Dusting off the ol' blog

Yes, it's been a while. I blame Ella's birth, mostly. :D And then schooling and moving and just the general busy-ness (and business!) of life.

So, to catch up. We'll go youngest to oldest.

The Hurricane Princess is now FOUR. Holy moly, time flies! She loves Princess Sofia and pink and purple and cuddles and dolls and stuffed animals and playing with her siblings. She's also very aware of what she likes when it comes to clothes and hair--she insists on keeping her hair about chin length, added bangs herself, and dresses herself like a champ. The HP is very much HERSELF and often quite adorable.

THE BOY. He is still our boy and is nearly six! He adores cars and trains and Transformers and silly books and giving out hugs. He narrowly missed a crushing episode with his dresser the other day--apparently he was standing on a little brown chair getting underwear out of his top drawer when the chair fell over, sending him flying next to his bed, and the dresser fell on top of the chair. All we heard was a crash. Mat checked on him and everything was ok, but STILL. I have new white hairs after that one.

Anyway, The Boy is done with his homeschool kindergarten book, so we've been working on building up his reading fluency and his math skills in preparation for cracking open the first grade book. I don't want to get him too far ahead academically in case he ends up having to go to "real" school for second grade before he starts the online school. He's enjoying it, but he vastly prefers playing Wii with his big sister or playing at the park nearby.

Miss Bubbly/Miss Enthusiasm is adjusting well to the new online school environment. I'd like to say I've seen a marked effect on her blood sugar as a result, but she seems to be in a weird growth phase--that gaining-weight-before-sprouting-up part. I'm hoping she's not developing insulin resistance like her pediatrician seems to think might be happening. We'll talk to the endo in October and hopefully he'll have some ideas for us. In the meantime, though, we walk every day, she plays at the park every day, she LOVES playing with her siblings, and she had discovered an enormous love of reading. She's consumed all the Sisters Grimm books she can get her hands on and is currently in the middle of The Hobbit. And she is doing very well sharing a room with The Hurricane Princess. Granted, between the two of them, it looks like a *permanent* hurricane has taken up residence in their room, but that's probably genetic, as I'm sure my parents will gleefully remind me.

The Eldest adores her new room. She loves the independence, the ability to shut siblings out at will, and the quiet. She is very much an introvert, though if we turn on Studio C, she'll wander out of her room without any prodding at all. :D She's also a fantastic mother's helper--she and Miss Bubbly are in charge of making breakfast and lunch, and she'll ask to make cookies on a regular basis. I'm still trying to convince her that my favorite oatmeal cranberry cookies are worth making, but she's not sold on the idea.

Mat loves our new house. His commute is down to about 20 minutes and he doesn't have to take the freeway for ANY of it. I don't think I realized how much it was weighing him down until I noticed the new bounce in his step when he comes home. It's a lovely change and makes me very glad that we made this move.

I have a mix of good things and painful things, but that's life, isn't it? My left foot has decided that it wants to let me experience the joy of plantar fasciitis, so finding equipment to make life more endurable/pleasant took up a lot of my free time in the last month. To balance that out, though, I've discovered a love of painting and arranging music, so all is not lost! There is pleasure to be had as well! Also, Mat had the brilliant idea that I should start a book review blog, and so I have! (The Dragon's Nook) It's been a rewarding experience right off the bat, mostly because I've found new ways to get access to free books. That is NEVER a bad thing. And now I have an excuse to spend a few hours reading every day! I've also relieved myself of a fair amount of crafting supplies, after whittling my hobbies down to what I truly love/enjoy. I didn't realize what a weight would be lifted off my shoulders by downsizing like that. I look forward to exploring the hobbies I have kept in depth and hopefully improving my implementation of them. This translates into new knickknacks being shoveled off onto unsuspecting Christmas gift recipients. Mwahahaha!

So please forgive the multi-year lapse in updates here at this little family blog. I hope to start blogging weekly again--we'll see how it goes!