Time For Clients!

Ingrid loves hairstyling, and we are so proud of her for doing so well at West MEC. She has busy days, attending high school classes every morning, West MEC classes every afternoon, and working some evenings at Safeway! 

As a second year student,  West MEC hairstyling students become real hair stylists Tues-Fri from 1:15-5:30pm, by taking on paid clients. The salon is now open for business and all of the students are super excited to try out their skills! They offer all service from hair, color, chemical texturizing, to add on services.

The salon is located at the West MEC Southwest campus at 500 North Verado Way, Buckeye, AZ 85326. Their phone number to make an appointment is 623-872-6260. 

Ingrid's Last Homecoming

Ingrid and her boyfriend, Jacob, have been dating for over 1 1/2 years now. They just went to their Senior Homecoming dance at Desert Edge High School and had a good time. The kids all missed so much with the pandemic last year so I am glad it has worked out, so far, for some of the past activities to come back. The kids both drive so they came to our house to take pictures first and then went out to dinner and onto the dance. The dance was held outside at a park. Gone are the days where we take everyone to dinner, drop them off at the dance, and pick them back up at the designated time!

Grandparent's Day 2021

We had my parents over for Grandparent's Day and enjoyed dinner together. As the kids have gotten older and busier, it is often difficult to find a time that everyone is available with different work and school schedules! We didn't get the chance to celebrate on Grandparent's Day, but we were happy when it worked out to get together. Many times theses days, dinner nights with my parents are just Dainis and I. The kids aren't always super fond of pictures but cooperated.  

Smile...Picture Time

For those of you who are recipients of our annual Christmas pictures and letters, you know that every year I include a professional family photo. We started taking these annual pictures with the kids when we first arrived home from Colombia beginning in Summer 2011 and it just became tradition, like so many other things. I don't really know why I started the tradition of dressing everyone up every Fall for a traditional family photo because neither Dainis or I grew up in a family that did that every year. I think I wanted the kids to have that sense of family and belonging, and I was always trying to make up for lost time. By this point in time, the kids know when it is family photo time, they just have to smile and cooperate, and they did a good job! We use to treat them to lunch or dinner out if they cooperated and now they just know it is an expectation. What it really boils down to though is a lot of work and stress for Mom to buy and coordinate outfits and schedules, make the appointment, make sure everyone has a haircut, and wakes up in time. We all smile and for that moment everyone looks happy, although with teens you aren't ever quite sure what their true feelings are. I purposely scheduled this year's photo shoot on Labor Day because everyone was off school and work. By the time Labor Day rolled around, both kids were scheduled for work after the pictures! I am thankful for the cooperation to continue the tradition and have another successful Christmas picture complete.