Here we Go...

Ruth:

I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I apologize to those who I have given a hard time about not blogging often enough. I could give a list of all my excuses, but instead I think I'll just blog and then you'll know all the reasons I have abandoned the blogging world for sooo long.

Here it goes, I hope you're comfortable, it's gonna take some time to get caught up!! :) Maybe it will just take longer for me to get it posted than it will for you all to read.

As most of you all know, I am homeschooling the girls this year. Rachel is in fourth grade, Emily is in third and Kaitlin has started Kindergarten. It was a rough first couple of months getting everything scheduled and getting used to the paperwork. I must admit that I wasn't prepared for all the things that I would have to do as a teacher, wife, and a mother! So many responsibilities, and I'm just hoping that I AM doing what's best for my kids! I'm going through a Charter school that requires me to keep track of what the kids do, track attendance and hand in samples of their work each month. I think the hardest parts are trying to keep them all on track so they know what to do each day, and correcting their work. I often feel like I'm being pulled in six different directions at once. Everyone wants and needs me at the same time, the dishes keep calling out to me and the laundry continues to pile up! I enjoy having my home clean and it never seems to get even close anymore. I do have the kids help in a lot of the work, but it still feels like it never gets done enough. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I CAN do it all!? :)

We spent Halloween at my parents neighborhood. Rachel and cousin Josh are really getting to the age where they don't want to wait around for the little kids before going on to the next house. Ah to be young and cute so people will hand you free candy just by saying three magic words! They sure are enjoying every minute of it! All of the kids had fun going door to door and they where so cute to watch. After the kids were done trick-or treating, we went back to my parents to crack open some pinatas that the girls had made for school. there was one for the kids and two for the adults. the kids laughed SO much as they watched us old folks swinging at the air. The kids, of course got all the candy, but they were also so sweet to share it with us. It was fun to be with family for the night.

































I started David on solids the beginning of December and he's doing great!!! He's our first child that has taken baby food from the jars. Or maybe I'm finally getting this down and doing something right. It's about time! He's doing great and growing like he should!

We celebrated Emily's 8th birthday on Saturday the 21st of November, her actual birthday is on the 25th, which fell on the day before Thanksgiving. She invited three friends over (Emily and Caitlyn from her old elementary school, and Avrill, a friend from church) and asked to have a horse birthday party. she also wanted me to make a cupcake-cake. this was my first attempt and with Jason's help in the design and shaping, I think it turned out rather well!!!




































We spent Thanksgiving with Jason's family this year. Great food and company all around! It's so nice to live close enough to family to be able to visit so often!

Emily was baptized on December 5th at the Rocklin Stake Center. We had a potato bar luncheon at the Loomis ward building afterward for those who attended and then we broke out the Volleyball net and showed each other our awesome volleyball skills!!! I think we were all a little rusty. We won't be ready for the next Summer Olympics that's for sure! I hope all who joined us had a wonderful time, I know Emily sure felt special. Most of our families were able to make it for the occasion. Thank-you again to all who came and participated in the wonderful day for Emily! She had a great time and I'm sure she felt the love of her family. We're so happy to have her special spirit in our family. and we hope that she will be able to develop those talents that will help her be the best person she can be and be blessed to return to live with our Heavenly Father someday! We sure Love you Emily! Thanks for being a part of our family!

After the stress of the Baptism was over, I was able to focus on Christmas gifts. I decided to make a stuffed animal for each of the kids. I made little dogs for the girls and dinosaurs for the boys. I didn't have them finished until the 23rd. Which was our Christmas Eve because we left on the 24th to head for Grandma's house. Maybe next year I'll plan better and have all my shopping and crafts done before the week of Christmas. It was way too stressful staying up so late every night for a week! I'm sure we weren't the only people in the world that have ever done that though.

Oops, wait! I can't forget to mention that we were able to celebrate Kaitlin's 6th birthday!!! She was so excited for her birthday, and very set on having a Hannah Montana celebration. I did what I could to accommodate her wishes. I decorated her cake with Hannah Montana pink and purple and she spread pink "Rock-star" sprinkles all over the rest of it! We ate yummy cake and spent the evening as a family enjoying each other as we finished up our caroling adventures. She let me know later that night that she had the best birthday EVER!!! We're so happy to have her in our family too! We are so blessed to have all these cute and wonderful spirits to teach and take care of. Each one has added so much to our family and I couldn't imagine my life without any of them!!! Thanks for choosing our family! We sure love you too Kaitlin! We spent our New Year's Eve at our ward party. We ate and danced there until 10:30pm when we decided that the boys should be in bed. We got home and stuck in the movie "National Treasure" thinking the girls would probably be asleep before midnight. When in fact Jason was the only one of those remaining awake that didn't make it to midnight. I turned off the movie at around 12:30 and the girls were sad that they couldn't watch to the end. I reassured them that they could finish it the next day, and they went on to bed.

All in all we had a wonderful Christmas vacation. Now it's back to the grindstone! Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while again. Although I think I may just have to make time to blog! Reading all your blogs to get caught up takes too long! :) Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! Merry belated Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!