Welcome to our blog

It has been to long

2010-09-28T07:35:00.001-07:00

Woke up today and was on the laptop and noticed the family blog was up. What I saw was pretty neat, my wife writing a blog, I am surprised that she has done a couple.

It is neat to see her write about things going on in her life, especially when she includes me in it :).

Well school for us is going full force right now. This semester I am taking a Spanish and Human Relations (HR) class. It sure is keeping me busy, but I am enjoying it.

Jeanine is taking Biology, Spanish, and another Math class (dang math teacher). She is just breezing through the Spanish class, seems to be doing well in Biology. Math though she is very good at it seems to be frustrating her this semester. She always strives for perfection and gets a bit down on herself and stressed when she does not understand something.

I tried to help her but it just looks like a foreign language to me. I wish that she would seek out more help from others than she does, but she is my lovely stubborn wife and wants to do it on her own.

Well on to my kids....Emilie holy smokes turns 12 tomorrow, where did the time go? She is going great in Middle school, in fact in band she was asked by her teacher to join the Advance Band, which is not usually done for a 7th grader. Way to go fellow band Geek :).

Nina seems to be adjusting pretty good that she is the big sister on campus now that Emilie has moved onto Jr. High. Nina has always done well at school and it is exciting to see her progress.

Kaulin...well what can we say about my son, besides that he is my son ;). We have seen so much improvements in his schooling. Though we still get the occasional fighting on the homework, it is much better than it has been in the past.

Rose, out lil bit is now in Kindergarten, and she is taking to it like a fish to water. She loves doing her homework and getting her happy notes from her teacher. It is funny when Jeanine picks her up from the bus stop. Jeanine says that you when she gets dropped off with the bus that has the big seat you cant see her walking towards the front cause she's so little.

Work is going well, I finally got to move over to the Men's Wearhouse side and I feel that my job is a bit more secure since they are closing alot of the MWTux stores every couple of months. I am a Operations Manager, which pretty much is the same thing I did as a Store Manager with MWTux, but I don't have the whole stores responsibility on my shoulder, just part of it. Also I am way closer to home, before it was 45-1 hour drive to and from work, now it is only 20 mins. each way.

I just wanted everyone to know that my wife is my rock, she is the one that keeps me going strong. Without her I would just be a wandering fool not knowing what to do. She inspires me to do my best and pushes (sometimes a bit hard) to do my best and do more.

She means the world to me and I love her very much and pray that the Lord will bless her and give her the strength to put up with me and her children. I know that things can get hard for her and that she would love to run away for a bit (who doesn't), but I know that all will be well in the end. She has her goals and she is working hard to get them done as fast as she can.

Well that is it for my post for now, I hope that I won't take so long to post again, but till then, love to all.

2010-03-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose it is time to update the world of fans on what is going on in the Rioux household.

School is progressing for everyone. Jeanine gets her workout every morning running to class. Since Rose's school starts at 7:30 and Jeanine's at 8:10 the 25 minute drive can be stressful. Especially if Rose has had a screaming morning (the majority of the time) or a clingy - I don't want Mommy to leave morning; Or if Riverside is actually working on the upcoming Magnolia undercrossing; or if the parking structure is crazy; or even if the night before was a long one and getting out of the house in the morning on time is difficult. But we are usually all right.

Emilie is registering for MIDDLE SCHOOL! Are we prepared for this? Hopefully her middle school experience is better than mine. She has been invited to be in the AVID program, but would have to sacrifice band. Not likely to happen in this Band centered family. Stephen and Jeanine have already waited 11 years to be involved in a good band program, don't make us wait longer.

Nina has been working on her Snickerdoodles for the county fair. She has already earned recognition at school for her delicious little works of art. She earned a certificate of achievement last month for her progress in math and her teacher also made mention of her progress in Snickerdoodles.

Kaulin is growing by leaps and bounds. He is still trying to learn the difficult lesson that what occurs on the playground may not be appropriate for the house. We'll daily work on this one. He is making good progress on his reading and his report card shows this. He is still quite the charmer at school and at church and at grandmas, most especially when he is not under the influence of mom or sisters.

Rose's speech is getting clearer every day and she loves writing. It is so fun to be handed a whole page full of easily recognizable letters. She then has fun reading the story to anyone. And she manages to do that with the biggest grin spread across her sweet face. She has also learned that cleaning the living room is a good step towards getting mommy to play blocks with her. For such a little thing, she's pretty good at cleaning (when she has the right motivation).

Stephen is also working away at his school work each day. Even though algebra is fairly high on his "don't wanna" list, his grades do NOT reflect this. His determination to conquer the mathematical beast wins out. He also does not let this challenge detract from the employment beast. He still slaves away 40 hours each week in support of the family. He is also making valiant attempts to be home when Jeanine needs to be at school (or needs to be anywhere but home) and making sure his kids know who he is.

Nutmeg is still the pinhead of the house. She loves everybody and is pretty sure everyone loves her, which is probably true. She loves to chase after the lizards (or any leaf that moves or sits like a lizard or perhaps even a shadow that does likewise) She also loves to spend the morning curled up with Nina. Another favorite activity is behaving like a moron when mommy is trying to work out. Nothing like behaving like a rolling pin on someone who is trying to do sit-ups!

So not much has changed, even though no two days are ever alike. And even though the number of times "I'm bored" is whined within these walls, it is never boring around here.

Shakespeare

2009-10-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! I figured it out! Yeah Me!

Okay, after the discussion on Sunday about "7 pounds" and the allusion to "The Merchant of Venice" I decided to read it. ("The Merchant of Venice" not "7 pounds"). Thanks to the library of Mom, I was able to quickly pick up a Shakespeare anthology. I must say, I am out of practice when it comes to reading the bard's work. On the first attempt, I think I fell asleep in about five minutes without understanding anything. Though that's probably more a reflection of my own sleep habits than the quality of the work in question. I am now a good way through it, though I must devour it in small bites. The contract involving the pound of flesh is signed very early in the work. I've not yet seen the resolution of the contract, though I can see where it is headed. (After all, isn't this a tragedy? Or am I wrong on that?)
Here's my question for the lit majors. In Act 3, Scene 1, the Shylock the Jew, who is also the creditor, wails a lament. Here's a small sampling:
I am a Jew. Hath not a
Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs di-
mensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
and of course it goes on. Reading this I was reminded of something I read quite some time ago. It seems it was written by a black woman and I think it was called "Ain't I a Woman?". I could be wrong on some of that, it is a hazy memory. I seem to remember similarities in the questions asked by the lamenter. But what is the connection or story behind this?

The Rebellion Begins....Chapter 1

2009-04-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so out and about today with Jeanine and Rose. We did some window shopping and had fun celebrating a belated B-Day for Rose who just turned 4 (Thursday).

We thought it would be a neat idea and pick Kaulin up from school. Jeanine hopped out of the car and went to go get him. I drove around the parking lot and as I came around I saw Kaulin and mommy walking down the sidewalk.

Kaulin was digging in his backpack and pulled out a piece of paper all to familiar to me from my past. It had a pink back (copy) and white front. It was not a full sized paper. He handed it to mommy and she began to shake her head. I just laughed and spoke out loud to myself. Hey I know what that is....

Well our Kindergarten child recieved his first referall notice. This a first from any of our kids.

Seems Kaulin really likes his ketchup and made sure he let people know of his disapproval of not allowed to have more than 2.

Here is the notice below. Let's hope that this is the last that we will see, but my mother cursed me and my family that I would have a son that was just like me :). Thanks mom !

Rose

2009-03-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our little Rose, she was shy and needed help from mommy with her video.

Kaulin

2009-03-08T19:45:00.001-07:00

Now my son told me daddy can I have my video on the puter...so up his went

Nina's Video

2009-03-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

Can't just have one with a video so #2 got to post her video as well.

Emilie's Video Blog

2009-03-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so this video thing is kinda cool and now I had to get my kids to put up a video about themselves. This was meant more for their grandpa Marc and Grandma Mimi.

We hope that you like them.

Our First Online Video

2009-03-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

We thought we would give this a try with our new laptop. The video is not the greatest but hey what do you expect from a webcam.

The kids had fun doing this and we hope to post more.

We can't wait !!!

2009-02-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so most of you reading our blogs might have never seen any of the Harry Potter movies or read any of the books.

We are sorry to hear that and hope that one day you will.

Here is the latest trailer of the 6th installment of the Harry Potter Series.

The cool part, it's the same due out the same weekend as mine and Jeanine's birthdays. Anyone want to watch 4 kids for us :)

Back to school

2009-02-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well Jeanine and I are back at school once again for another semester of fun.

I have to re-take my Pre-Algebra class, I just could not handle all that math in a 6 week course.

Here is my math example:

-2a + 3a + 3 - 6

Nice and easy for most ;). I am learning and growing, but my wife.....here is an example of her math homework:

If you graph angles x = 30o and y = - 330o in standard position, these angles will have the same terminal side. See figure below.

Coterminal angles Ac to angle A may be obtained by adding or subtracting k*360 degrees or k* (2 Pi). Hence

Ac = A + k*360o if A is given in degrees.

or

Ac = A + k*(2 PI) if A is given in radians.

where k is any negative or positive integer.

Well to say the least I am glad that Jeanine is going to be a math teacher. For one I am awful at math and 2nd, I get a FREE tutor!

Jeanine is also taking a world history class.

Well, we we keep you up as we go along. Wish us luck!

Chaminade 2009

2009-02-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally made it back from our annual company meeting in Santa Cruz,CA.
3 days and 3 nights of traveling, meetings and meetings and...well you get the point.

<--The plane boss! We flew on Southwest like we do every year. The flight was only over an hour and was nice and smooth. Thank goodness I am not afraid of flying but still have the jitters.

We get to Chaminade a little after 2pm and need to check in. Then wait around until 5 pm for the welcome meeting.

So it is off to my room till then....

What a nice backyard scenery I had from my room.

Hey look it's me with that famous guy that says...I Guarantee It. This is my boss George Zimmer. He was at part of our meeting pumping us up for 2009.

Here is what most of my stay looked like....250+ managers packed in a conference room for 9 hours.

At least they kept feeding us while we were there. This is just some of the snacks we got during the meetings. The full meals were wonderful from the restaurant at the resort.

I enjoyed my time at Chaminade, but I am glad to be back home with my family. It was great to see them at the airport and it is nice to know that they were safe.

Well till next time Chaminade!

Getting ready to come home

2009-02-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

Well it has been 3 days since I have seen my family and I am ready to come home.

For the past day I have been sick and not able to fully enjoy my time at these meetings.

I have to be up at the crack of dawn (5 am) on Friday to make my flight. I hope that the fligh home was as nice as the one here.

I can't wait to see all my kids at the airport waiting for me, screaming ....DADDDDYYYYY!!!

Well when I get home I will post some pictures.

Till then....

Shocked in Santa Cruz !!

2009-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

So I am on my business trip several hundred miles from home. I decided to log onto our blog page. What is the title that I see...."Trouble in Riverside", I begin to panic wondering what happened, is someone hurt, did the house burn down?

Nope it's my kids getting into trouble. It broke my heart to hear that my kids are in trouble not only with their mommy, but another mom and people around where we live. I thought I had talked to them and they said they would be good for mommy before I left.

I hope that they are enjoying writting sentences and not allowed to do anything "fun" for awhile.

I wish to address each of my kids while I am here and hope that they read it.

Emilie: You are my oldest and I love you very much and I hope that you have learned your lesson on this. See what happens when you are the oldest and others follow you thinking that it the right thing to do. I hope that from now on you will think of what is right and wrong and choose the right. Please do what is right. The punishment that you are going through now and how you are feeling is nothing compared to how you would feel if someone got hurt. I want to hear that you were the best help and did what is right from now on. Don't forget to do what your asked and read to everyone a chapter a night.

Nina: I know that you are going through alot right now learning right from wrong. I know that it can be a struggle with friends that may not know which to choose. I also love you very much and it hurt me to see that you also got into trouble. Please make sure that if you feel inside that it is not the right thing to do, you need to do what is right and if you don't know if it is the right thing to do you need to ask Mommy or Daddy what is the right thing to do. You don't need to follow or listen to your sister or friends if they are doing something wrong. Please be good for mommmy while I am up here. Remember to make sure that everyone does their homework (and that means you too).

Kaulin: You are my only son I and I am glad that you are trying to be brave and strong while I am gone. I know that you look up to your sisters and feel safe with them. You too are learning right from wrong and I hope that you understand that what happened today was wrong. Please be my little brave boy and choose the right. If you ever in doubt what to choose always go to mommy or daddy and we will help you. I love you, be brave and strong and protect mommy and your sister ok.

Rose: My lil bit, your smile is probably what I miss the most right now. I love you just as much as I do you brothers and sisters. Remember to be good for mommmy and listen to what she says. She will never get you into trouble. Make sure you put all the animals to bed. And SMILE!

Jeanine: I love you and I am sorry that you had to go through this alone today. I know that it is a struggle to do this while I am up here missing you (and the kids). Remember to take a deep breath and pray that things will go better. I can't wait to return and see you. Make sure that you don't give in to the kids, continue with their punishment and any other restrictions that you have put on them. If you have any problems give me a call or blog it and I will let the kids know what they need to do.

Trouble in Riverside

2009-02-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

A neighbor I'm unfamiliar with came over. He started the conversation with "I hate to be the grumpy neighbor, but.." He was nice and we joked about the troubles with kids. Then I had to go find mine to follow up on the news he gave me. My mood was not improved by the fact that they were not where they were supposed to be. Nor were they at any of their friends house. The forbidden clubhouse and playground turned up empty as well. The other mother involved in the caper was having no more luck. Eventually I drove to where I KNEW they had more sense to be and there, of course, they where. Nothing like getting caught doing something wrong when you are already in trouble.
Now we have the peaceful sounds of children writing lengthy sentences for hours on end.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2009-02-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

Well another year has gone by and that means another meeting in Santa Cruz, CA. I will be leaving my family behind for 4 days and 3 nights, I will miss them.

The place that I am staying at is Chaminade Resort and Spa, but will be so busy in meetings that won't be able to enjoy any of the perks.

This is where I have to rough it away from the perks from home.

Just don't let them know, I would hate to have them know that I have a bed all to myself.

<---- But here is where I will spend most of my stay. Why do companies put you up in the most luxurious places for meetings, yet have the most uncomfortable meeting rooms?

But at least the view is nice, wish that Jeanine could be with me to enjoy it.

Really Cool Video

2009-02-06T23:25:00.000-08:00

I like this video, it shows the talent that is out there and what you can do with a computer. The music is nice and amazing how they can make the graphic work with the music.

Crafty Wife

2009-02-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

My wife loves to quilt, and she has been doing it for years. When she first started she struggled. But like everything in her life she pushes forward and is successful.

I admire all the work that she does with them and love to see her hard at work.

She has taken over our closet with her fabric and other things, but I don't mind cause she is great at what she does. I may have to move out of it though if she adds anymore stuff. :)

Here is some of here great work:

This is a quilt she made for my son Kaulin, he loves Bob the Builder and Handy Manny can you tell ------>

<------ This one we call the Big Ugly, it is made of scraps of fabric that she had lying around. It is the most used quilt in our house, keeps everyone including the dog nice and warm.

This one was made for one of my old bosses who was in the Navy. I spoke with him the other day and he still raves about it and how much it is used by his family. That makes Jeanine so happy!!

Friday Night Movie Night

2009-02-06T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well it is Friday and the Rioux's get their movie tonight.

The movie of choice:

Walt Disney's Treasure Island which we got FREE from the library, we love the library.

Here is some of what we saw:

We love movie night at the Rioux's and suggest it to every family even if you don't have kids.

Just for you Dad

2009-02-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

Talked to my dad today, he lives in Texas and we lost contact from each other for many years. But now we try to contact each other as much as possible.

It is nice to be able to talk to him, I love him very much and hope that one day we can see each other and do a lot of catching up and so that he can meet the grand kids.

<----This is my dad and his wife MaryEllen, don't they make a great looking couple?

This is me ---------->
(So can you tell he gets his awesome looks from me)

Mary Ellen is very artistic and loves to make things. She has been in art shows in Texas and has won awards.

One Christmas she made tree ornaments that we put on our Christmas tree. She loves what she does and is very good at it.

<-----Mary Ellens awesome work !

Here is a picture from my past. This was a city band that I was in about 16 years ago. Can you spot me??

Well that is about it for now I am sure I will be back on later to post something else. Till then...

Sickie Face

2009-02-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

So here I am another day off (that was 2 in a row...RARE!) and guess who is home with me.....with Strep Throat (we assume).

Nina was sick yesterday complaining of a very soar throat. We looked inside her mouth and it is really inflamed.

Man I hope that I don't get it, I need to fly to a meeting on Tuesday and it would be nice to be in somewhat good health.

Well as you can tell she is not happy to be sick, but is watching T.V. so things can't be too bad for her.

FOUND IT !!!

2009-02-05T00:59:00.000-08:00

If you look over to the side you will see a link of something we love to do. It is called Geocaching (sounds like cashing).

This hobby requires you to have GPS system (our's cost $90), and then go to www.geocaching.com (small $3/mth fee) and put in your zip code. This will pull up hidden "treasures" around. Now these treasures are a odd sort of thing, not what you might think. Some can be as simple as a Altoids tin with a "log sheet" inside. Others can be as large as ..well who knows.

The object is to put the coordinates into your GPS and go find it. Once you find it inside there is a "log" that you sign. If the "container" is big enough then you can put a "trinket" inside for others to trade or just have fun looking at. Then you go back home and log onto the website and log that you found it.

These "caches" are NOT out in the open, but hidden. Sometimes you have to have "stealth" like attributes so that others (muggles) won't take it and spoil the fun.

We have been doing this for about 7 months and have found over 230 of them, and have not even tapped into what is out there.

Notice in the pictures the "containers" that we find. Some places are out in the boonies, while others might even be in a parking lot of a grocery store. The kids love doing this and run out of the van to the location where they think it may be.

The only problem is that they sometimes get to excited and yell out...."FOUND IT", now in most cases that is OK, but if you have other people around that don't know what you are doing, then the "hide' might be in jeopardy.

You can even "hide" some of your own caches if you feel so inclined. We currently have 2 out there. One of them has some really great reviews posted.

So if you would like to have some cheap fun then try this out. If you want to test it out let us know and we would love to take you out for a day of caching. You can find us on the above website under GeoRioux.

Thank goodness for CD's

2009-02-05T00:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know that it is late, but once I get going it is hard for me to stop.

I was going through some pictures and came along this little dandy. That is my son Kaulin, learning about cassette tapes and how they no longer work once you pull the entire tape out.

2009-02-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

I think I am starting to understand this blogging thing.

So even though this might be 2 months old...I thought I would put up a Christmas picture.

The kids are wearing the annual homemade "Christmas Eve Jammies".

Don't they look cute :)

The Rioux Family

2009-02-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Ok,

This is our first day up and running. Thought what the heck, let's start a blog that so family members can see how we are doing.

I have family across the country (well ok, Texas, Alaska, New York and Pomona,CA), oh and some family on my grandmother's side in Australia.

So hope we can keep up with this. I will have Jeanine on here also. I am sure that she would love to keep people posted.