Blurbs and Updates

Sorry it's been a while. I know I'm slacking. It was brought to my attention though that people DO in fact read this so I need to keep it fresh. (Thanks Michelle!)

Caleb has started walking. Still the uneasy, wobbly, steps but he's trying. He will now just let go of whatever he pulls up on and tries to go to what he wants. His longest stretch was from my dishwasher to my stove where I was standing. Yeah, I cried. And yeah, I called my mom to squeal. It's bittersweet with Chris being gone. I kind of want to push Caleb down to keep him from walking until Chris gets home to see.

And speaking of Chris coming home.... He is going to be home for some R&R in January. To say that I can't wait is just the biggest understatement ever. This woman is ready for her man to be home. The trash needs to be taken out.... =) When this tour started, he was originally supposed to be home at the end of January just in time for Lina's birthday. He promised he'd be home for it since well, he's missed it a lot. They extended him though and we both thought the promise was going to be broken. Luckily, he's going to be TDY to Ft. Campbell mid-January and was able to take leave in conjunction with that so he's renting a car and driving in. We're surprising the girls. They don't know that Daddy is coming home! Can't wait to see their faces when Daddy walks in the door!!

I'm in the process of starting Addison in speech therapy. We registered her at the school yesterday. Monday we will go for our meeting with the therapist. She'll evaluate Addie and determine what test need to be done and then set up a schedule for her to come in. Addie doesn't get that it's not "school" so she's stoked. She's really ready to be in school and just being in the building gets her excited. She's really going to be happy when she starts PreK next fall.

Angelina is doing good. Her first report card was okay. She talks too much (wonder where she gets that from) and doesn't use her time wisely (again with the wondering). However, she is reading really well, digs math, and can speak a lot of Spanish. Last night was her first Brownie patch ceremony of the year. She earned 5 Try Its and 4 Fun Patches. I sewed on three of the fun patches last night to her vest. Thank God the try its are iron on!!

I haven't been doing to much lately. I've been tired a lot. The reality of Chris being gone for the holidays is kicking in and I'm starting to feel a touch of depression. Thankfully, I've got like 90% of my Christmas shopping done. Just purged the girls' room and got rid of a bunch of crap. I was able to Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) two big bags of barbies and bratz and their accessories. That felt nice. I'm also preparing to do an Earth Day Try It for the Brownies. Carrie calls me the troops Earth Mom so I'm going to talk to the girls about recycling, cloth diapering, water/energy conservation, using glass vs plastic and paper, etc. (I type this while my heater has been running nonstop for a week but damn it's cold and if you know me, you know I loathe the cold! So it's all good there if I make up for it in other areas.) If you have any ideas on how I can teach this to a bunch of 7 year olds, feel free to shoot me an email or comment.

And oh yeah, after Christmas rolls around, I'll be able to start doing photo shoots of kids and families and just about anything else! Chris bought me a Nikon D90 for Christmas!! I've got a field guide and some books on order so I can read up and learn about it before then. It's gorgeous from what I can tell on the box. It's here at the house but I can't open it or use it until Chris gives me the okay since it's not yet Christmas. OY! The wait is killing me. I have three kids in this house that I MUST SHOOT!!!!

Gonna go grab some videos and pictures and upload them now. Hope you enjoyed my novelette of updates.