It has been a while since I've just sat and done a proper family up date. So, since it is 3 o'clock in the morning and everyone else is asleep and I can't make lots of noise....I'll take my opportunity now! :)
We are all doing really well. Busy as ever, but that is good. Keeps us out of trouble...mostly.... :) It's easiest to keep track of whats going on person by person, so like usual, let's start with Louis.
LOUIS:
Not a lot has changed with mi amor. Work is busy, but we all know that, so we can acknowledge and move on!! With the Xylem merge, next year will bring a few changes in terms of benefits and insurance coverages and such, really nothing crazy, but something GOOD, is that he will go from a semi monthly pay cycle to biweekly, which is nice. At this point he gets paid the 15th and last day of the month, as you can already see, that leaves a lot of variation, then if the 15th or last day falls on a holiday (Canadian or American) or weekend, he gets paid the Friday prior. So, needless to say, every other Friday will be a welcome change.
He has been gathering plenty of ideas about the new house and various things he wants to do. I can't wait to see some of the super cool stuff he comes up with. He has talent beyond what I could imagine, so I know anything will be spectacular!
MEAGAN and general info:
Really, in the big picture, not much has changed with me either recently. Trying to stay busy with various things. The house is always a Go To, but sometimes I lose steam on it- more on that in a second.
I recently bought a sewing machine and have started working on various items- mostly Christmas things.
I've also been down at the girls school every day except Wednesday's for the past month. I was roped in to helping the music teacher with teaching the 3rd and 4th graders their ethnic dances for their music presentation on 10/20. Yes! That is correct... yours truly has donned her dancing shoes to teach 5 groups of 8 and 9 year olds dances from Israel, Africa, Germany, Ireland, and even a Native American one. While it has been a blast, it has also been a lot of work. Kudos to music teachers (well, ALL teachers) every where!
I also do Guided Math for an hour a day in Zoe's class three days a week. Long story short, I should be on the pay roll at the school! :) I am grateful for the opportunity to get to do it however. I'm sure once they get in to Jr. High, the opportunity wont be there anymore and/or they wont want me there anymore....*tear
We have a field trip coming up to Celebration Park with Zo's class, that was fun when I did it with Bella's, so I'm looking forward to that.
I am also going to be doing the Halloween parties in the girl's classrooms this year which is another thing I am looking really forward to. I LOVE Halloween, once again, as we all know, so I'll move on. :)
Louis and my anniversary is coming up next week. It's hard to believe actually. In one way it seems like a long time ago, and in others just yesterday. A lot has happened in that year. I am grateful to say that it has all been for the best and a lot of great things have happened, however, change, whether good or bad, can be stressful. I'm lucky to have Louis by my side. He makes so much possible for not only me, but all three of the girls. He is a loving, caring, sometimes stern husband, who is capable of reigning in my craziness, grounding me, and bringing me back to reality- regardless of whether I want it or not. He is my best friend and my rock, and the only person I want to to go to sleep with and wake up to every. single. day. On the 21st we will celebrate six years together, and on the 22nd, we will celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. We are dropping the girls off at nana and papa's house and heading out for a night on the town. Dinner and a movie, maybe a little bit of house shopping, nothing too crazy. The girl's dad is in Boracay and Singapore and possibly Bali for the next two weeks, so we are celebrating small, with the possibility of maybe a small, little budget trip somewhere close for a couple days once he returns. There was ONE STIPULATION to this anniversary thing though....we decided we wanted to started a new tradition, so we came to the agreement that we would not purchase each other anniversary gifts. BUT, we had to make the other one something, using materials for less than 50$ :) I think it will be fun. Once he gets the gift and I know it wont be spoiled if he reads this, I'll post pictures of what I decided to do.
I've also started the Thanksgiving Day preparations. Bella and Zoe are going to Tahoe for Thanksgiving, so like the last time they went, we are moving our Thanksgiving to the Saturday prior to the actual turkey day so that we can have all three girls with us. I've already arranged it with Rachel's mom and got that all squared away. It's always nice when it all works out and we can all work together so the girls are able to spend time together. I will say that I am very thankful for the fact that pretty much everyone in the girls' lives works towards the good of the girls together really well. Rachel's mom, the girls' dad, us, my parents- everyone really understands that all three of the girls are the focus and what matters, and for the most part are able to put any differences aside and really be flexible so the girls are together as much as possible. I realize every time a holiday rolls around especially, how fortunate we are in that.
RACHEL:
Rachel is 12 and rocking 7th grade. She is getting so tall....as tall as I am if not even a teensie bit taller. I'm only barely 5'3, so not a huge feat, but she's showing no signs of slowing down, so we will see. :)
She is still playing both the violin and the piano and is quite good.
She had her birthday party at Grinkers, which I will post pictures of soon.
She has decided to be a creepy China Doll for Halloween. Should be pretty cool.
I'm not sure if they have any up coming travel plans or not, but all is good with Miss Rachel.
BELLA:
Bella just got back from 4 days in McCall with her class at MOSS which stands for McCall Outdoor Science School. It is a program ran by the University of Idaho and is just absolutely amazing. She had a blast. It started in 2001, so it wasn't a thing when I was in school, but several of the schools in the area get to participate. Basically the kids go up with just their school, which in Bella's school only consists of 40 sixth graders, which is pretty small, so they had the camp to pretty much themselves. They stay in cabins and study nature and eco systems and play games and just have a ball.
She had AAU try outs a few weeks ago for basketball. They had a second try out session for those who couldn't make it to the first one this past Saturday, so hopefully we hear this week sometime if she made the team. Hopefully she did, but there were quite a few talented ladies there trying out and only 10 spots available. Fingers crossed for her!
She is still in taekwondo rocking it. She is getting ready to test for her camo belt I believe. Sorry...I have no clue what the ranking of the belts is.
She is still playing the clarinet in band at school...as far as I know- I never see the instrument nor hear her practice it.....but she has a performance coming up, so there ya go.
She has decided she wants to learn to snowboard this year, and my parents have agreed to that (I don't go up to Bogus so my pops takes her up and skis with her), so those lessons should start in January.
AND for the biggest news for B Bop...... if, at the end of the school year, she has continued her good grades, good effort in all sports and practices and such, has good attitude and behavior, my mom has told her that they will take not only her, but one friend of her choosing, to BOSTON, NYC, AND WASHINGTON DC FOR TWO WEEKS this summer. I wanna be the friend she chooses.... :)
On a side note, the girls also have a surprise trip in February coming up. They were originally going to be in Puerto Rico for a week over Valentines Day. There is an amazing little island there with wild horses and a crazy bioluminesent bay and it was going to be amazing...but then the hurricane hit and tore the island up and now they cant go. However, apparently plans were switched and now they are going to Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 days. They have no clue they're going, so it will be fun to hear their stories!
ZOE:
Ah, last but definitely not least, Zo. All is well with Z. She is probably the most content with just being around, doesn't really need to do much extra curricularly, is happy to just BE. But this year she did decide to join a few clubs at school and I'm proud of the ones she chose.
She is doing the WAVE club, which is basically a kindness club. They volunteer and do good things for those around them and their community.
She also joined The Green Team, her schools recycling and environmental club. They do lots of really great things for their community, including last year getting the Boise School District to buy paper lunch trays instead of the foam ones they were using.
She also joined the choir at school.
She started hip hop a few weeks ago and is so dang cute is not even funny. She's actually pretty good too! She will be performing at the zoo on Friday so I'm excited for that.
