The Smith Family Blog

We had a fun time this last weekend. We had promised the girls that if they helped rake leaves at Mikaela's house we would take them to see Horton hears a Who at the movies. Well, boy did they luck out it snowed 2 inches Friday night/Saturday morning so they got out of raking but got the movie. Little do they know they will be raking later this week. The movie was cute, what I got to see of it at least. We went with Mikaela and she had McKay which as you all know can be a handful. Anyways, he was being really good for him, just a few jabbering here and there. Well the family in front of us turned around and got really snippy with Mikaela so her and I took McKay and went to walk around the mall while David and the girls finishes the movie. Saturday night we were lucky and Aunt Katie came into town to do some recruiting and so we spent the evening with her. We went to Tomato Street and then we took her to the mall to see the puppies and to get Kalaree a shirt for the pictures we are ...

We had Kezri's parent teacher conference last night and she did quite well. Above grade level in writing and reading and meeting targets in math. She still struggles with other kids getting their turn but she is at least working on it. I was really impressed with her writing. She really has a big talent there. Some examples of her writing are: In a five paragraph essay(yes, my second grader is writing five paragraph essays)about why summer is so great so wrote, "I lay my heavy head down on my comfy pillow and feel my flannel pajamas swish across my legs." Yes that was from Kezri. She also turned a writing assignment about scrambling eggs into a three page paper saying things like, "I gathered the metal spoon from the drawer and noticed my reflection in it." She didn't scramble the eggs until page three. Kezri doesn't appreciate math as much because she has to go back and check her work more often. It really surprises me though because I loved math...

It is looking like the Red Lion is going to be the thing for us. David has an opportunity to get a paid internship with the Red Lion. This would be working with cooperate office human resource and possibly with each of the individual HR managers in the two separate hotels here in town. He is really excited about it. The work environment is what he wants it to be and it is doing what he wants to do. It is not set in stone yet but the HR gal said that she will be ready to pull this thing together by the 31st of this month and that it will begin shortly after that. It isn't of course what we would like him to get paid but shoot I worked for free last year remember? Things are looking up for us. There is always that fear of the other shoe falling but I think all in all things are going well. There is a big possibility that my position in the Medical Lake School District will go part time. The district is having a hard time with enrollment and so it has turned into a roll down hill sort...

David is not taking the job. Basically the guy asked David to come in today and explain why David was worth the amount of money that he was asking for. So David did and the guy said yes he felt he was but that he didn't have the money right now so what he wanted to do was offer him the job at the $12 an hour rate and in 2 months increase it to the rate David was asking for. Pros to the job: -Paid work experience -Hopefully a pay check (more will be explained later) Cons: -The guy doesn't want to pay workers what they are worth. He only wants part time employees and to pay minimum wage. Sounds like contract labor to me right? Well I found out after the fact he can't use places like that anymore because he owes them all money. -He wants David to bring in his own laptop to use instead of having access to the office computer. -While David was talking to him today, A "friend" of the owner came in and said that a customer was refusing to pay for a job that was just comp...

We opened a savings account yesterday. I know that sounds weird but are finally getting to the point when we can start to put money away. WOO HOO!!! It is nice to know that the money is there if we need it but to be able to just forget about it and allow it to make money for us. David is still negotiating with the guy from Spokane Woodworking. David talked with him on Monday and told him what he would need and the guy came back with a ridiculus offer. Really low salary and long, long hours. Basically it would be under minimun wage. So David counter offered with a bare minimum requirement and the guy said he would need to think on it and called last night and asked David to come in today to speak with him. I don't have a great feeling about this. I really feel like this guy is trying to build up a company and doesn't have the resource yet and it may cost us in the long run. We will have to see what happens today. I promise to keep everyone informed.

I finished the dress and even had them done before midnight. Kami's is really cute and Kezri's fits her. It is amazing how two different outfits can come from one pattern. This was the most simple pattern so I plan to make more. In fact I already have the fabric for Kami's next one. I am even thinking of doing the doll one to match for her with this next one. Both girls picked their fabric main fabric. Kami had to have both yellow and red, which surprising goes well together. Kezri picked sage green and pale pink. I got plenty of pictures of Kami's but when I went to take Kalaree's and Kezri's pictures today the battery on the camera was dead so I will have to get out and get some more later. Kalaree asked for a store bought outfit. Which is fine since now a days you spend the same amount on the fabric as you would if you bought it premade. Plus she is at that age where it just isn't cook anymore and I totally understand. So she got a shopping trip just her ...

He interviewed today with the guy from Spokane Woodworking. The guy told him to let him know what his salary requirement would be after Easter. It sounds as if this may be a done deal and David may have a job. I am a little nervous because well it is a small business and it scares me a little with that issue. You know no money in no money to pay him. But it could also be a good thing in the long run. I am really going to just turn this over to the Lord and see what he says to do with it. I will keep everyone informed.