Update on Us...

So I haven't been very good about updating our blog lately, and the reason is because I just had a baby! 

Surprise!

  Just KIDDING!

This is our nephew, Vaughn, who comes to play twice a week!

But a new baby would be a good excuse for not having time to blog, right? Too bad I don't really have an excuse, other than we've just been really busy and I haven't been very good about taking pictures of anything we've been up to, so I haven't had much motivation to do any updating on here.

Anyway, Ethan has been keeping busy with school. Either I never did my homework or I just don't remember having any when I was his age, but he seems to spend his weekdays on schoolwork. He spends nearly 7 hours at school, comes home and does homework, eats dinner, and goes to bed...then does it all again the next day. I feel like I don't see much of him until the weekend. I'm sure it's not going to change as he gets older, other than I probably really won't see him until the weekend.

However, he is really enjoying school and has made a lot of really great friends. He loves to spend his recesses playing either kickball or "wall ball" which is basically bouncing a ball against a wall and trying to be the first to catch it before it bounces. 

I'm pretty sure he made it up.

He is the STAR STUDENT in his class this month and brought home a poster to complete about himself. Other than the basic info like age, who his teacher is, and who is in his family, some of the questions were:

When I grow up I would like to be: a police officer

I show others I care by: helping

My favorite color: blue and orange

My favorite animal: dog and lion

My favorite food: hamburgers

My favorite book: Transformers

My favorite sport: flag football (even though he has never played this, but he is signed up to play starting in March)

My favorite thing to do in school: art and painting

My favorite thing to do at home: have snow ball fights (see previous post)

Three colorful facts about myself: I like to play golf, I like to play Transformers, I like to play flag football.

And the BEST answer on the whole poster...

I am a star because: I share with others and I am cool and I am a good helper.

I really love that kid!

Kamden started preschool the week after Christmas and was so excited to go...I wasn't too sure about the preschool because I'd had a hard time finding one that would work since he has speech therapy at the Elementary school Tuesday mornings, and most of the preschools were full since it was halfway through the school year. When I was trying to find him a preschool I got a flyer in the mail from one that was just starting up and went Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I got him enrolled and he lasted about two weeks.

The girl that was teaching was doing the preschool in her home and had been babysitting but she wanted to transition from that to doing preschool.

In the interview it had been my understanding that she was going to quit babysitting and just do the preschool, but instead she hired someone else to come in and babysit the really young kids while she did preschool. The babysitting was in the next room and every day Kamden would tell me about the "crying babies" and that they would come in the preschool room and play and that they were really noisy. 

I couldn't decide if I should have him keep going and just see if it worked out, that maybe she just needed some time to transition. I prayed about it and the next day when I went to pick him up he was sitting in his chair crying because he had just wanted to play and not have circle time.

I tried telling myself that he needed to keep going and learn that there are times to play and times to listen and learn, and that he really needs to understand that before Kindergarten. But then I realized that this was the answer to my prayer, that the environment there was just too chaotic for him and he wasn't getting the structure that he needed.

A friend of mine brings her little girl to a preschool run by her husband's cousin, just a few minutes from our house. Thankfully she had an opening and I was able to get Kamden started the very next week. He is doing so much better and is learning and he always has so many positive things to talk about when he comes home. On his first day when I picked him up and asked how it was he said, "There were no cryin' babies!" He learns much better without any distractions, and I am so thankful for answers to prayers, even though they may come in small ways that I sometimes try to explain away.

Owen is doing better being home while his brothers get to go to school, which he wasn't thrilled about at first. But now that Kamden only has school Tuesday & Thursday, and "Baby Bon" is here to play, Owen isn't feeling like he is being left behind so much. I had hoped to potty-train him soon, but he is still having issues with constipation and that makes it even more difficult.

He is doing really well at church and always looks forward to his class and playing with friends. After church he comes running to us, telling us all about how much he "loves his friends". My favorite thing he says right now is "Luff you Muschhhhh"(Love you much)
He is trying to grow out of taking a nap during the day, which I'm not quite ready for, but I think those days have passed, unfortunately. 

He just loves having Baby Vaughn come over and is so sad when he has to go home. Owen and Kamden are great helpers and they love to entertain him. Last night we had a Family Home Evening lesson on Noah's Ark, so today they told Vaughn all about it and even had him help gather the animals to save them from the flood.
Apparently, Vaughn was in charge of getting the dragons, cranes, and bats...

Jeff is doing awesome at his new job and we are SO grateful to be living here, close to our family and friends.