All Systems A Go!

Whew, where is the summer going? Long time no blog, eh?

Well the past few months in the Klassen home have been incredibly busy. Naomi finished school, Lilah celebrated her third birthday, Myles is chatting up a storm, Joel FINALLY has our pool 99% finished and I just finished a month long course in Business Planning while starting my own business at the same time! So we're just coming up for air now and I'm getting a moment to update my bloggy friends.

So Naomi is now a "Senior" (kindergartener that is) and quite proud of it. Her reprot card was excellent and we are really proud of her. It's amazing to see our eldest growing up so fast. Naomi has been enjoying daycamp at Fellowship Baptist Church this month as well. I remember a day when it was hard to get Naomi to leave the house. Now it seems that she can't get enough of her friends, so they are either here or she's at their houses. Already a socialite!

Lilah had a blast celebrating her third birthday at the end of June. Pictured here with her posse, Lilah enjoyed a whale of a beach party with her friends. I can't believe that she is three years old! At times she seems so much older than that and then other times it seems like just yesterday we were in China adopting her. Lilah's three year old smarts are coming out more frequently too. While she LOVES anything Dora, she's recently discovered that Dora is not cool in the older crowd. Much to my chagrin, she's already being influenced!

Myles gets cuter by the day and is now demonstrating the attitude that goes along with cuteness. Words are coming fast and furious, along with a love for music, cars and anything that goes grrrrr. I think that Myles is going to be the musical one as he's got a real ear for anything with a tune. When my Ipod is on, he's dancing. When his music is playing, he's dancing. In fact yesterday we were hanging out on the hammock and he started strumming the ropes to make his own music.

Joel . . . well I think he's just so thrilled that the pool is pretty much finished. A few more sheets of lattice will finish off the job -- one which far exceeded both our level of expertise when it comes to being handy, and also one that far exceeded our timeline. One good note is that while the project was tough, it was WELL worth it. I think that there have only been three days in the past month that we've not used the pool. Myles is fearless (scary actually), Lilah is overcoming her fear of water and can now be found bobbing around with her waterwings, and Naomi is becoming quite the little swimmer - dog paddling around the pool for hours. I don't think we've ever been happier to see the end of a project though. Let me tell you that if someone offers you a free pool, make sure that you have handy friends or are handy yourself. It is a BIG project - but like I said, well worth it.

We have enjoyed the company of my longtime friends Sharon, Len and Dylan for a weekend in July. It was so much fun to reconnect with their family as we haven't seen each other in almost 2 years. Dismal when you consider that we've known each other since Sharon and I were 8 year old swimming buddies!

We've also been to Auntie Heather and Uncle John's place one weekend this summer. Naomi caught her first fish (pictured below) and Myles learned to drive the boat. All of us really enjoyed the lake and the hospitality that Heather and John always show us. It really is like a piece of heaven there!

And now for my big news. All Systems A Go is the title of this post, and also the name of my new business. I have dreamt of venturing out into the world of entrepreneurship for some time now. I love the idea of using my talents to build relationships with clients that are all my own, and I also love coaching others to acheive success. Being an organized person, this business idea really came together over the past few months. Then in April I heard about a program to assist in business planning and decided to apply. The timing has been perfect and I spent every morning for the month of July in a class designed to help me write my business plan. The course was intense, but really helped me to focus on my long term goals.

As a business consultant and Professional Organizer, I offer consulting, coaching, hands-on organizing and training for small/medium sized businesses and corporations. I help businesses identify areas of disorganization that are inhibiting growth, then create a plan to overcome these obstacles. Mostly my business will focus on helping businesses and individuals manage time, use technology, track projects and activities, organize workspace, design and organize filing systems and simplify paperwork/systems in an overall effort to improve productivity and meet organizational goals.

I already have signed a contract with Pfizer Animal Health and also have two other clients that I'm working with. Since each of my clients is in a different industry, I am really enjoying the diversity that running this business offers. It is very exciting and I am loving the feeling of more balance in life.

Onwards and upwards! So that's about what we've been up to in the past couple of months! I'm off to enjoy the last few days of summer before school starts again! Hope you all enjoy the new photos (and in a new format that I'm trying out).

Cheers,
Karen