What? An update? :-)

I've been in sort of a blog-y funk I guess. I've been checking everyone's often and commenting occasionally. And it's not as if we just have nothing going on worth writing about. I just haven't done it. *shrug*

Just a little of what we've been up to, I guess. Almost all of Mark's family came up for Thanksgiving week. The boys had a blast with all their cousins for sure! I was exhausted and my house was a wreck because we were home long enough to trash it during the day and then headed to Grandma's every day that week. I had originally wanted to drive down and hand out with Stephanie that weekend since her sweetie was working and it was highly likely that Mark was going to be working as well. But travel expenses were an issue and then there was some extreme weather that would have prevented me from making the drive with the kids to Utah by myself had money worked out. Mark's brother and family couldn't make it up to Montana because the roads were all closed! Kind of a bummer, but perhaps we'll look at Spring Break. When the weather is warmer and there's more to see besides white. :-)

I was sitting here last night thinking about the fact that I haven't taken any pictures in ages, when I looked over at the table. This is currently Daniel's favorite place to hang out if we don't make sure all the chairs are pushed in all the way. Some one had left the tape dispenser out and he was having a heyday. I'd love to know how he got it wrapped around himself so thoroughly!





He was getting so mad at the tape, it was so cute!

We made the difficult decision to put Oren back into public school. This was something I'd been battling for a while now, trying not to feel like I was just giving up easily. But it struck me on Monday how much I was not looking forward to the day, anticipating the arguments (which of course made them happen), and feeling yet another headache come on from thinking about how far behind we had gotten in hours and lessons. When a lesson takes twice as long as it's supposed to, you don't get nearly as much done in a day, and it just snowballs from there. He hated the work, I hated fighting him on it.

So I talked with him about going back to public school. He was so excited about a classroom, new teacher, riding the bus! His face just lit up. Tuesday morning we went in and enrolled him in the local elementary. As we were driving to the school it was like a huge weight was lifted. I felt nothing but relief, none of the guilt that I thought would be there.

This evening we got a phone call from his teacher. She took the time to call on her own time, call me personally, and tell me how much she was enjoying Oren being in her class. That he was a joy, and so sweet, and fun. This is the kind of phone call we never get, not from a teacher anyway. Nothing about "but....." . Just simple praise. I was so proud of him, he's trying really hard to use the common courtesies we've been working on, and he has grown since last year. Mark and my fingers are crossed that this love for school continues. Not to mention that I now look forward to seeing him in the evening and getting to hear all about his day. He gets to spend more time with Nathan, which they are both enjoying.

As sad as it sounds, that's really all I can think of as far as updates go. Just normal ups and downs, house cleaning and house trashing. Snow, snow, and more snow. Curtain planning, Christmas present sewing, Christmas present wrapping (I love wrapping!)... Sick kids, sick mommy, no sick daddy. Smiles and laughs. Temper tantrums. New words from Daniel, realizing that William is no longer a toddler. Nathan reading and writing his letter to Santa.

Happy Decembering!