We REALLY need to update!!!

I love to read blogs when I take a few minutes to do it but every time I have opened ours lately I think, "man we really need to catch up!" Not that I think anyone else really cares-but it is fun for our kids to see themselves in pictures and for us to go back in time to read and remember what we have been up to. This summer went by WAY too fast! I had a great birthday! I got a new vacuum (now there's one for upstairs and one for downstairs-very exciting to me!!!) At the end of June Tanner started taking drum lessons which he loves and is really good at! We are the proud owners of a drum kit that I'm not sure the neighbors love-especially when the windows are open and he practices early in the morning! The kids enjoyed swimming and tennis lessons again over the summer. It was fun to go to the summer movies each week at the the Scera Theatre with Reecy and her kiddos. I always took the kids to Sonic afterward for 'happy hour' (aka half price) slushes! We had a great 4th of July and for the 24th of July we went boating with the family to Yuba Lake. It was a really fun time...too much...I came home with a broken rib...thrown twice from the two-person 'tubey thingy'-I don't know what they are called. I knew I had hurt something but figured I would give it a week to see if it would get better. It got feeling better and then worse, so when I went to the doctor 10 days later they confirmed it was broken and gave me a pain killer and muscle relaxant. I was told that they "used to bind people when they broke their ribs but found they would get pneumonia from not being able to take deep breaths". That has been a challenge all summer since I really like to be outside to do yard work but couldn't push the mower around or do much else outside! We loved having the 'mini' Livingstone family reunion at the end of July too. It was so fun to be able to see cousins we hadn't seen for a long time and we missed a lot of cousins who couldn't come. Ben and Lauren both had fun birthdays, but the bad news of the summer: Ben was laid off. His company laid off all the managers in his program and gave them one week notice!!! He did get some severance, but needless to say, that has caused some stress! We feel very blessed though that over the last few years we had set aside a year supply of food and money...just in case...as we had been counseled to do. We have seen the Lord's hand daily in our lives which is such a great blessing! Ben has spent all day every week day getting his resume ready, taking career placement classes, networking and applying to several local companies. He has had some contacts and interviews and we feel confident that he will be recognized soon for his great talent and work ethic and get hired on somewhere wonderful! A few days after the school year started I was offered a position at the kids' elementary school as a para-educator and have LOVED it! I am only there 3 hours each day in the morning, but I love encouraging these little children to learn! I admire teachers so much for the work they do day in and day out! It is great to be a part of that! I hope to be able to continue for a long time-now that all of our kids are in school. I am also the PTA President again at the school and we just recently had our big fundraiser for the year...glad that is over...but it was a lot of fun! Tanner's birthday is just around the corner and soon it will be Emma's! Before we know it-it will be Christmas! Time just flies...but we are having fun!!!! I hope to get pictures up soon!!!