It's been a while.

I realize it has been a while since I have posted anything.  It is not due to lack of things to do around here.  I have hit my photo limit and am trying to decide if I want to pay to keep adding them.  I probably will cave in since this is the only way I journal our families activities.  We have continued to keep busy here in our neck of the woods.  Mark and Grant battled illness a couple weeks ago, resulting in Mark with bronchitis and pneumonia while Grant with the exact same symptoms had clear lungs but still missed a full week of school.  We are hoping to keep most of the season's illnesses away by partaking of copious amounts of vitamins, healthy foods and green smoothies in the mornings.

  

The weather has turned colder here but the snow still evades us.  Mark has started Nordic skiing at the school and with the lack of snow the training is done on roller skis.  Mark says this is harder than regular skis because they have to work their way through the little bit of snow and ice that we do have. All I know it my hands are freezing as I sit and type this, I think I would turn into a popsicle. 

Erin continues to grow into a beautiful young lady.  She is becoming more of a friend to Dale and I and she is working so hard in school.  School has never been easy for her.  In reality it has been a nightmare for her at times.  The trimester just ended this week and Erin was able to pull all As and Bs.  This is so amazing for her.  Dale and I love how hard she has been working.

Grant has started playing the saxophone in 6th grade.  This is a very noisy instrument and is not fitting into his lifestyle very well.  Grant hates riding the bus and will walk home almost everyday unless it gets to cold (below 0).  Well, walking home carrying a very heavy instrument is not very fun.  He also says it is very boring because they only play a few notes.  Grant is looking forward to the basketball season starting shortly after Christmas.----Currently Grant is making sugar cookie cutouts in the kitchen and I am trying to be patient with the mess.  Easier said than done at times.  

Joseph is reading, what else can I say.  Sometimes getting his nose out of a book is a challenge.  Keeping up with his intense literary appetite can be challenging.  He will read some books 2 and 3 times until he finds a new one he likes.  I think one of his all time favorite series is the Percy Jackson books. --Update, he pulled his nose from the book and is helping make cookies.

Jared is soaking in the holiday season.  He was very excited to decorate for Christmas.  I think it is only for his sake the house is decorated, a lot!  Last Friday we went and picked out a small tree at Home Depot.  The initial plan was to go cut one, most of the kids did not like the idea.  The excuses ranged from not wanting to go in the cold, it is boring, and they liked putting up the fake one.  So we adapted and took Jared to find a small one to put somewhere, knowing he would be heartbroken if we didn't do something.  He loved it and that put him in the mood to decorate.  Sadly his desire to decorate and my speed to do so did not match.  I might add here, all the kids that said they loved to put up the fake tree were all conveniently absent when that time came.  We spent 2 days putting stuff up and today I told him we would do the nativities.  He has asked no less that 6 times when we will do that.

Elaine is doing well in school and everyone is looking forward to her coming home in 2 weeks.  Maybe not everyone, I'm thinking someone will have a hard time saying goodbye while she is out here.

Well, time to put up nativities.  Hopefully next time there will be pictures.  That is much more interesting that my ramblings.