In Lieu of a Christmas Card

Wow! 2013 was a big year full of milestones. It was also another year, where I didn't get Christmas cards sent out. Since I love getting cards from friends and hearing about how their lives went over the last year, I thought I'd go ahead and update the blog. Hopefully, I'll be more on top of it next year and actually send out a card.

News on Rob.  Rob got a promotion this year. He is now an instructional designer at the School of Science and Math, here in North Carolina. The promotion really came out of the blue--at least it felt that way to us. He is doing a lot more managing of projects and people and a lot less time with video or film. He is also the Cub Scout committee chairman and has been helping out the Cub Scouts as the program has been through quite a few transitions in the last few months. Rob continues to love boardgames, and gaming. As he mentioned several times over the holidays. "I really am a gamer." He really is.

News on Mim. I've been plugging away. I feel so blessed to be able to work from home, and I've also been blessed by having plenty of work to keep me busy. It has left me a bit frazzled at times, and I'm not always on top of everything housework wise, but I do love the flexibility it offers and the fact that I'm here when the kids need to be home.

News on Beth. Wow! Elisabeth has quite a few big milestones this year. She finished up elementary school and started middle school at Martin Middle School. We had to choose and apply for schools and as she was looking, we were praying about the right school and we both had a really strong spiritual impression while at Martin. So far's it's been a great school. Beth's pulled off her first 4.0 and looks on track to do it again next quarter. She also moved up to Young Women's this month. (So grown up and old) and she is heading on her first temple trip next week. It's so neat to watch her grow up! (She also squeaked in and earned her Faith in God award just in time.)

News on Caleb. Caleb chose to be baptized this year. He was baptized in February and it was a great experiences. My parents and Matt came out and Matt got to be a witness for the baptism, which was really nice. Caleb also started going to Scouts. He went to Cub Scout day camp over the summer during the rainiest week of the year. He is having a good third grade and is managing to get his school work done and he is learning and growing every day.

News on Jacob. Jacob loved his year of kindergarten and he is simply thriving in first grade. Jacob is constantly smiling and happy. He also loves video games, board games and anything to do with imagination. Currently he is on a kick of getting up early to squeeze in a few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender each morning before school. He then acts out all of the fight sequences throughout the day. Jacob also learned to ride a bike last week. He decided he wanted the training wheels off and was riding without falling off in just minutes.

The kids discovered Minecraft this year, and that is honestly how a good portion of their time is spent. This summer they designed worlds and played games and got along great along with our trips to the pools. They can find and set up servers and do all kinds of other stuff.

The kids, Beth especially, also adore Dr. Who. I mean adore. Some huge fans that watch multiple episodes in a sitting, that have gone back to pre Matt Smith Dr. Who episodes, who are eagerly awaiting the next season. Personally, I'm super excited for the next season of Sherlock which comes out on Wednesday.

Other highlights this year--We loved our trip out to Utah to see the family. It was super fun, and a great time for all. The kids adored Lagoon--since they all got to ride the roller coasters. They also loved spending times with aunts and uncles and Grandpa and Nana. It was a great experience and Rob ran into someone that he taught on his mission who just happened to be in Utah visiting from Australia.

We had some great times with the Caldwell side of the family too. A fun trip to the beach over Spring Break, a week there over the summer and a fun time visiting Busch Gardens during their Halloween thing. It was also a great week over Christmas.

 Here's to a great new year in 2014! (And hopefully a regularly updated blog.)

Over the last few weeks, I've actually gone back and looked at the blog, and it's helped me remember a lot of what has happened over the last few years. I know I used it mainly as tool to update my friends and family about my family, but it's also reminded me of the little things to be happy about and the big steps that my family has gone through over the last few years. it made me decide, yes I need to keep this up. Even though I'm likely not going to have tons of pictures on it (unless Rob gets inspired), it's still worth remembering the little stories and moments along the way.

This has been a year of milestones. Jacob's in kindergarten, and really loving it. He is happy, and loves school most of the time. he came home from school on Friday with a low grade fever, and we kept him home from church today, and I think he's ready to go back tomorrow. I'll check on him in the middle of the night to make sure it doesn't spike up. He's just my happy kid that always has a story that's going on inside his head.

Caleb has made huge progress in the last little bit. He brought his report card home, and both his regular teacher and his math teacher have commented on his increased focus and ability to get work done at school. He doesn't fight about homework anymore. It's like something just clicked with him. He went to a birthday party this weekend, and the dad went out of his way to tell me how thoughtful Caleb is to the kids around him when he's at school. He's just such a good guy.

Beth had a great report card too. She's doing really well, and I think coming into her own academically.  We registered her for middle school classes this week. We went to a big parent/orientation meeting, wandered around the halls so that she wouldn't be lost all of the time, and sat through a meeting. Beth told me she thought the meeting was boring, but that the school was fun. I really think she's going to love it there. Here's hoping--middle school can be rough, especially for girls.

Aack! How am I old enough to have a middle schooler? I don't feel that old yet.

We don't have any grand weekend stories. Rob was at a TedX event for his school. And Jacob was sick, so we hung out at home. We are counting down the days for our Roo cups to go on sell. We haven't had them before, But Beth's friend's family get theme very year, and it means I can get each of the kids a slurpee/icee for only a quarter all summer long. This is must have to survive the summer and errand days.

Have a great week!

Fun Week

This week we made it to the pool a few times, and it barely rained at all. Yesterday, I realized that I missed the sound of the thunderstorms rolling in every evening. July was full of thunderstorms, big loud clashing rumble the house thunderstorms.

Swimming wise the kids are doing great. Beth's been swimming all over the place for some time now (a couple of years), but Caleb and Jacob are a bit more reluctant. On Monday, Caleb swam three quarters of the length of the pool. He swims under water, and pops up for a breath every five feet or so. He's still not strong enough that I trust him to go into the deep without an adult.  On Friday,  Jacob started swimming without his life vest. He is up to about eight feet, and he can swim on top of and underneath the water, which is great. We are planning on hitting the pool at least three times this week, if the weather holds up.

Unfortunately, Jacob is sick. Rob has some kind of cold, that he pulled out all of his medicines for and managed to get over. I got a little bit of it, but not as bad as Rob. It's hit Jacob full force. He's got an awful cough, stuffy nose, and has run a fever off and on. He has to get better before we hit the pool, but I have faith that he will pull through it. I really think he can make it.

Rob got his promotion/reclassification or whatever it is. We just have to make it through August, and then we will be much better off. Much better off!  The frustrating thing is that August is our second most expensive month of the year. But we've already got our school supplies, just down to shoes and lunch boxes. I'm proud of all of the work that Rob's done. He's a hard worker and he does so much to provide for the family.

22 days until summer is over. I'm trying not to count it out loud. I'll miss the kids, but I've already got plans on how I'm going to spend my time with no one home during the day. It'll be so nice to work without feeling guilty and then being able to focus once everyone is home from school. That is the plan right now.


I'm planning on publishing my book sometime in the next few days. Here is the cover:

I think Rob did a great job on it, and I'll let you guys know when it is available. I hope that you are all enjoying your summer!

Crossroads

I have been pretty blog silent the last few months. Life has been happening around me and sometimes it feels like I'm moving so fast and then slowing down. Time has been rubber banding around me. This summer is a crossroads, a place and a time that I set for myself to make decisions. And they are not decisions I can make lightly.

When I first decided to stay home with the baby that would be Elisabeth, it was always until the youngest started kindergarten. And Jacob is starting kindergarten in less than a month. We got his card telling us the day and time to show up for his first day (which is testing) and then his official orientation. Wow! It's leaving me speechless to think about my baby going into kindergarten.

At the same time many possibilities are opening up in front of me. So many different choices. A few years back (probably five, maybe more) I decided that I'd like to make my living as a freelance writer. And the last few years that's what I've been doing. It's moved from part-time income to full-time income. And then the bottom fell out from under me about a year ago, and I've really struggled to stay on top of it. I've been blessed, and I'm managing to make about the same or more. But it isn't steady, and it is stressful, and it leaves me a lot to think about.

And then I throw into the mix that a few years ago I decided to give myself until this moment to get published so that I wouldn't have to go back to work. I need to contribute to supporting my family and taking care of them but it is tough to balance full-time work even when all of your kids are in school. Plus we'd still have to pay for before and after school care. If the kids are sick and I'm working from home no big deal. If I've got an outside of the house job, it gets complicated. Plus I want to be there with them in the evenings and meet them at the bus.

I also think that every decision I make right now is going to affect them later on. My priorities regarding family time, homework time, spiritual issues and money issues are all going to influence my kids. And so the choices I have in front of me aren't easy to make.

So that is why I haven't written lately.

The kids are having a pretty fun summer. We've been to Carowinds, survived a pretty scary lightening storm while we were there, been swimming, had play dates, slept in late, stayed up way too late and now we're watching the Olympics.

Some days are better than others and summer is almost over.

News

Okay this last week was one of big decisions for the Caldwells. Well really more for Rob. He received his formal job offer from the museum and decided to take it. he starts the first full week of June. I know that he is very sad to leave the school. He's got some awesome coworkers. They are great. And he is going to miss seeing them.

The museum schedule is a Tuesday through Saturday job, and so things are going to shift a bit schedule wise for us. Fortunately summer is nearly here, and that should give us some time to adjust and get back to normal. I think the kids will like having him at the museum, and we plan to pop in on him from time to time, once he is more settled in. The new wing of the museum is awesome, and if you live in the area you should definitely check it out.

I also decided to quit one of my jobs this week. I won't be tutoring anymomre. There were lots of things that went into this decision, but the biggest one  is that I haven't gotten any real writing on my novels done since I took the job. You get to the point where you need to decide where your priorities are, and what to do about it. Also with the kids schedule over the summer and Rob's schedule change, I don't think it was going to work out long-term. Plus rob kept telling me it didn't pay well enough for the inconvenience it caused. My other jobs are a lot more flexible about when I put in the hours.

The kids are doing well. This is Jacob's last week of preschool. Beth has her drumming concert, and Caleb is excited about field day at school. Beth doesn't like field day as much because it is so hot. Which is ironically my biggest memory of field day as a kid, how blasted hot it always was. Why can't they have field day in march or April?

Anyway that's it for this week. Hope you have a great day!

I was raised in a strong matriarchal family. My grandmother's father died when she was around five years old, and her mother was left to care for her and her two older sisters during the Great Depression and World War II. The sisters were quite a few years older than my grandmother and they made sure that she was taken care of. When I was born into the family, the three sisters were very close. My grandmother lived next door to her older sister, my Aunt Bonnie and my Aunt Mary lived just a few blocks away in the same city.

My grandmother was close to her sisters and I was babysat by my Aunt Bonnie over the years, and I especially remember that she would watch us when my mom was caring for terminally ill grandfather. She was a gifted pianist and organist, and she read me stories and took us for long walks during the day. My Aunt Mary threw pool parties every year, and told the most fascinating stories about her travels around the world. She has been nearly everywhere, and she was a gifted story teller bringing the things she saw to life with her attention to detail and her funny experiences.

These are the women I grew up learning from. Family was stressed as being the most important thing, and you could see the bond these three sisters had shared through the most difficult of times and through the joyous ones as well. Just as my aunts cared for my Nana when she was young, she has been there to care and visit them as they each passed on in the last few years. Nana is growing older and she still shines as an example to me, reaching out to help those around her, and understanding the importance of family.

I've been blessed to have a mother who truly loves her family and who wants to help everyone around her. She sees the good in people and with all her hearts wants others to be happy. My dad's mom was a great example of how a true lady is and taught me how to make pumpkin pie. She always made me feel loved and welcome no matter what. Now I'm blessed with a a mother-in-law a s well that loves her children and her grandchildern and who works tirelessly to help others.

Today as we celebrate the mother's I also want to celebrate all the women in my life who have taught me through example and love. I also want to thank my friends and sisters who have helped me through the difficult times and laughed with me through the great. It is a grand blessing to be a woman. I love you all.

This week has been good overall. I don't have any grand or exciting adventures to report. In some ways it is important to step back appreciate those kind of weeks. The ones where you focus on the day to day tasks and make it through without any extremely high highs or low lows.

Beth had her parent teacher conference and she is a very solid student. I still wish that she would have caught the reading spark by now. Any grand suggestions for middle grade books would be wonderful. She doesn't like historical, fantasy or science fiction. She does like realistic fiction that is funny. Her favorite books so far have been Diary of Wimpy Kid and The Dork Diaries. In the past she has enjoyed Tangerine, Franky Stein books, Ramona (a bit, You have to get her into the story.) She liked Red Slippers. Okay any suggestions?

Caleb is making it through and counting down to freedom from school. I'm hoping next year is better than this one. Otherwise we will be homeschooling him. He's such a bright curious person and I hate to see that pushed out of him. And it is being pushed out him. It definitely is.

Jacob is Jacob and is currently soo excited about the end of the school year pizza party. I think Jacob has two more weeks of school and he is done. Yikes!  Summer is almost here, and I'm not ready for it. I'm not. I know I need to be, but I'm not. Still I will love having the kids home with me, and the ability to not worry about getting up early most days.

Rob is hanging in there. And so am I.

Have a great week!