Red doors....

Okay, so I have always wanted a red front door and so I decided that we will paint our new front door red....yes, my husband agreed to it! Now the problem is that I never thought about how many shades of red there are! Oh my goodness, I am on "red information" overload!!! I guess it's time to just get a few pints of paint samples from Sherwin Williams and try some out to find which would I'd like....such a small little detail that requires so much thought :-)

I don't know if I want this bright red

Or this darker shade

Decisions, decisions....but hey! At least I have options :-)

September birthday party fun!

In September we went to a birthday party for the grandaughter of one of my coworkers and had a lot of fun. Rachel and Josiah especially loved the petting zoo and pony rides!

 Then of course we couldn't leave without Rachel hitting the "yata", as she calls it:

There was even a panning for "gold" activity that was a lot of fun for the little ones to enjoy while the older kids were hitting the pinata.

A whole lot of news.....and not done yet!

Oh goodness, I haven't blogged in quite awhile, I know! We have been busy beyond description and things have still not settled down completely but I will try to give a little bit =)

Rachel is still loving school and has learned so much already! She can now count to 15 in spanish (she can count in english too of course, I am constantly reminding her to do both), and can sight-read most of the alphabet. She sings songs in both spanish and english (they teach both at GCA) and her favorite is "Amigos, amigos, uno, dos, tres", she will sing that song over and over again and it is so cute. It's a little song about all of her friends being "here" with her. She is still very good at getting up early, eating breakfast, and getting ready to go. She is constantly saying "we can't be late, because I want to play!" Which means we get to school usually about 20 minutes early so that she can play on the playground with her classmates until the first bell rings. She is also learning a lot about the bible and Christian living because of daily chapel services. Last night at church she went down to the altar with me and lifted her little hands while praying "ohhhhhh Jesus" she said, "I neeeeeed yooooouuuuu", it was absolutely adorable and reminds me that God loves how children come to him and that is how we as adults need to be.

Josiah is growing sooooo fast! He is learning words here and there and now can say "uh, oh" when he drops something or falls down and will yell "Dog!" when he sees one. He knows all kinds of names, of course he is always saying "mama" :-) He also says "tane-tu" (Thank you), "a-chel" (Rachel), and "Daniel" (his babysitter's oldest son's name). It is so fun watching him grow! It has been really interesting to see how his personality is beginning to come together. While he is very fun-loving and happy most of the time, he is not quite as adventurous as Rachel. For example: we went to Chuck-E-Cheese last week one evening and took the kids over to see the mechanical Chuck-E on stage, Rachel hopped up next to him and wanted a picture, while Josiah started shaking and as soon as we put him down he ran away from that area. It's hilarous how different yet alike him and Rachel are :-) Josiah loves to wrestle though and so a lot of times I will find him and Rachel "wrestling". I have to remind Rachel that he is still small and she has to be careful, but of course he starts it again :-) It is very funny when he sees a child his size at a playland or at daycare, he will run up to them and just tackle them down, all the while cracking up laughing! I feel bad sometimes for the other children but then I remember that I do not want a "sissy" boy, LOL. Now, we just have to make sure that his enthuiasm doesn't turn into "bullying" and all will be okay.

Ok, now for my "grown-up" news :-) As some of you know, I applied for a new position at ASU and interviewed for it back in August. Then, I waited and waited to find out what the outcome would be. The position was one within the department I already was working in (DNP program, Doctorate of Nursing Practice) but would be a promotion to Academic Success Coordinator, which is a advising/teaching position, with a very flexible schedule because of telecommuting being an option for some of the time. I was really nervous and prayed a lot about it since I knew that it would also require some travel, at times out of state to places even as far as Washington D.C.. I knew that the requirement for the position was that the candidates must have a Master's degree (which I don't have yet) and there were around 70 applicants I was up against, some of which had more than one Master's degree. Anyhow I was excited to land the interview and requested that I interview last (because you always save the best for last, lol). I did a lot of research and went into the interview so prepared and dressed for success. Then I waited for weeks without hearing a word! Finally on September 10th I received a offer letter! I was shocked to be honest but so excited. I took the letter home which included salary information and everything, and talked it over with Robert, then prayed some more. Needless to say, I went and turned my acceptance in on Tuesday, September 11th, and officially started working in my new placement the following Monday! It has been a whirlwind of fun the last few weeks and I am so glad that I accepted the offer! As many of you know, I love talking to students about their education and I love teaching, so it's a perfect fit until I get my Master's, then I plan on snagging a full-time teaching position :-) It does feel odd having my own office instead of a cubicle, but it is fun decorating, lol.

Ok, I have written enough for now.......yet I'm not done with all of the news! I will try to keep you all posted as I have a few minutes in between everything else. Talk to you soon!