Family Update!

Several of my friends have asked what is going on with my life and my kids' lives lately. And so I thought I'd give a quick update here. Ok honestly it'll probably take you forever to scroll through all seven children's updates, as well as mine and my husbands! *lol* But it won't hurt my feelings if you just skim over parts of this!

I guess I'll start with me and Matt. We're doing really well. We purchased an above ground pool from Sam's Club and are trying to figure out how to level our backyard enough to put the pool in! Apparently having it level is a major deal, and our yard isn't near level! Matt is still working for the same computer company as before and "seems" to enjoy his job most days. He doesn't have much free time on his hands, and what little he gets is usually spent watching these children while I run one or two of them to different events. I spend most of my time running kids to and from events, picking up the house, and doing laundry. I feel like I never get any free time anymore!

Now on to the kids. This is honestly the most interesting part of the blog anyways!

Jenna - my baby turned 11 years old last week! We had her a slumber party at a local hotel and she and her friends spent the night swimming and hanging out. She's definately getting that "preteen" attitude and will burst in to tears if we just look at her funny! She thinks she's too big to play with toys, and wants to spend most of her time playing computer, scrapbooking, or flipping around the house. Did I mention she's got her ear glued to the telephone? Yeah that's started too!!

We've signed Jenna up for a four day gymnastics camp down in Indiana. The camp is only for training level 5 and 6 gynmasts. Now Jenna is just TRAINING level 5. If she doesn't get every single gymnastics skill, she can't complete level 5! But she's super excited to be going. Several of her gymnatics friends will be going as well so we parents will take turns driving down.

Jenna is also singing at Butler University on Saturday! Her children's choir is going to join five other choirs from the Midwestern States in a performance! She's super excited and nervous about this. It'll be her first time of being in a group that large. She is staying in a hotel Friday night and begged me to stay with her...so I am!! Matt will just have to deal with the kiddos. We are putting the other children in respite care Saturday around noon and they'll be picked up Sunday at noon!! So we'll have a little break to spend some quality time with OUR kids alone.

Conner is turning into a boy!! Yes I was worried about that! But he's almost all boy. He still likes to do cheers, pose like girls, and swish his hips to the music *lol,* but he also loves to see how loud he can burp, how far his spit will fly, and how fast he can ride his bike around the yard!! There is hope for the kid!

He's struggling with reading in kindergarden. He's now going to a special reading class 30 minutes before his real school starts and he seems to enjoy it. The teacher doesn't want to keep Conner back this year, so they are trying their best to get him ready for the first grade. They are however, asking that we get him a tutor for the summer to continue his reading skills. I know I personally won't have time or energy to sit down with him. (I know, terrible mom! But he honestly learns better when I'm not the one trying to teach him!)

Macie will officially be adopted later this month or early June!! We have our petition to adopt finished and are just waiting on a court date. She is currently in therapy to deal with her temper tantrums (they are by far worse than normal two year old tantrums!) and we're hoping she can learn some better coping skills. She IS only two though, so who knows how much she's actually benefiting from the therapy. It does make ME feel better having someone to vent too about my issues! Maybe it's more MY therapy than hers.

Macie is now in daycare and is almost 100% potty trained!! She is so smart it scares me sometimes! And she has such a great personality when she's not throwing her toys at our heads!

C is doing well with adjusting to our home. He's not telling us to "shut up" or saying "I don't care" or "NO I won't" as much as he did in the beginning. I think our routine and structured home have really helped him to adjust better. He loves to cuddle up to us and he's talking up a storm. He doesn't want to go on the potty train (as he calls it). He has absolutely no desire to go in the big boy potty!

B lost his first tooth last night! He came up to us and complained that his tooth was really loose and we thought he was joking! He IS only four (and a SMALL four year old at that!). But we felt inside and were shocked at how loose it actually was. It only took my husband about 10 minutes of playing with it to get it to come out! Boy was B excited!

He's still driving me insane. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. Today I found him on his hands and knees on the kitchen floor eating dog food with his MOUTH (not using his hands). I was just about sick! He also thinks it's a great game to tear every plant leaf off my plants and taste them as well. He pops all baloons and put everything in his mouth. BUT! He now knows his colors and can count to 10!! So there is a little hope for the kid.

D is still attached to my hip. She's in t-ball now. But she doesn't care about the sport. She wants to make sure she goes to the t-ball games because "my coach is bringing snacks and drinks for us, so we have to go." Yep. All she cares about is making sure she is going to get a snack and a drink. *sigh* Oh and during the games she will run from third base, all the way over to first base just to give the coach's wife hugs while out in the outfield!! She usually has to give her at LEAST three hugs a game. And she has to run over to me or Matt and hug us and say she loves us at least twice. And there are only two innings in t-ball games!! Yes she's still in therapy, but it doesn't seem to be helping her with the attaching.

M is upset with me right now. She is 9 and asked me to get her haircut. So I took her yesterday and the stylist couldn't even comb the back of her hair it was so tangled! They had to do a deep conditioning treatment on it. But M won't let me NEAR her hair at all! So the stylist decided that it needed to be cut short to make it easier to maintain. And I thought the haircut was very cute, but M HATES it.

M is so stubborn too. It has to be her idea, and she will stall around and not do what we ask her to do. She definately hasn't accepted that she's the child and that we are the parents. Every day we have a struggle with her trying to discipline the other children or tell us what to do.

I think that's everyone. We're getting ready to start summer swimming lessons next month. Conner and M may go off to summer camp at a local church. We'll definately be doing VBS for all the kids! We've signed all but two of the kids up for fall soccer league as well.

All in all, we're just super busy right now. Jenna goes to gymnastics three days a week, Conner and Macie go once a week, and M goes to cheerleading once a week. Then there is t-ball practice once a week, and t-ball games once or twice a week (depending on the week). Jenna and M go to choir once a week as well. Throw in family visits, therapy appointments, doctor's appointments, and school and you get ZERO free time!

So there you have it. The super long " what we're up too" message.