The Craziness that is The Eby Family: What a long strange summer its been...

So I know its been forever since I've posted anything on here, but really there has barely been time to breathe! Since my last post in June a lot has happened. We had 4th of July, I worked 12 hour days hosting our Zone diving meet, my grandfather (pupa) passed away, my mom and brother came to stay with us for 10 days, I quit my job, and I spent 10 days away from my family in order to coach at the JO National Diving Championships...and that's just the major stuff I can remember!

I don't even know how to get into all of it, my head just starts spinning trying to think of everything! Well I guess I'll just give the updates then. Chris has been very busy working and being the most wonderful husband ever. Not only has he been traveling and working for his job, but he has been playing the role of Mom and Dad for the kids. I had 3 dives meets this summer that caused me to be away from home for a total of 18 days this summer. Also, most of my practices are in the evening so he is in charge of dinner and bedtime. I love coaching, but I really love that Chris is willing to make sacrifices so that I can do what I love. Its not easy taking care of the kids and trying to get work done, but he has done it and without complaining - well, not much complaining :) Although, from the looks of his schedule this fall, it looks like he'll get some payback with all of the traveling he has to do.

Since my last post in June, Rylan became a walker at about 10 months, completely gave up baby food, and is ready to take on the world...or at least her brothers. She is quite the busy gal. She still loves playing at the pool and has done great with going under water and being very independent. Now that she's walking she spends most of her time getting into the kitchen cupboards and chasing her brothers.

Jake and Brenden are about the same. They are both very active and growing up so fast. They are both getting ready for a new transition with school this fall. Brenden will move to DK (Developmental Kindergarten) at Morningstar and Jake will be entering 1st grade at Bates Elementary. Both boys will be moving into "new" schools. Brenden will move from the preschool house to the DK classroom which is in a different building. And Jake is moving from Cornerstone to Bates in order to help even out class sizes at the 2 elementary schools. We actually volunteered Jake for the move because he has never had a problem adjusting to new situations and we figured this would be good practice for when we move to Cincinnati.

Speaking of Cincinnati, I have no idea when this will ever happen! I have set early next summer as my personal date that we need to be moved there at the latest. With Chris's job the way it is, he's going to have to travel between Michigan and Cincinnati for a while still, but I would like to be moved by next summer so we have some time to get settled and adjust before school starts in August. Brenden will also be starting Kindergarten next year and I have insisted that we move before that happens. So we are going to continue to leave the house on the market until November and if no one makes an offer by then we'll take it off the market until January when we'll re-list it with a price reduction.

Now for me, as I have said I have been very busy coaching this summer. I was fortunate enough be able to travel to all of the meets, including 10 long days for Nationals. At Nationals we had 8 out of 10 divers make Finals on at least one board and one of our divers, Taylor Ford, was National Champion. It was the coolest thing I have ever been a part of in my diving career, as a diver or coach. It was so thrilling and exciting. I was so grateful to Taylor and Buck for letting me be a part of it. With out plans for the next year up in the air, I don't know if I will be able to go to these meets next summer so I'm glad I got to have such a great experience with all of the divers.

At the beginning of the summer I mentioned my new boss at the club and had said I didn't know if I would be able to make it all summer. Well, I didn't. My clueless boss began putting me and my staff in situations that I felt were unsafe and when he continued to push me and treat me with complete disrespect I quit. It has been hard on the boys to have a place to go to swim everyday and now we have to do some serious budgeting, but since quitting there has been a huge weight lifted.

And that's about it I guess. It really has been a wild ride full of ups and downs and it looks like the fall is going to be the same! Hopefully this short break until school starts will be enough to get me ready....

A Chronicle of Summer in Pictures:

4th of July Fun