Good morning.  I thought it was time I joined the blogging world.  There are a lot of times I think I have something to share, but just don't have a place or way to do it, so here I am.
I'm not exactly sure what the focus of my blog will be yet.  We have a lot of issues/blessings within our family and I have a lot of ideas that have worked and a lot to learn.   I think I'll just start by sharing a little about my family today.
My name is Laura and I live in State Center, IA.  We've lived here 3 1/2 years after living in Minnesota for 7 years.  I teach PK-5 elementary music at West Marshall Schools and will finally be full-time next year!!!!  I absolutely love my job!!!  I have an amazing room to teach in with lots of space and many instruments.  We're also members of the St. Paul Lutheran church here in town and I just recently joined the Board of Education.
I am also on an incredible weight loss journey.  Due to a daughter's diagnosis (I'll explain further down), our family switched our entire eating habits.  Just by changing foods I lost about 10 pounds on my own.  I started adding moderate exercise to that and the weight started melting off.  I gained new energy and new I was getting healthier from it.  15 months later I'm down almost 90 pounds!!!!  I still have a ways to go, but am so grateful for the transformation.   I'll try and post some before and after pics soon.
My husband, Mike, of 10 years, works at an ethanol plant 20 miles from our home.  Right now he works a swing shift of 12-hour shifts.  Soon (we hope) he'll be switching departments and will be working Monday-Friday from 8-4.  Normal people hours!!!!!
Our three kids are Brittany, Rachel and Seth.
Brittany is 8 and in 2nd grade this year.  She is an excellent student and loves school.  She is one of those kids that typically asks for extra homework and is sometimes bored with what they're working on.  Brittany is also taking piano lessons.  (Not by me though.)  She is an excellent reader and plows through chapter books.  This month is a reading minutes contest and she eats that kind of challenge up big time.  She is also a very responsible child.  She loves helping in the kitchen, "baby-sitting" her brother and helping around the house.
Rachel is 7 and in 1st grade.  Rachel is also a good student and has just recently really started into reading.  She's starting chapter books and is very proud of herself when she completes one.  Rachel is also taking piano lessons which comes very naturally to her.  She also is an amazing singer and sang a solo in the church Christmas program in December.  Rachel does have a few challenges associated with her name.  Last fall we got her diagnosed with hypoglycemia.  The dr. said we needed to eat very naturally and healthy.  We also decided to do this change as a family.  It would not be fair to tell a 6-year-old that this was her food and here was ours.  We did away with processed food and excess sugar and started eating much better.  Her fasting blood sugars went from 60s and 70s to 100s and 110s from these changes which is where she should be when she wakes up in the morning.  Rachel also has other recent issues that I still haven't come to terms with, but might come up in future blogs.
Seth is our 5-year-old and is all boy.  I never thought having a boy from girls would be so different, but wow....  He has absolutely no fear.  When he does a dare-devil stunt, even if he gets hurt from it, he's back doing it again trying to perfect it.  He also goes non-stop from sunup to sundown.  The only time he's still is when he has to be in school or when he gets his iPad time at home.  Winter makes for long months stuck inside for him.  He loves being outside running amuck on his bike at full speeds.   Seth is in preschool this year and his really grown up with it.  He'll be in Kindergarten next year and I think other than just calming him down, he's totally ready for it.
Well, that's just a glimpse of our life today.  As I said, there are lots of things I'd like to blog about and might need some direction as to a specific topic.  For now it might just be a family update.
Have a great day!!!!