The Fish and the Near Miss

Okay so for those of you Who have Children this will not surprise you in a bit. Three year olds are busy bodies. The other day I had a friend from our ward over. We were going to plan a project to do at a later date. Well Ann, my friend came with her Daughter, Avery. Avery is an explorer. Avery went around the house rearranging things and opening up everything that would open. This was all well and good except about 30 minutes before Ann was getting ready to hit the road. I was showing Ann some new curtains I am going to make. We walked right past Avery and looked at my room and also my laundry room. About this time we looked down to see what Avery was doing. Surprisingly we had missed certain things as we passed her twice before that. Avery had my boys fish in it's bowl between her two open legs. She had taken one of their bottles of fish pellets and fed the whole bottle to the fish. Upon seeing that this dirtied the water the very logical young lady decided she needed to clean the fish so she grabbed a tissue and tried to reach in to clean the fish. Of course this created yet another mess. Well we are talking about a very aware intelligent child and she decided that just would not do. Her next step was she grabbed the water conditioner and poored half the bottle into the bowl. The next half hour was spent trying to save my children's struggling family member. As we strained the water and conditioned more the logicallness of it all came to mind.

When the boys got home I told them what happened and told them the fish may struggle and die that day or by the next morning. I was trying to prepare them for their little pets death. Tim got tears in his eyes and told me Avery could not come over anymore. I told him she was just a little girl and he told me very simply well then let's just have her come over right now and rip my heart out. I understand how he feels this is his pet just like someones pet dog or cat. Well Flo is still living she did not kick the bucket and my son has not had any dramatic moments since then. Flo condinues to live and swim happily in her little bowl. She is a fighter fish!!

Scouts and Things

So we finally got the boys back into scouts here. We went to our first meeting here in New York on Saturday. It was the Blue and Gold Banquet. The boys really enjoyed it I think. Because it was Cub Scoutings Birthday they had a Birthday party with all the trimmings of Ice cream of course and brownies, cookies, and cakes. They earned a blue and Glod Banquet Badge for going and also got a certificate for free ice cream at a Stewart's for later. This was pretty exciting for them. Things were different at the event then what we are used to due to it was not an LDS troop but I think that it will still be good for the boys. On Saturday the boys also went to their friend Simon Johnson's house. They loved it and I think that that friendship whill continue to grow nicely.

Sunday I got a new calling. I am now the Seceratary in the primary in our ward. This will be a challenging yet rewarding calling for me. I will have to be organized and since this ward has not had a seceratary in a long time it will also be a lot of work, but it will also give me an opportunity to serve and to be doing something during the times when my children are at school and Clint is working. I am excited about my experiences that I will be having as well as the opportunities to be with the boys and the other children in our ward.

Mid-Winter Break is coming up for our family. The boys are off next week and Clint has asked for leave. Therefore we will be going to a few places. We will be going to Palmayra and also to Niagara Falls. I am excited having not seen either of these places. The family is just excited to have some time together to just get out and enjoy the world. Should be some neat unforgettable experiences.

The Boys

So I decided I would write a blog about my boys. For everyone who knows me I have two boys. Steven is the oldest. He is ten. He has blond hair and green eyes and wears glasses. Steven is very intelligent. He loves to learn about history and science and you will often find him watching Discovery Channel and also History Channel although he loves to watch iCarley and Drake and Josh too. Right now he is in the fourth grade. He is really quite tall for his age and he is eating us out of house and home. I used to buy Steven really nice shoes because if I did that I could wear them too because we wore the same size, and I did not mind wearing boy's shoes. Now have to buy him his own shoes because his feet are now one whole size bigger then his mother's. He is a good boy and very helpful.

Tim is nine. Tim is our second child. he is so sweet. He tries so hard in all he does. Tim has gorgeous blue eyes and a smile that you would do anything. Tim is a very well mannered child. He always says please and thankyou and puts others before his own self. Tim is really into collecting right now. Tim collects Pokemon cards and teddy bears. Tim has made many friends because of his knowledge in these two things. Tim and Steven are best friends on a Saturday you may find Tim teaching Steven to play basketball or you might find him playing Army with his brother. I am so proud of Tim and know Clint is too.

New Hair cut!

Confused About Blogging

So this may come as a shock to others that read this but I do not know how to do this blogging thing. It is just not something that is coming to me easily so if anyone reads this and cares to help me would they please do so so i can write and post something worth looking at it.

Job

So I was offered a job recently. I do not know if I should take it but apparently I would make a good canidate. Have you ever heard of Stream Global. It is a worldwide call center that gets contracts from all sorts of companies from washers and dryers to sattalite radios and GPSs. Originally I told them I would not take the job because it was not condusive to the boys' schedule. That particular contract paid $9.85 per hour but you had to be very flexible with your hours. I thought that might be hard because of the fact that Clint is deploying in August and I really do not want the boys to go to a day care for a long period of time. Bre a member of the human resources called me back. She then offered me a different contract that they just recieved this one was more conducive with 7:30 to 3:30 for a month and then from 6:30 to 1:30 for at least the next six. This one paid 8.50. I have not decided if I could work this one out with the boys. Although we could truly use the money and I would really like something to do I just do not yet know if this would work out. I guess I still need to do some more praying to figure out if this one would work for our family. It does make me feel good though to be wanted. After one of my interviews I was told I was exceptional. That made me feel pretty good as far as self confidence and things. Anyhow that is my dilema for the week.

2008's Ups and Downs

So 2008 has been good to us. There have been a lot of changes, mostly for the good. In December of 2007 our family moved to Idaho Falls for a recruiting assignment. We lived there for nearly eleven months, but really and truly were not happy. I think that sometimes we get accostomed to a way of life and then when that way changes then it is difficult. Clint asked to be reassigned closer to other military families. So here is the second move of the year. On Halloween of this year we began our drive to Ft. Drum, New York.
It is cold and snowy here, but we really enjoy where we are. We are now in our little house here. Clint is enjoying his job and is really needed in his unit. It has been a long time since he has been so happy about going to work. I think the difference is that it is nice to be needed and know you belong. Clint was just recently called to the Elder's Quorum presidency in our ward. He is nervous about such an undertaking yet excited about the changes that will surely come and also the blessings.
Rachel is staying busybeing Mom currently. She has been unpacking, cleaning, organizing and painting. It almost looks like home now. Rachel also makes sure the boys' get to the bus stop every morning and picks them up each afterneoon. She is trying to make all of her neighbors Christmas cookies. We will see how that undertaking goes. She just finished with Steven's birthday celebration where she made him an awesome cake. Tommorow she will undertake Timothy's cake. We hope for the same result.
Steven came to New York excited about the changes he would soon be undertaking. Currently he attends an Intermediate school which is just fourth and fifth graders. He continues to excell and is still quite advanced at the top of his class. Steven is a good boy. he just turned ten so he will get his first military ID. He loves the snow just not the cold. We love Steven very much and are so proud of him and so grateful he is part of our family.
Timothy was not so excited to move once more, but said he was willing to do whatever Daddy needed him to do. Tim currently attends a primary school, which is for Kindergarten through third graders. He has actually been enrolled in five different schools in the last year. He has come through all of theses changes wonderfully. When he has stumbled he has dusted the dirt of his hands and kept moving. he likes it here in New York but says he does not like sharing a room with Steven, because he is messy. Tim also excells at school and earned straight As for the first qharter.
Our family has been so blessed in the past year. We know that we will only be given what we can handle. We also know that we are in the Lord's hands. We are so grateful fo our safety and security and the wonderment of being together.