Millions of Peaches!

 We bought a 32 pound box of Utah peaches last week and did what we could with them. We canned 12 quarts, made about 70 oz of baby food, made some peach popsicles, peach muffins and still had peaches left over for George and I to snack on.

We also have been experimenting with different Pinterest recipes. One day I made a yummy cake that reminded me of Fall. We have also made chicken Caesar sandwiches, many types of cookies, playdough, colored rice, and I even made my own empanada dough that was pretty dang good and could work for a pie (I think a peach pie is in my future). I really enjoy Pinterest and I enjoy it even more when the things they tell me are true...

5 Months!

Oliver is five months-old! He is finally rolling both ways and enjoying every minute of it! I don't know why it takes my kids so long to roll over. I think they just don't see why they would need to until they start really wanting that toy way over there. Lucky for me he is not cutting any teeth yet! George had like four teeth by now and the end of nursing came shortly thereafter. He is a happy jack. George loves him to pieces... literally. I am waiting to find Ollie bits strewn about. He hugs him and kisses him and jumps on him and so on. But he also give him his pacifier when he is sad and pats his back to help him burp or fall asleep.

George has started to dress himself. He has never had the confidence and I just started making him do it on his own. He doesn't like to fail so he gets really frustrated if he can't do it perfectly. He is loving preschool and making some friends. For that I am truly grateful! Thanks Mrs. Brianne!

Pests

It seems I have a pest on my hands. This is what we found this morning:

I recognized the signs right away and I was able to get a picture of the rodent in his natural habitat:

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Those with a weak constitution may want to stop here

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AHHH! My eyes!! In all seriousness, we did find evidence of a mouse. It wasn't half-eaten apples but there was definitely evidence. Glen set a trap last night and I found the monster dead this morning. Gross. Glen is gone all day at school and I wasn't going to let it sit in my house until late this evening. Therefore, it was up to me to dispose of it. I was unable to finish my breakfast. I still can't think about it without getting a little nauseous.

Cars

A friend's post about her car breaking down inspired me to share our most recent car troubles. Some time last winter, when we were in Utah, our fuel level gauge started being funky in the Santa Fe. After a day or two of weirdness, it stopped working all together. We had no reason to fix it since we still had at least six months before our next inspection so we were just tracking the mileage and getting gas when we had gotten close to what we were used to getting on a full tank.

Well, July rolled around and it was time to register the car. Because the fuel level sender was out, the check engine light was on and we failed inspection, of course. So we took it to our mechanic and he replaced the fuel level sender only. Another option would have been to replace the fuel pump along with the sender since a new pump comes with a sender. But he was trying to save us money so he just replaced the sender. Meanwhile, our driver's side window was making a lot of noise when you rolled it up or down. We tried to ignore it but it started to get difficult to roll it up. So, a few days after the sender was replaced, I was driving around Mesa after meeting with a naturopathic doctor about my hives. I turned onto a busy street when the car started acting like it was out of gas... I putt putted just long enough to get onto a side street. We were in direct sunlight and I had little Ollie with me. I called Glen and he didn't answer. Luckily we did have a second car at the time because my dad had let us borrow a little Chevy he bought from my uncle. However, Glen was not answering so I called my Dad and he was able to get out to me and told me to call the mechanic to get the name of a tow company. While we waited for the car to be towed (we didn't want to leave the keys with the car in the neighborhood we were in... not a nice one) Dad took me to get an ice cream cone and I fed Oliver. I cried a little when it first happened and I realized I would be in a very hot car with my little baby. I think Dad felt bad...

Turns out the fuel pump went out... So, we had to pay to replace the fuel pump which comes with a brand new sender. I now have a barely used sender in my garage not being used... This of course happened during the month we started to budget really seriously to prepare to live on only my income.

A few days later I went to the pool with my mom and we stopped at Chick-Fil-A on our way home. I rolled down the window and it would not go up. This would almost be okay if we didn't live in AZ. Our neighbor was able to prop it up with different wedges so we could order the parts needed and still have a closed winder for our drive to UT for graduation. Well, on our drive to Utah, the car started shaking a little bit which caused the window to slowly fall down. By the time we were about an hour from getting to our destination, the car was shaking so violently that Glen had to stop driving and my mom got in our car so he could drive hers. It was giving him a headache among other things. Glen took the car to my brother's house who said the issue was not alignment as we had originally thought. The tire on the driver's side was separating on the inside... So glad we didn't die. Of course our tires are at least $200 a tire because we drive an SUV. Luckily they were under warrantee so we got a free tire but we had to pay for the neighbor tire since you really shouldn't change just one tire and we had to pay to mount them. Miraculously, Glen had been paid one more paycheck than we were expecting. Since he was a teacher, he gets paid through the summer but I wasn't expecting this last check. Within a month's time, we replaced the fuel level sender, fuel pump, two tires and an automatic window motor. We also had to pay the $350 registration fee and the insurance. I pay insurance once every six months so that was $400. We spent about $2000 on our car that month.

Now we just have to replace the brakes and flush the engine. No big deal....

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Glen started grad school a few weeks ago and has found out why you only take a two or three courses each semester instead of four or five like he did as an undergrad. He doesn't have many exams but he has lots of papers due. And they are research type papers.... ew. He also will start working on his thesis paper. No thanks. Anywho, while he is in school full-time, he is also a TA for the music history department. Luckily, as Glen found out, the music department doesn't expect a lot from their TAs. They just want to have an opportunity for grad students to get a tuition break and some extra money to entice good students to go there. They would rather they spend the time on their studies. But he does TA for an online course about historic female composers. Interesting stuff.

He is also continuing on with his piano lessons. He currently has 6 students. There is another adult student that wants to start soon and a cello student they may start taking lessons. Also, drumroll please.... Legacy called him and wants him to start teaching orchestra part-time. Now, we entertained the idea of part-time before he quit but they said he would have to work 20 hours a week or something like that which is out of the question. That and they never really gave a clear answer on what they would have available. So, they called him last week and left a message practically begging him to come back. He talked them down to one hour a day, in the morning, before school. The preferred to have him teach either early morning or after school and the Jr. High orchestra during the day, but it just isn't feasible with his schedule. So, he starts next Monday teaching beginning and intermediate orchestra in the mornings, one hour a day.

In addition to all of these new responsibilities he has taken on, he continues to fulfill the original, most important roles. He is a great daddy and gives George a bath every night, reads him a story and prays with him. He gives me attention and makes sure I know he loves me. He talks and giggles with Ollie and makes his little eyes light up. Our Dad is busy!