One Month of Vacation to Go...

Goofy girls at the mall

Our summer has been spent either on the road, borrowing someone else’s air conditioner (mainly the mall’s) or inside our house. The humidity has been extreme and while it did bring us at least one awesome thunderstorm with a ton of rain, it makes our swamp cooler much less effective. Some days the house has been around 90 degrees and, while that is preferable to the 112 outside, it is still oppressive. Most days we ended up laying on the couch watching tv with our new purchase -- the converter box. That, I must say, was a good investment. We’ve been able to watch the news, the weather and Jeopardy!! Small pleasures!
And a couple weeks ago I initiated the kids to the world of “Fear Factor”. They are hooked. J The first week we watched contestants eating live leeches and then this past week we watched them climb into a burning building and one contestant had to shave her head and wax her eyebrows. We’ve also started watching Wipeout and American Ninja Warrior. Interesting viewing choices, I know, but they’re family friendly and entertaining. Lowell is usually asleep on the couch while we’re watching. So it’s kind of like we’re all together. With his new day shift he has to get up at 2:30 in the morning. This usually means that I’m up then too either to make his lunch (rarely) or, more likely, to make sure he’s awake. He’s still working 65-70 hours a week but he gets to be more involved with the family on day shift.

We did make it to the pool a couple days – one with Wyatt and one where Lowell watched him for me. Wyatt still loved the water and wanted to splash around constantly. His face went under the water a couple times and he didn’t freak out. By his nap time though, he was done. Thankfully that was also the time Lowell got off work and he swung by the pool to take Hubba home.

Me - trying to feel professional...

I’ve been looking for a job over the past month or so. I’ve been to 3 interviews and I have another one this Saturday. I interviewed with Jewish Family and Children’s Services twice and at A New Leaf; Saturday is for CPS. It seems that everywhere I go they keep telling me not to expect to hear something for awhile. I guess hiring right around the new fiscal year is a difficult task. I’m feeling a little discouraged but still looking. I’m also wondering if maybe I need to look into something else… Something to get by with until either I get my license in the spring or until Wyatt is a little older. I know I need to make some money but I am not sure how to accomplish that and still have time with the family… If I have a second shift, come school I won’t see the older kids at all. If I get the New Leaf job, I’ll also be working Saturdays… That means I’ll only have Sundays with the kids. All week. That’s it. I’m having a hard time with that… I KNOW I need to work, I get that, but I’m struggling with how to make it work. If I work during the day, Wyatt is in day care and I’m just paying someone else to watch him while I work. So, I’d either have to find a job where I can take him with me or where I make enough to make childcare worth it. Without a license, that doesn’t seem likely. I’m stuck. Any ideas?

Playing Just Dance

Anyway, back to our summer. While indoors, we’ve been playing, cooking and being creative. The kids play Wii – their favorites are MarioKart and Just Dance. The latter gets them exercise while keeping them cool, so that’s fantastic. (Thanks again, Auntie Leeda and Uncle Bread!!) Up until this week I’ve been going to my practicum 3 days a week but I still managed to get some scrapbooking done (thanks for the motivation Moron!) and I’m hoping to expand on that success now that I’m done with my practicum. I have a break now until September when the last two of my classes start.

August 13^th we find out what classes the kids are in and Back To School Night is the 16^th. First day of school is the 20^th. There is a wedding in the family in late September and we’re really hoping to be able to make it to Nevada for that special event. It has been quite awhile since we’ve seen that part of the family. The kids don’t remember their aunts and cousins on that side so this would be a special treat!

And the kids have been bummed that we didn’t take a “vacation” this summer. We’ve taken a ton of little trips across town or to new places they’ve never been but we didn’t meet the official “vacation” criteria I guess. I think Reno would meet their need to get out of town overnight. J

Waiting for the perm solution. Stinky!

Nathan and I have been spending some time in the evenings playing catch. He is getting really good and I’m excited about having a little more income next year come baseball season because I think he’d really enjoy it. That is my goal for this year – sports for the kids. Or some kind of extra-curricular activity of their choice. (Again this becomes a problem if I’m working swing shift but… We’ll work something out.) Chloe still wants to do gymnastics but she’d also like soccer or track. I’m not sure about Jillian yet – I’d like to do swimming because she still needs a little extra help with her swimming but I know she enjoys being in the water.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Chloe has been desperate for curly hair. We decided to try a perm. It took about 3 hours; we went to the Empire Beauty School. Chloe turned into quite the spectacle. She had at least 3 student beauticians around her at all times. She wasn't really sure what to do with all the attention and she REALLY didn't expect the process to be involved and time intensive. Unfortunately, the very next day her hair had already begun to straighten. Today her hair has some wave in it but it definitely can't be called "curly". Chloe was totally bummed but has now comes to grips with the fact that her hair just isn't meant to be curly yet. We're hoping that hormones may help and we found a curling iron similiar to the one from the mall at Walmart that is only $30. Hopefully we'll be able to get the curling iron soon and give it a try.

During the major rain storm we had recently, we loaded up in the van and headed downtown to take a walk. We parked at the pool/park downtown and headed off down Main St. We must have seemed out of our minds just taking a stroll in the rain but it was so refreshing. The end of Main Street is a grocery store so we went in, got some drinks and snacks and then headed back to the car. On the return trip the rain intensified and by the time we got to the van we were all completely soaked! But we loved it. It was such a welcome change from the heat.