New Job

Rumpelstiltskin ended wonderfully. I had several conversations about the church and had a wonderful time visiting with the other moms while the kids were practicing all week.

As soon as we were done needing to go to Livingston for the play, my transmission went out in the van. Good timing for us, but definitely an inconvenience. Now all we have is an S-10 pickup to haul all of us around.

We can use the bus for anything we need to get to in town, as long as we have the time to deal with the schedule. It's free and it's kind of fun to ride the bus--the kids get a kick out of it.

The longer I am without a vehicle that holds more than 3, the more I realize how much we can't do that I had planned on this year. The bus system ends at the city limits (sometimes even short of it). Homeschool Choir is outside the city limits. History Co-op is outside the city limits. All but one field trip that we had planned are outside the city limits (I had one planned per month.). Hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, shooting range (we had just joined), 1 YW/YM activity per month, scout activities...all outside the city limits. And we can take only 2 kids and 1 driver to any of them.

So. On Monday I started applying for part time jobs that would let me pick how much I worked. On Thursday I was hired to hand out samples at Costco. It pays $11/hour and lets me pick how many (6 hour) shifts per week I will work (I chose 3 to start).

Hopefully, soon we will be able to find a vehicle we are happy with that holds us all. We are looking specifically for something that we can pay off in the next 6 months from my work. After that I plan to work a bit more so that I can pay off the little bit of debt that we have, then I will quit. I much prefer to be home full time with my kids, but I don't mind doing this so that we won't have a car payment (for very long anyway).

Queen Bea

Jessi has the lead female role in Rumpelstiltskin! At least she has more lines than anyone else other than the Tour actor/Director that comes with the little red truck. Who knew it wasn't the girl that spun the straw into gold? It's not in Missoula Children's Theatre's version--it's her mother-in-law, Queen Bea.

Jacob is Wizard #4, and Sarah and Joe are Bees. Jacob has 5-6 lines that he says alone and is thrilled with that. Sarah and Joe will probably have one line each and sing lots of songs. Lots of excitement at our house.

The performances are at 3pm and 7pm this Saturday at the Firehouse Five Playhouse in Livingston. Tickets costs $5 per person and $15 per family.

So it begins...

Tomorrow is the first day of practice for Rumpelstiltskin with Missoula Children's Theatre. Sarah, Joseph, Jacob, and Jessica have been talking about it and asking "How much longer?" for the last month. They will be performing on Saturday twice at the Firehouse 5 in Livingston...but I can't remember what times :) I'll have to post the times later this week along with what parts they got.

Miscellaneous ramblings of the week...

We had a slow Labor Day weekend...Stan organized the garage, I shopped, baked bread, and went to the Stake Women's Conference. It was fun to talk to all the women from Livingston--they filled two rows in the chapel.

The Bishop called last night and asked us to speak in Sacrament on the 14th. That always makes me nervous.

Yesterday I canned 14 quarts of chili. I figured if I was going to make it, I might as well make a really (really) big batch and can a bunch for later. It saves time later and on freezer space. I think I will try beans for beans and rice next.

Sarah has decided to do Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day (Apologia Elementary Science) this year. The style fits her personality. It is quite a bit of reading since it is in a conversational style (which she loves, but the boys can't stand). She will then tell me what she remembers, I will write it for her (since she can't write fast enough), and she will draw a picture that relates. It has roughly one experiment a week to do that I am sure Joseph will do with us. And Stan has decided to do some experiments (unrelated) with the twins also.

Sarah and Joe are loving Learning to Read with the Book of Mormon. Thanks, Jenny, for recommending it :) It's what they always want to do first. I think that's about it for now...

The Start of Our School Year...

Well...we're definitely having a slow start.

Our scripture study stuff from Book of Mormon Discovery was lost in the mail and we had to re-order. I forgot to change our mailing address with Paypal and the Livingston Post Office did not forward the package. I knew they wouldn't. Livingston is notorious for loosing mail. I still haven't gotten the new cd.

Rainbow Resource also sent me a cd of Bible Geography instead of World Geography and I had to send it back and wait for the right one to come. It did come yesterday.

I have been doing math with everyone, writing with Sarah and Jacob, and reading with Sarah and Joe. The rest will probably have to wait until after Missoula Children's Theatre September 8th-12th since next week is a short week anyway (Labor Day). At least the kids are happy :)

Seminary started today for Stephen and Shane. They have all 3 wards meet together, but separate them according to grade. Stephen is fine with that, but Shane now has no one to compete with--last year his goal was to always beat the Seniors in whatever they were doing. And he usually did. Maybe they will all come together for some things.