For news since our last update, um, not much! We are slowly getting unpacked and adjusting to our new(ish) neighborhood, as well as a new home with all the fun issues of being homeowners. Weird leaks, odd little quirks, but loving every minute, so far. Also, 2 weeks away from a new baby coming to our new home.
Tom is doing great with work, calling, and being the Dad, and I'm busy but HAPPY to have the Primary program over with and ready for a little less hectic time to get used to our new baby. We will be home with the new baby for the most part, for the first 6 weeks of his/her life. We will have to get a larger vehicle or a second vehicle to get us all to church anyways... We will also probably take a break from homeschooling. The kids have been doing great on all their work, chores and homeschooling, and helping Mom get ready for the baby.
Michael will be 10 years old at the end of this month. His page is here. I will updated it soon with
new 10 year old pictures and such. He is interested in
everything, with a love of writing stories and in his journal. He is
learning cursive and lots of other things that he is enjoying with
homeschooling. He is a Bear Scout now, but anxious to become a Webelos
Scout at the end of the month. To pass the time he is earning arrow
points. He is a good example, most of the time. He is doing mostly
4th grade work though science jumps all over the place with his talents. He
loves to read still, and a new favorite is getting letters from many pen pals,
especially his friend Kayla in Colorado. They write nearly a letter a
week. He wants pizza and root beer for his birthday dinner.
Benjamin now 8 years old. His page is here,
recently updated with new pictures from his birthday and baptism.
His baptism was October 8th. He has started Cub Scouts and already has
earned his Bobcat and starting on his Wolf. He is in 2nd grade and doing very well with the
materials we have for him homeschooling. His reading is great, his math
skills are growing stronger daily, and he is such a help to me when he wants to
be.
He also loves writing and receiving letters, and his writing is improving
weekly. We still need to get him his birthday scriptures, but have not
been able to as yet.
Emilie is 6 1/2 years old. Her
page is here. She is busy
learning how to read. She is mostly doing 1st grade work and actually
loves her math work. She also loves writing letters but prefers to draw
pictures. She is still all girl, pink, princess, ballet, you name it. We
missed registration for ballet this year but we'll see what we can do next
spring. The classes are limited and there are just so many 6-7 year old
girls that want to do ballet... she might try soccer with the boys, instead.
She is hoping and praying for a baby sister, and for once, we have no idea and
this very well could be a baby girl. We told her we could paint her room
PINK if the baby is a girl, no problem there at all... but it would have to be
half blue or other pastels if the baby is a boy. She had her first dance
recital in May and loved every minute of it. We have videos of it
uploaded, but I will update with links. Or email me if I forget :)
Nathanael is 3 1/2 years old now. His page is here. He knows all his ABC's,
numbers, can count to 100, will tell you if a color is aquamarine or marigold,
plus all the "normal" colors, tells me when we see octagons as well as other
shapes, tells the doctor she is going to use an otoscope to look in his ear and loves to talk, and tell you things over,
and over, and over again. He loves Blue's Clues, Magic School Bus, Cyber
Chase on PBS (with his older siblings) and playing with Samuel too. He
corrects Samuel and quizzes him on things he thinks Samuel should know.
Poor Samuel isn't sure what to think but loves being applauded by Nathanael.
Nathanael is sleeping on a bunk bed with the big boys now, on a bottom bunk.
When Samuel is big enough he will get the other bottom bunk and Benjamin will
move to a top bunk. Nathanael loves Nursery but I think he will do very
well in Primary next January in Sunbeams.
Samuel is nearly 22 months old now. His page is here. It was updated last month. He is a busy, busy little boy. He runs all over our house, pretends to "swim" on our hardwood floors, talks his own language but is starting to be understood. He shares a room with Emilie for the moment. His newest skills are knowing all his colors and lots of other new words...as well as a few numbers and letters. He knows all his body parts that he can point to, nearly, can say "Mill" for milk, "war" for his water bottle, says No very well, and Mom's with the rest of them. He is also a very shy child. Just last Sunday he saw a couple that sometimes watches the kids (we really appreciate them! that's how we house hunted!). He turned around and ran, but not before hiding behind me, whispering NO NO NO and shaking his head. He's not much on people other than his family. He can also say Ball, car, uhoh, out, bird, duck, blocks, box, and me. (and lots of other words) He can make sounds for airplanes, pigs, cows, monkeys, dinosaurs, lions and other various animals. He has sort of nicknames for the older kids but I haven't sorted them all out yet... He also tries to count. He loves to color in his high chair while we work on homeschooling.
Baby 7 is making him/herself known and felt daily. The page is here. He/she does not really have names yet, we're open to suggestions. While we have some ideas, maybe there are some we haven't thought of yet. This is our first child we've had to come up with boy and girl names for. While we did not know ahead of time with Michael, I knew he was a boy for other reasons, and the rest we have found out through ultrasound, whether confirmed by the experts or not. This ultrasound was just not definitive either way. The baby will actually be born as the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor as Samuel, while we've delivered two at the same hospital before, Ben's doctor was not in time for his birth... Our ward will have 8 babies born in 3-4 months... this baby will be number 4 for the ward. Exciting! This is not normal... as before this fall, Samuel was one of the most recent babies born here, lol.
The "new" pictures site is here,
but most recent pictures are on the kids' pages and the Halloween page.
I hope everyone else is doing well too!
Have a great day!
Please come visit us! The only time we really need a warning is during
November this year. Call, write, or email. HUGS!
Tabitha, Tom, and family
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