Our middle schooler
Homecoming Dance with lifelong friend (Michelle)
Jacob's first meet - Emporia, KS
Jacob with teammate and friend (Trenton)
Well, you might think that I fell off the face of the earth since I haven't blogged in almost a year. Life is just super busy and crazy! I had about decided to completely give up on blogging but I recently had the urge to blog again. I can't write about everything that has happened in the last year so I will just try to update everyone on what is going on these days (if anyone will even read this).
Jacob joined a competitive gymnastics team in August. It is power tumbling so he does tumbling, trampoline and a thing called double mini. He is loving it! He practices a little over 5 hours each week. It is a great outlet for his endless energy! He just went to his first meet this past weekend. He enjoyed it and did well. He got two first place medals and one second place medal. It is definitely a little easier for the boys. They don't have as many to compete against as the girls do. He is in fourth grade this year. Can't believe he only has one more year of grade school after this year. I am definitely not ready for him to be in middle school. We have entered the world of orthodontics. He had braces on four of his top teeth for a while. He just got them off and now has a retainer. He stays very busy with school, gymnastics, kid's leadership team (church) and hanging out with friends/neighbors.
Joshua is now a middle schooler. I was nervous about how he would make the transition because he doesn't really like change (he's a lot like his mother). He has done extremely well though. He has a harder time getting up in the mornings (he is almost a teenager now) and doesn't like all of the math homework but other than that he seems to like school pretty well. He is in pre-algebra which is two years ahead. He has always been freaky good at math. He likes science a lot too. They just finished building rollercoasters in his science class. He just might be our future engineer. We were very proud of him when he recently received a student of the month award. He is playing Upward basketball. It is good exercise for him and he enjoys it. I haven't gotten any pictures of him playing yet. Need to do that soon. He loves being a part of the youth group at church now. He still loves legos and video games. He also enjoys reading. He would like to learn how to play the drums. We will be checking into lessons once basketball is over.
Caleb is super busy with band again. He got to play marimba in marching band this year and enjoyed that. His band went all the way to nationals and got 6th place. That was very exciting! He is now participating in a competitive indoor percussion ensemble. They will have their first competition the end of this month. The other big news is that he is driving. He got his permit in October and will turn 16 in April. It's kind of scary but he is a good driver. He went to his first Homecoming Dance in October with a friend from church. He had a blast! He is looking forward to going to prom in April with another friend from church. We are trying to figure out his school schedule for next year. He has applied for Tulsa Tech to do a web design program there. He is very excited about that. We just have to figure out how to get in all the classes he will need to graduate. April will be a very big month for him. He will turn 16, go to his first prom and take the ACT for the first time. Time sure is flying! I know that in the blink of an eye he will be graduating and going off to college. Not ready for that!
I stay very busy just keeping up with the boys and their schedules! I often feel like a taxicab. I am still working at our church preschool as an assistant teacher. I mostly work with the one and two year olds. I love my job! Love my boss; love my coworkers; love the kids; love making some extra money! It is a true blessing in my life! I still try to scrapbook when I can but it is hard to find the time. Kenneth and I help out with the children's ministry twice a month at church. It's so nice to be around little ones since our boys are getting so big.
Kenneth is still working at occidental petroleum. Two upper-level people have retired since he has been there so he has taken on a lot of extra responsibilities. He also is traveling more than he used to. We are thankful that he has a good job with a good company but it gets pretty stressful at times. We are very thankful that he is out of public accounting and no longer has a 3 month busy season with tons of overtime. He is planning a skiing trip with some of his guy friends. He is very excited about that! He loves to ski and it has been a long time since he last went skiing. If Jacob find out he is going he will probably beg to go along. He really wants to go snowboarding!
Well, I think that is a pretty good update on our lives. Hopefully it won't be another year before I do this again.
