A New Driver!

Juan passed his learner's permit test, and we went to the the DMV and received his official learner's permit this past week so we have another new driver in the house!  We will start working with Juan, practicing in parking lots, and he will attend driving school, like his sisters did. Dainis and I bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible for our 20th wedding anniversary gift to each other and have enjoyed it on trips and date nights. Unfortunately, we have not used it as much as we anticipated, and we decided to sell it to Juan.  He has worked hard at his job at La Loma independent living since this spring and earned enough money to buy it from us.  Our agreement with our kids when they start driving is they have to have a job in order to pay half of their insurance and put a little bit of their paycheck in a car maintenance fund each time they are paid. Until they graduate, we pay for the kids' gas to and from school and work and the other half of their insurance.  We are really proud of Juan and his hard work at saving his money!

Gifts

 

My parents recently got home from a 45 day trip and showered us with souvenirs when they got home. They live nearby, and we are used to seeing them at least once a week so we were glad to have them home safely. We appreciated all the gifts they brought home to us but in light of my current book endeavor, this gift was my favorite! Thank you for your support!

 

Real Life Lessons

Ingrid saved up enough money from her part time jobs to buy her 2003 orange Volkswagon Beetle. It is the perfect car for her. Not only is it the perfect size, but the perfect color. It is orange, the same color as her high school! When our kids want to pursue their driver's license, they have to have enough money to pay for half of their six month insurance premium. We pay the other half and their gas for work and school. Unfortunately, Ingrid's air conditioner went out last week and the car dealer wanted $2200 to fix it. It is still hot and now humid here in AZ! Luckily she has a Dad that knows how to fix cars and was willing to do it for a lot less money! 

We Made It Through Week One!

We made it through week one of school! It will be a crazy year for both kids juggling high school, West-MEC and work but so far so good. 

Ingrid started her second year of hairstyling at West-MEC on Wednesday and was very excited to go back. She exceled in the program last year with straight A's and we were very proud of her! As a second year student, the classroom becomes an actual salon on Tuesday-Friday so she will start working with the general public during that time and start getting real experience.

Juan started his first year of coding at West-MEC also on Wednesday. The kids are at different campuses and at different times. I really hope he likes it and embraces it like Ingrid did with hairstyling. He can apply his West-MEC classes to credit at the community college and then transfer the credit to Northern Arizona University if he would like to.  If Juan works hard, coding could be a successful career for him after high school graduation. We are very excited he has this opportunity!

 

First Day Of School

It is hard to believe it is already the first day of school and summer is over! The time flew by this year with the kids working and so we kicked off another school year this morning!

Today was Ingrid's last first day of school as a senior at Desert Edge High School! She is very excited about the year, and we are all excited the kids are starting the school year at school and not in the the remote environment. As a senior and a second year hairstyling student at West-MEC technical school, she only has three required classes this year. Her classes include Financial Literacy, which we are very excited about, AZ Government and Economics, and English. She will be attending Desert Edge in the morning, West-MEC in the afternoon, and working some nights at Safeway. Luckily, she drives!

Juan is a junior at Canyon View High School and will be starting his first year at West-MEC in coding. Because he goes to West-MEC every afternoon, he has five rather than six classes. He will be busy at Canyon View all day and then goes to West-MEC after school and into the evening. He will only work on the weekends and holidays. We are very excited for him and hope he loves West-MEC as much as Ingrid does!