Update

Since our "December to Remember" challenge of being unplugged, we've gotten more into playing games. I love this. Even though we are no longer "unplugged", we are still limiting our computer/TV time. It has been a little difficult, but a lot good for our family. Last night we all played Uno until the little kids had to go to bed and then the big kids and I sat on my bed and played Pit until Tim came home from his meetings. Then Tim joined us for a few rounds. It was a lot of fun. We've also been playing a lot of Skipbo and Scattergories. We get addicted to certain games and then play them over and over again. Awhile ago we were into Boggle, Qwerkle (sp?) and Rummikub. Anyway, playing games as a family is so much fun.

Sahara received her driver's license today! She is super excited. Bethlehem doesn't seem to care very much about getting her's and is still only a permit holder. I can't believe these girls are getting so old. I'm one of those moms that doesn't like her kids growing up and kind of resists the whole process.

Henry is talking up a storm. He is one smart cookie. He is now 20 months old. Just today he has started asking for "bafroom" (bathroom) and wants to sit on the toilet. He never does anything, but it's kind of fun to see his enthusiasm over it. After having two sons refuse to potty-train until ages 3.5 and 4 respectively, I gave up on being the parent that initiates potty-training. I still think we have awhile before Henry is actually potty-trained, but it seems like it might happen sooner than I thought it would.

Well, Matthias is now in public school. He was really not enjoying homeschooling. I think he enjoyed it when it was new and different and when it was more casual, but once we started up with the K12 program, he started to dislike it. He also admitted to me that he felt lonely without his siblings around all day. It was hard for him to see them go off to school and come home with stories about their day, while he was stuck at home with his parents and baby brother. Another thing was that Tim and I missed our time alone during the day. We like to go to lunch or run errands sometimes during the day. And it's really the only time we can talk to each other without being interrupted. We really missed the loss of that time since Matthias came home. With Tim being the bishop now, we have even less time together. We felt it was important to get the daytime back. Anyhow, we registered Matthias in our local elementary school since he has a long wait on our charter school's list. He seems to enjoy it so far. I think he was a little disappointed when he realized that he would have to do work there, too. ;-) He has made a new friend. It was cute when he said to me yesterday after school, "I sat with this kid. I guess you could say that we're making a relationship and building a friendship." I said, "That's great! What's his name?" Matt said, "I forgot." ;-) Today he said he ate lunch with his best friend, and I asked if he remembered his name now and he said, "Oh no! I forgot to ask him his name again." Kids are so funny.

Yesterday we had our custody hearing for Matthias. He was so excited to belong to us in the "judge's eyes" as he kept saying. His adoption should be finalized in May and he can't wait. It is fun to see his joy over these things. He is the oldest child we've ever adopted and the only older child that we've adopted that spoke English when coming home. It has been really interesting to hear his thoughts on the process. I also think he is probably our most happy child in regards to being adopted (sometimes he is really bugged with us and/or his siblings--so it's not all sunshine and roses). He just wants it to happen immediately. When the judge was asking him questions, he was beaming. At one point she asked me if we were bonding to Matt and he to us. I told her that we were; that we loved him; that he was a great kid with tons of potential. I thought Matt's face would crack, his smile was so huge. It was cute.

It has been so cold here for weeks. It is really wearing on us all. We're all eager for spring. Unfortunately, we have quite a ways to go still. Blah.

We're sure looking forward to our three day weekend. We need some quality family time. Christmas break was way too short.

More soon (I still have many photos to add) ...