Bad day

So to top off the news we received yesterday, one of our goats died today. He'd been sick for the past week and this morning he lost his battle. It's been a pretty sad day around here since. I've actually been pretty sad and most of the kids are pretty sad too. I hate this part of having animals.

News

We got some good news yesterday, not. We found out that we won't be paid through the summer. We had set it up that we would be paid through the summer. Teachers have the option of getting paid through the summer or through the school year. Through the whole year is considered a 26 pay period and through the school year is considered a 21 pay period. So we didn't get paid on Friday like we should've. Charlie called payroll yesterday to find out why and we found out that for some reason the school district decided, at the beginning of the school year, to change everyone to the 21 pay period. The union president tried to tell them they couldn't do that without permission and thought that was that. Well, I guess the school district didn't agree with him and went ahead and did it, without notifying people that they did. So we did get a pay increase throughout the year, but we assumed it was the normal annual teacher salary raise. We had no idea what it really was. There is nothing the school district can do now because they have paid him his full contract. So we for sure won't be getting any more pay checks until the next school year begins. What a great thing to have happen, huh? Thank goodness we have some money in our savings. We were holding on to it just in case Charlie didn't have a job in the fall. We will be able to live off of that over the summer, but we're going to have to be very careful with the way we spend it. I think this is probably a good thing because I have become a little bit lackadaisical with spending lately. This will help me get my butt back in gear where I should've been in the first place. It's interesting to me how the Lord gives us learning opportunities. I feel blessed in some ways about this, but I'm still pretty mad at the school for not notifying us. I can't imagine what other people are going to do who don't have a savings account and didn't plan on having a summer job. If they are like us, they already have a good portion of their summer planned with vacations and such and won't have time to get a summer job. Plus, it's not like it's so easy to just go find a job on short notice now-a-days. What a crappy thing to do to your employees. Just one more reason we love Beecher schools.

Beautiful Day at the Temple

Oh how we wish that we were close to a temple again. During our time at the temple yesterday(with the help of ward members) we sealed 8 couples, sealed 9 children to their parents, 25 initiatories, and 6 endowments. The spirit was strong as the work was done for my great grandparents, great uncle, my aunts, and others. Chuck will also testify to the strong spirit as he stood proxy for this grandfather (William Leslie Eaton) to be sealed to his parents.

Looking forward to going to Michigan to pass on some of these names to my children to take to the temple. For there is much work to be done and I want my children to feel the spirit of their family members. Oh what great joy there will be when we can all meet together as a enteral family at the feet of our Heavenly Father.

I want all of you to know that I love my Father in heaven and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for the plan of salvation and the temples. Set your goals to go to the temple often and also prepare youself to go. The Lord wants to teach us but we must be willing to learn.

I love my family with all my heart and I will do all that I can to help them return to our Father in Heaven.

No I'm not sick and dying I just want all of my family (this includes extended family who I don't get to see) to know that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I love him with all my heart and I'm so thankful that he is there for me. I love the man he gave unto me for my enternal companion, there are days I can't belive how blessed I am. I want all my family to grab hold of Christ's hand and hold on tight. Thing are getting worse and we will need him more ever day. I love all of you.

The Old Oak

This was the sight that I woke up to on Sunday morning. Sometime during the night a large limb from the old oak tree in my yard fell into the street. I'm not sure what caused it to fall because there wasn't a storm or anything during the night. I'm sure that it made a rather loud noise, but I slept right through it. I actually didn't even realize that it had happened until I was pulling out of my driveway Sunday morning on my way to church and realized that I could not go my normal route. Part of the limb was hollowed out and a bee hive was in it so a bee keeper was called and collected most of the bees. Because of the bees the tree didn't get moved until early Tuesday morning, which was too soon for me and my neighbors. There is a lot of road construction going on around my home so the street right outside the house has been more busy than normal because it is the alternate route. One thing that absolutely drove me crazy was that people were rude and too lazy to turn around and thought it was ok to drive up on my lawn to get around the tree, this made me so very mad. My neighbor across the street decided to put logs from the tree on my sidewalk so that the cars couldn't go through on my lawn anymore, it was very smart and kind of him. I can't say that I am all that surprised that there were those who thought that they had the right to drive on someone else lawn. I am working on trying to get the rest of the old oak cut down so that the next time a limb decides to fall it won't be taking out the house.

"LOOK GRANDMA I HAVE MOMMY HAIR"

I took this pic last night. With all the curles I think Anna finaly look like me. I thought mom would like the pic of the crazy curles.

Internet

I have finally got my own internet service. I got things set up this evening with the help of AT&T costumer service. For some reason the wireless wouldn't connect and the customer service worker spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out what was going on, but couldn't. Five minutes after I hung up I was able to get things figured out on my own. I am just grateful to have my own internet and not have to rely upon the library or family for the internet. Thanks a ton Charlie and Hillary for allowing me to use your internet for the last 6 months!

Update

Beth was released from the hospital yesterday. She is still extremely sore being only 48 hours post c-section. Took her to the hospital to see Sam. He is off oxygen, was still receiving antibiotics through IV, but not eating very well. He will be in the NICU until he starts eating. Lisa kept the girls overnight for us, so we could get some sleep.

Beth and I are heading out to see the baby this morning. Will keep you all updated.

Samuel Aaron Avis

Just a quick blog to let you know that Beth had the baby last night. 36 weeks, emergency c-section due to plummeting heartrate. His cord was wrapped tightly around his neck twice. Only reason Beth went to the hospital was because she hadn't felt him move much yesterday. Sam was transported to Sunrise Children's hospital due to respiratory problems. He is in stable condition. Beth is still at the hospital on base. She was only able to see and touch Sam for a few seconds. Will keep you posted.

Born 11:04 pm June 19, 201o

6 lbs. 3.7 oz.

18 inches long

Last Day of School!!!!!!

Today was the last day of school!!!!!! It has been a great year and I truly believe that my kids were blessed with such outstanding teachers. I loved them all and I know that the kids did too. For his last day Bradyn's class had a cookie party (I didn't' get any pictures of it though). Parker's class had a ice cream sundae party and Logan's class had a picnic party with hot dogs, chips and other yummy treats. (Logan's last day was actually yesterday, but oh well.)

Bradyn with his teacher!

Parker with his teacher!
Parker and his two best buds! Parker met these two friends in his class this year and they have been such good friends for him. Now, all he needed was his friend Lucas and the picture would include all his favorite kids

Enjoying the ice cream sundaes!

Happy to come see his brothers at school!

Logan at his class "picnic" party!
Daddy and Logan!!!! Les got done with work last week so he was able to come to the class parties. It was so nice and I know the kids loved it!



Logan with one of his teachers. His main teacher wasn't able to be there on the last day because she broke her arm last week and was having surgery on it yesterday!

With another one of his teachers!

NOW BRING ON SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pack Meeting

Tonight was Bradyn's first pack meeting as a cub scout and I think he was pretty excited. At the beginning he was one of the flag carriers and he took the responsibility very seriously (which I knew he would). While they were doing the awards, I think that he thought he wasn't going to get anything. I on the other hand knew that he had completed everything that he needed to get his Bobcat. I think he was relieved when they finally called his name (he was the last name called).

Here he is giving me the mom pin!

Holding her balloon that she squeezed all the air out of.

Logan and Wesley, cousins and friends :)

Participating in the game they played. You had a balloon tied to your leg and you had to pop everyone Else's balloon while trying to keep yours safe.

Running so fast that he is all blurry!!

Charlie's job

So I think I told everyone that Charlie had been pink-slipped a few months ago. Well today the district held their annual "bid" meeting where the teachers can go and bid for a different job if they want to and have higher seniority. Because Charlie has been laid off he couldn't bid until everyone else who are still actually employed are finished bidding. So after the smoke had settled, Charlie's job was still available so he took it. So, at the very least, Charlie will be employed at Beecher again in the fall. I'm so thankful that he will have a job. Even though it is where it is, it's still a blessing.

My new calling

Well you all pretty much knew this was coming, but today it was made official. I am the new primary president in our ward. I am sad to leave the young women. I felt like I was just starting to build a good rapport with them and gain their trust and respect. I felt like I was making head-way with them. I'm going to miss them. I also am nervous and apprehensive about my new calling. I have a lot of work cut-out for me. There is not much parental support of the kids in our ward (I ran into that in young women too) which makes it so hard to have the kids there consistently. Without consistency, there is a lot of choas sometimes. I'm confident the Lord will help me, I'm thankful for the blessing I received when I was set apart and I know I can do this, it just might be one difficult task. If you could remember me in your prayers it would be great.

Shelby's gift

We went to a garage sale this morning and Shelby bought a pedicure set and gave me a treat of a pedicure. How wonderful it was.

Now if I can get the next picture in right. The finished product. Why didn't my toes go here? Oh well I will learn how do this someday.

Happy birthday Makayla!

With the super busy weekend we had over Memorial Day weekend I forgot to wish my little girl a happy birthday. She had a good one though. This cake she has was from Kroger. She loved it.

Merrit the talented

No one can say my son isn't good with money!

Wax musuem

Makayla had a school assignment to research about a famous historical person from Michigan. She was assigned to do Henrick G. Meier. After researching, she was to write a brief description of his accomplishments and other facts of his life and then memorize that part. Today her class performed those parts for their "Wax museum." Other classes from the school came to their room and went around the classroom and listened to Makayla and her classmates tell about who they were. They were suppose to dress up like the person they researched and pretend to be a wax representation of that person. I think she did really well.


I know it's kind of hard to her what she is saying, but I wanted you to get the jist of what she did. From what I remember, this is what she said," Hello, I am Henrick G. Meier. I was born in 1952. I am famous for starting up and owning Meier grocery stores. I am also a writer. I wrote a biography about Senator Arthur Van(something). My connection to Michigan is that I graduated from the University of Michigan in 1973 with a degree in English literature. Some other interesting facts about me are that I have two brothers and no sisters. I am the oldest kid in my family. I am still alive today. Thank you for listening." She worked hard to memorize all of that and I think she did great. Not everyone in her class was able to memorize their parts.

Baseball

Merrit has been wanting to play baseball for a few years. This year we were finally able to sign him up for it. Monday was his first game.

This is his first up to bat.

He played right center first. This is his in the outfield. His team started off pretty poorly and were losing by quite a bit. In the last inning they actually had a rally and scored like 8 or 9 times. They still lost, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. He is loving playing. I'm glad he is able to finally do it.

Karate

We gave our kids the chance to try karate for the last six weeks. Makayla, Chelsea and Jaxson gave it a try. They had fun and actually earned their yellow belts. This is the belt advancement ceremony they had on Friday. They were all pretty excited about it and want to go on to earn more belts. Jaxson wants to get his black belt. We think we will keep going, but probably not until after July.



After they got their belts they got to break boards. They were really pumped about it. Jaxson was so pumped he did it so quickly that I barely got to record him doing it.





Lexi and Merrit even got to try it once the ceremony was over. The instructor/owner of the karate place is a really nice guy.

here is Anna

here is a few pic of Anna. she has grown so much already.