Quick Re-cap of the last 9 months

I will skip the excuses as to why I haven't updated this blog since July 2010. There just isn't a good excuse that is believable. What I will do is quickly update you on what our family has been up to since last July. And I mean quickly . . .



In August Cody started playing tackle football. He ended up being a fairly good running back. We found that playing football really increased his confidence and his social skills - he is really shy. He was #95.






He played all the way to October, and by then the weather was pretty cold so we were glad it came to an end.










In October Sadie turned 13! Yes, we have a teenager! Here are some photos of her little party that she had. We found out that our small house isn't very good for having slumber parties in.

Sadie is just about ready to finish up the 8th grade and has decided that she wants to be an accountant when she grows up. She freaked out after the first trimester this year because one of her teachers gave her an A-, which brought her GPA down to a 3.98. I had to assure her for three days that colleges don't look at 8th grade transcripts before she would settle down

For Halloween the kids decided they weren't too old to dress up so Greg was "Dracula" and Cody was a zombie football player. Here are photos of those two. I guess my stage makeup skills are still in-tact. Jackson was a hunter but we didn't take his photo for some reason.

In December Jackson and Greg turned 9. They both earned their Wolf badges in cub scouts and now they are working on their Bear. The photo is from thier birthday. Jackson also got a "real" tent, and Greg got a mummy sleeping bag - exactly what they asked for.

In January Jackson started playing youth basketball and Brett coached his team. They had a lot of fun and Jackson enjoyed doing something just for him. He is #13.


In February the boys all had their Pinewood Derby for scouts. All of their cars did really well and they liked being able to make their cars with their dad. They were very individualized based on exactly what the boys imagined.



In March Brett and I had the opportunity to go to Orlando with his family (adults only). We rented a house, went to Universal studios, swam with Manatees and went fishing in the intracoastal area by Cocoa Beach. Will post photos of that trip later :)

After getting home from Orlando we took Jackson and Greg out of public school. They both struggle with reading and we didn't want the schools to just push them through to 4th grade unable to read. So I am working part time, and doing homeschool as well. It is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do and I pray everyday that it will be successful!

Last month we finally took the kids to Disneyland. We were away for over a week and glad to finally get home, but we had a blast!

This is us waiting for our tickets to print out. For some reason the computer didn't want to work for us! Nice sunglasses Sadie :)

Here the kids are hanging out by one of the forts on Tom Sawyer's island.
Here we are waiting in line for the Thunder mountain railroad, one of our favorite rides there!


The kids enjoying the shade under Tarzan's Tree house.


Sadie loves Goofy so we just had to wait in line to get a photo with him.

Our entire family LOVED Pirates of the Caribean and we rode it over and over; during the fireworks was the best time!


So, now we are home. This past week we got two horses, Rose and Cloud (left to right below). Rose is a good kids horse and Brett is getting cloud broke. It is fun to finally have horses.

The other thing keeping Brett busy right now is the building of the "mansion" tree house in our pasture. The kids have been begging for one since we moved here three years ago and we are finally getting it built. Brett finished the floor on Saturday and we hope to get the railing and trap door done this week. It should be fun once it is all done.

So, that is my "quick" update. I am sure there is more that we have done. I will try really hard to be more organized and post things regularly. I know that relatives who live far away like to see what we are up to. Know that we appreciate all of you and hope you're having as much fun as we are!