Long lost update...

It's hard to know where to start!  The time has flown, but has been so full it seems like we've lived a year in the last few weeks.  

House update:

With the help of many, many amazing family members our basement is now 90% complete. We still have a lot of touch-up painting to do, but the boys are settled into their new room and are loving the extra space.  We now have a toy room (hallelujah!) so no more Polly Pockets all over the kitchen floor.  We had plenty of floor space (no beds though) for all of Joe's family who came to stay last week.  Joe's parents brought their RV so they slept in that, and Joe's brother Kenny and his wife Cecilia stayed in a hotel.  So really, we just had Sandy, Juliette, Shawn and Annette in the house.  Well, plus the seven of us.  And three dogs...

Career update:

Joe has traveled for 8 of the last 14 days.  This has made life challenging for us, but we seem to have survived.  I have extreme sympathy for working single moms.  But I am VERY glad we are all together again and I can see what having this job will be like under more normal circumstances.  It was a good first week.  (we started on Wednesday, which was a huge blessing) The students are great, for the most part.  I will definitely have my challenges.  I have half the football team in two of my classes.  They are great kids, but I don't speak their language.  I'm learning, though.  Friday, one of them (who had just announced I was his favorite teacher) said, "Mrs. C, we're gonna keep it tight for you."  I wasn't sure whether to thank him or not, as I wasn't sure what that meant.  I'm very white.  :)  I am really hoping I can teach these kids, it seems last year they learned little.    Whether that was more their fault or more the teacher's fault remains to be seen.  They've all admitted they're scared to take geometry (understandable) but I want them to learn it and learn it well enough to feel confident to move onto their next math class.  Keep praying.  On a lighter note, my other geometry class is a very bright group of kids who seem very ready for geometry.  Glad for that.  Honors Biology is a good group of kids.  They actually remind me a lot of the kids I hung out with in high school. However, I'm a lot more afraid to make a mistake with this group.  I could lose credibility quickly.  My regular biology class is full of basically the same kids as my challenging geometry class.  Lots of cheerleaders and football players, some average kids, a few wallflowers...it's like I'm in the movie "The Breakfast Club," but without the fun background music and the foul language.  Well, there's a little of that...yep, even in a private Christian school.  Kids are kids are kids.  Week two begins tomorrow and I'm not scared off yet.  This is a good sign.

Children update:

Hannah:  She began preschool this week.  She goes M-W-F from 8:30-12:00.  I teach from 8:30-11:50 so you can see once again how God has blessed us with amazing timing.  She is home with Joe on Tuesday and Thursday mornings but she is the kind of kid who plays great by herself.  She goes down into our toy room and stays for hours playing Barbies or Polly Pockets. She doesn't really like TV, so there's not much plopping her in front of that.  She does like Wii bowling (ok, she beats all of us regularly) so that buys some time, too.  We were very worried about sending her to preschool because she is so shy, but going with all the big kids and wearing the backpack, and packing the lunch- she just loves it!  She is a little shy when we drop her off, but when it's time to pick her up, she's never anxious to leave.  More answers to huge prayers.

Gotta love those little bruised-up bird legs.  She is so active, but kinda in a clumsy phase.  The red mark on her face is from walking into a chair.  :)

Kaylee:

Kaylee started first grade.  She was homeschooled for kindergarten, so "going to" school is a new phase of life for her.  She loves her teacher and has a clan of friends already.  On the first day of school, she came home and said, "Two boys say I'm their girlfriend."  WHAT?  IN THE FIRST GRADE?  Sigh.  Though I was pleased to hear that she denounced the relationships and on the third day of school she "broke up" with them.  Oh my.  She's only 6!  She also lost her first top tooth this week, so it was a week of milestones.  First day of school, first relationship, first break-up, first top tooth lost, the list goes on....   :)

Nathan:

Nathan began the fourth grade.  He has adjusted nicely to his new life and new friends.  He still misses AZ, but has done so much better than we could have imagined.  He goes into a fifth grade classroom for math, which makes it nice here at home because he and Lindsay have the same math homework every night.  He is thrilled with his new room (or should I say, his half of his new room- Brad has the other half) and is busily hanging his Suns posters and other basketball paraphrenalia.  He is eager to start Junior Jazz this fall.  

Lindsay:

Lindsay is back in school after two years of being homeschooled.  She is really loving having lots of friends around, and is adjusting nicely to being "on her own."  She is, for the most part, being very responsible and filling her fifth grade shoes nicely.  (I say "for the most part" because we had a catastrophe of forgotten homework this morning- I doubt that will happen again!)  Her favorite thing about her classroom is the bunny, Midnight.  Each kid gets to bring the bunny home for a weekend (whoopee....can you sense the thrill in my voice?)  and they also get to care for it each day at school.  Amazingly, even with Lindsay's love of animals, she is able to focus in class.  Hallelujah!

Brad:

Seventh grader already...so hard to believe!  He is also really enjoying his new school and has made some new friends.  He says the kids are nice for the most part and has had a relatively easy adjustment period.  He is in 8th grade math (Algebra I), Honors Language and Honors Reading.  So far he's doing well.  He loves having a locker and is surviving not having recess anymore.  He is also taking art, one of his favorite subjects.  His side of the boys' new room will be done in a tiger theme, his favorite animal.  

You can see the enthusiasm in Brad's face concerning being dressed like this. He literally groaned when the box arrived from Lands End containing 20 polos and shorts in a variety of sizes and colors.  He is not my "tuck-it-in-and-wear-a-belt" kinda kid.  He's more of a "baggy t-shirt, baggy shorts, anything with Tony Hawk or camouflage" kinda kid.  I can feel his pain, can't you?  :)  Well, he can be a slob on the weekends.  haha  He also had to cut his hair for school to keep with dress code.  That went over well. *snark*  The lady did a pretty good job with it, though...at least he 1) can see where he's going and 2) doesn't look like a GI.  Here is a picture we had taken of the kids with my niece, Juliette,  the week before the haircut.  I had to keep pushing the hair out of his eyes for the picture so he didn't look like a lhasa-apso. (however you spell that!)  

This weekend Brad is up in the mountains camping with the other middle-schoolers.  I like how they work hard to get the kids to know each other.  Nothing says "get to know me" like sharing a tent or a small cabin.  :)

Here is a slide show of our previous month.  If you click on the pictures, you can read the captions.

There is probably so much more to say, but I'll have to get to it later.  I have 2 tests to write and a hungry family to feed!