Long time no post

I haven't posted in forever! Sorry I will try and do a basic catch up.

Hubby had back surgery, got laid off, found a new job, had a fantastic recovery, is working thousands of miles away and I only get to see him once a month.

Sapphire is back in public school. I'm sad and defeated but it just wasn't working anymore. It's hard enough to be a parent of a preteen without being a teacher at the same time. She's happier, and I'm less stressed. She's doing Girl Scouts and loves it, she's made a lot of new friends.

Mckenzie is doing well in school. He is advanced academically. He had some behavioral issues but we're working them out. The teacher believes that he's ADHD but we are both willing to work on the issue alternatively without using medication so I'm happy with that. I don't think she's entirely wrong but I do think that a lot of it is boredom, he's said that before and she's working on ways to keep up with him.

Journey is 3 almost 4. He's doing all the normal 3 year old things. Bouncing off the walls, drawing on the walls and throwing things at them when he gets upset. He is really into drawing lately and makes some interesting pictures. He is obsessed with dinosaurs, I think he has 7 books now. Not board book either, but like encyclopedia books. He will sit there for a long time just looking through them, he's beginning to tell them apart now.

Me...I'm writing again. That is why I haven't been on much. I have been writing like crazy, I'm about a third of the way through a different novel. It is totally different from the other one. It's a sci-fi/fantasy novel. I was originally writing it as a YA novel because the protagonist is pair of teenage girls but I don't think that will work. It's very dark, graphic and the language is probably too advanced for a younger audience. It's not foul language just what my junior high teacher would call $5 words.

I also volunteered for Sidelines. I have been thinking about this for a long time. With my pregnancy with Sapphire I really would have loved to have known about this organization. Being a teenager, pregnant, on bedrest after a previous miscarriage; it was a very scary and isolated time. So now I am going to be providing support for other women on bedrest. I think it's a fantastic organization and am so proud to be involved.

I'm looking at going back to college in the fall of 2010. Journey will be school age (gasp!) then so I won't have to worry about daycare. Also if there is a small period of time between the kids and me getting home Sapphire will be old enough to watch them. I'm looking to possibly going out of state. Oregon does not have many affordable college choices. It would depend on where I can get it and what kind of financial aid/scholarships I find. It's been difficult looking as most of them are directed at high schoolers. My high school grades are not really relevant and I never did take the SAT's. I was thinking about taking them to see if it would open more options. But I have time, that's why I'm planning so far ahead.

We just got back from a trip to Houston, Texas. It was a hellish drive and I will never do it again. I will update more on that later.