Michael scored one goal and got 3 assists. I think he brought a little life into a team that had gotten comfortable and a little lazy. After they won their second game and made it into the consolation (3rd-4th) game, one of the boys said "Just think what would have happened if Michael didn't show up." Another boy said "We would've lost!" That really made him feel good. We did learn the lesson of sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Even though it wasn't hot, both Ken and I have dry, tender, red faces today.
Saturday night I took Mike and a couple neighbor boys to a movie to quasi celebrate his birthday. I accidentally found the $2 movie theater! I was just trying to find a PG movie (since one of the boys is only 10). We ended up watching Bedtime Stories. 5 people for $9.75! We will definitely go back there. The movies aren't that old and the price is definitely right.
Sunday we missed church in the AM because of soccer, but went to a concert they had Sunday night. It was a group that was started by the music minister at Portland First Church when I was a secretary there. How weird is that? Honestly, it was so long ago, I don't think he remembered me, but he was polite (18 years, man I'm old!) We like the church, but are not finding a lot of connections. Not sure why. We'll give it some time. It took me about a year to connect at our church in CA so I guess I can't complain too much after a few weeks. Wish the youth pastor would put some effort into getting my kids connected though.
Well, I'd better get back to work. I am enjoying the work from home thing. While I don't work 4 hours straight, I do put in my time throughout the day. I think that works for them as well as for me. They get responses to e-mails and requests promptly because I am checking every couple of hours. So, while I might not have work to do first thing in the morning, it will probably come in throughout the day. So, I take the morning and run some errands, or watch TV, or blog. Then I come back and work a little more in the afternoons.
We are lonely, so visitors are welcome! It's not too hot yet, so now is the time. Actually I don't even think it will get into the 70's today.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Paper, Cardboard and LIZARDS!
Michael got his first official "welcome to Arizona" this weekend. He was helping Ken load the cars with packing paper and boxes to take to the recycling center. He wasn't watching too closely, just picking up a bag of paper and throwing it over the fence to Ken. He picked up the last bag and there was a "HUGE" lizard underneath. He screamed like a little girl. No one else saw it, but he says it was as long as Ginger. I guess we'll have to do some research on AZ pest & varmint control.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
