Happy Turkey Day!

You know a lot of my family members and friends put on facebook every day what they are thankful for and they add a little thing every day, I always thing man that would be cool to do that, but it never fails that I remember like in day 10 so than I can’t “join in” b/c it’s already day 10… you know. So what I decided to do this year is provide a small sampling of what I’m most thankful for … in no particular order mind you:

1. My family, extended and immediate. Both mean a lot to me.

2. Being a mother, I know there are people out there who do not have the ability to become a mother for whatever reasons. I am thankful for having the opportunity to have given birth to three wonderful children and have all the ups and downs that come with it.

3. My husband. Marriage is hard. There are many things that you don’t expect when you get married both good and bad. I love my husband and he is a very loving and caring individual.

4. Our home. Our home is one of the most wonderful places that exist on this earth. I can go and relax and enjoy all of my favorite things on this earth.

5. My parents. Being a parent now I understand that things are again much harder than that look when you are wearing the other person’s shoes. I am thankful that I had two loving parents growing up and even today I have two parents that care a lot about me and my family.

6. My grandparents. I have my living grandmother who I look up to and respect. My other grandparents have moved onto another world and I missed opportunities to get to know them better, but I’m thankful that I knew them at points of my life.

7. My education. Life doesn’t always give you the things you want. I’m grateful that I had two parents encouraging me to further my education and learn about different fields. I had the ability to go to college and had the determination to get through, both things that were given to me by my parents.

8. My job. I am grateful that I get to experience new things. I am glad that life threw me a curve ball and made me change some things. I am glad that I am able to provide for my family in a financial sense.

9. Music. Music has a strong way of influencing me. It touches my heart. I love being able to turn on the computer or radio and get lost in the feelings that music makes me feel. I love being able to singing and having the ability to share my voice with others.

10. Last but certainly not least I’m thankful for my children. I have three very bright young spirits that have come to us for us to inspire and encourage to live righteously and to become the best that they can be. Each one has their own special personalities and come with their own stars to shine. They mean the world to me and I’m thankful for having them.

Okay so that’s just a little sampling of what I’m truly grateful for, there are many other things but I don’t want to get too heavy for this Turkey Day blog.

Well I had the best Thanksgiving. I was able to host Thanksgiving and I had a house full of people it was wonderful. My two brothers and their families came up for Thanksgiving. I was able to cook and cook and cook some more it was GREAT. We also played so many board games it was so much fun. I really miss the days of playing board games and hanging out with the family. I hope they all had a good time. The kids got to see each other and play with one another. They were in heaven, it was loud, but it was fine. They really play well with one another so it works out.

On Friday Jackie and I did some Black Friday shopping. I hadn’t done that in so long! That was really a lot of fun. When I told Helen (my mother in law) that we left at 6:30 am in the morning her response was “wow that’s really late.” But you know it was still fun even though it was “late.” They braved the stores at like midnight and didn’t stop until like 4 am… yikes no thanks, 6 was early enough for me. We did get some good deals on things. I think I’m totally done with the whole shopping thing. I have a niece to shop for and that’s it. So that’s exciting! I really had a great time hanging out with my family and enjoying their company and I think they did too.

Well we are still in transition in our home. Tait and I have been adjusting to our new schedules with the kids. We have been back and forth as to what to do with the kids in the morning. The girls were being picked up before school by a friend’s parents well on Monday they forgot to pick them up. So Tait and I have to come up with another idea as to what to do with them in the morning. We have come to the conclusion that we are going to be taking them to CLC. This is the before and after school programming for the kids that we can sign up for, it’s $10 dollars a day for them, but it will avoid us having to get them from school and also what to do with them in the morning before school. We just can rely on the family that was picking them up. We will still utilize Monica when they are out of school for the day, but even the ½ day on Friday we will have them go to CLC, b/c it doesn’t change the cost of it at all. It’s crazy to try to figure out what to do with kids every day. We are trying to figure out what to do about the summer still. I’m trying not to stress about it yet, but as Christmas is fast approaching so will the summer. But I’m trying not to have anxiety of that YET. I am trying to be as rational as I can.

Anyway… so Christmas is on its way and the other day I asked Maya is she wanted to write a Christmas list to Santa and she promptly told me NO, I ask why and she said “b/c I’ll be happy with whatever Santa brings me.” So I thought that was nice, at least she won’t be disappointment when she doesn’t get the thing she really wants. Lehna on the other hand has written a very nice Christmas letter, she wants 6 things, 2 of which are ponies, 1 dog, 1 kitten, a guitar, and another American Girl Doll… hum don’t know if that’s going to work out for her… but that’s her list.

I need to see if we can get them to see Santa before this holiday season is gone. I don’t know how Nikolai will do with Santa, probably be afraid. But I know that Maya and Lehna would be fine and since Lehna is the only child to have seen Santa that maybe it might be nice to take them. I’m almost thinking that Lehna is out of the Santa age so maybe it would be nice to take her before she decides she doesn’t want to believe any more. But no promises.

Our Kiddos!

INTRODUCING MAYA ELIZABETH

Maya is 5 years old soon to be 6. She is a kindergartener and LOVES to do art! She is the free spirit of the family and really enjoys being herself. She is spunky and has a light about her that brightens up any room she comes in. She can entertain herself and be completely happy. She is the independent child of the bunch. She also loves music you can catch her singing to music she heard days ago. She loves her music CDs and loves it when we play them for her.

I asked the kids the same questions:

1. What’s your favorite Color: Pink

2. What’s your favorite Food: Spaghetti

3. What’s your favorite Animal: Elephant

4. What’s your favorite Song: Mary had a Little Lamb

5. What’s the activity do you enjoy most when you are outside: Playing Dolls in the garage

6. Who is your favorite Disney Princess: Rapunzel (she said I should know this already mommy, I was going to guess Cinderella!)

7. What is your favorite movie: Barbie and the Pop Star

8. What’s your favorite toy: Little people (her princesses and princes)

9. What is your favorite vacation: When we went to Marcus and Jackie’s and we played

10. Who is your best friend: MaKayla

11. Name One thing you want to do with your family: Go to the hotel and go swimming, sleep all night and play

12. What’s your favorite cartoon: Sponge Bob or Baby Brats

13. What color of carpeting would you have in your dream castle: Pink & Purple

INTRODUCING LEHNA MARIE

Lehna is 7 years old soon to be 8. She is in 2nd grade and loves school. She is by far the student in school we get glowing remarks about how she behaves and acts in the classroom. She is truly her mama’s daughter however. She has many of her mama’s personality traits at home (not at school). She is outgoing and loves music. She is always singing, listening to music, or making up her own songs. She loves to help me in the kitchen. Anytime she sees me cooking the next thing she says is “can I help?” She also enjoys her little brother. She is the mother hen of the kids. She is always making sure that Maya has her shoes on and that Niki has someone to play with. She is also very caring and loving towards everyone. She is always making sure that everyone is taken care of.

1. What’s your favorite Color: Green

2. What’s your favorite Food: Cyclops Donuts (for those not here, these are glazed donuts that have chocolate icing, than whipped icing in a big dollop on the top)

3. What’s your favorite Animal: Giraffe

4. What’s your favorite Song: I kissed a girl, by Katy Perry (I think this is the only song she knows the words to)

5. What’s the activity do you enjoy most when you are outside: riding her bike

6. Who is your favorite Disney Princess: She said she really doesn’t like that kind of thing anymore, but she guesses Jasmine

7. What is your favorite movie: Dolphin Tale

8. What’s your favorite toy: Her American Girl Doll

9. What is your favorite vacation: Trip to Zoo in Indiana

10. Who is your best friend: Cassandra

11. Name One thing you want to do with your family: Go to the Disneyland and Harry Potter World

12. What’s your favorite cartoon: Fairy Odd Parents

13. What color of carpeting would you have in your dream castle: Green & Blue

INTRODUCING NIKOLAI ANTHONY

Nikolai is almost 2 years old. He is our little prince. He is well favored by all in our family. He is defiantly a boy boy, he loves his cars and his blankies. He is such a sweetie pie. He loves to roll around on the floor and play outside. He is the perfect addition to our family. He is full of life and laughter. His smiles allow him to get away with EVERYTHING. He has the sweetest disposition but he knows he’s the ruler of our land.

1. What’s your favorite Color: He doesn’t really have one, everything is blue

2. What’s your favorite Food: Hot Dog & French fries

3. What’s your favorite Animal: Dog, Mainly b/c he knows what they sound like

4. What’s your favorite Song: Five Little Monkeys

5. What’s the activity do you enjoy most when you are outside: Walking up and down the side walk with grandpa

6. Who is your favorite Disney Princess: Nahh… he is more into cars

7. What is your favorite movie: Annie, He LOVES music

8. What’s your favorite toy: cars, anything he can carry in his little hand

9. What is your favorite vacation: Unsure

10. Who is your best friend: Colton

11. Name One thing you want to do with your family: Sleep in my parents arms with a blankie and warm bottle, he’s in heaven

12. What’s your favorite cartoon: Caiou and Thomas the Tank

13. What color of carpeting would you have in your dream castle: He would like a fort, something built of pillows so he could climb rather than a castle

Adventures of the Babysitter

Well yesterday was the start of the changes for my children. They started going to a babysitter. Niki did great yesterday. Monica said that the only time her cried is when she tried putting him down for a nap. At first he went right to sleep with just a few sucks on his bottle. Then when she tried to lay him down he woke up… so she said she went back to rocking him again and this time she fell asleep in the chair with him. She said she woke up 15 minutes later and tried to lay him down again and he woke up. She said she let him cry for 1 minute and than he was out. So nap time was the only time he even made a peep. She said he was so quiet and so such a sweet little boy.


Lehna said she had fun at the babysitters and she did all of her homework… well I looked at her stuff and not all of her homework is completed. But at least she started it anyway. She said she had a good time there and was excited about going back.

Maya on the other hand was a different story. When I came in Maya said that the dog bit her. I looked at Monica and asked what had happened and Monica said that she wasn’t sure what exactly happened. She said they were in the living room and then Maya came in the kitchen saying the dog bit her. Monica said that she isn’t really sure b/c the dog is very sweet and wouldn’t bite. So I told her I would find out more to the story. So I find out later that Maya was rubbing the dog’s belly when she started to rub his paw. She then said she pinched his paw and that is the when the dog nipped at her. There was no bite marks or anything of that nature but I think it scared her more than anything. So Maya and I had to talk about the importance of being respectful to the dog and not pinching the dog. Maya is stating she refuses to go back to the babysitter but I explained that she would be returning and if she was nice to the dog… the dog would be nice to her. So that was the only issue we had yesterday so overall not too bad just had to get her over this dog thing. I think Maya is feeling some guilt over the issue which is why she is acting like she doesn’t want to go back, but she will adjust and I told Monica that too. I’m sure that they will become good friends eventually.

So it was a good day. We came home to Spanish hot dog sauce that was cooking in the crock pot… so it was a good day. Tonight Tait is making Lasagna in the crock pot. I am hoping it will be good. It looks pretty simply but we’ll see 

The kids by the time we came home from work were WOUND up they were just bouncing off the walls they were just so happy and excited about life. So that was kind of crazy. We played on the floor for a little bit than Lehna had some extra energy and wanted to play Dance 3 so I had a dance off with her. This went fine until I beat her and then she threw a fit and spent some time in her room. But overall it was a good evening. It should be an interesting change with the new routine and getting the kids going.

The next two days I have to take kids to the dentist appointments. The girls are going today and then Niki goes tomorrow. I’m hoping that it won’t take too long. But basically that’s all I have for now… I know I’m not very exciting but this is a daily update verses a weekly update and seriously just not that much happens. I will work on taking more pictures however b/c I think that would be good to add 

The HAIR CUT!

Okay so on Friday I took the girls to go get their hair cut at the lady we always go to. Well Maya went first and she was back there a good 20 minutes and came back with a wedge style hair cut… so I was looking over her hair and Emily (beautician) said that she did a dry cut on her b/c Maya doesn’t like to sit still, and wanted to get her in and out very quickly b/c Maya’s attention span is really not too good. So I was fine with that. And she said that if I thought she needed some touch ups just to stop by and she would get those touch ups for me. I said okay. So as I was looking over her hair as we waiting for Lehna to get done, the more and more I really just wasn’t too sure about Maya’s hair cut. It kind of looked strange on her… not bad just strange. But I thought it was because it was new and the more I saw it the more I would like it… well that didn’t happen. The more I looked at it the more I didn’t like it…


On Saturday the kids were going up to my parents for the night because Tait and I had an adult’s only wedding reception to go to so we needed a sitter. So the girls took a shower and as I was brushing Maya’s hair I decided that I was going to cut it. I didn’t have time to take her to get it done at the hair place so I thought that I would section it and do it really slow and since it was wet that would help. So Maya was watching television and I told her that I was going to cut her hair and she was fine with it. So I sectioned out the hair and started at the back since that is where it was its shortest and started cutting. The first side went pretty smoothly I felt like it was good. The other side… well not so much it was more all the same length verses the other side. So I did the best job that I could and sent her on her way. It doesn’t look terrible but it doesn’t look professional either. So while she was gone on Saturday I set up an appointment to get her hair FIXED on Wednesday. We will go back to Emily so she can even out what I did. Like I said it’s not terrible but it’s not professional either. I do feel badly however as to how to explain why I did what I did. I really don’t want to say b/c I just didn’t like the hair cut you gave her. So I’ll have to think of another excuse before then. But here are her pictures.

 Just FYI we do not have our Christmas tree up, this was at sears that Lehna took of Maya.  They were trying NOt to to be bored while we shopped.

Lehna on the other hand has really wanted her hair cut in a pixie cut. I told her that if she gets it cut that short that there is no going back she will have to wait a long time for it to grow out. Well she really wanted it short like that and so when we went to get her hair cut I told her to pick out a picture in one of the book that was there and we would agree on. So she brought up a picture and I told her no b/c the hair cut was really strange… but then I suggested another hair cut that she kind of liked and the more she looked at it the more she liked it so she went with the new hair cut. So Emily took her back and cut her hair. I think her hair cut is super cute and Lehna seems to really like it so I guess that is all I can ask for.

This weekend was kind of different not having kiddos around on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. It was kind of nice eating a warm lunch and not having to get up 500 times to serve the children. We went to a coworker’s house before we went to the actual reception and that was fun hanging out with them. You can tell however that this group of friends has had a long history together because they were talking about stories that we weren’t part of and so that was kind of awkward since we didn’t have anything to put forth but it was fine. The wedding reception was good to. The couple had gotten married in Disney World in Florida in August so this was their reception. They served appetizers and had an open bar for a little bit. They did run out of food that was a little strange. The bride and groom didn’t get to eat, they said that they were going to be bringing pizza so the bride and groom was going to eat that. They also didn’t have a traditional wedding cake, instead they had cupcakes. Which was kind of interesting because the didn’t serve each other cake or anything like that. So it was not a traditional reception, but it was nice at least we were included.

On Sunday we did some housework so that was exciting. The kids were gone and we did laundry and dishes. We also went to the grocery store that was super fun without kids. We needed just a few things to start Niki at the babysitter this week.

Niki went to the babysitter this morning. He really was interested in playing with their two puppy dogs they really enjoyed that. And they were getting ready to have breakfast. So I know that eventually he will really enjoy going there. Today was easy drop off b/c he was distracted by the dogs so tomorrow might be the challenge. He’ll know that I’m not staying, verses today I got to sneak out. The girls will start going there after school today as well so Tait will get them about 4 pm just before we pick them up a little later. This week we are picking them up from school and taking them to daycare but after this week the baby sitter will pick them up from school. We wanted an opportunity for the girls to get to know Monica and her daughter Marissa since that is whom will be picking them up, we didn’t want them to not know what they looked like. 

So we are changing changing changing around here. We are learning new routes and figuring things out. I’m working on my menu for thanksgiving and getting that already ready for our guests. I’m very excited about that! I’m trying to think of some fun things for all of us to do for the weekend. So any local residents that have any ideas let me know.

So enjoy your week and hopefully I’ll update soon!

News and other Views

So I have to say that one of my favorite past times right now is reading Yahoo “news” articles. I use the word news as very lightly as I can b/c most of the time it’s just crap. Well what I really enjoy reading is the comments that people make, most of the time they crack me up.


I was reading one of the articles about how Kate Middleton was wearing the same dress twice to another event. (like I said this is the News part I was telling you about earlier) the comments were funny so I picked out a few so to show you what I’m talking about…

rocketman : in other news, I wore the same suit I bought 5 years ago to an event for probably 35th time now.

T : So what. Its a lovely dress. Is she supposed to cut it up and make doilies with it, after she wears it once or something?

figure8 They #$%$ if she has a new wardrobe, she makes headlines when she wear something twice, PEOPLE get a life. Go change your underwear or something.

Jennilynn A. Wait, you can reuse clothes?



It really makes me smile some of the comments that are posted on Yahoo at times. Sometimes they can just be cruel and mean but other times it’s slamming Yahoo for their choice of “news” articles. Other times they are just people complaining about why they clicked on the article. I don’t know they make me smile so I wanted to share.

Well last night was a pretty exciting night. I went on a second interview with the company that I had talked to before. I think it sounds like there’s going to be a job offer made. But my ½ hour interview I was planning on ending up taking 1 ½ hours! It was really long, but it was good I understand more about their business a little better so that will help me make my decision a little better. I really am caught between a rock and a hard place as far as the job front goes and I’m worried about all the changes that are going to be occurring and I Really don’t know if this is going to be a change I want to make, or will I need to make it. It’s kind of frustrating, and nerve racking all at the same time.

So by the time I got home it was like 7:30 and by the time I came home I wasn’t able to make my favorite pizza, which is: tomato, mozzarella, basil, and garlic on a homemade crust let me tell you it is YUMMY! And it’s super fast so I love it! But any way. I was craving No Baked Cookies like crazy so I made those instead! I thought for a few minutes that they were going to be bad and not set up but you know they set up fine, I just wasn’t patient. I was looking through Lehna’s homework file and discovered the Lehna actually had WAY more homework than we thought. Tait did homework earlier with both girls and we thought it was completed, but I found more. So we worked on that. Lehna and I were chatting away as I was making No Bakes and she was doing her homework. Maya decided she wanted in on the action and she came in and was telling me about her day as well. It was really fun. The girls really love to help me cook or bake. I let them help as much as they can but my problem is just feeling it’s easier if I did it myself. So I have to work on that.

I am really going to try to work on this better. I know that the girls would love to be able to cook more and I’m going to really try to allow them to help me more. Obviously some things won’t be allowed but like the touching of raw meat or knife things, but dumping things into a bowl they should be able to handle, even Lehna can help with measuring. So note to self allow them to do more.

I feel like since I got home so late that I hardly spent any time with the little man. We are getting into super bad habits with him. Well not starting but continuing bad habits he truly is our little prince, we are going to PAY big time!

But anyway that’s life yesterday…

Oh...  Maya came into our room this morning and told me about her dream she had last night... She said that she went over to Grandma Jeanette's house and when they got there they had two swimming pools in their kitchen.  She said she really loved it because she got to go swimming in her kitchen last night.  
She is super cute... Her dreams crack me up. 

*They are going to be spending the night at Grandma Jeanette's and Grandpa Terry's on Saturday to Sunday b/c we are attending an evening wedding and they are both SUPER excited. 

Dusting off the ol’ Blog

So I would like to say that I’m going to start blogging again on a regular basis. But that’s a really hard promise to make and to be honest I just don’t know if I’m up to it. But I will try to blog as much as I possibly can; I don’t even update facebook on a regular basis any more. Oh well. Well one thing if you have been off blogging for awhile when you search around you can read updates on people that you haven’t really done in awhile. My sister in law for example has other blogs listed on her blog and I have to tell you those women are true to their blog they blog at least once a week or more… way more than I do… but anyway I was able to catch up on some of her friends’ lives most of them I haven’t read in a couple of years so it was kind of fun for me to read and see how people lives have changed and etc. I don’t know it’s like watching the neighbors from the window, or listening to their phone conversations via scanner, but it’s more high tech and they put it up for public view so it’s not as creepy compared to the previously mentioned methods of snooping. But anyway I digress.

So the changes around our little home are starting to take effect. Our home is starting to fill with boxes of Tim and Helen’s items and the little man is starting to think he can have his own movable fort. I have to say I’m very worried about how Niki will handle the change with Tim and Helen no longer living with us. He LOVES his grandparents so much and I’m just really worried as to how he will do, but this will be good for all involved so it will be okay. The sad part is we only go to Indiana about 3-4 times a year so he will forget them and when we go there he won’t remember how much of a grandpa’s boy he truly is. So that’s kind of sad but it’s part of how life happens.

So next week Niki starts going to the baby sitter. I’m so excited for him but nervous at the same time. I know that he is really going to enjoy having another child to play with during the day so it’s a great move for him. It’s going to be a big change for the girls too b/c they are going to be going to the babysitter after school too so that should be different but the baby sitter is going to pick them up from school and bring them back to baby sitter so that will be AWSOME! I’m super excited that we won’t have to figure out how to get them to the babysitter every day. Lehna is very excited about being able to go to the babysitter; she wants to be able to help with the other baby as much as possible so I thought that was sweet. Maya said she really liked all the toys that Monica, the babysitter, which were all new to her.

Well also interesting reading I have decided to go back to therapy again. I have to say that I miss Marge something terrible but I have been taking anti-depressants for about 9 months and I still feel like I’m on a roller coaster so I’ve decided that maybe I need to talk to someone, help get my head back where it feels normal again. I think this will be a good move for everyone, my family is very important to me and I think that by getting out my frustrations and feelings with a counselor will seriously just help my relationships with them. It’s just one of those things that you just feel you need to do. I defiantly have some goals in mind of things that I want to accomplish and I’m hoping that together we can make some great changes. So one thing that I have pointed out is my negative self talk. I do this so often I really don’t even realize when I’m doing it. This is something that I am going to work on, it’s hard being so hard on me, and I need to give myself a break. I need to stop personalizing everything that has gone wrong and instead recognize all the positive things that I have done. It’s a total switch of focus, this will be a major challenge for me, but I think I’m up to it.

We are in the realm of change. You know change is stressful but it’s wonderful too. I’m excited about our new change to our family and I am very excited to be able to make new rules of the house with Tait and the family. We are going to moving in a great direction and I’m excited about it.

On the job front, well there isn’t much to report I’m kind of still in Limbo in my current position. I am able to apply for other openings through Kenosha County as openings appear which I am starting to do; being fearful that my position here might end only b/c the lady might come back… especially as the clerical union ends so it should be interesting. I also have been applying other places as well just to keep as many options that I can. I have an interview today for a company that I’m fairly certain I will get an offer from. I have an interview on Monday for a staffing company, and I had a test with the city this week for a position I applied for. So I have some things in the hopper I’m just trying to figure things out and make the best moves that I can. So it’s trying to decide should I wait and see here and take the risk or do I move on before it’s too late. So It’s kind of hard to decide what in the world to do, but I don’t want too many changes at once but I kind of feel that we will be guided in the direction we are supposed to go, so I have to trust that. I just have to trust in the process that I think is the tricky part, it’s the holding on that you have to just kind of wade through and being the patient person that I CLEARLY am it’s difficult for me. I think that’s why I am given so many things that take “time” to figure themselves out b/c it’s another time to be patient. Yikes I hate being patient!!!! So I guess we’ll figure this out, whatever we are going to do we will figure this out.

Well I wish I had more to say but I think I’m all out. I know that I have missed so many things about the kid’s postings and such but moving forward this is another thing I’m going to work on. I can just keep trying and holding my head up.

Time has a way to make you Change

Well Time is a funny thing. It never stands still, and again we are going to be faced with some more changes. Sometimes change is much needed, hence why our family moved to Kenosha... but sometimes change is more painful and sometimes even EXPENSIVE. But whatever the reason for change is... time will make you because again it never stands still.




Our little family of seven, including Tait's parents, is going to be changing. For the last three years we have had the opportunity to live together with Tait's parents, there has been really good times. The stress of moving to a new city and starting new jobs was wonderful knowing that we had a strong family foundation with Helen watching our kiddos on a daily basis and a lot of our run of the mill chores were taking care of while we were at work. Well due to some changes in Helen & Tim's life they are moving back to Indiana soon, very soon. So we have had a week of ups and downs. Change is always hard especially when we have had the luxury of not having our kiddos in daycare and living in our house that we have lived in for the past 3 years. Well with all of the impending changes we have had a stressful week. They told us on Monday that their plan was to move back to Indiana and we figured we had some time, but they want to move by Thanksgiving. We are hoping that they will not rush this and actually stay past thanksgiving but it's been stressful the new adjustment and idea of change.



So this week we have been VERY busy little beavers looking for daycare for our little man. We have found daycare! I meet this lady online, through craigslist, I know I know it's such a risk but we have meet and I really think that this is going to be a great move for our little man. Right now she has openings because her children she had been watching for the past 6 years moved up to kindergarten and so she now has some openings. I really liked her she is a very sweet woman and I feel that the Nikolai will be great for each other. She has a little boy right now that is the same age as Niki so he will have some socialization... the best part is she is willing to take the girls afterschool as well and not charge a million dollars for them, so it's really going to be a good move. It will be a big adjustment for Nikolai since he has really been used to being at home so this will be a change but I think it's going to be a really good move for him.



We were worried about being able to stay in our home, but we have found that we will be able to stay in our current home, which is GREAT news to me. I was really worried that we were going to have to move but we are going to make a few changes to some of our "luxuries" and that will help allow us to stay in our home. The thought of moving seriously made me ill so this is such a great thing. We also calculated the costs of moving and seriously it is the same to stay here. The girls are very excited about us not having to move. Maya this week has been really worried when we were looking at one of houses and she kept saying, but I really don't want to move. So we told her we would be able to stay in our house and she was over the moon happy about it. So this is a new change, 100% new but I'm really looking forward to our new adventure being in our current home and getting buddy in a routine and starting out again new and fresh. We learned some things while living with Tim and Helen and so we are going to try to keep things alive between Tait and me and still get the time for each other, having three children makes that difficult but we have learned that it's so very important.



So this is life. It has to do with time and change. It's been extremely stressful let me tell you, but the horizon looks so much brighter and we are looking forward, never backward.



So that is the major changes right now. Other than that the report of "other things" really isn't that exciting.



Nikolai is a certified couch potato he wants to sit and watch his Thomas videos. He loves trains and the Disney Car toys. He has traded his red "Lightning McQueen" for Emily the train. He carries her everywhere and he tries to make the sounds of a train "whoooo whooooo" but it's like the sound of a baking dog so almost a "woof woof" sound it's very cute. He still doesn't say much, but he doesn't have to. He is used to being catered too, so this will be HUGE for him this change. I'm kind of glad because I'm hoping this will inspire him to want to talk. He will make sounds like Maaa Maaaa, Daaaa but he won't really put them at all when you say, who am I, but he defiantly understand he knows who we all are, if you point and ask where someone is he he will point and say "riiii ther" but still doesn't want to say much. I did ask the doctor about it and he said not to worry. Boys are typically slower in speaking and the normally just don't have the interest in talking. He said that we need to "pick a date" and if he isn't speaking more by such and such date than we will set an appointment for a speech therapist. I don't know if he necessarily needs a speech therapist but I would be nice for him to talk more. He just doesn't really have an interest. His doctor feels that one day he'll just start talking just because that's pretty typical. But if I remember right I know Maya didn't really say much either, and I remember her learning to say Lehna and that type of thing, I just wish he wanted to talk more or would talk more, but I'm sure one day it will be the opposite. He is VERY curious and can figure out things quickly, such as the safety locks on the doors, that he knows how to do very easily.



Lehna, she is definitely my student. She is by far the most interested in school and the one that tries her hardest in school. She gets GLOWING remarks from her teachers about how wonderful she does in school. She is starting to read more and more, but I have to tell you they are supposed to do 15 minutes of out loud reading to a parent every night and that is wearing on my nervous... I know its HORRIBLE isn't that I feel that way, but my patient level is tested. I'm trying to get Tait to rotate with me every other day, but I'm typically the homework person. I know it's only temporary b/c the more she reads the faster her vocabulary will grow and she will be able to read more on her own only asking for help every once and awhile, it just is really hard for me. She does a great job though she normally can read an entire page (in a chapter book) by herself but may struggle with one or two words on the second page. I just want her to be able to comprehend what she's reading and we have been reading this Junnie B book, which is a cute book and she laughs as she reads it, so I'm assuming she comprehends it...



Maya, oh my little Maya. She is doing okay in school I do worry her about the most in school as far as paying attention and listening to the teacher. I have sent in a couple of notes to see how she’s doing and I haven’t gotten any notes saying she is doing badly in Kindergarten. I understand that she is just a normal 5 year old. So I guess that is all I can ask for is a normal kiddo who struggles with the normal things. She does like to color. This girl could color for days and not be affected by anything around her. She loves it! All summer she carried around a notebook with a pen and that was her entertainment all summer, drawing in her book. She is just the sweetest little girl. She has a mind of her own and she’s very much her own little individual. She has the personality of a cat, is the best way to describe it to be honest with you. She wants to be in the center and attention and play and than other times she is totally fine coloring in her book or playing with her little Disney princesses. She has the most personality of all three of my children. She definitely is a free spirit and she’s not afraid to share it with you.



Well that’s the update of the kiddos and our home life. Like I said there is a lot of change around the corner and the kids are being bounced around and I feel very badly for them, but I know this is all for the best. We just have to hang onto each other and adjust and figure out how all of this is going to go down.