Road Rash

Well, Brendan finally hurt himself pretty good not that he hasn't been hurt before but this one is a doozy for him. I hate to say it because a part of me believes it was my manifestation but I know it's also just kids. We're all bound to get hurt at some points in our lives no matter how careful we are or if someone else is constantly reminding us to be careful. As a mom, especially of boys I am ALWAYS telling them to be careful. Do you think it makes a difference? Personally I don't think so, at least I don't have any proof yet that it does. So, the following story happened to Brendan last Saturday when I was out doing chair massage at a local event and I have to say that because I like to think that if I were home maybe my constant bickering to be careful might have finally made a difference. And yet at the same time I also have a strong feeling it probably wouldn't have mattered either way. I was just sad I wasn't here to comfort him when it did happen, and of course at some point I would have been telling him 'What has Mommy always been telling you to be careful for?' Even though I could never be a nurse or doctor of any sort, I don't mind my own blood but for some reason I just can't look at anyone else's, I believe that taking care of and cleaning boo boos is one of my strong suits as a mom. It must be only my blood and my kids that I can stand.



So anyway, all he was doing was riding his scooter out front with brother and Reily when he biffed it, I don't know how I just know his face met the pavement and Dave as well as our friends next door came running outside after hearing the blood curdling scream from my 5 year old. At first it only looked like he sort of bloodied his nose according to our friend Carrie but by the time I got home to see it this is what it looked like. A big part of his right side was nice and scraped up from the sidewalk. The frown below is fake, after the first picture in which he was smiling and saying, 'I don't feel good' as I took the picture I told him we should have one of him frowning too. Thankfully children are quick healers and as of now his face has greatly improved. Thanks to all the cleaning and meds we've put on it I am very hopeful that he will have very little scaring if any at all. So here's to having rambunctious boys or any adventerous kids for that matter. I'll just pray even harder that God, the Angels and their Spirit Guides help us watch over our children when they are not with us and keep them safe!

Interview

Well, Dave's interview with Dream Theater went very good it sounds like. Dave was there for two hours so hopefully that bodes well. And the owner told Dave he would like to get him in for a second interview and would be calling him. He hasn't heard from him yet so we'll see. I don't want to get my hopes up, so I've more been holding my breath which is not good but I'm still alive. I'm just so thankful Dave is more positive than me right now about his prospects! That's key for them to see when he's being interviewed. If anything pans out we'll be sure to let you all know. We won't call anyone with news as soon as we get it until he actually gets offered and accepts a job. So until then we'll just keep posting here about the most recent interviews. Thanks for keeping us in your good thoughts we really appreciate all the good ones we can get!

Totally Bummed about Dora! =(

Well, I've been meaning to post about our trip to Denver on June 5th to go see Dora Live. I finally get to it and realize I deleted the pics off our SD card before I uploaded to the computer, I only deleted them because I thought I had put them on already! So I have no pics, but really the only pics I was able to take were ones right outside the theater. They wouldn't let you take pics of the actual performance. So I guess we'll just have to really ingrain those few pictures we had in our memory, Dave and I.

I got the tickets because I saw an ad on facebook and since we've never done something like this for the boys decided that it would be our big thing this summer to spend some money on. Since we don't know what the future holds my motto for the summer is 'To have fun and really enjoy every moment we can!' The boys both had a very good time and about half the time I was watching them to see their reactions, we didn't tell them who we were going to see until we got there. Brendan was sort of dumbstruck but did finally end up singing along for a little bit and both the boys loved that I told them this is the one place they could YELL out the answers to help Dora and Boots on their journey. I think they were surprised to the point of being speechless. =)

Travel Anticipation and Excitement! Sidebar; An Interview too!

I'm up way too early, partly because of a growling stomach. I cannot sleep when I am so hungry. Also because I will soon be traveling. So you combine the two and it's very hard for me to get back to sleep so I thought I would blog while I am getting some sustenance (like that Manda?) ;) I had to through that in for my little sister since I put that on fb the other day and she just loved that I said sustenance. =)

Anyway, traveling you ask? Well, a dear friend of mine that I have had since preschool is moving away from Colorado soon. We will no longer live in the same town much less the same state by the end of July! It will be an adjustment and sad that we won't get to see each other whenever we want but I am also so excited for her. The accounting firm she's worked for the last few years has business in Denver and Atlanta. A few months ago she found out that they will be closing the Denver offices so she decided to let them know that if they had a position for her in Atlanta that she would be willing to transfer. Well, thankfully, especially in this job market right now she can keep her same job, it will just be in a whole different state!

So recently she offered me the opportunity to be able to meet her out there during a training week she has to do before she moves so that way she would have a friend (her Mom couldn't make it) to help her find a place to live. Thanks to her company paying for everything as well as my wonderful hubby and in-laws taking care of the boys, I am able to fly out there this afternoon and spend the weekend with her apartment hunting! I am so excited that I get to go help her and see her new city, especially because I have no idea when I will be able to visit her once she is settled.

The stress of not knowing what our future holds when jobs are uncertain these days and your spouse is in great need of one is starting to get to me. I'm doing the best I can with the positive attitude God graced me with but it can still be a challenge. But what would life be like if we didn't have those, boring I'm sure. Anyway, we do have some good news on the job front. Dave has an interview for a position he wasn't even sure would be a fit for him. The speaker at his last networking meeting is looking for someone to put in a sales position. Dave thought, 'Oh, that doesn't sound like a fit for me' so he didn't outright apply for it. Well, after the guy did his schpeal Dave went and talked to him because while he was working as an assistant with Northwestern Mutual he had talked to this guy over the phone since he was one of his employers insurance clients and just wanted to say hi. Well the guy remembered Dave and told him he should send him his resume since he had worked at Northwestern Dave would be the type of person he was looking for! Well, we'll see what happens. Dave and I are both hopeful of course, but we have learned not to get them too high. We're also a bit leary of it possibly being a high commision paying job. We'll cross that road when we come to it. His interview is Wednesday so please keep him in your thoughts! We'll let you know once we know anything. Take care and have a great weekend everyone!

Our Eli Pie is no longer a preschooler! Yay and sniff, but mostly yay!

Well, I know it's been two weeks tomorrow that this happened but with so much to blog for a change I'm doing everything in the order it happened. You could call that OCD tendencies of mine if you like, I do. ;) Anyway, here's Brendan on his last day of preschool May 28th. His teacher Cindi had a cute little ceremony for him. He was the only one in his class this year that's moving on to Kindergarten so it was all about Brendan!

Kindergarten here I come!

We still haven't heard from Kruse which we choiced into and he is the very next on the waiting list which has been the case since February. So as of right now he is going to O'Dea which is our neighborhood school and core knowledge. We really like both schools but I have found myself wishing and hoping for Kruse to call, mostly because we already know a good handful of kids that go there including a couple who used to go to preschool with Brendan and will also be in K this year. As well as our neighbor friends two little girls go there and they love it! Maybe sometime this summer we will get the call and if not then O'Dea is what's meant to be, it's not in our hands until we get a call.

Brendan with his other classmates and preschool teacher Cindi!

A Spontaneous Date with my Hubby!

Our impromptu concert date night thanks to Dave and 93.3 in Denver! When I was still in Pueblo on Sunday, May 24th little did I know Dave had entered a contest on a whim when he was listening to a rock station based in Denver! All he had to do was text Gwen to a number that 93.3 FM gave out on the air and he was in a drawing for free concert tickets to The No Doubt concert with Paramore opening for them. Well, Dave answers his phone Tuesday morning, the 26th and is getting more and more excited as he is talking to someone on the other end. Now, for those of you who know Dave has been unemployed since last November and has been plugging away on the job hunt, you might be like me and think, "Yay, he's finally got another interview, yay, yay, yay". Well, obviously that was not the case and I did proceed to give him great grief for it the rest of the day. Thankfully, Grandma Joyce was able to watch the boys for us that Wednesday night so we could go down to Denver and enjoy a concert date courtesy of 93.3 FM and Dave just figuring he had nothing to lose by trying! We've never won concert tickets before so it was quite the treat and we had loads of fun!

Memorial Day

Okay, I know Memorial Day was a little over a week ago and I wanted to post this then but obviously that did not happen. I've always known that Memorial Day was set up as a day to remember fallen soldiers who have given their lives for our country and each year I do think of them even more than normal because of it and greatly appreciate their sacrifice. I hope this does not make anyone think I'm trying to lessen the meaning of soldiers and what they do for us and our country but just to share with you what it means to me. As I get older Memorial Day means even more to me as I also see it as a day to remember everyone who has passed away, whether a close part of my life or not!
A year ago it came to mean more to me and I would like to share with you why because it is what prompted me to even start this blog. Kim and her husband Gary did not serve their country in the military sense but they did have big hearts and were very loved by their family and friends. Kim and I were acquaintances in high school, we both sat by each other in Chemistry and were in Les Jongluers choir together. We weren't best friends and lost touch after high school but were able to reconnect at our 10 year reunion in 2007. We had been emailing on occasion and I had checked out her blog a couple times. It had been a couple months since I last got in touch with her and she had been on my mind more than usual when my friend Shannon asked me if I had heard yet what happened and then informed me that Kim and her husband had been killed by a tornado in Kansas while on their way to visit family for the Memorial Day weekend! They were traveling late at night on Friday the 23rd when they hit a big storm, unfortunately they probably had no idea until it was too late that they were actually right in the path of the tornado that would claim their lives. From what I remember reading in one of the articles was that they had even done the right thing by stopping on the side of the road to wait out the storm. Hearing about that hit me a little more than normal because she was my age and what happened really could happen to any of us! So I just wanted to share and let you all know about Kim and that she is the reason I started blogging. That way we could be more accessible to our family and friends as a great way of keeping up-to-date with us and also as a way for me to remember a dear classmate and re-newed friend.


Clockwise from top left; Shannon,
Audrey, Kim, myself


Myself and Kim
(these pics are from our HS reunion)