Pictured left to right: Emily, 9; Cara; Ella, 19mos; Rachel, 3; Kent; Christopher, 7.
We've had a good year this year! In February, Kent and I took Emily and Christopher to Disneyland (see blog about that trip below). In March, I was the judges coordinator for the WIAA State Dance/Drill Championship. It was a good weekend for dance/drill teams in WA. In April, Ella turned 1 year old.
Over the summer, two of my brothers got married. Jason in July and Sean in August.
In September, Emily and Christopher started school at a new school because of some boundary re-alignments. They also started taking Tae Kwon Do from our local YMCA.
Emily is in 4th grade right now and is an excellent reader. She has already earned enough reading points to qualify for the spring readers field trip. Emily's favorite book series is the Harry Potter series (taking after her mom) she's almost read all 7 books twice. Both Emily and I are looking forward to the 6th Harry Potter movie coming out in July next year.
Christopher started 2nd grade this year. He's adjusting well to his new school. Social skills are still really difficult for him, but we think we're finally getting somewhere. He has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome which is a high functioning form of Autsim. Those are big scary words. Life is definitely a challenge for him and us, but he's very talented. He recently is infactuated with the piano. He has a very good ear and enjoy's playing songs by ear. Some of his favorites to play right now are "Called to Serve" (from the LDS Hymn book), "Silent Night", "Frosty the Snoman" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". His music teacher at school has taught the students how to begin to read music and Christopher is really picking up on it quickly. He started out just playing the melody of the songs, but is now working on picking out harmony notes with both hands. I think this is a talent we will continue to explore!!!
Rachel is 3 and full of attitude. She's fun and has a beautiful smile. She started a co-op type pre-school this year and is really enjoying herself. She likes to dance, color and play on the computer. This coming January she'll graduate from nursery at church and move into primary. I don't know how she'll like that because she LOVES nursery!
Ella will be 20 months old at the end of the month. She is so cute! She started nursery at church and now I'm free during the last two hours of church! Ella has quite the vocabulary and is talking in full sentences. We've lately been keeping track of the "cute thing Ella did today" because it happens almost on a daily basis. One example: I called upstairs to Ella and asked her to come downstairs so we could pick up Rachel. Ella said, "Okay, Mommy. I coming." She did this several times as she came down the stairs. Another example: Ella brought a dress up dress to me to have me help her put it on. After the dress was put on she said while pointing to herself, "I cute."
Kent has enjoyed working at AT&T Mobility. He recently started a new position with the company that gives him access to more databases, which gives him more job security. He enjoys working with his new team and likes his new boss. He also has resurrected his interest in playing the guitar. He's also discovered Facebook (both Kent and I are on there), and is enjoying finding long lost friends.
As for me, I've become a running fiend. I finished my first full (all 26.2 miles) marathon in Seattle on November 30th. It was one of the toughest things I've ever done...and guess what...I'm going to do it again. I will probably do another full marathon in June. I'm looking for a couple of half marathons to do as well. You can read more on some of the races I've done this year on the blogs below. I'm still the president of the dance/drill judges association I belong to. I really like judging, it's fun.
Life is pretty busy for us all, but overall life is good. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. Stay safe and healthy!!!
Much love!
