Seems like it has been a while since I’ve posted… too much time in that I’m sure I’m going to forget something. I’m writing this from my new cool MacBook (I’m the newest Mac-convert) and I’m hoping to write more often (although don’t forget this is April LOL).First of all, Nana passed away last Sunday. We’re all sad she’s gone, but glad that she’s not suffering anymore. There was a nice memorial for her on Saturday, and it was nice to see so much family in attendance as well as so many of her friends.

What else… I’m staying at Orrtax a bit longer if my plan is approved. I’ll just be working at home much more. It’s been great to have Keina watching the kids some days, but all of this childcare juggling is killing me. We’ll see how this summer goes, though, when I have to work AND take care of them. Should be interesting. I’m sure I’ll be counting down the days to the first day of school 🙂

Speaking of the first day of school, I’m taking a statistics class this quarter (technically starting tomorrow, but I’ve already started). I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start working on the prerequisites to enter the BS Accounting program at CWU (they have a Edmonds extension). Who knows if I’ll ever finish, but it’s nice to be working on something. It’s a LOT of work, though!

Christian: Got his 2nd trimester report card and had a conference with his teacher. Christian brought all of his grades up, and we are so proud of him. He is still having problems with peer pressure and self-esteem, but academically he’s doing much better. He currently works one-on-one with someone for writing three days a week. We haven’t gotten any test results back yet, but they’re in progress. His teacher is going to be re-evaluating the kids in reading over the next few weeks too, so the results of that will be interesting as well. We can tell he’s doing much better. The last four weeks in church, the kids have presented a banner they made to the congregation and each had a notecard to read and Christian read his really well.

Brandon: In the same banner presentations, Brandon has done great with memorizing his lines (except for today when he declined to participate, even though he knew his line perfectly). He takes such pride in memorizing, it’s really cute. He’s VERY excited about Easter coming up (so am I… I gave up chocolate for Lent and I can’t wait to eat my Cadbury eggs LOL).

Alyson: Little Miss Alyson has reached the terrible twos. Most of the time, she’s still the sweet charming little flirt we all know and love, but oh boy look out if she doesn’t get her way. Especially if she didn’t have a nap and it’s after 4 in the afternoon. She can turn into quite the terror-tot. But we love her anyway… it is fun to see her becoming so independent.

Bill’s been busy with recording and web projects, and now he’s also one of the assistant coaches for Christian’s baseball team.

I can’t think of anything else… I’m surviving tax season. April will be crazy but May should be really quiet.

Christian – is on the list to undergo complete educational testing. In the meantime, I got a book about ADD Nutrition which has a 30 day dietary plan for kids with attention issues, and we’re going to give that angle a try. We’re still trying any tactic we can come up with to try to help him and there have definitely been really good days and really bad days.Brandon – is going for a hearing test Wednesday and meeting with a speech therapist soon for evaluation and therapy. Now that he’s in preschool, he’s getting really frustrated with not being understood by his peers. We’ll have his preschool conference Feb 2 or Feb 9, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. He completely shut down at school the other day because his teacher didn’t get him something he asked for… not sure if he asked too quietly, wasn’t clear, or it was just a bad time, but he spent the entire remainder of the class face down on the floor and even declined snack. That and shyness has become the norm for him lately, so I’m anxious to get him some help. I did get him the very last spot in Full Day Kindergarten for Fall yesterday.

Alyson – is out-shining her brothers at the moment. She’s certainly having her ‘two’ moments complete with blood-curdling screams, but overall she’s an extremely happy, independent child. She loves puzzles and coloring and her new Dora castle and is enjoying learning letters and colors and shapes already. She is WAY clearer than Brandon is, speech-wise, which is really eye-opening.

Me? Barely keeping head above water. Selfishly want a foot or two of snow to fall tonight so I can stay home and get some work done. Several client files on my desk to wrap up. Lots of overtime at work (it’s beyond awful there right now – the stress is through the roof and on to the moon). I SO can’t wait to leave there. Have I mentioned I was insane enough to volunteer to be on the Board of Directors for our local Thrivent chapter? I’m the communications director. Poor Bill will probably have to help me improve the website. At least he’s staying sane through all of this (although he has a recording gig next week!).

Breathe in….. Breath out…. and go rescue dinner 🙂

Well, we just returned home from our annual adventure to the fair, $200 lighter than when we left (yikes!). We had to park at the absolute farthest parking area possible, so we all got our exercise! We all had a great time, though. Uncle Ed was kind enough to join us and he took Christian for a little while to the bigger kid area. Christian won a big green mouse stuffed animal and a blow-up stick. He also bought a plastic trumpet which he and Alyson both loved, but it sadly was a casualty today – it disappeared at some point (shhh… he hasn’t noticed yet). Brandon and Daddy had some time to themselves too and had a blast going on the little kid rides. Brandon also won a fish! So of course, we had to buy the tank and a second fish. The fish are currently named Max and Braden (who knows how long those names will last). We have to pick up fish food at the store tomorrow. Brandon also won a big blow-up hammer and two stuffed puppies for Alyson (although one of these was also a casualty today). Alyson and I wandered through a couple of the animal barns and the exhibit areas. She tried to win a fish too 🙂 She brought home a Dora beach ball and carried it all over. We really enjoyed the shaved ices this year – we had to pick the hottest day of the weekend to go! Well, there you have it… another year into the history books.