Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Baby Talk

This morning I was awakened to the delightful sounds of Isabel. Our room is at the top of the stairs right off of the kitchen. We have a gate up between the kitchen and living room doorway to keep our little climber out of the kitchen. This morning she stood at that gate and yelled at the top of her little lungs, "Ma, ma, MOMMA, MA, MAAA, MOMMMMAAA, Ma, Ma!" The yelling continued until I made an appearance. Not a bad way to be woke up if you ask me!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Day

 We decided to brave the cold temperatures yesterday to play in the snow for a bit. Alexis had a blast sledding and playing and did not want to come in!
 Daddy can make the sled go really fast!
 Weeeeeeee!


 Now it's Isabel's turn to try out the sled with Alexis.
 Daddy getting ready to give them a big pull
 Going.....
 Gone! Isabel takes a face plant into the snow..
 And she did not like it one single bit...
 Poor baby!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas On New Years Day

I never get to celebrate Christmas with my parents and siblings on Christmas because we are such a blended family, but we always get together at some point around the holidays. This year it was on New Years Day. All but one of my brothers was able to make it and we had a wonderful time! Here are just a few of the pictures:
 The piggy banks that Matt and Sera Kate gave to all the kids. Sera Kate painted all their names on them herself. She is so crafty and thoughtful. She's such a great Aunt! My brothers couldn't have picked anyone better to marry.
 My sweet sister Jaimee (who is pregnant with my next niece or nephew!) and my niece Hannah being silly with Alexis and Isabel's tutu's!
 Hannah, my brother Brent and Alexis
 One of the beautiful ornaments on Mom's tree.
 My beautiful Alexis
 Jackson & Hannah
 Isabel wasn't feeling so photogenic, but here she is anyway!
 Tyler, Riley & Sadie
 All 7 of the kids
 Mom & Dad with all their grandchildren! Isabel wasn't so happy about the picture taking process this year.
 My brother Matt with Alexis & Sadie
 Hannah, my sister-in-law Sera Kate and Riley
 Aunt Sera Kate and Uncle Matt with all their nieces and nephews!
 Angel Alexis
 The kids dressed up and did a skit of the Christmas story, it was sooooo adorable. Check out this post and you can see a video of the skit.
 Alexis trying on her new sweater from Grandma Cindy
 My nephew Tyler being a goof ball
 Papa letting Alexis put some shiny, pink lip gloss on him
 Mom with the most talked about gift this year. She is now the State Chairman of the Constitution Party of Missouri, so it's rather ironic that my brother gave her the biography of George W. Bush!
Isabel playing with one of Sadie's new toys!

Monday, January 3, 2011

What Is Your Work Ethic?

I've had this post floating around in my head for quite some time now and even had a draft started with the title, just haven't sat down to put my thoughts on paper, or rather computer. I'm going to tonight.

I learned all about work ethic and developed the work ethic I have from my parents. I was taught at a very young age that nothing in life is free and don't go looking for any hand outs, because you aren't going to get them. From the time I was 13/14 years old and was starting to earn money, I had a savings plan and was already putting back for my future. My future then being the desire to purchase a car when I was old enough.

For years I've watched my Dad work at 110% no matter what the job was and no matter how little he may have liked it. If any of you know my Dad, you know he is one hard working man and will do anything with a smile and has one of the best attitudes towards life that you will ever see in a man. And my Mom has drilled into me from the time I was little on, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." And she leads by example, anything my Mom does is never shoddy, or half way, it's the very best that she has to offer. So, I was fortunate enough to be brought up by parents with good work ethic.

When I joined the workforce part time at 14 and then full time at 16, I learned that not everyone has the same work ethic. My first job was in the retail business and it's very fast paced and you need to have a sense of urgency when you are in a customer service related job. I learned my  job and took a lot of pride in what I did. I loved to make my customers smile and was always thrilled when I could help someone with a problem. I worked at 3 different grocery stores in the same chain over a 4-5 year period. I started working in the produce department, did a little in the grocery, meat and deli departments as well. I eventually was a cashier and then worked the customer service desk/video department and was involved with doing the daily balancing of monies and so forth. That was were I shined, I loved working the desk and helping whoever walked up. Whether it was cashing a payroll check, sending a Western Union transaction, paying a utility bill, etc., etc. I loved that job! I tried to be the best that I could be at it and worked as quickly as I could so no one would wait for very long for a service they needed.

It doesn't seem like many people in these type of work situations take a lot of pride in what they do or seem to even like it. Granted, I didn't make a lot of money, but I loved what I did and would go back to that type of job in a heart beat. I left the grocery store and started working as a teller at a bank and loved that even more. People are very nice to tellers because they see them so frequently and they are after all handling your money! I worked the drive-thru at the one bank I worked for and continued to develop my people skills. I don't want this to sound too braggy, but I'm going to pat myself on the back just a little bit. We had 3 drive up lanes and I worked the main window and another girls worked the tubes that come in from the farther lanes. I also helped on the tubes as well. There would be a line of 3 or 4 cars deep at my window and no one in the tubes because I had specific customers that would come to me and me only. That made me feel so awesome and proud of the work I did.

I left the bank and started working at Sam's Club, that has been by far my most favorite job ever!! It was fast paced, never boring and I learned a ton while I was working there. I continued to give 110% of myself and excelled at my job. I met a variety of people while I worked there and never understood why someone could hate a job so much and complain so much and still continue to work there. I told multiple people, "If you don't like it, and it's so horrible, just quit." I always tried to stay positive and upbeat and tried to bring other people up with me. There was no sense in making yourself miserable over your job, you might as well enjoy it if it's a necessity.

When Ross and I married, I transferred to the Walmart Distribution Center which is where I still am. I wouldn't say my work ethic has changed, but my attitude has. I struggle constantly to stay positive and not be drug down by all the complainers. It was such a culture shock to go from a very fast paced, customer service type job, to driving a forklift and moving pallets. Not a lot of interaction between me and the pallets if you catch my drift! I really like people and I like working in customer service, so it's been a challenge for me to stay happy with my job, because I know there is something else out there that I could do better. Unfortunately, that type of job in the area I live in doesn't pay nearly as well as what I'm doing now. So, I'm going to make the best of my situation until the day a Sam's Club opens in this area. You can guarantee my name will be the first on the list requesting a transfer!

This post didn't exactly come out like I had pictured in my brain, but I'm going to leave it as it is, a little bit of my work history. I would love to hear your opinion on peoples work ethics and what makes a good work ethic.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christmas Play

I tinkered with the settings on this video some more. If you have trouble viewing it let my know and I'll send you a new link.