Blink and there go 2 years of our lives!

I have a blog. I have a blog that I have severely neglected and ignored. Forgotten even. Truth be told there are so many other things going on in our lives right now, that my insignificant little blog was put out to pasture. And then I randomly came accross it. Could not believe it had been over 2 years since I had shared a little of our world with our family and friends and so I am rightfully ashamed. Hanging my head and feeling silly. I'm not going to go back to where my blog left off, but instead I am going to summarize the year so far.

Mike started the year off on a great note. He had finally found a job and it looked very promising. For 4 weeks we began to put our lives back to "normal" and on track and then the bottom fell out again. The company laid him off. Fortunately Domino's took him straight back on, but of course pizza delivery is not exactly his dream job. Mike is currently searching for a new job and currently has 3 jobs that look promising, but who knows... So much of his self worth is tied up in his ability to provide for his family and right now he feels like he's doing a terrible job. He's a great guy who is in uncharted territory and would really like to get a break.

Jessica is now 12 and growing up fast. She is still playing violin and made the symphony orchestra at her middle school. If she continues to do well, her orchestra director says that next year she will make 1st chair, 1st violin, which would make her the top dog of the violins. It motivates her greatly and she is beginning to work a lot harder at this. She is in advanced classes for everything and is doing great in all of them. I can't believe that soon she will be heading to high school. Very scary!

Joshua has been having a great year. He was selected to be part of a special group of 5th graders that get to put the flag up every day and open car doors before and after school. They pick kids with good grades and better attitudes. That's my boy! He has been playing cello this year and it always amuses me, because the cello is about as big as him. His teacher says he is doing very well and he is wanting to continue to play next year in middle school. I guess we're working on our own chamber group! He is looking forward to football season this year and is currently obsessed with lego star wars. He loves to build custom space cruisers.

Abigail is beginning to find her place in all the craziness. She has made friends, improved in school and best of all discovered that she loves cheerleading and choir. We were dubious that she would do well with cheerleading, but it turned out to be a really good thing for her. She gets really nervous with choir, because the choir director has her on the front row and she isn't comfortable being there! She is still as sweet as ever and after a totally awesome haircut, she looks truly fabulous.

Benjamin turned 8 last week, but he really wishes he was 11 like his big brother. He is a ball of energy and attitude. When he's up, he's up. When he's down, he's down. He has the ability to push my buttons like none of the others, but he can be so very sweet when he wants to. He loves anything army and loves to build legos with Joshua. He is doing extremely well in school and just submitted an application to the gifted and talented program. He is playing soccer at the moment and he is a really good player. He does especially well in midfield, but so far in 4 games, he has scored in 3 of them. He is a great team player too, which I love to see.

Samuel is still my sweet, sweet little guy. 1st grade has been hard on him, but he's beginning to improve now. His reading is getting better and we have begun to realize that whilst he may never be a great writer, he has a talent for math. Out of all of my kids, he has the least interest in computers around here. He would rather be out front on his bike. He still loves to cuddle and give kisses and I cherish them all. I know it won't last forever.

Chloe-Anne is the one who has changed the most. Now at 3 1/2, we are finally seeing her speech improve and she is starting to talk alot more. She is still super shy and quiet around other people, but has no such problems around her own family. She loves Dora and Diego and is into singing at the moment. My personal favourite is her combination of ABC's and twinkle twinkle! She really loves Jedi, our new puppy and loves to play with him. She has the craziest hair, that has curls galore. Come September she will be going to pre school and the last of my babies will be out of the house, for at least a few hours. It's a sad prospect for me. New territory.

As for myself, last month I reached the grand old age of 40. I'm pretty sure I don't feel like I'm 40, but I am nonetheless. Jedi was my birthday present from Mike and apart from my kindle, the best present ever. I love my puppy! He was a rescue and has a little border collie in him, but the majority is black lab. He is super cute and a ton of fun. We have waited for years to finally get a puppy and it is so great to finally have one. I love living in Texas and having such great friends around. This has been a good thing for our family, except for the lack of job. There is so much to be grateful for and so much to look forward to and hopefully, the best is yet to come!