happenings

We have gotten back into the swing of things after summer and have been very busy.  Our after school hours consist of running kids to their various activities, (dance, piano, robotics, church stuff, friends, etc.) doing homework, trying to fit in meals, and hopefully a little family time.  A couple of Saturdays ago we decided that it was time for Sophie, Ellie and Liam to learn to ride a bike.  They all learned in a day and worked very hard.  The prize for learning was ice cream at u-swirl.  Liam and Ellie love riding their bikes now but Sophie has not gotten on a bike since and says she won't again until forced.  Liam took quite a spill a couple of days later.  He got scraped up pretty badly and bruised his torso.   A neighbor helped get his bike home because he ran home crying.  we had the added joy of having his blood sugar go extremely high from the accident.  He's all better now and got right back  on his bike after we cleaned up all his scrapes.

 The kids also had parent teacher conferences at the end of September. All our kids are doing great.  Maya's teachers all love her.  Her programming teacher thinks she is fabulous and wants her to take AP coding next year.  Sophie is also doing great and is liked by all her teachers.  Ellie's teacher didn't have much to say about her because all her test scores were well above benchmark and she does really well in class.  Liam is right where he needs to be.  This was a relief to me because he misses quite a bit of class time because of his diabetes so I was a little worried about him.  After the elementary kids conferences we went to the book fair and got books for all the kids.  This was one of the books Liam chose and our entire family has fallen in love with it.  It is so cute and funny and Liam read it all by himself in one sitting.

 Ellie graduated from RAD Kids, a self defense course we have at our school.  They learn about how to protect themselves and about bullying.  At the graduation they get to show off all their moves.  They also get "taken" by a man in a foam suit and they have to get away from him.  Ellie did amazing.  She hit really hard and quickly got away.  I hate that kids need these skills, but I am so grateful that my kids  get to learn them in a safe environment.

 Liam, Kyle, my dad, and myself got to attend a REAL soccer game.  It was really cold, but fun.  Kyle received the tickets from a player who brought his car into the shop so we were seated with all the friends and families and the players. It  was a lot of fun even though we lost the game.

 Proof that despite what Kyle says, he really does love Jimi the cat.

 Liam and Kyle cuddling one night.