"Mom, I want to be baptized"

Last Sunday was the first Sunday in Emily's life that she did not have Youth Worship, Kids 2 Praise or Praise camp to go to. As she is now a first grader and the church we are attending cuts them off at the end of kindergarten. So she is sitting there behaving as good, if not better than one can expect from a first grader listening to her first sermon that she could ever remember, and it is time for communion. She has sat through communion before but we usually have two kids rolling all over us and this week they did communion after the sermon. She usually asks for crackers and I always have just told her no without any explanation. This week I figured if she is old enough to sit so nicely during the sermon and she has shown signs of actual intelligence lately so I lean over and whisper in her ear, "Only those people who have been baptized can have the crackers." She sits back and thinks for a minute. After the "wine" has passed she looks up at me and says, "Mom, I want to be baptized." As I know deep down where this is going, I lean down and ask her "Emily, why do you want to be baptized?" She looks up at me with all the innocence of a child and says, "So that I can have the crackers." I hold back the urge to giggle and tell her that is not the reason that one decides to get baptized, but that we could talk more about it after church if she liked. Of course, after church all she was concerned about was if we could go to the local pizza place The Rockin Tomato for lunch.

Wow, out of the mouths of my children.

Well, well well

So I sent THE email and heard nothing for quite a few hours. I did have an email waiting for me from our HR person at corporate about doing an exit interview. So I emailed her back and set up a time for 11:00am. So she calls and I tell her how I feel unappreciated and that he doesn't rust me and all of that stuff. So She asks if I told the Regional boss, and I said I had actually just emailed him my thoughts the night before. She was glad to hear that. So I don't hear anything until about three when I had to email the boss about something completely unrelated and he responds and also asks if I will be in on Monday, he would like to discuss the email. I reply that I can be anytime after noon. So we have a meeting set up for Monday afternoon.

In my email I mentioned that I wanted the open property in Austin. I don't know what will happen. I am sure I will have a lot to say Monday night, also our score is the theirs highest in the company all year long. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I am NOT a loser Part II

Okay, so we all are aware that i am not a loser, and that I can spell it correctly now, BUT I have news. At my property we were audited today. I have managed to miss every audit that comes through by a few weeks in all my years with La Quinta. But I did great. I say I becasue the ausdit consists of all of my work. We got a 93.16%!!! The highest in the region. I certainly hope that the big Boss recognizes the hard work that I do...we shall see as I am going to send him an email detainling how wonderful I am and how I really do not enjoy working with my boss.

But a 93.16% is unheard of in our region and in the company for a while. So I hope he reads my letter, which Amy is proof reading for me as I write this and we shall see what happens.

Good grief!

So I put in my two week notice to La Quinta yesterday and it was received as well as I thought it would be. I really did not expect much hoopla. It was posted on the JOB report that goes out all over the company as an open position today. So...I guess they are ready to be rid of me. Oh well. My boss keeps saying little things, like you are going to miss you and I hope I get another AGM with your knowledge. I really think he is doing it to make me feel better, he just doesn't realize how not bad I feel. Now I say good grief in my title line because gosh darn it my parents instilled work ethic in me. I was planning on taking today off, but I heard from someone who has not been audited, as we have not been audited as well that they were at her property today. So I pack my kids up and send them away and come into work because I know we would fail if they came in and I did not fix some things before they got here. So here I am at work, instead of being off with my two beautiful kids. Thanks a lot Mom and Dad, you instilled work ethic, the value of a job done right and dedication to your work in me. I really do not know what I would do without it all. I know that it is because of these things that I was offered the new job, So really... Thanks!!!

I am NOT a loser!!!

I am NOT a loser, I AM a daughter of THE KING and that makes me a pretty, pretty princess. A special thank you to Amy for these inspiring words that I almost chanted on my way to my second interview with SHCC on Tuesday. They called me back in the afternoon and offered me the job!!! I am excited and nervous. Nervous at the thought of telling my boss. So I come in to work this morning to talk to him and the A/C's in all the public areas of the building, including the office, are down. Mind you it is almost, if not 100 degrees out side. So I finally get to talk to him in his office after we have put out a half dozen fires and he is either a truly good actor or he had no idea. He asked what it would take to keep me here, to which I had no answer. Because I truly do not know. But today in that office was the first time in months that I have spoken with him and he seemed to be truly appreciative of my knowledge and hard work. I do not know what will come of it all, but it will be an interesting time for me in the upcoming days.

I am NOT a loser, I AM a daughter of THE KING and that makes me a pretty, pretty princess.

Baseball and Emily's return

The Wednesday before Emily was to return home to Austin I received free tickets to the minor league baseball team, the Round Rock Express. We thought it would be fun, we had only been once before and that was when we first moved to the area. Josh really enjoyed getting to take his son to the game, because Jacob actually watched it for about two innings before he lost interest and wanted to go climb on the Rainbow playscapes. We only stayed for 5 innings, but had a great time all the same. Jacob especially enjoyed the cotton candy and all the soda he could take in. It is a wonder that we got him to sleep that night.

Emily has returned. It was great to see her. She has grown so much and I can hardly believe how grown up she is. That is until about 3 o'clock today when everything came crashing down. She was awoken by her brother this morning and thus blamed her "crankiness" on the fact that Jacob rose her from her beauty sleep. And then it was stormy and we would not allow her to roam the neighborhood when a lightning filled storm was about to hit. I guess I am a bad parent. Her brother was really jealous of her and all the attention she was getting last night, but seems to have mellowed out today.

This is the first time I have been able to see them viable fight for Josh and I's attention. We do our best to only reward good behavior with attention, but occasionally the bad warrants a good stern talking to and thus they get the attention. Oh well...nobody ever said being a parent was easy.

Need I say more?

This is my beautiful baby girl, who I miss
more than I ever thought I would.

She never was afraid of heights

We recieved some photos from my parents of Emily climbing on what my Dad said was a small rock wall for Emily. pparently the day before she had been climbing on one that was 24 feet high. This is just a small one at the local palyground. It made me start to think about how much Emily loved adventure and loved to play, and when she played she played hard. She has grown in the two weeks she has not been with us. I can see it in her face and in her presence. I can not beleive I have a child that will be in the first grade in three weeks.

FINALLY!!

So I have been with only one child for three weeks, with only one left to go and had yet to have a day with just me and Jacob. Where we did our thing. Everytime I had a "day off" something would come upand I would ahve to go into work. So Yesterday we fianlly had a 90% La Quinta free day (they only called 4 times, not bad for a weekend with an incident) and we made cookies!!! Jacob loves to cook, and he really loves to bake. He LOVES cookies and peanut butter cookies with reeses Peices in them is heaven to him, so we bought the stuff at the store and proceded to make the most ndelicious cookies ever. they were only so good becasue of the sweet time I finally got to spend with my one and only son.

My job

So I have been looking for another job kinda. You know how you look for one but you not actively looking? How you just kind of keep your eyes and ears open to anything that may come open. Well I have found something that I am actually going to apply for. I am really nervous about the entire situation. I am not sure about the entire thing, I don't know if I am even truly qualified for the job, but what's the worst that could happen? It is not like I have lost my job at La Quinta. I am going to take in my application tomorrow before I come into my job in the morning. I just don't think I can do the job I do, for what little money that I make anymore. I really feel that I am worth SO much more that I make. And I am starting to feel myself not want to do the best job that I know I can because I don't make squat for a salary and put in more hours that one should ever put in. BUT at the same time an Inns and Suites just came open and if someone in the region moves up into it, I may want to stay on and try to get an Inn. Which I know I am perfectly capable of running, because I practically do it by myself now, but I would get more money for my time and effort. I just want to feel appreciated and compensated for my efforts.

Look at my little lady

Emily is spending three weeks with my mother and father in New Mexico and they have turned her into a young lady. I don't think I like it very much. She got new shoes while in New Mexico and is showing them off before church last Sunday. She looks so grown up and is talking better than ever and is outgrowing all of her cute little girls clothes. She has sent Josh and I letters, which she sent on Thursday and expected us to recieve on Friday. We did finally receive them today and she was thrilled to peices when we told her that they had come in the mail today. She also has purchased two Barbie dolls, that I was informed are her new Barbie "Collection." She learned so much from her slightly older cousin Hannah in Kentucky. I know she imulates her and was so sad to leave her. While in Kentucky she had her very first sleepover with her cousin Hannah. She grew up so much while there.

I really do miss the little girl she was, not just when she was four and a wonderful little handful but even just three weeks ago before we left and she wanted to help pack our bags for the trip.

Bathtime with Jacob

Jacob enjoys bathtime with bubbles. He really enjoys having Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine riding in his pirate ship. He had a fabulous time playing with Daddy today, spending every minute outside that was not raining. But he got extra stinky and needed an extra spiffy bathtime to clean up. He had a great time getting clean and getting all the toys clean as well.

The boys watch baseball

Here are Josh and Jacob laying on the bed watching baseball together. Already they enjoy the time spent together watching silly games about bats and balls.

Fun with Mamagrand

We just returned home from Kentucky where Emily and Jacob loved riding in the trailer attached to the riding lawnmower at my grandparents house. Mamagrand would drive the kids around the lake in front of their house nearly every morning. I remeber doing stuff like this with Mamagrand when I was a kid, and was so pleased to get to see my kids enjoy her company as much as I do. They went to pick balckberries to make a pie and to see the field full of sunflowers in the trailer.