Weekly Update!

Here's the weekly update on mi familia ("my family" for all you non-Spanish speakers:)-

Katherine-

Katherine has been doing great at school and REALLY loves it! She has come home with purples for behavior every day, except for one. She got a green, which still means she had a great day, but she got it for talking. So I have a feeling she's going to be our little Chatty Kathy someday, but I'm impressed that she's containing it so well. She has really impressed me with her motivation and drive to wake up and get ready for school. I've been setting her alarm for around 6:00 a.m. so she can get up and get ready for school and be out at the bus by about 6:35. Well, sadly to say, she's been doing better than I have. When my alarm goes off, I roll over, hit the snooze, and wake up to her saying "MOMMM". I know that's really bad, but it's hard for me to wake up! On the days that I do actually get up when my alarm goes off and go into Katherine's room, she's been dressed and ready to go! How impressive! Anyways, she's really been learning a lot and coming home singing all sorts of songs about the days of the week, weather, etc. Plus she's got all sorts of contests going on at school for the grades that bring in the most Campbells labels, most HEBuddy points, and more. Plus once she reads (or we read to her) 100 books, she gets a prize. This is really motivating me to read to her more and quit being so lazy! So far we've read 5 books. Yes, only 5 since last week, but we're getting there. Anyways, that's the scoop for Katherine!

Matthew-
Matthew, of course, misses Katherine during the week while she's at school. They're best buds! I've had an interesting time trying to learn to be a playmate for him, as well as the disciplinarian. Matthew is definitely in a testy stage and a messy one too! He likes to do things himself, which is part of learning, but I'm learning to be more patient when it comes to spills and messes. I'm going to be coming up with more activities for him to do during the days, so he doesn't get bored, like Library time, park time, play dates with friends, Bible study, etc. He's still learning about potty training, but is getting there. Hopefully won't be too much longer!

Christopher-

Baby Pher has finally started sleeping in the crib through the night! He's been just sleeping in the middle of our bed since birth, so it was hard for me to put him in the crib! I just love being able to cuddle and nurse him whenever through the night. But anyways, he's done great adjusting being in Matthew's room in the crib. He sleeps from around 9 p.m. to about 5:30 a.m.! Some nights he'll sleep even more. Recently he's been grabbing his toes and putting them in his mouth and just laughing and smiling so much. Oh if these months would just last a little bit longer!

Mary and Daniel-

This past week I started working at the church in the nursery on Wednesday mornings (for MOPS) and Thursday mornings (for Women's Bible study). I'm able to take the boys along and they get playtime, plus I get social time with other women while we work and get paid, plus the boys get play time. A win-win situation! I am so impressed with our church and how they cover all bases when it comes to child safety, discipline, etc. They truly have their act together...more than any other church I've been to before. We love it! I've also been really enjoying our house and can't believe it's almost been 1 year since we moved in (November!). We've been really blessed!

Daniel has been vigorously working on his car lately, hoping to get it all finished up. I'll post pictures when he does finish it. It has been quite the process, but I think it'll look so much better and cleaner when it's all done. He's been staying busy at work and has some possible travel coming up as well (not long though). We've been praying about possible job changes or new direction if that's where God is leading. In January, Daniel will have had 2 years of work experience, so we're just looking to see what other options might be out there if that's God's will.

Howdy-

We are really enjoying Howdy! We are really blessed (or "we really lucked out" as the neighbors put it) in being able to have him. He is very friendly and very loyal to us even though we've not owned him for long. Katherine and Matt are learning not to be so afraid with Howdy and are getting better every day. This past week I decided to try and teach him some new tricks. So far, he'll sit, stay, roll over, crawl, shake, fetch, and he's pretty good about heeling when we ride a bike, although he loves to chase us and stick his nose in the wheels. Hmmm.. He's been such a great dog and companion for the kids and has been a source of conversation for us with the neighbors! There is a dog trainer down the street who trains labs and just thought Howdy was such a handsome dog. Yep, he sure is...at least we think so;-)

Well that's the scoop on us!