This autumn we have had two birthdays, two major holidays, stitches, doctor checkups, school beginning and what else? Jacob turned five and Michaela turned four. Oh, and Emily turned 9 months. Halloween came and went and so did Thanksgiving! We now find ourselves a few days before Christmas. I should probably post some pictures, especially of Emily because she is now walking!
Caleb started the Spanish Immersion program at Harvest Elementary. By the time he is in 6th grade he should be speaking Spanish pretty well. He had a difficult time adjusting at first, emotionally. But he seems to have settled in now and is flourishing academically. He also has started the first phase of his orthodontic treatment.
Last week, Jake was playing with a friend in his room and fell on a table. He suffered a 2-3 inch gash on his scalp that required three staples. He was very brave. Poor Mike had to take care of all of it while I was at a hair appointment. But both dad and son fared rather well, I'm proud to say!
Em Em is getting into everything...everything! But she is just too cute. All the kids just pour a ton of love onto her and she is still the highlight of our world. She recently began walking. And it makes me excited and sad. I hoped I could watch her cute chubby bum waddle in her crawl across the floor a little longer. She is just growing up too fast for me. I need a time machine to freeze time a little. We've learned she has a hefty temper, but is easily assuaged.
She began eating finger foods. Oh, my. I think I might cry. I better stop writing about how much she is growing up.
In September, Mike went for 12 days back to D.C. No, that is not a typo, T-W-E-L-V-E days. He attended an arson investigation class at the National Fire Academy. The kids enjoyed skyping with him every night. And just when I was on the brink of begging the mental hospital to admit me, he was back.
Most of my brothers were able to come to our house for Thanksgiving. The best part was seeing my brother Jon who moved to New Mexico before Jake was born. We haven't seen him since then. My dad drove the lonely drive from Boise. We just had a lovely time being together. The turkey turned out, phew! And nobody got food poisoning. We reminisced and laughed over old pictures I forgot I had. Did I mention we had a swell time?
And now here it is seven days before Christmas. We are anxiously awaiting for Mike's family to arrive. Always fun to see them all. We don't have snow on the ground, but are hoping for a white Christmas. Without snow, it's been kind of nice for me because I have kept running with Chewy about three days a week. I have taken him up in the farm fields behind our subdivision where I can let him off his leash while I jog. He loves scaring the birds up out from under sage brush and sniffing for all sorts of treasures. He is just a plain good dog. Does not wander off and comes usually at a whistle. It's a welcome break for me to get outdoors to the peace and quite and I enjoy having him along.
UPDATE: Here it is January 8th and I really should finish this. The Christmas tree is down. Mike's family came and we had a grand time. Sad to see them go. We all went bowling--it's amazing how much fun that is with little kids. Here are some pictures from the last few months:
This is Chewy's favorite spot during dinner time.
Michaela doing yoga with Mommy.
This was our solution to the kids fighting over who got to ride in the jeep. It works great!
