Ok.. yes, I've gone among the missing again. I think I must be really losing it. Maybe if I ask the kids they can help me to find my memory but I'm quite sure it is buried under a pile of stuff some where in this little tiny house - most likely in a now in-accessible corner of my overflowing bedroom.
I once again 'lost' my password for this blog... yes, somewhere in this head of mine it was lost and somewhat forgotten. It's not like I have nothing else to remember but hey, that's the way it is sometimes.
So what's new with the family?? Hmm, where to begin??
Let's just start at the top... the big guy himself... Bill: He's still a working fool... a slave to his company doing his best to keep all his staff happy while keeping himself employed and keeping the money coming in so we can all eat and live in the little house. He is also in the process of renovating our main bathroom in his spare time. (yeah, like he has much) We both decided that Memorial Day Weekend would be a great time to rip out and replace our 1960's mint green and black bathroom. We (foolishly) figured what with the 3 day weekend and an extra day off it could be completed... Well, I'm here to report that today is the 29th of July and I still have no main bathroom. Now this is not to say that he hasn't been working on it. It is just that we destroyed it and then promptly had weekend after weekend of obligations along with the usual project set-backs. He has been working diligently when he has been able to and it has been stripped to the studs (including removing the 400lb cast iron bathtub -which took 4 hours and a sledge hammer to disassemble) thee new tub is now in and it has been re-sheetrocked/cement boarded and we are awaiting the 'drywall' guy to come and tape it before the new tile can go it. So perhaps sometime in the next month or so we will have a functional bathroom.
(You may be wondering what we are doing now that we have no bathroom, thankfully we have a half-bath in the laundry room and an enclosed outdoor shower so we at least have some facilities that are keeping us from being really stinky. I do have to think that had we not had those amenities that this project might just have been completed more quickly but hey, I can't complain. The bathroom is going too be beautiful and it is not costing us an arm and a leg.)
I think I will skip my update and move on to the kids... save the best for last! LOL So kidding!!
Colin is now 10 and acting every bit of it. He is occasionally moody and tends to object to some of what we say with that great pre-teen attitude and patented eye roll. He finished off is 4th grade year very well with excellent grades. This summer he started playing the Clarinet in summer band and will continue in September. I have to say that I am proud as it is my horn he is playing and he is so cute honking out those first few notes. He is a little fish and swims every day. I am proud to say that he is quite a proficient ocean swimmer now too and is able to get himself outside the breakers with ease. He makes him mommy proud, that is for sure. He is now brown as a berry sporting his summer tan and sandy blond hair.. so cute. Other than the occasional attitude issues he is a good kid and helps me when I need him too.
Braden turned 8 in June and is a very busy and colorful character. I just love the way this kid looks at the world. Being ADHD he just does and thinks things differently than everyone else and it is really cool when you take the time to get behind that and see if from his side. He finished 2nd grade with great grades and we are looking forward to a good school year for him. It was a rocky year as we took him off his meds halfway through due to too many side effects. Unfortunately for Braden (and the rest of us) his teacher was not a good match this year and she really didn't know how capitalize on his strengths and encourage him in the ways he needed to be encouraged. I am so thankful that the school year is over and we can look forward to a better year and a more understanding and warm teacher. We were successful in gaining him a 504 plan so there are now things in place to ensure his success for the future. For the summer he has been enjoying all the outdoor time and swimming too. This kid tans like no kid with white hair that I have seen. He is so brown and that hair is so white, it is really something. He loves the ocean too and is actually a fan of being boiled and rolled by the waves. He will spend 90% of his time on the beach in the surf and getting tumbled here and there.
Miss Haley is 5 and a half and has just finished pre-school and is now ready to head on off to Kindergarten in September. She did great in pre-school and made many friends. She was praised by her teachers for being so helpful and compassionate towards her classmates, often helping them out without being asked. Of course that is no surprise to me. She is my big helper and such a little sweetheart. She has some girly-tude too but I love it. :) One of her biggest joys is getting to go to see "Miss Vivian" at the nail salon with her Mom-mom. They love to get their nails done together. Haley also had a dance recital this June and danced tap for the first time on stage. She was so cute a precocious in her black feathered number. She is having a fun summer learning to swim a bit more every day. She just loves to show me how much better she is getting.
Payton turned 2 in the middle of July and is really growing and changing every day. I just love the way babies change to toddlers and then little kids. Payton is really making that transition quickly. She is talking up a storm and using new words everyday. Payton is really a very animated and colorful little girl. She always has a big smile on her face and is very happy-go-lucky. She loves her "BeeBee" (blankie) and is a thumb sucker too. She is one of the few children that actually like to go to bed and will ask for 'nigh-nights' when she is tired. Of course you can usually tell when she is going to ask as she has Beebee with her and that thumb is in her mouth ready to go. She has been enjoying the pool and beach this summer too. During our family vacation to VT and ME she loved swimming in the lakes but does enjoy the ocean too if it is calm. She also is a brown berry with a butt that resembles the copper tone baby.
Sydney celebrated her birthday with Payton in July turning two as well. She is a coy and funny little thing. Sydney is my little engineer whose goal in life is to figure out how everything works. She loves to study the movement and working of anything she can get close enough too, from bike chains to lawn sprinklers. It is really neat to see the way she looks at things and really seems to figure them out. She isn't quite as verbal as Payton but she is showing her language skills in the most unusual way. Sydney is a babbler and has always been. She speaks a language all her own that some what resembles some Asian dialect. Funny thing is being a twin I really think that Payton understands her pretty well. Anyway, Sydney's language is slowly morphing into English. So what might just be babble the pattern is now starting to sound like speech and is changing to full sentences. The other day she was sitting on Bill's lap in the living room and turned and said "oh look, it's a fan". It is truly amazing when she comes out with these statements. Of course you have to listen carefully as she is pretty soft spoken and has a sweet high pitched little voice. Oh that and Payton is usually shouting something in the same room! Sydney loves the sand on the beach and will frequently roll in it while wet, of course, but she doesn't much care for the ocean. She tends to be a pretty shy little one though so that doesn't surprise me. She sure has been enjoying her summer though.
I guess that leaves me.... I've been as busy as always keeping this group together and seeing to their needs. The end of the school year and the move to summer schedule has been a nice change. But with school going until June 24th this year due to snow days, summer seemed to come along all the sudden. Things were pretty busy with summer band, VBS, and study island to work out but it was only a week worth of crazy though so it worked out ok. Our trip to VT and ME went well and I managed to bring along everything we needed and get it all packed in the trailer in time for our scheduled departure - not small feat! Otherwise I've been working on building my home business with Initials, Inc. It has been a fun time and I've really enjoyed it. I am also pregnant with baby number 6! Thankfully all is going well and I am now in my 20th week. We just had a level 2 ultrasound and baby is looking great! We will not be finding out the sex of this little one until birth just like the rest so don't ask! ;) Early pregnancy was full of the usual sickness and lethargy unfortunately I haven't seemed to lose too much of the lethargy, I don't know if it's my age or just that I still haven't recovered from not sleeping for the first 15months of the twins lives but whatever the cause, I'm pretty darn tired all the time. It's all good though and I feel incredibly blessed to have made it this far with this baby. Having lost two little ones at the 15/16week mark before the twins came along, early pregnancy is particularly scary for me (all of us really) but thanks to Lovenox (an injected blood thinner) I'm doing well and so is this baby. Other than that, I am happy to report that I have actually started reading again. I know that sounds terrible but with all the kids and babies over the years I haven't really given myself the luxury of reading for pleasure. I have read some books about parenting or the annual Lenten book from church but nothing just for me. I am just about to finish my first novel in years and I have just loved it. It is a great book and I am now at the point where the story is wrapping up and I don't want to finish it so that I don't have to say goodbye to the characters. Oh you want to know that title? The Help by Kathryn Stockett. If you haven't read it, do, it's really a great book. I am so thankful to my old HS friend Carrie who lent it to me. (Thank you!!)
Well, I guess that is it... the whole ball of wax... my update.... no let's hope my brain doesn't forget my log-in again and I can come back and post some more soon.
