Our new/old normal

1st of all I turned 38 years old July 29th, so that happened. Bethany and Jude were really cute and they keep on loving on me and wishing me a happy birthday.  Bethany had a better time with it then I did I think. 

We are just finishing Summer here and I for one am glad to see it go. It's been a summer with a lot of question marks. First, Cindy's employment ended at the beginning of the summer. Her wonderful para position was over and in order for our master 'plan' to work out Cindy needed to find a full time teacher job for next semester (or as soon as the right one came around). Cindy worked hard getting her teaching license transferred over to Texas and she has been feeling the itch to get back behind a desk. 

The summer started out a little slow, Cindy had a few job opportunities but nothing really panned out until..... 6 DAYS UNTIL THE START OF THE SEMESTER! This excellerated all of our plans and forced us to get all of our planning enacted very quickly. 

1st, Cindy's new job (Coble Middle school) is looking like a a wonderful fit for Cindy! She has completed her first week, the meeting/planning week. The first bridge that we had to cross is the timing. Cindy's school gets out at 4:30 and I have to be at work at Whole Foods in Colleyville (40 mins away) at 3/4 pm. Makes this a impossible task for us both to be employees full time. So something had to change. Cindy's job makes more sweet moola than mine so we considered me going part time or even finding another job... But my insurance and benifits are too great here so we tried

to find another option. One option that we really never wanted to consider is to but the kids in daycare to cover the 2/3 hours of job overlap. We hated the thought but in order for us to have a decent amount of money flowing in and keep our great benefits we had to look into it. Cindy found the Children's courtyard in Mansfield. It was a little expensive but would be a safe environment for my babies. So, with that all being said in order for the daycare to take place we had to get another Car. We, with the guidance of Pappy, found and purchased a brand-new Dodge grand Caravan within about 3 hours time. AWESOME!! With one day to spare we got everything ready for D-Day, Cindy's 1st day of school

So here's were we are at...

Monday - Friday Cindy works at school 8:30-4:30, I watch the kids at home. I take the kids to daycare around 3pm and go to Cindys school to switch cars (so Cindy has the car seats). I then go to work. At 4:30 Cindy goes to day care to pick up the kids, takes them home and take care of them through the evening. I get home around 11:30 and hit the hay. Then we get up and do it all over again!! Crazy but it works. I feel blessed that my boss lets me have 2 days  off during the week so the kids only have to go to daycare 3 times a week. The kids after 1 week of daycare are staring to get use to it. Bethany is liking it more than Jude but it's getting better.

We are making it a point to go to church every week and have mama/dad time as well so please don't feel sorry for us,  we are blessed beyond measure!! GOD IS GOOD!!!

So how did I find time to write this blog you ask...  I'm on my lunch break, time to go make some more BBQ!  

Whole Foods Market Colleyville

15 days & 106 hours later I enjoyed my first day off from my new store yestarday. I really didn't know what to expect but it was a lot of insanity. Even though I know my job and what to do I had to get use to the new set up and try to fine a new everyday 'normal' on how things flow. To further increase the crazy we had all the leaders and big wigs (with us small wigs) giving their 2 cents on how things should be. I guess I did good I only lost it twice but I guess that is good for the continual pressure undo and do coming down on us. I also had to train a new team member who was a space cadet and ended up quitting after week 1. On the positive side we have a great crew and I like my team. This is the first time that I am working on a team that has more Christians than not. How cool is that. And we have all kinds of brand new equipment to break in. All in all I'm excited about the new store and I might just have found my niche at Whole Foods!!! I like being a BBQ man!! 

1 year

It has been 1 year this past weekend since I left my family in Colorado for 2 weeks and started work and getting set up in Texas. We have gone thru a lot of growing pains over the last year but what a wonderful adventure it has been and with the help of family we have set up a wonderful life here. We are still adjusting but I'm so proud of the past year and what we have accomplished. Now I think I need a vacation!!!!! 

6

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the beginning of my life. I'm not going to publicly say much in this blog about it because some things are ment just for her ears but I will say a few. I have never meet such a more beautiful person both inside and out. Cindy is my everything, truly my best friend. She has given me not only two wonderful kids but also let's me be myself, and that's all. She doesn't love me for who I strive to be she loves me where I'm at now. And if that isn't the purest form of God-like Love I don't know what is. Happy 6th! 

Sick

We'll, the sickness bug has entered the Hall house. This started with Cindy about a week ago and we are lucky all on the road to recovery now hopefully. Cindy has some throat pain and was unsure what it might be. She was in considerable pain and had a hard time swallowing. A few days later, Bethany came down with a low-grade fever. This lasted only one day. Two days after that Jude came down with a low-grade fever that lasted only one day. Cindy finally got a doctors apt and found out that she had strep throat. Cindy took the kids in the next day to be tested for strep throat. Luckily both of the tests turned out negative but they did have a virus.... Foot, mouth & hand disease. The doctor explained that this was a mild disease in nothing to worry about. Jude got it worse than Bethany and developed rashes all over his body. They both seem to be doing a lot better and I think we've been through the worst of it. O and me..... Well nothing yet but that remains to be seen. Keep your fingers crossed. 

Rangers vs Rockies

A couple of weeks ago we were excited to get to go out as a family to the Rangers ballpark to see a game. We were especially excited that the Rockies were going to be in town and also that this was going to be Jude's first baseball game. To start out the day we were a little worried because of the huge amount of rain storms in the area. We were blessed though that the clouds parted and the sun came out a hour before the game started. Bethany had chosen the cuisine far in advance and we all ate at the kids favorite restaurant Taco Buneo before the game. 

Then we arrived at the stadium and did some souvenir shopping. Bethany picked a stuffed dog, Jude picked a baseball and Cindy and I got some Rangers hats (sorry Rockies). We had seat in the outfield and besides one other man we were the only ones in our section which was good for our crazy kids. 

 The kids woofed down some bluebell ice cream and Cotton candy. 

The kids really enjoyed the game and Cindy and I had to take turns letting them roam the stadium a little. The Rangers won the game and we had a wonderful family day at the ballpark! 

Jude-isms

Like his big sister before him, Jude has cleverly come up with his own words and some words that sound similar to our English lingo. Here is list with definition of some of Jude's words. 

Ssss-eows : this is the word Jude Bradley use for SHOES. He adores shoes and loves to take them on and off. He especially loves his green crocs, probably because sister has crocs.  

E-aah : Cindy discovered that this is Jude's word for PLEASE. He has discovered that when he says please he will get stuff (mostly food) so this is his favorite word. 

Ha-hooo : this is the phrase "THANK YOU".  He really doesn't say and words or really any letters when he thanks us he just uses the intonation in his voice. 

A waunt it / A waunt thaat : this one is pretty easy to decifer. He usually says this when he wants.... You guessed it, food. 

Open it : this one can be for food or anything he wants taken out to play with. 

Pea-pea : this is a term for solid or liquid waste. 

Baaaaa: nope, not a sheep but a plea to take a BATH. He also throws a fit if his bath does not come in a timely manner. 

Jude is really growing up since we have moved to Texas. He has learned to walk, talk a little, doubled in size and plays with friends and sister. He is also fearless and will go down a big playground slide by himself. He loves to wrestle and he has a hardy, cute laugh.