If only. . . .

. . . . the pretty girls were this available to wash muddy dirtbikes after an afternoon of riding!

Update on job

Well, I had my first few days on the job at the post office. It went well and I am feeling more comfortable every day. The only thing is, there were not a whole lot of customers, so we had to pretend to be customers. But that was OK, we were able to pretend sending parcels to the Montreal, Illinois, and Finland (plus lots more). I am glad to see the training week behind me, though. It has been fun, and I am finding I am enjoying working with the public.

Misc. pictures

Here is a picture of the kids making a gingerbread house this past winter. It turned out pretty good (that is the house stayed up and all the candies didn't get eaten before they made it on the house!) We had a lot of fun, though!

Here is a picture of the shirt Andrew was wearing when he had his first formal interview with Tim Hortons (for all you Americans, that is a coffee, donut, and sandwich fast food resturaunt.) He didn't get the job, I wonder why?!!! To be fair to Andrew, he was dropping off resumes, not expecting any interviews.

Linda and Phil, do you recognize this picture? Think Texas.

Weekend company

Just a picture of our weekend company, Caroline Banwart and Bernice Stahl. Aunt Jane, Bernice is going to show you this!

Job training

Just a short note to say you won't hear much from me in the next two weeks due to my post office job training. I am currently in my first week of training at London, ON and chose to commute for 2 of the days. We had "meet the teacher" night tonight and tomorrow there are a couple of things going on that I should be home for. Otherwise, I am staying at a nice motel in a room that is like a small apartment. I get a great meal allowance each day and have a nice big break in the evenings to relax or shop or do whatever! There are 10 people in our class and there is A LOT of information to learn. I did NOT know there was SO many services to sell or procedures to follow to work there. I am learning TONS. I think I will put the training for my other job on hold, because my brain is starting to melt with all this new information!! Jim and the kids are stepping up nicely to the plate to keep home running smoothly without me there much. The younger kids are missing the fall fair tomorrow and school even gets out at noon so they can go. Too bad, they love to enter their pets in the pet show and make lots of spending money with the prizes. Leah is riding Sierra in the parade, so I am sorry to miss that. Hannah is caring for an abandoned kitten from the barn which is only about 2 days old. She has to get up every 2 hours at night to feed it and find someone during the day to take care of it when she gets home. Training for when she has kids I guess!

Canadian Postie

Well, I found out a few days ago that I got the job at Canada Post. It wasn't the actual job I applied for, but they needed a relief worker (term worker) so they offered me that position instead. I go to London (1 hour drive) for a week and a half to training and then train at the location of the local post office I will be working at. Apparently, the post office pays for a motel and meals for the time I am in training in London, so it looks like I may be staying there overnight. I am not sure how the family will get along without me, but I don't mind dining out every night and staying in the Marriot! I may drive home one or two of the nights just to be at home a bit. I am supposed to be getting some more information today about the finer details of all of this. So, please pray for us as we transition thru this time.

Dog's days

Here are some photos of Ellie and Odie and the girls. They had so much fun this summer with them. The bottom photo is Ellie going over an obstacle course that they made for the dogs to do. I didn't mind they set up the course, but they weren't allowed to "drag" the dogs thru it! Ellie is being coaxed thru with a possibility of a treat, I think. The dogs have been lonely since school has started. We should really focus on getting them into the house as fall is coming.

Misc. pictures

Just thought I would share some older photos. The above picture is of Julia trying on different outfits and modelling them. LuAnn, the umbrella you gave her is getting some use! The below photo is of Hannah and my mother/daughter getaway in Buffalo, NY. We were at a fancy resturaunt and this was one of the displays. Notice the buffalo made of roses behind Hannah.

In the above photo, Hannah is snuggling her favorite animal(s). She really does well with the kittens and they really like her. In the below photo, Julia is holding baby Caleb. Too cute!

Making tracks

Saturday, one of Andrew's friends and his Dad came over on their big JD tractor and helped make some more dirt bike track for the boys. They stayed about 4 hours, but only used about half of the leftover dirt pile(s) we had from the arena. The boys were pretty excited about their new jumps etc. and we hope to finish putting the rest of the dirt in place soon.
Well, today is the last day of freedom from school! Tomorrow is back to school routine, only Andrew starts 1 hour earlier than the rest of the kids. He isn't saying much about starting high school, but I think he is a bit nervous.
We are finished with choring for our neighbors with all the German Shepherd pups. We (sort of) sold one pup for them. We were told if we sold any pups, we would get a $100 commission. The people came to look at the pups last week, and asked to take one home. We told them they could leave a deposit, but that Peter (the owner) had to give a second set of shots and microchip the pup yet. They chose not to leave the deposit, but called yesterday to come and pick up the pup. I told them that Pete was not back until today. Does that mean we sold a pup? I am guessing so, but we will see! I am just thankful that none of them were stolen, I would not want to be responsible for having to pay for one! He sells them for $1500 a piece.
Today is our church's Sunday School picnic. We usually have it at church (we have a large lot), but we are in the middle a building project, so the field is all tore up. We are having it at a park in Waterloo and the kids are very excited about it. They have racing games, a big baseball game and a candy toss, which is a HUGE drawing card for everyone to come! It is looking like beautiful weather for it, too! (smile)