Back in the Swing of Things

Hola!

Another week has started!  You'd think I could keep track of things better, now that I "only" have Kara in the house full-time.  You'd think.

BACK INTO THE SWING.  Kara has had a few soccer games so far this season.  She's playing "sweeper" on defense, the last layer before the ball gets to the goalie.  She's also reffing youth town soccer games on Saturday mornings, grades 3-8.  They play on Saturdays. I believe the oldest players she has reffed are 12 years old.  She has been an "AR" (assistant ref) for the older kids' games.  It's a pretty good seasonal job...she gets rough
ly $20 a game. Sometimes they give her back-to-back games, so last week and this coming week she'll do 3 in a row.  She puts her availability into their calendar online, and the assignments are computer generated.

COLLEGE LIFE. Teresa seems to be transitioning just fine, into her freshman year at BYU.  She's doing all the "fun" things of college!  Football games, campus photo scavenger hunts. She found a friend whose family has a boat, and one Saturday about 10 of them went tubing at a lake.  Another Saturday another friend invited her rock-climbing, with her aunt and uncle who have all the gear.  She also pulled together an intramural volleyball team. They play every week.

Classes? She assures us she is attending!  Ha.  This week the quizzes and tests start.  Hopefully all the reading she's been doing will pay off, in retaining all that information :)

TUTORING. I started back to school too, tutoring the ELL ("English Language Learners") students at 2 different elementary schools.  We picked up a few new students, and 2 of them (1 at each school) have ZERO English!  What an overwhelming situation for those children.  We are trying to pull them out a couple of times a day, and work hard on vocabulary, and the basics of following directions, and feeling comfortable with class routines here at the beginning.

HP announced that they are laying off another 33,000 employees, with the company split that is happening November 1.  Thankfully Frank is connected to the "other" part of HP, so we don't see his position being on the chopping block.  For now.  (!!?! Nothing is guaranteed in this life, right!  We are so grateful to be employed, one month at a time.)

NURSERY CREW.  I have a new assignment in our church congregation...they asked me to be on the "Nursery Crew!"  Frank and I are still teaching seminary one day a week (Fridays) plus when needed to sub, and Frank still works with the 11-year-old scouts every Wednesday and plans campouts for them.  Now I have joined 2 other women in caring for the little children in nursery during the last 2/3 of the church meeting block.  They can go into the nursery at 18 months, and they're in there until 3 yrs. old.

Frank is still working with the 11-year-old Boy Scouts!  Seems like once you learn the program, you are a valuable commodity :)

I was supposed to get this out at the beginning of the week, and suddenly it's almost Thursday...

Hope you're having a good week where you are :)
Kari

New Chapters, Soccer, Face Lift for the House

Here we are, near the end of August!  That means summer is almost over.  (Nooooooo!)

We found a garter snake in the front yard

NEW ADVENTURES for TERESA. We took Teresa to the airport last week, so she can start her newest chapter, as a freshman in college at BYU!  She packed so many social events into her last few weeks, we barely saw her.  "This is my last time to see so-and-so," or "we won't get together until Christmas, after this."  She put a lot of miles on the car :)

She and Kara went shopping a few times before she left...Kara is very 'aware' of clothing choices and getting a versatile wardrobe together.  She's a good resource to take shopping with you!  Here are photos of them packing, and also of the morning we went to the airport.

Kara, meanwhile, is also cramming in as much activity into her last days of summer!  Monday of this week, she went with a couple of friends to Six Flags.

SOCCER. Tomorrow is the first day of soccer try-outs.  Those practices are scattered over the next couple of days, and then regular soccer and school starts next week.

frog friend at a pond on one of our hikes

OK, now it's the beginning of September.  Kara went to school for 2 days last week, and now it's Labor Day weekend.

We're taking a Last Hurrah at 6 Flags for Labor Day tomorrow.  I think it's supposed to be 92 degrees.  Whew, hot for us!

FRONT STEPS.  I did not mention that we had a house project this summer...we had a porch with railing built, on our front steps!  It's always a little dangerous in the winter, to have cement steps and icy conditions, without a railing.

Porch Before

So we started thinking about it last April, for Pete's sake...we got 3 estimates, had samples delivered for the composite decking...and decided on what we wanted.  It took until August to get the details figured out, and put ourselves on the calendar of the guy who did it for us.

Porch After

Well, my allotted time for the blog is now officially expired!  I'll put in one more before/after picture of the whole house.  I really like the front porch...it adds to the look, gives some variety to the front of the house.

Have a great Labor Day!
Love, Kari