New Life- Week 79 (New, New Life and Pumpkins)

 This week has been a whirlwind to say the least.  It has brought one some big changes for our family.  This week Jeremy accepted a new position at a mortgage servicer called Gregory Funding.  He will be working in house as their compliance counsel.  This meant giving his two weeks' notice at his current job.  As he was gearing up to do that, we got a call that a member of the stake presidency wanted to meet with us.  That evening we found out that Jeremy was going to be called as the 2nd counselor of our new bishopric.  By the end of the day my nerves where shot.  I would jump every time my phone would ring or a text would come in.

With our life changing big time in the coming days and weeks, we decided to take some time for some family fun yesterday.  Also, Merrick won a $50 gift card in our town's summer reading program and he wanted to spend it on something fun.  We decided that a pumpkin patch was the perfect choice.  In the past few years we have gone to a pumpkin patch closer to home that isn't quite as big and fun as the patch we used to go to.  We decided that for this year it was "go big or go home".  We drove down south to Gervaise, Oregon for the "best pumpkin patch in the the mid-Willamette valley".  It was opening weekend and the crowds were really small.  Everyone had a great time and we stayed until close.  We had a great time spending the day together.

Today Jeremy got set apart in his new calling.  Life is changing quickly for our family.  Hopefully we can keep up. 

New Life- Week 78 (Preschool and More)

This week (after a year and a half hiatus for me), Elsie and I started back to preschool.  At this point, we are starting the year with 8 little girls.  It's a great class so far and Elsie is loving every minute of it!  She is sad the days we don't have school and when I ask her at the end of the day what her favorite part was, she typically lists everything we did that day.  I felt a bit rusty the first day, but mostly it feels good to get back at it.

As for the other two, they are getting into the groove with school and making some new friends.  As long as we can keep Covid at bay, I think it will be a great year all around.

Since there is not too much to report for this week, I thought I would also include a few cute pictures that have been missed over the past few weeks.  This includes some pictures from a cheer camp Carrigan attended and LOVED.  She is definitely interested in more cheer in the future.

New Life- Week 77 (Back to School)

 This week the kids went back to school!  This has been a year and a half in the making and they were so ready to go back.   Me, I have very mixed feelings.  It will be nice to have the house a little quieter.  I still am never alone because I will always still have my littlest sidekick, but it's definitely quieter and calmer with the older two gone during the day.  What I am not looking forward to is the pace of life during the school year.  Between carpooling, sports, Merrick's job cleaning horse stalls, and homework, our days are and will be jammed packed.

This year, traffic is a particularly big issue.  I have two or three kids at two schools for the next three years.  Then I will have three kids at three schools!  I did not plan that very well!  So this year traffic is also complicated by a few factors; first, not many people are sending their kids on the bus. This is because the busing situation has been a nightmare, with not being able to find enough bus drivers and bus routes having to quarantine due to Covid exposure.  Parents are much less likely to use the bus if they don't have to.  This is the boat we are in.  Carrigan was going to ride the bus home and Merrick was going to ride to school three days.  Now, we are trying to do whatever we can so they don't have to.  Couple this with fact that tons of parents that are usually at work, are at home and can step away long enough to drive to school.  It's a recipe for a traffic nightmare.  It ends up meaning that I spend hours in the car everyday driving to and from school.

As for school itself, so far the kids are mostly liking their teachers.  Carrigan likes hers and Merrick likes all but one of his.   They both have friends in their classes.  All in all, I think that's a success.

This week Elise and I start school.  We will see how we get by adding one more layer of stress.  I am just a little concerned we will be late or I will have to go to school a mess without my hair or makeup done.  We'll see.  It will be fine.  It will be fine...

For now, here are the back to school photos for 2 of the 3 kiddos.  Here's to a healthy year!

New Life- Week 76 (Merrick Turns 12)

 Today is Merrick's birthday and it's a very unusual one, but more on that in a second.  Today, Merrick turns 12.  We actually started celebrating a couple days ago when Merrick got the new baseball bat he has been wanting.  We ordered it last weekend and it arrived on Tuesday. Merrick could not wait to open it, so he didn't.  We let him have more say in this because he paid for over half of it and it was only partly for his birthday.  Anyway, he opened it Tuesday and Tuesday evening took it out to break it in.  He was hoping to accomplish the other thing he really wanted for his birthday, to hit a home run before he turned 12.  The odds were in his favor and not only did he hit his first ever home run, but he hit a total of 4 that night.

In keeping with the baseball birthday theme, in lieu of a party this year, what Merrick really wanted was to have batting practice with his friends and cousins.  Yesterday morning Jeremy and Merrick met several of his baseball friends and his cousins for batting and cupcakes.  The home runs where a little more hard to come by and Merrick didn't get another, but he was ok with it because he had already reached his goal.

Like I said, today is actually the big day.  It has been a little more low key since it is Sunday, but per tradition he is getting to pick all meals for the day (cinnamon rolls for breakfast, mac and cheese for lunch, and soft pretzel, sausage, and cheese sauce for dinner).  We are also having the family over tonight for dessert for not only Merrick, but for Tala and Lincoln too.  Merrick did get a few other gifts today besides his bat. His sisters both gave him gifts they came up with, a card and plastic frog from Elsie and all the coins she owns from Carrigan.  With help from mom and dad, the girls also gave Merrick a display case for his first ever home run ball.  From Jeremy and I, he got a skateboard.

As I mentioned earlier, there was something else that made this a very unusual birthday, Merrick decided he wanted to get his Covid vaccine today, it being the first day he was eligible to get it.  If you would have asked him a few years ago if he would every want a shot for his birthday, I think it would have been a resounding "no".  Strange times we are living it.

I think he has had a pretty good birthday.  I am definitely thankful for a day to celebrate him.  He is such a joy to have in our family.  We are blessed by him daily.