Back to School

I have decided to go back to school and get my degree in Computer Science at a local Community College!  I will be attending full time and so will be quitting my part time job.  My first class will be the most intense: a mini-semester math class, 3 hrs a day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks.  While I am a bit nervous, for the most part I feel really good about it all and am excited to get started.

Levi Turns 3

This year we had a simple celebration at the park with family.  Sadly it was so windy and cold, that we couldn't do all the fun outdoor activities we had planned.

Levi picked out vanilla cake (turns out he doesn't like vanilla).  And he specifically asked for cupcakes.  I put them in the shape of a 3 and used homemade marshmallow fondant with Rice Krispies treats to make the cars.  He did like eating those.

Tandy Family Letter 2012

Tandy Family Letter 2012

I know it is no longer 2012, but better late than never.  Levi turned 2 this year.  He is very social and loves to play with his friends.  He is a regular little chatterbox and will happily talk your ear off, even if you don’t understand all of what he is saying.  He has shown a big interest in art.  He loves to draw, and can create some rather good faces for a two year old.  I started having learning time with him once a day Monday through Friday.  He is learning about the letters of the alphabet, shapes, colors, numbers, and other fun and exciting things.  He usually asks for learning time multiple times a day, and gets upset when I say we are finished with that day’s lesson. 

Matt was called to be an early morning Seminary teacher for our church this year.  Teaching Seminary is something he has always wanted to do.  Getting up before 5 am everyday is a bit of a challenge, but he still loves to teach.  This year Matt participated in the Houston Startup Weekend.  He competed against many other entrepreneurs with much larger teams and wound up winning 2^nd place!  He has also been working very hard on the new Houston office for Northpoint.

Sadly some things did not go as planned and because of financial difficulty we decided to make some major changes.  We sold or gave away more than half of everything we owned.  And moved out of the beautiful house we were living in, and into a small apartment less than half the size.  I started working part time in the evenings at a local restaurant as a hostess.  And we are still in the process of going from two vehicles down to one.  It may be difficult now, but we know it is only temporary.

I have been busier than ever with all the new things going on this year.  I am slowly working on putting together a new curriculum for Levi once he finishes the current one in March.  I’m glad he likes the current one I put together, but it does create some high expectations for the next one.  I had to stop couponing after the move.  While it did save money, it took up a lot of time and space.  Both of which I no longer have available.  There are many more exciting things in the store for the Tandy Family.  I will try my best to keep you all up to date.

Love,

                The Tandy Family

Christmas 2012

Sorry it took me so long to get this up.  Here are a few highlights from our Christmas this year.

Here is Levi with Santa at our ward Christmas party.  He isn't smiling, but at least he didn't cry this time.

My family all gathered together at my brothers house here in TX this year.

My brother got a pinball machine and everyone enjoyed playing.  Even Levi had a few turns. 

I didn't get a photo of Levi playing,  but I did get one of Mom and Dad.

7th Anniversary at the Renaissance Festival

This year for our anniversary we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival.  It is where we spent our first anniversary, and we had such a good time that we always talked about going back.

We took Levi with us, and he loved it.  His favorite part of the "Birds of Prey" show were the owls.  He kept saying "more owl, more owl"

The first show we went to was a family circus.  It was a perfect start for the day with Levi at the festival.

My two guys having fun playing with the swords.

Almost anytime there was music playing, Levi was dancing to it.

This is always cool to watch.

Here is my last video, the whip master at work.

We crossed the finish line!

If you remember I had posted a while back about Matt and I training for a half marathon.  On September 29 we joined Matt's family in Utah and ran the Layton Half Marathon.  We were the last of our family to finish, but I am proud to say that we did finish.  We finished the 13 miles in 3 1/2 hours.  Here is a picture of everyone who did the half marathon just before the race (other family members ran the 10 k and 5 k).

And here are some links to photos of Matt and I from the official race web site.  The first 2 were taken towards the beginning of the race (within the first few miles).  The rest are of us crossing the finish line.

photo 1
photo 2

photo 3

photo 4

photo 5

photo 6

Many Changes

I know it has been about a month since my last post.  Life has just been so crazy that I simply haven't had the time.  Because of some changes in our financial situation I got a part time job at Saltgrass Steakhouse as a hostess. We also moved out of our beautiful house (see my posts on the house here, and here) and into a small 2 bed, 1 bath apartment, less than half the size of the house.  We sorted through all of our belongings and got rid of at least half, if not more, of what we owned.  Including almost all of Levi's baby items that we had been saving for our second child (No I'm not pregnant, sadly we will have to wait until our situation improves some).  We had two garage sales this last weekend and was able to sell quite a lot, the rest will be donated.  We will be selling our Truck and will only have one vehicle for a while...  So you get the idea.  Times are tough but we are doing our best to make improvement, and we know the Lord will help us through.  I will try to still post about special events, such as birthday's and holiday's.  And maybe if things go well, I will post more.  I might even get some pics of the apartment after we are unpacked.