Updates...

I found a job! I am going to work for Bath and Body Works part-time through the holidays. I realized that I have not worked anywhere more than a few months at a time for 10 years. Kinda scary that I am that old. James has been traveling all over again. Last week he was in Louisiana for four days. This week he was in Montana and North Dakota and next week he will be in New Mexico. Then we get him home for an entire week before he leaves for California. Tyler is busy with chorale and he is also taking a ham radio operator class. He has also started to enjoy baking. He makes the most wonderful homemade brownies (not from a box, from scratch). Now if I could only get him to understand the importance of cleaning the kitchen as you go, so that you don't end up with one huge mess at the end. Kayla and Sierra are going to start 4-h this week. Brooklyn is my little helper again (er, I mean mess maker). She is so darn stubborn that everything has to seem like a game or that there will be some kind of reward at the end or else she won't even help. She has perfected the fake crying and some one hurt my feelings thing.

Finally...the dinner swap. It has been awesome. I am so glad that I found other families who were interested in giving it a try. I would recommend it to anyone. At first, I thought it might be daunting to have to cook for 24 people all at once. It turns out that it really is no harder than cooking for 6. Plus, you get rewarded the other nights by not having to cook at all. I also love being able to try different foods.

For those of you who are wondering what a dinner swap is, I will tell you. The best way to explain it is to tell what our group does. We have 4 families of 6. We got together to decide which day of the week would be easiest for us to cook on and to put together a menu for the whole month. That way we know what we will be getting each night for dinner. We decided to be in charge of the main dish and one side dish on our night to cook. My nights are Thursdays. I cook for my family and the other 3 families and then deliver their meals before 6pm. They then do the same on their nights. You end up cooking approximately 4 times a month and since you can buy in bulk, it saves money. Also, we are not eating out as much and that was the main reason that I wanted to start this.

I have to explain this picture. Charlie (the dog) found a granola bar and brought it into the family room to hide it. Well Lyra (the cat) decided that it was hers. To protect her new found prize, she decided to take a nap on it. Charlie was not happy, but he knows that she is the boss, so he just sat there and waited patiently for her to lose interest. Which she did...she is a cat after all.