{introducing}

I’ve We’ve been pretty busy around here lately… what with cub scouts two weeks in a row, trying to find a new vehicle for Jay, and not getting home until later at night. Add on top of that homework that I don’t want to do, turning in a research proposal draft, and asking for recommendation letters from old supervisors, and then editing four (almost five) photography sessions. It’s all kept me from wanting to blog lately.

It has been a slow day at clinic for me today (where I happen to be right now), but that is okay. I have needed a slow day at clinic for a while now and it gives me some time to get other things done.
We had a good weekend. Jay has a new truck now and he loves it. Ayden and I have nicknamed it 'The Beast' and Jay doesn't like that name. He's going to have to deal with it though because it stuck!

I had a photo-shoot on both Saturday and Sunday. Both went really well. I have one of them already edited and ready for the client. The other one shouldn't take me too long to edit. I have two more shoots this Saturday. A maternity one for my cousin and a couple's one for the photographer who takes our family pictures. I am excited about those as well, although I will admit that I am a little nervous to take pictures for another photographer. I hope that I can impress her!

Classes continue to go well. I'm ready for the end of the semester already, but I don't want to wish away the weeks too fast. There is essentially only a month and a half left. I've had one test so far and I did really well on it. We have weekly quizzes in another class and the last two quizzes have not gone well for me. On last week's quiz I got an 80% and on this weeks quiz I only got a 60%. Oops! But in my defense, it doesn't take much to get a 60% when there are only 10 questions on the quiz, haha! It was hard though because a lot of the information wasn't on the PowerPoint slides we had (well I suppose that it doesn't help that I have a hard time paying attention in class as well). Hoping this weeks quiz is a little easier!

The externship hunt is moving forward at a snails pace. I've asked for letters of recommendation and have three of them so far, plus a glowing recommendation from another professor that I essentially didn't have to ask for. I did ask one other previous supervisor; however, I have not heard back from her yet. She did say that when I was with her that she would give me a recommendation if I ever needed one so we will see. According to my classmate, Katie, who is with her right now, she is pretty busy with some personal issues right now. I'll just be happy to know where I will be going for my externship and where we will be living by like January or February. Hoping sooner rather than later and I know with the coming holiday months that time will essentially fly by me without me even realizing it.

I have the two photo-shoots this weekend, two next weekend, and then one more scheduled. I am thinking about adding in clause for my clients that states they will have to pay extra if they are late. I have had three people be late in the last two weeks and it drives me nuts! Is my time not important to them? I am habitually on time or early and it drives me nuts when we are running late (which is hardly ever) and so it drives me even more nuts when I have to wait on other people. Really, I don't care if you have no kids, one kid, or six kids, plan your time wisely and budget for things to take longer and you WILL be on time. Really, how hard can it be?! Now, five or ten minutes late doesn't usually bother me, but after that it gets a little long, especially when it is an important event. Oh well, there is my gripe about that.

I took some initiative at home with Ayden's school work. He doesn't typically come home with any homework, except for a packet of math sheets on Wednesday nights. We are supposed to read with him for 20 minutes a night and for a while there we were pretty good about reading with him, but it wasn't for 20 minutes. Yesterday I got home from work a little early and had a bit before I had to pick Ayden up from school so I cleaned out his homework box that I had made him awhile ago and filled it up with some stuff. I have decided that we are going to set the timer for 20 minutes each night and read a chapter book. I read a page, he reads a page. For the most part, he is reading the majority of the 20 minutes because the time it takes me to read a page is significantly shorter than the time it takes him. We are also going to work on his handwriting and math skills. I have a check off sheet for him to do each night and it includes: emptying out his school folder, mom or dad signing his planner, reading 20 minutes, writing the book name down in his reading folder, going through his vocabulary words, math worksheet and hand writing worksheet. All in all, this shouldn't take more than an hour and I think that that is even long. But with the check off sheet I think it will hold Jay and myself more accountable for our actions because last week I noticed that it was too easy for us to sit back on the couch and watch TV as a family than to pick up a book and read as a family. And at this point, reading is WAY more important than watching TV. Both Ayden and Jay know that his check off list needs to be completed before the TV goes on for the night. Keep your fingers crossed and wish us good luck with this. We are entering a whole new phase of parenting as Ayden continues to get older and although he is more able to be independent on things, it is a whole different level of help and responsibility that we need to give as parents.

And since there are a whole lot of pictures that I want to share yet and don’t really feel like continuing to write, enjoy! CIAO! LOVE ME!