2011 is Here!

I have the best intentions of keeping the blog up to date but it never seems to happen! Maybe 2011 will be better? I make no promises ha ha.

The kids are busy as usual. Jayden just had her winter dance show today. She did such a great job! I will be posting her photos on facebook soon! Mason starts school basketball this week. I can't wait to see how he plays when a parent isn't coaching him. Guess we see.

I have been busy working on the church website. Our old church website was an information only brochure online essentially. Now it is an interactive tool that we have built into something useable!!! Exciting! Check it out at www.hopelutheran-dsm.org. It is the item that has tied up all of my free time when I was unemployed and most of my nights and weekends rolling out as an active site since I got my job.

Speaking of job-I am employed again! I am working at Fiserv in West Des Moines! It is a great company and I enjoy it a lot so far. Eric is still looking for work and going to school full time. Hopefully he can land a job in the sports industry soon!

That is a quick update. Until we meet again.....God Bless!

Diary of a Bored Work-a-holic

So I sit here bored out of my skull. Don't get me wrong, I am surfing the net and applying for jobs. I network like the best of them but leads keep falling short. Bummer. Guess God wants me to be a stay at home mom for a little bit longer. Hard for me to understand because we already have a stay- at-home dad so not really sure what is so important that we both need to be here!!

I am a busy body by nature. Ask my mom- I am hardly ever still and not doing something. This being unemployed is for the birds. Once the kids go back to school I am going to pound the pavement and find something worthwhile to donate my time to in order to fill my days. It gets me out of the house and talking to other people. I figure it would be a good time to network with new faces. If anyone has any grand ideas, shoot them my way.

Kids are at the grandparents for a few days. The hubby and I have been enjoying some date nights together watching movies and eating foods the kids normally veto. It has been a good time. We have been relaxing while most of the towns around us are pretty flooded out. Being on the second floor condo makes it pretty ok for us since there is no water around here and it shouldn't reach us anyway! I do pray for the poor folks trapped by this water either in basements or their entire homes. It breaks my heart to see flood footage. Not good.

Well that is it for now. Toodles!

The Job Hunt Continues

So I have been off of work for over a month now. One would think that it means I have all kinds of time to get things done and lay around the house but that never seems to happen! I have been attending some career resource classes and those have been very helpful at boosting the spirits and getting my resume in order etc. It has also given me a great chance to meet some wonderful people.

I spent the last weekend helping out for a wonderful career weekend held at Iowa State for students with disabilities. I helped the leader with the class for resume writing and interview preparation. It was such a wonderful group of kids to work with!

The kids are having a pretty laid back summer. I think some times they are bored when Eric and I are job hunting and taking on line courses but overall they have been doing ok. They have been attending several camps for sports and dance. Those keep us hopping!

We are Back!

Ok so I have been a huge slacker on the blog. I get that for sure! I will do my best to update more often now that unfortunately I have nothing better to do! I have been laid off from my job. Eric was told a week later that he also was being laid off from the same position. Not exactly sure what God has in mind with all of this. The good news is that it gives me more time to try to recover from the gallbladder surgery I had a couple of weeks ago. It should have been a routine surgery but little hiccups have occurred along the way.

So, kids are busy as usual. Jayde is finishing up softball. She has also developed a love for Volleyball which should be able to utilize her freakishly tall figure :) Mason has finished up his baseball season with a big Tournament of Champions win for his team. Now his time is filled with various camps. FUN!

All and all we are well and slightly stressed. Keeping the faith and trying to keep our eyes open for new opportunities!! :)

End of Summer

I have been a slacker- I embrace it sometimes...ha ha. The kids were pretty busy most of the summer. Mason had several football camps that started and that kept him pretty busy. Jayde had a brief time off but had dance camps and clinics and softball clinics so she had her share of fun too. She also danced at the state fair again this year. She does such a great job- I am very proud of her. Here is a photo of the two kids waiting for Jayde's time to dance. We had a good time at the fair.

We took our annual trip to Okoboji in July. We had a really good time hanging out with Angie at her lake house. It was stormy some nights but the days were pretty great.

Jayde is starting fall ball for softball. She really likes it because she gets to try her had at pitching. That makes for a long game to watch but the girls try their best.

Well that is it for now. I will post pics of the kids from the first day of school when I get them downloaded from the camera!! Take care!

Summer Fun

We have finally wrapped up the baseball and softball seasons. We still have several camps going on for Mason but our weekends have finally opened up a bit. We were able to break away and head down to St. Louis last weekend and enjoy a cardinal game and some sites when we were down there. The hotel we stayed at was fabulous and quick to everything so that was nice. The weather was really hot but still bearable since we chose to do indoor activities for the most part LOL. Next week we will be spending the week in okoboji with my sister. The kids are very excited to hang out at the lake. I am excited to have nothing to do but hang out and enjoy the water ha!!

Summer update

We finally slowed down a little bit for me to update this. Most of you follow all of the activities on facebook but Eric kindly reminded me that there are very few Walter family members on Facebook so I have to keep this updated. What is wrong with you people? Even my mom is on Facebook!!! HA! :)

Jayde took a week and went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Walter early in June. Mason has been pretty busy with baseball. That is wrapping up this weekend and then we have a month off. Then football starts. I shouldn't say a month off really because there is still running to basketball and football camps as well as the team may potentially start a summer basketball league in July. That remains to be seen yet. But on the flipside there shouldn't be any weekend tournaments that tie us up. This weekend we are taking a quick trip to St Louis to catch a Cardinals game and to do some sight seeing around St.Louis.

Here are some photos below. Mason playing baseball, Jayde performing at the mall, me and the kids at my graduation, Jayde dancing at the Iowa Barnstormers, me and my sister Nikki at my graduation (William Penn alumni) and Mom hugging her handicap sign :)

Oscar speaks

I have been meaning to post a video of Oscar talking to us. You see- he thinks he is human and will try to hold a conversation with you. It really is quite funny. Hopefully you can get it to play. You have to have the volume up to hear his low rumbling.

Spring break and Easter

We decided to do something fun for spring break. We decided to head to the Amanas to stay at the waterpark there. The kids had a blast with the exception of Saturday morning when Mason had a small stomach flu. He spent part of the day in bed. The good news is that he bounced back quickly and still managed to have fun later that day. Here are some photos of the kids at the waterpark. Sorry if they are a little dark.

We drove up to lake to my sister Angie's house to celebrate Easter. Jayden and I traveled to Angie while Eric and Mason had to stay back for baseball. We had fun seeing everyone and the boys had fun hanging out with our friends back here.

One Sport Done....on to warmer weather

I thought it was time I should update the blog. Things have been busy as usual. Basketball finished up for Mason. He ended the season placing second in the state school tournament for Urbandale. It was an amazing tournament! In the semi-finals Urbandale was down by 1 point and there was 8 seconds left in the game. The other team blew the throw in and gave Urbandale the ball. Our boys get the ball in and passed in to Mason. He shoots up a three pointer and it swishes with 2 seconds left in the game. The other team couldn't get it down in time and Mason's team won! That was awesome! That put them into the final. But it wasn't meant to be and they couldn't pull off the third win of the day. They did qualify for Nationals this summer because of their high placement at state. We aren't sure if the team will be going though. The game is in July and that is when the boys are usually wrapping up baseball.

Mason will be playing both little league and AAU baseball. Baseball started in January and the games start in March. He is very excited about that. Jayde is registered for softball as always so she is very excited about that. She gets to perform a dance routine at the Iowa Energy Basketball team. That is on April 2nd. She is SO EXCITED! If I can get some good photos I will post them of the dance. Her spring recital is in May. I am very excited to see her routines she is working on it. She loves it.

I am one class away from finishing my Master's degree!! Happy Dance! Eric is currently battling a flu bug so that isn't good. We celebrated our 12th anniversary last weekend. I was knocked over with a feather when my hubby surprised me with roses! WOW! He never does that. I in turn took him out to Texas Roadhouse for a thick juicy steak. We both win! HA! Here is a photo of our wedding day. We look so young!!!

Busy Busy

Hey there. Finally got a chance to download some photos from the camera so I figured that I better update the blog :) The kids have been busy as ever. Mason is wrapping up his rec basketball team and still is playing AAU basketball. He has also began practicing baseball so it is a very interesting balance act. Jayde is still in her two dance groups as well. She has performed a couple of times at basketball games and has recently signed up for softball. I am looking for the warm weather that typically comes with baseball and softball. Mason's rec team won the league and his team won the championship as well. Mason was also nominated to the All-star team and his team played a bunch of 7th graders. His team won that as well. It was VERY exciting!

Eric and I are about the same. I am wrapping up my final class in my Master's program so the end is finally in sight. Eric has been down and out since the accident with his back and is now getting back to normal since it is healing. He has been struggling with a sinus infection as well so it has been a good time for him ;)

Anyhoo- no time to write more but here are some photos to enjoy!

Much Ado about Nothing

I don't really have much to report but was tired of looking at the Happy New Year page on my blog so thought I would ramble about nothing. January is really about nothing don't you think? No one gets overly excited about January unless your birthday is in that month. It is usually to freezing cold to do anything- yep that is happening right now although today was a balmy 30 degrees with 100 mph winds!

We had the joy (actually Eric since he was driving) of driving in the winds to and from a basketball tournament in Harlan. It is about an hour and a half east of des moines. We played in a 7th grade (our boys are in 6th) tournament and ended up taking 7th. Not too shabby considering those boys made Mason look short. Guess I can expect him to continue to grow like a weed in the next year. Great!

Jayde made it through her recital. She did a fantabulous job on it. She was in two routines. I will post pictures when I get them downloaded. We finally got our camera traded for a new one since it was defective. So, the pictures are much better quality now ;)

We will be traveling to Kansas City next weekend for a tournament there. It will be nice to get away and spend a night in a hotel. Mason can hang out with the boys and Jayde can swim until her heart's content. As long as she doesn't try to drown and make me jump in fully clothed again, I am cool with her swimming! HA!

Update you all soon!

Happy New Year!

We wanted to wish you and yours a Happy and Blessed New Year!~

Love the Walters-

Eric, Tiffany, Mason, Jayden and Oscar!

Bring on 2009!

Here is the kids with their "big" gift from Santa. Oscar got a new hooded sweatshirt- he loves it if we don't put the hood up :)

I don't know about you but I am ready to say "see ya!" to 2008. It hasn't been a horrible year mind you but the economy has everyone in a tailspin! It seems like we are on a roller coaster that none of us really want to be on. 2008 started out pretty good as Tiff got a promotion to work in a new area within the Principal. We moved into our new home in February. It has been a great blessing living here. After the economy nose-dived, job security is a new mounting concern. Eric has had a close call with being laid off. Thankfully as of right now- we are both gainfully employed.

Christmas was a fun time. Tiff performed at church with a girl's group. It was a lot of fun. We traveled to Guttenberg to spend time with the Walter side. All of the siblings were there at once. That was nice. For once in a year we were able to get photos with both sets of siblings.

The kids had a good time opening gifts and spending time with cousins. They get to hang out together during the break. With all of the new gadgets they have, they should have NOTHING to fight about right??!! :)

The Accident

So when we were coming home from church on Sunday another person slid out of their parking lot straight into us. It crunched up the front of the van. None of us were injured at the time but Eric's back began hurting a few hours later. Thank the Lord it wasn't worse. We are now driving around in a nice loner SUV called a Dodge Nitro. It is WONDERFUL to have all wheel drive- I do say! :) It sounds like it will be a while before we get the van back. Possibly sometime early next year.

We enjoyed another basketball tournament for Mason- his team took 2nd. There was some pretty tough competition so it was very fun to watch. Jayden had her church Christmas program. She was a sheep. It was very cute.

We are very blessed this Christmas. We have been able to take time off of work to spend time with the kids and hang out as a family and not have to run any where. We will be taking off for Guttenberg on Christmas day. The kids are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa :)

Here are some photos of the happenings as of late! Have a Merry Christmas!

Sorry!

Yeah I have been a little busy- sorry! I haven't had time to blink let alone get my blog updated. Oh well. What is a gal to do? :)

I have been busy wrapping up my classes for the year. Lots of presentations and papers and I CAN'T WAIT for March- did I mention I can't wait until March???!!!! UH! It is going to be such a relief to graduate. Whether or not it is with honors remains to be seen! :)

Eric had a job scare earlier this week. Principal cut some jobs recently and originally it was believed that Eric's department was one that was affected. We had sent out a prayer request and spent time praying ourselves and amazingly we were ok with the fact God had planned a little something different for Eric. Turns out, God changed His mind-and Eric's job was saved. It is nice to see prayer at work!

So, that is settled for the moment. Enough excitement on that! The kids are busy as usual. Jayde performed a few times for dance and did a terrific job. Mason has played several tournaments and his team has won many of those tournaments. That is a lot of fun. He is having fun and learning a lot as well.

Here are some photos.

My brothers and sisters and Mom at Thanksgiving.

Grandma Judy and all of her grandkids and great granddaughter.

My nephew Caydn and Oscar. He loves that dog!

I finished the Christmas letter and will be sending them out this week. Until then, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Jayden's birthday

We had fun celebrating Jayden's birthday. Mason had a band concert on her actual birthday so we did a dinner and his concert on that day. Here is a photo of Mason carrying his Barisaxophone. His horn is the length from his chin to his knees. It is a HUGE instrument.

Mason had a tournament on Saturday the 8th. His team played really well and won the tournament. Here is an "after" photo in which Mason is very sweaty. ICK! Coach Denny thought that the medals would make good "bling" earrings. :)

Now to Jayde- she was very excited to get her High School Musical East High house. She got that on her birthday.

She also invited two friends (Abbey and Claire) and they went to Build a Bear. Jayde made a High School musical bear. It was a good time. The last photo is a picture of Jayde after her exhausting birthday party :)