Kurz Arbeit

So many of you know that we are having issues with Gardner's work. He has a job but currently does not have a project that he is assigned to. It has been this way for over a month now.

Three things have happened that we know of:

1. People go to work and do odd jobs for others. (gardner has been doing this).

2. people have been laid off

3. People have been put on what is called Kurz Arbeit.

It is where you do not come into work. You are guaranteed your job and are being paid 80% of your net income. And then when they need people, they call you and you start work back up. It is a government program and the government pays 60% of the net income and the company is adding in 20%.

We have been worried about the Kurz Arbeit because it isn't enough money for our family monthly. But Gardner just received an email a few minutes ago and he will be put on Kurz Arbeit starting Monday.

In one way, it is a nice thing. Gardner will be home everyday. He doesn't go to work at all. It is almost like being unemployed, only with income at the same time. Plus we have the company car and they pay for our gas. So it is a big help.

The down side: Gardner will be home everyday. I don't mean that badly, although it probably sounds that way. It is just that Life will be different for everyone involved....schedules totally different than what we are used to. When it is just me and the kids, I do things a certain way. And when Gardner is home with us, things get done a different way. Both are good. But right now, morning and daytime don't have Gardner in the mix.

The biggest negative is the money that we are used to having is not coming in every month.

Anyway, things are happening here. Let the fun begin!

Spencer VS The Garage

So I was outside with my neighbor. She lives 8 months out of the year in Spain and was leaving in 10 minutes to go back to Spain. She had brought over a thing of milk since she will be gone for awhile.

Anyway, while out there, I hear a kid screaming. And I mean Screaming like something is terribly wrong. So I yell down to Shantal and ask if she was screaming. Nope all is calm there.

Then I hear it some more. And I realize it is Spencer, who just a few minutes before, went out to our Garage to get his bike. We live in a townhouse and are the third house in, from a row of 4. The garage is on the very end of the first house.

So needless to say, I can't see him, just hear him. I run like you wouldn't believe and find Spencer sitting on his bike with his hands pinned between his handle bars and the garage door.

He hands me the key to the garage, which was in his other hand and I am frantically trying to get the garage to go back up. Come to find out, I was turning the darn thing the wrong direction. Once I realized that, the key turned and he had some relief.

The neighbor was with me and took his bike. I am really amazed his fingers were not broken. You should of seen them. He was crying hysterically, and I can understand why. one look at his hand, and you would know he was in pain and it hurt a lot.

But here is the thing....how the crap did he do that? I mean, the garage has a key on the outside that you have to turn. He had the key out. That means he had to have turned the key to close the garage and then gone back in to get the bike and try to rush out and beat it. He says he didn't do that, but I don't get how else this could of happened.

I love him, and I am still worried about his fingers. But I do wonder.....what were you thinking?

Emma's 4th Birthday!

Thursday, Emma turned 4 years old. Such a big day for her.

I can remember the day that I gave birth to Emma. I remember I was out of town for the weekend, working at one of my Scrapbooking Events I put together. I was 5 days over due and was scheduled to be induced on Monday.

I remember going to bed on Friday night, after midnight, and telling everyone I would see them in the morning. And I specifically said, "this baby isn't going anywhere".

It was now 1am and I was in bed at the hotel talking with my friend, Kim, who was also pregnant and in the bed next to mine. Then I decided, I better get up one more time to go to the bathroom in hopes I could make it through the night without having to get up again. As I started to roll over, I heard this "pop". Seriously, I heard it. I felt nothing, but heard something.

I then said, "Kim, I think my water just broke. That or I'm peeing the bed." Needless to say, I got up and RAN like crazy to the bathroom. Sure enough, my water did break and I was on my way to the hospital. It was an hour car ride to the hospital.

The easiest delivery I have ever had. The only child I didn't have to be induced with.

Emma was born on Saturday Morning right before 7am.

And yes, I was back at my Scrap weekend Sunday Morning around 11am, with Emma.

To celebrate her birthday this year, she invited a few girls from her Kindergarten. I picked them up from school and we went to McDonald's for Lunch. After some playing on the playground there, we went back home were Emma opened presents and then everyone had icecream.

We then headed for the park and played at the park for a few hours. Emma had a great day. But when I asked her if she had a great day, the answer was, "no". When I tried to find out why, she said because she didn't get candles on her cake.

Yes, I had made her a cake, but it didn't get finished in time. You can see her cake below, which I just finished today, two days late. But she was all smiles when she saw it. And we will be singing to her tomorrow when our company comes over. And I think then, her birthday will finally be complete.

Happy Birthday My Sweet Emma May!

Easter 2009

Easter this year was pretty good. We made it through the day with just a few melt downs a long the way.

My parents are here from America visiting. And we had friends come over this afternoon as well. We ended up doing Raclette so my dad could experience it while he was here.

Here are some pictures of the Kids from the past two days. I chose just my favorites to share. But of course, had to make sure I had at least one of each kid in there.

At the end, there is a video. This morning, only the two younger kids were awake. They are the only two who don't know about the Easter Bunny yet. Anyway, they were up early. But they didn't even notice the easter baskets with lots of candy. I thought it was funny. So I picked up my camera and caught it all on camera. Please ignore the messy house. {smiles}

Hannah's Gymnastics Competition

This past weekend, Hannah had a Gymnastics Competition. She has been very excited for this day to arrive. She had a goal and all she could talk about was standing on the steps, being either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the competition. She wanted to stand on the steps more than anything.

Last year at this time was her very first Competition. There was 24 kids and Hannah took 10th place. Not bad for just starting out. I was proud of her.

This weekend, there was a total of 29 girls who competted in her age group. But in total, there were 60 kids who took part in the Gymnastics Meet. But for Hannah, she was competting against 28 other girls.

They started out on the balance beam. She did great. She wabbled a bit when she had to jump up. And her cartwheel landing of the balance beam was a lot of hopping, meaning her landing didn't stick. But over all, she did great. The best on her team on this day.

Next, she went to the floor. She knows this routine backwards and forwards. But on this day, Her handstand that was supposed to turn into a summersault didn't quite work out. And this was a required element. I knew for Hannah at this moment, her goal was gone. But I was so proud of Hannah for still picking up and finishing her routine. Besides this one incident, her routined looked fabulous.

Next her team went over to the Jumping area. Her team in general has a problem with this portion of the Meet. An area that needs help, for sure. But Hannah looked great doing her summersaults onto a higher mat.

Lastly, they ended up on the bars. Hannah's routine was flawless. Flawless I tell ya. With the exception of her landing. Come to find out, Hannah's performance on the bars was the best of the day, out of all 60 kids. So exciting for Hannah to hear and she loves telling everyone that.

So then the fun part comes of waiting for the results of the day. They do it by age group. And Hannah's group was last. There were a total of 29 Girls. They start with the 29th place and go on up to 1st place. Finally, they get to 5 girls left. And Hannah was still waiting to be called. Then 4 girls left. And instead of a 4th place, there is a tie for 3rd place. Hannah's name was called. Oh My Gosh, she was so happy. I think I was shaking and was more excited for her than she was. She gets a trophy, which only those in 1st - 3rd get. Although, they only had 1 trophy for 3rd place, so no one got to take one home that day. She will get it next week. She said that was the saddest part of the day.

I am so proud of Hannah! She did so awesome. I am glad that I get to go and watch her during her Competitions. I really enjoy it. She is so excited about Gymnastics. And she is so precise in what she does. I took videos but I don't have them uploaded yet to share. Plus, I taped them in Compact mode. I didn't mean to, but that is how it ended up. And so they are blurry. So ticked about that. But at least we can see her perform, even if it is blurry.

Here are some pictures I got of her warming up and standing on the steps.