the eight babies born

Sorry, I don't know how to spell the "oct" word for the 8 babies that were born yesterday.

I just wanted to say that they were born at Kaiser, Bellflower, where all my kids were born and also that Brandie works there. She got to see the babies before they were"locked them away" from possible cameras. She also said that they (employees) had to park 5 miles away and take a shuttle bus to accommodate all the media camping out there. I just wanted to say something since Brandie doesn't get much chance to post these days, but I thought it was exciting.

posting just to post...

I cannot believe I can't think of anything to write about. This will probably be random. I actually have a lot to say but it was all sounding so negative (I've written and erased a few times). Things are crazy at work with a real budget crisis and everyone trying to help fix the problem. Unfortunately, the ideas are pretty much dog-eat-dog solutions. It is all pretty depressing and I am only hoping that they will come up with a decent early-retirement offer so I can just get out before the real crisis hits.
Home life is kind of boring right now also. I work the early shift and Ray seems to work the late shift, we don't see too much of each other. The kids keep me busy since Amy's days off are her school days and she isn't around. Faith is great at doing homework but Cameron is a tough cookie. He knows his subjects well, but he has a real hard time staying focused enough to do homework. It can take up to 2 hours (and that's with him at the table, in my sight, with no TV on and nothing close by to distract him) and then when he does do the work, he is so sloppy. I love working with him on other things, like projects (since it is hands-on, he enjoys it) but homework is a struggle every night (and Amy doesn't get home until after 7:30 which is too late to help). I keep hoping it will get better but right now... Amy and Cameron have a meeting at school on Friday and I am hoping between the teacher and principal they can come up with some solutions to his "easily distracted" behaviors. He is also very inconsistent in tests scores. So, even though I love him to pieces, I also find him an added stress in my already stressed out day. Any suggestions? It helps having lots of family in the educational field, maybe you can help me work this out better.
I miss mom and dad also and wish I could visit more often. I am so used to having them here and making almost daily visits. And even though I know they are happy where they are I know they also miss having family close by and having regular visitors.

Well, I was right, this is random and, I apologize, a bit negative. But it's how I am feeling today and I had time to blog, so here it is.

random Christmas photos

I wish I could figure this out, how to post pictures the way I want them and add comments as wanted, but this is all I could do. Some random pictures from the family holiday party and then some of the cousin shots we took. I tried to add more but either I hit the limit or it just stopped letting me do what I wanted, so I will leave it at this.

Fun day in Santa Barbara

Thursday, Jan 1st, Amy, the kids and I drove to Lakewood to spend the night at Kathy's house. Actually, Kathy had Jessica's 3 kids there and invited Ella and Robert and Alisa to come over also, so there were 8 cousins in all, sleeping on air mattresses in her living room. Amy decided to join Ray and Brandie at their quiet home for the night and I stayed at Kathy's. We got up early and headed for Santa Barbara. We had decided to go visit the Natural Museum there because Cameron has a report to do on a California Indian tribe and chose the Chumash Indians who are from that area and this museum has an entire exhibit on the tribe. We were also able to visit the Santa Barbara Mission while there, which will be the next project Cameron will have (to build a model California mission). Both the museum (and surrounding grounds) and the mission were beautiful and worth the trip, but we also went to the SB Zoo and enjoyed that too. The drive to SB is nice and we all enjoyed the day. We went back to Ray and Brandie's and spent the night in the Middoughs' empty home (they drove kids back to AZ). Then Saturday we stopped by to see grandpa and grandma. Amy had not been to their new home and she loved it. We had a 2 hour visit and then had to head home. We got home early enough to catch up with housework and laundry and get ready for church and, unfortunately, back to school and work tomorrow.