Happy Holidays!

We are thankful that we have a few caring friends and familly that ask us why we haven't updated our blog. It's great to be somewhat interesting! My best excuse is that we go to bed so early now, and it seems every minute of the day is tied up doing something. But here's a quick review of the past few months:
We had a wonderful Halloween with Grandma and Grandpa from Oregon. Grandma is a Halloween baby, so as well as trick or treating around the neighborhood, we had a birthday party! The kids were delighted to have family visiting to see them in their costumes. Thanks Grandmapa!
We celebrated Kevin's 35th Birthday with a fun party. It was the first visit to our new apartment for most of the guests. We had California pizza kitchen, cupcakes, brownies, and all kinds of little nibblers. The wonderful Haros gave Kevin a new stereo system and Shelby brought champaigne for the guests that really like to party. Kevin said it was "the best party I've ever had" which made me very happy until I realized it was the only party we've ever had. (Besides the children's birthday parties of course.)
We spent Thanksgiving in Iowa with Kevin's family. We had a great time seeing everyone and getting acquainted with Granny's new home. It's just so much fun to watch the cousins enjoy eachother. Vance and Leslie have a little baby that looks exactly like Kevin. Jamie kicked and punched me, and that girl really knows how to kick butt. Will and I talked palpitations. Jason is a rockstar guitar player! Kim is amazing--Jay is the Bishop and she still has all her wits.
Golden has just turned 7 and his birthday party will be this weekend. He has invited his 1st grade class. When I asked him what kind of party he wanted to have, he said "pin the tail on the donkey and twister!" I wish he could be more specific. :) So we are having the basic birthday games and Santa will be showing up as well. I was kind of wishing for one last Chuckie Cheese party so I wouldn't have to clean the house.
My parents and brother have been without power since the monster storm hit the coast of Oregon last weekend. Keep them in your prayers. Dad is getting stir crazy and he needs to keep his head as Mayor of one disaster area. He's already been hung up on by a radio host. Let's hope the power comes back on before he decides to call in again.
The kids are doing well at school. I get to help out in their classrooms every week which has been fun and educational.
Kevin is making a great impression at his school. They love him and what he is doing for their music department. Hopefully that will translate to more $$ for him next year.
For any of you that are wondering how the progress on my book is going, wonder no more: I'm still on the first page. Savanna and Golden keep asking when they can read it. Not for a looooong time, kids. But we are sort of moved in to our new apartment, so that's progress of some sort. :)
Well, wish me luck for Golden's party tomorrow. As always, I am way behind with preparations. But it's 9:00 which is past my bedtime, so we'll see what magic happens tomorrow....Good night and we love you people!

Hubs

So-- Kevin landed a great new job teaching music at a private school. I won't say the name of the school, but he does get a lot of time off for Jewish holidays and also happens to be across the street from the Newport Beach Temple. Lovely area. The only catch is the commute is unpleasant. Yesterday the poor guy spent more than 4 hours in the car. The first photo is of Kevin when he arrived home at 7:30 pm. The last one is Kevin at 5 am getting ready for the day. (yes, they are out of order, a little problem with the blogger.) I had a photo of him leaving at 6 am, but I was asked nicely not to post it.
Kevin's day consists of teaching a "garage band" and an "orchestra" as well as assisting with keyboard and library and even lunch. He earns every penny and works hard, and we love him for it. You may wonder why we haven't moved there...well, since my job provides an apartment, and housing isn't cheap, we are kind of stuck right now. Baby steps to the next Jewish Holiday...

A Day in the Life of Kevin

First Day of School

After a year of homeschooling, Mother and Children went their seperate ways, for 6 hours and 19 minutes anyway. The morning started at 5:30 am when a nervous Savanna joined me in bed sobbing nervously over 5th grade math. Dad gave Savanna and Golden blessings at 6:00 am, headed out the door to Irvine, and Savanna and Golden dressed in their new school fashions, feasted on fresh raspberries and bagels with cream cheese, and had back-packs on by 7 am. I finally asked them to wait outside. Golden was letting out horrific squeals all the way.
We decided to drive for the first day. Although we were quite early, we had to park a block from the school. This gave us time to relax and gather our wits before entering the play area with the masses of children and teachers holding signs with room numbers. I sent Savanna on her apprehensive way, and walked Golden to his classroom. He was a little nervous and started to cry, but gathered himself impressively quickly. I introduced him to the boys and told them he was a little nervous because it was his first day. One of the boys helpfully suggested that if it was his first day, he should go to Kindergarten first, and another admitted he was a little nervous as well. After hugs and goodbye kisses, I couldn't resist peeking through the window of Savanna's class to make sure she didn't look too uncomfortable. She appeared to be smiling! And she was raising her hand!
I drove home, and as I entered the front door, the silence ripped my heart. I couldn't help but count-down to the end of their day. But their wonderful stories on the walk home and their cheerful voices reminded me that we were going to do just fine.