Updates

Apparently I've blogged twice in about 14 months. The last time was 9 months ago. Plenty has happened to blog about, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and type it out. Life has been busy and sometimes I feel like it's been too busy to sit and write about it, lol. So here are some highlights:

- We got two cats. We thought they were girls and named them Martha and Puggles. After some rather male behavior, I checked and found that our female cats looked suspiciously male. They are now Frank the Shark (we couldn't pick between two names so we combined them and we now have a gangster cat who is fat and lazy) and Puggles (Mia sometimes calls him Mr. Puggles).
- The girls are now 6, 4, and 2. We're down to one in diapers (amazing after having 2 in diapers for a solid 3.5 years, 6 months of which we had THREE in diapers). Zero cribs,one toddler bed, two twin beds. No high chairs. I finally sorted out all the baby toys and assorted baby things and they all went to my parents' house. My two sisters (who both have babies) each took some things and some stayed there, so Mom and Dad now have a great collection of baby toys.
- Ella is in first grade. She loves school and is in the advanced group for both reading and math. She has a best friend (Gavin, since she's a tomboy and thinks boys are awesome). She no longer likes pretty things and only wants to be cool. Her favorite toy now is Legos (the small ones, because she's old enough now).
- Mia is in preschool. She's buddies with Ellie, who conveniently has a brother Ella's age, a sister Nora's age, and an awesome mom. She still adores pretty things and princesses. She's my helper. At home and at preschool when it's my turn to help in the classroom.
- Nora enjoys the time alone at the house. She's really chatty now and most of the time we can figure out what she's saying. I have to interpret Nora-speak for other people a lot though. She's into all pretend things with characters.
- Steve earned a big promotion at the bank back in the spring and a very nice raise with it. He works more hours and is a bit more stressed, but he usually enjoys the work and the challenge.
- I stay busy running kids everywhere and keeping things and schedules organized. I'm also in charge of Secret Sister for MOPS now. I'm no longer teaching Turbo Kick, which was bittersweet, but maybe at some point in the future things will line up better for it. I am planning on pursuing health coach and nutrition training in the spring with the plan to work part time until all the kids are in school all day.
- We gained another niece (bringing the total to 6) and a nephew. No new marriages, but two siblings are in fairly serious relationships. Uncle Fred is sick and will most likely pass in the next few weeks. Annie and Jonathan were both able to come home to say good-bye. Jonathan will deploy in the spring. Leslie and Paul are in North Dakota now and technically Paul deploys every week or so (he's usually gone for 36 hours at a time as a missileer - I'm thankful he's able to be home most of the time and isn't in a war zone).

I'm pretty sure those are all the highlights. At right this moment, Nora is sitting next to me on the couch coloring. Mia is moaning on the loveseat - she's sick and a bit melodramatic. Ella is at the table with Steve and Mike playing with Legos. I can't complain (other than the fact that it seems like someone is always sick - can we change that?) because life is good. It's busy and messy and definitely not perfect, but we have everything we need, most of what we want, and a lot of love and laughter. I hope the same is true in your household.