Just living life:)

As is par for the course, after a vacation and/or Christmas, my picture taking has really dropped off this month (I think some of the pictures we have were actually taken by Brian - you know it's getting bad when he feels he has to pick up the slack;). Kidding dear!). Nathan seems to be the only one getting any camera love this month! What have we been doing . . . going to swimming lessons, school, a few social outings here and there. I went to a Natalie Grant concert a few weekends ago that was AWESOME! Matt Maher is coming to Issaquah this weekend and I need to go somehow - it's so good to hear your favorite worship artists live! Anyway, our lives haven't been too exciting, just going with the flow. Oh - Brian took Lynsey snowboarding on MLK Day (now that he's working for Facebook, he gets all kinds of days off he didn't have before!). She didn't love the lesson part, but once she was on the hill with Brian she had a lot more fun. She needs some more work with turning, but he thinks she can get there with a bit more practice. I might have a few Saturdays with just the boys coming up this winter, I guess we'll see if her enthusiasm lasts!

We are coming to decision point on where Nathan will go to preschool. We are actually really happy with RSA and how he's doing there, and they did just agree to let him come back in the fall at the same price the 5 day a week half day program for typical students is right now. There was talk of doing away with the "typical student discount" because they actually have to do a lot of the same work for typical students that they do for kids on the spectrum, but it's really actually beneficial for them to have some typical students there to model for the other kids. I think they just love Nathan and want to see him come back, so they grandfathered him in:). It could be a mutually beneficial arrangement because Nathan really loves it right now, but I am afraid if his best friend doesn't come back next year, he might not love it so much. We are probably also going to check out our church's preschool, they have a program that is apparently very good. There is an open house on February 1st, so at the very least I will attend and check it out. I am not sure if we have a good chance of getting in, they have a 3's class as well and I'm wondering if current students in that class get first dibs on registration in the 4's class. I guess we will find out! I am a bit torn - a part of me thinks he could really benefit from a Christian preschool full of typically developing kids that he can make friends with, and then a part of me really loves that at RSA he is getting so much personal attention from teachers and becoming very accustomed to being around special needs kids. He has his whole life to be in school surrounded by typical kids, maybe another year at RSA will just help him grow in his empathy for kids that are different. That is our hope at least!

Brian is currently in Menlo Park, CA for work again. He left very early Monday morning and will be back tomorrow sometime (fingers crossed he can change his flight to be earlier so I don't have to try and take both boys to Lynsey's swimming lesson again!). I can see how some women could get into a groove of doing things on their own all the time, but I don't think I WANT to get in that groove! In any case, it's good to know we can manage okay for a few days:).

Happy New Year! We are home and going nowhere for a while:)

The title says it all - we are back in our boring old routine and loving it:). We did have a great trip to Edmonton, though!! The flight there was pretty good. The kids didn't sleep at all, which wasn't completely unexpected. It felt like such a short flight, too! We got to Edmonton around midnight and it took the kids a while to settle down (not as long as it took at the condo in Honolulu, so that was good!). The unfortunate part was the early morning:-/. Steve and Andrea were there and their kids were on a really early schedule, so Lynsey especially had a very short night. Thankfully, she can handle lack of sleep the best of all three, although I think it did catch up with her here and there. We got right into it by taking the kids swimming that next morning. Adam and Nathan both loved going down the waterslide, and by themselves even! We went sledding in the afternoon, which was such a treat for our kids. All three of them loved it! Adam got attached to this one sled and only went on that one, and only by himself. We had our Christmas dinner and presents as well, a really big day for all of us! The kids went to sleep pretty nicely that night! It was Adam's birthday but with Christmas dinner and all we didn't really do a cake - he did get to blow out a birthday candle, though!

The next day Bobbi and Jer came up from Calgary to hang out. It was great to see them again! They also came by in the morning on Saturday after everyone else from Brian's family went to Water Valley for the Penner gathering, so we spent some more time with them. We went to Sherwood Park in the late afternoon and hung out with my family. It was very hectic and busy as usual, but felt so much like home:). My parents were able to come, too, which was really great! So nice to catch up with some nieces and nephews I hadn't seen in ages! Sunday was very low key. We just stayed at Brian's parents and packed up. The flight home was good, Nathan was a bit wiggly but nothing too terrible. It was pretty nice to get back into the swing of things on Monday. Thankfully we are being eased back into "real life" as not everything started back up this week (swimming for both Adam and Lynsey don't start until next week). The kids are settling back into school nicely and I am feeling almost normal again. Time to get working on some photo projects now, can't wait!

Oh one thing I wanted to mention was that Adam lost 4 teeth over the last week and a half!! He lost two at once early last week (one of his bottom two and one beside it) and then he lost one of his top two teeth in the Edmonton airport. What a champ - he came up to me and asked me to "take your tooth out!" He didn't even flinch while I pulled it out! His other top tooth came out at preschool yesterday, apparently he did it all by himself by just wiggling it until it popped out! Can he really be related to Lynsey?? How can they be so the opposite in this area:-S. He seems to be adjusting fine in his eating, I think he kind of likes the feeling of the gaps in his mouth. I see him sticking his tongue in there and checking himself out in the mirror:). Sometimes I catch a glimpse of him doing something like that and he just seems so typical. Love those moments<3.