It is November!  Wow!  Where is the time going?  We are busy with band competitions and getting ready to move.  Yes, we are moving to a little bigger place.  We will have more room and a yard for the kids to play in.   We will still be renting but hope to maybe buy the place down the road.
We are in band competition mode.  Brynne is a freshman at San Marcos high school and they have a really good band.  She plays the flute and we are spending all of our time at competition helping and watching.  We have already gone to 3 and have 1 more before State Competition on December 1st.  It is lots of fun and very exciting to watch and listen.
We are waiting the arrival of my parents to help us move and enjoy Thanksgiving with us.  They are coming over for a few weeks and will be here to watch Brynne and see the kids.

Hopefully this finds you all well.

October 2012

Wow! It is October already!  We have celebrated 3 birthdays.  I had a birthday September 29th, Whitni had a birthday September 30th and Torey had his October 7th.  We get a break from birthdays until December.  We are enjoying high school football and getting ready to go to our first high school band competition.  Tomorrow is homecoming and then we load the semi truck and leave early Saturday morning for Royal High school in Simi Valley California.  Then we start our Special meetings on Sunday.  It will be good to sit and listen and be silent and renewed.  Life is very busy for us.  Brynne is keeping us very busy with the football games and now with band competition almost every Saturday.  Then we decided to add moving to a bigger place in November.  So we will be moving around Thanksgiving.  I can't wait but it is hard to pack when we are only moving less than a mile away.  Will just throw everything in the truck and Sequoia and move it.  Morgan is also addiing to our busy times.  She decided to join La Colina junior high drumline and is a little bass drummer.  She is having fun and really likes it.  This Christmas parade will be fun.  We will have 2 kids in the parade in the bands.  It makes life more fun.  At least we are not bored.  I can't figure out what being bored is.  That will be all for now.  Hopefully I will update in November.  

LIfe in Santa Barbara

Wow!  I forgot about the blog.  I will see if I can update it.  We are in Santa Barbara, CA and have been living here for over 2 years this November.  I can't believe how time has flown.  Mark is on his 2nd job here and likes this job.  That is good because there aren't too many jobs for him in this town.  I am working as a Special Ed aide in an elementary school and like it.  It keeps me busy and brings in a little extra.  Brynne is starting high school in a few weeks.  I can't believe I have a Freshman in the house.  She is in marching band and has spent all summer at marching camp and doing her volunteer hours at the Natural History museum.  Morgan will be starting junior high.  Torey will be in 4th grade and Whitni will be in 3rd grade.  They start school in 2 weeks.  It is about time.  We have spent our summer riding to the beach an 8-10 mile ride round trip. Then we do crafts or go to the museum or hang out at the beach.  Life is real rough.  We live about 1 mile from the beach walking or ride to another beach.  We are enjoying it here very much.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow! November is just flying by. It will be December before I know it. We have been busy with Morgan doing her Lego Robotic competition. She had competition the weekend before Thanksgiving and we all went to watch. The team won a trophy for their presentation/skit that they had to do to tell how they would help bananas from spoiling. I think they did very well for their first year competing. They didn't advance to the next round and that was fine with us parents. If they did they would be at Legoland this next weekend. So we are done with that until next year. Mark is thinking about starting our own Lego team with the neighborhood kids and going to compete with the other schools. We will see. Torey is really wanting to do it next year so will see what happens. Brynne is getting ready for the Santa Barbara Christmas Parade this Friday evening. We will be there to cheer them on. La Colina Junior High band has won first place every year so here's to this year. The next day is her 13th birthday. Yikes! I can't have a teenager because I am not old enough. Then Morgan will have her 11th birthday on Monday the 5th. Wow! That will be enough birthdays for this year. We had a great Thanksgiving this year at Legoland. We met Mom and Dad and Cheryl and had 3 days at Legoland. It was gorgeous! Then we came back and it was gorgeous. We are having great weather. I can't complain. 3 weeks and it will be Winter Break and I will have 2 weeks off. Just wanted to tell what we have been doing. Will post some pictures.

Happy October!

Wow! It is Fall! The leaves are changing and falling to the ground. The mornings are nippy and brisk. It is time to start bringing out the warmer clothes. The jackets are out for the mornings and the shorts are out for the afternoon. Weather! No wonder we are all sniffling and coughing.

We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Santa Barbara. We went to Santa Maria special meeting and enjoyed a great meeting. I can't believe it has been a year. Time sure does fly by. It is really flying with the kids busy in all of their after school activities and schoolwork. This weekend we will be at a Lego Robotic competition for Morgan. She will be competing with Hollister elementary and other schools. This is the first year that the school has had a competition team so will be a new experience. The big competition is before Thanksgiving. We are putting lots of hours in for this. Hope they do good. I will post pictures when we get them. The kids are staying busy with all of the clubs they do. Torey is learning drums and having fun playing on his practice pad. Morgan is doing violin, Future Scientist of America and Lego Robotics. Brynne is still playing her flute and doing a science club. I am officially full time at Goleta School district. I am at one school and work with the special needs class. I have a little kindergartener and love it. I also work with 2 other kids during the day. I still haven't gotten out of kindergarten. Oh well, it is a job and money.

These are a few pictures from our trip to AZ in June. The kids are at Blazin' M Ranch and at the Grand Canyon. Then there is a picture of 4th of July in Santa Barbara. We camped out on the beach all day for the fireworks at night over the ocean. I know it is a tough life but someone has to do it and we thought we would. Come visit and you to can camp out at the beach. Will post more later.

August 2010- Summer is winding down and it is time to get ready for another school year. We are getting ready to go to Indio for a week of relaxation and doing nothing. Then back and start the getting everything ready for a great school year. Wow! We will have an 8th grader, 6th grader, 3rd grader and 2nd grader. Where has the time gone? I am enjoying it while I have them. Before I know it they will be out and gone. We just spent a great time with all the Flippo's in Santa Barbara and then Shani and Eric and kids came to spend their last day in Santa Barbara. We had a great time. Even tried to convince them to move. We will keep on working on that. It has been a great summer. Spent the month of June in Arizona and decided we don't like the heat! We have definitely acclimated to Santa Barbara. Then we came back and played in the great sunny weather of Santa Barbara. The weather is getting better and better.

Welcome to Santa Barbara

guess it has been a while since I have been on the blog. Lots of things have changed. We did a very fast move to Santa Barbara the end of October 2010 and are loving living by the ocean. We are getting used to the gorgeous weather here and spending plenty of time outside. The kids have adjusted real well to life here and have fit in with their new schools. They had a very good school year and are ready to go on to the next grade. I just can't believe that I have a 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th grader. Time sure flies. Mark likes his job and is adjusting to life here. He is jealous of the time I spend at the beach. I'm enjoying working in the schools as an aid and enjoying the summer with the kids. I will post pictures when I get them uploaded. Maybe I should get a new computer so that I can do it without all the hassle. More later.