Daleen Update

Well, things have been pretty crazy around here! We have many things on our plate and seem to just be going from one thing to the next...thought I'd fill you in on the latest....

Our Nanny, Angela gave her official notice recently..so we have been feverishly looking for a preschool for Emma. We finally made our decision yesterday! Emma is going to go to a small family-owned school called, Los Niños. From the moment we walked in, we knew it was a special place. The Los Niños teachers come from all over...Columbia to Honduras, Peru to Mexico, as well as Spain and they all speak Spanish as their native language. Each day Emma's day will be filled with academic learning and the teachers will inter-mix English and Spanish throughout her day. It comes highly recommended by everyone! I think it's going to be so great for Emma!

We have an open house next Saturday where Emma will meet her teacher and new friends. Her first day will be Monday, August 18th! Check out the Los Niños website if you're interested! http://www.los-ninos.com/. In addition, we enrolled Emma in karate class that starts end of August...and then a soccer camp that starts Sept. 8th! She is super excited about both classes.

And then there's Jackson--he starts 4th grade on August 18th! I asked Jackson what he wanted to do for before/after school care and he opted not to go to a daycare...he said he was getting too old to go to those places. So between our neighbor, Rick and a young woman named Mallory..we hope to have our bases covered! I can't believe it! We bought all his school supplies today--and he got the official 4th grade haircut! For those of you who didn't know...we let Jackson go without a haircut all summer! Today, he said that he was ready to get it cut short because it was just so hot on his head!

In addition, he is in DARK KNIGHT mode--Since the new Batman movie came out, Jackson has been all about Batman! He's not allowed to see the movie because it's a bit too violent..but his imagination is working overtime on all things Batman! Today, he made his Batman costume from scratch--my black leather winter gloves...a black ski mask...a black batman mask...black pants...black long sleeve shirt...and black dress shoes...and a swatch of material from Walmart for the cape! He is VERY particular about all the details...HE IS SO CREATIVE!

Rick has started back on nights...2:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. shift...There are stories everyday...burgleries...homicides...thugs...He is absolutely loving his job...and I choose to stay ignorant by not watching the local news or reading the newspaper. Who am I fooling...I never really read the paper except for the Target ads!!! It's tough when he works this shift because we really don't have a lot of time together as a family--so we do everything we can to focus on quality, not quantity!

And then there's me...well, it's official Staples purchased Corporate Express and on July 15th, we became, Corporate Express, a Staples Company. Staples purchased a company called American Identity (AI) about two years ago--and they are a direct competitor of ours. So we are working with AI to "merge". They are located in Overland Park, KS. At this point, I'm on four functional committees with members of the AI team...our job is learn all we can about eachother and make a recommendation on how best to create our new company. It's basically like being "on" 24/7--exhausting! Part of me wants to be cooperative because one of these people may be my new boss..the other part of me could care less! This has now become my 2nd full-time job! We'll see how it all shakes out--organizational structures are to be determined by Sept. 2nd..and final by Oct. 1...so I should know something very soon about my fate at Corporate Express...now...a Staples Company.

And on a lighter note--I finished one of my very large projects this past week at work. We opened our newest facility located at #2 Document Drive, just off of Woodson Road. The facility is 4,800 sq. ft and houses 25 offices...Guess I can now put commercial real estate and property management experience on my resume! Check out the pictures!

That's about it for us...talk to you all very soon.