{Changes Are A Brewin'}

It’s true! I am so excited to share all about the new changes that are here on our family blog.

Let me begin by highlighting two simple facts.

• I know that my blogging skills have been lacking A LOT lately! I'm going to try my best to get better.
• I know that I have a few things to share or at least things that I’d like to share. That's why I'm going to try my best to get better.

With those highlights out of the way, let me also explain that there has been a lot of excitement flowing around Casa Mall these days. Over the past couple of weeks, we have all been doing are part to try to get a new routine underway. Everyone is on a different schedule and the added activities keep the family calendar extremely full. I haven’t seen an empty square in the past two weeks and next week is pretty full too. I’m a little anxious to see what the month of September is going to look like, especially if I have to tackle it all as a single parent again.

As of right now Jason is on the alternate list for the NCO Academy. If he gets the spot, he will be gone for about two months. We know that he is going, we just don’t know if he will leave in September or if he will leave in January. Part of me hopes that he gets the September slot but only because we will have more time together as a family before he deploys again. However, the other part of me doesn’t want him to get that slot because if he leaves in September, he will miss out on Travin playing t-ball (he missed his whole first season) and he will miss out on Kalyssa’s first season of playing soccer. Plain and simple, either way it will S-U-C-K!!!

Anyhow, school is in full swing and there truly is a lot to share (be on the lookout for a new post about school). We got through one Back to School event and by next Tuesday we will have gotten through two more. Quiet interesting to be the parents of a middle schooler, a 2^nd grader, and a 1^st grader!!!

I know that I have left you all in suspense at this point. I started with the excitement of changes and then ended up spilling a bowl full of distraction all over your lap. So here it is, I figured out how to add a few gadgets on here. I know that most people probably have things like this figured out within minutes because they catch up on the latest news and reviews or simply just because tech savvy is their middle name. As for me, I just happen to stumble upon things every once in a while and then I get completely excited because I learn how to do it myself.

If you take a peek at the right side of our blog, you will notice a few added extras. 

First and foremost, for all of my family members who speak the Romance Language, you can know click inside the Google Translate box and select a language. When you click on Espanol, the entire blog will transform from English to Spanish. Pretty cool...right?!?! I am super excited about this because I have received messages from family members in regards to our blog and how they wish they could read it. Guess what???

NOW YOU CAN!!! YAY!!!!

The other cool features that have been added allow you to email us directly through here by clicking on the “email me” button and if you’d like to get blog updates through email, you can enter your email address and click submit. 

One last gadget that I added is the “follow me on Pinterest” button (P.S. It's under our family button ~ the big Mickey head). I’m relatively new to this site. A friend of mine introduced me to it and I have to admit, I became a little addicted to it (just a little). My favorite items to browse are related to teaching; anything and everything that has to do with classroom ideas and tips. So, if any of my teacher friends have an account please let me know so that I can follow you =)

I think that about sums up all of the changes well, at least when it comes to the blog.

One last change:

I finally was able to make an appointment to have my hair done. I know, “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR” right?!?! Well it’s true! I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. My normal routine is to get a trim and of course to cover up all of the grey that keeps finding a place to call home on the top of my head. I have spent the past year or so just growing my hair out. Yes, Jason is lucky man to be married to a girl who will grow her hair long while living in the south! Don’t call me crazy just know that I love my husband enough to suffer just a little bit =) I’m just kidding!!! I actually love my hair long. My only problem is that my hair is very heavy. I have A LOT of hair!! As a matter of fact, when I showed up yesterday at the hair salon with my cup of coffee in tow, my hair dresser called me Rapunzel Head. She couldn't believe how long my hair had gotten since my last appointment. 

I thought about doing the same ol’ thing but I knew I needed a bit of a change. First of all, I am fully engaged in my marathon training plan which means that I have to wash my hair every single day. When it takes an hour in half to blow dry and straighten your hair, guess what happens? You end up throwing all of that mess in a simple ponytail because it’s just way too much work to have to do every day and let’s face it, it’s pretty dang hot here in the summer (considering that we broke the 130 year record of most consecutive days with temperatures over 100*).

So I decided to go for a fresh new cut. When it was all said and done, I ended up cutting off around 9 inches from my hair. Pretty crazy, I had no idea that my hair was that long!

Without further ado,

because I know you are just beside yourself 

with all of this added suspense, 

here is my new look!

~Before~

         

~After~ 

I know that it's still technically considered a "long cut" but I seriously feel like I lost the weight of a puppy off the top of my head.