Family Update

My my, it has been far too long since I updated!

In October, we soaked up the last of the sunshine we'd be seeing for a few months, had a lot of fun on Halloween, and also enjoyed our first kid-free night in almost 4 years.

In November, we enjoyed a little dusting of snow...

and Brooklyn got her first "hair cut".

December brought a special day for me.  I got to be present for the labor of a dear friend (although ultimately not the actual birth because it ended in c-section).  It deepened my desire to become a doula someday, and it was such an honor to be there to greet a new, beautiful life. 

Later, December brought a sprained ankle for Hubby, a broken Suburban, and the loss of his job.

But of course it also brought Christmas, wonderful times with family, and a phone call announcing a new, much better job that is supposed to begin in January (but we don't get have an exact starting date, so it's still a tad stressful).

Charlotte and Brooklyn each got new bikes, and look forward to the warmer, dryer days when they will get more use out of them!

Another favorite gift was a double-sided pink easel and a plethora of art supplies.  The girls just LOVE to draw and paint!

On New Year's Day, we made a trip into the mountains with my mom, 4 our of 5 of my brothers, and their families, to play in the snow.

It was Charlotte's first time seeing REAL snow, not just the little bits that we get down in the valley.  She LOVED it.

Brooklyn did too, of course!  We made snow angels...

went sledding...

made a snowman...

enjoyed a fire...

and watched the valley begin to glow orange...

and then pink as the sun began to set.

We wrapped up the day at my brother Jason's house...

where we met a very friendly and fluffy little friend.

Then my mom whooped everyone's butt at air hockey...

and showed the girls how it is done.

Brooklyn gets extremely enthusiastic about winning...

AND losing, lol!!!

Today, we ended our winter break from home school, to Brooklyn's great relief!  She'd never have a day off if it were up to her, lol!  Brooklyn has been learning American Sign Language, using Signing Time as our primary resource.  Although my mother is an interpreter and fluent in ASL, she just doesn't have the time to teach the kids.  However, she has seen the Signing Time videos and says they are absolutely perfect.  I've got to agree, because the kids find them endlessly entertaining, and have been learning heaps.  Charlotte is even picking up on it too, and it's thrilling to see them learning and loving a 2nd language.

I've been staying extra busy with babysitting our neighbor's 7 year old daughter for the past 3 months.  She is approved to get state assistance with her child care costs, but that process takes a long time and I haven't gotten my first payment yet.  We're hoping that happens soon, since Forrest's been out of work for 3+ weeks now and still hasn't gotten unemployment or a start date for his new job.  That is currently a heavy weight on our shoulders and the waiting game is getting tiresome.  Other than the financial stress, everything is going wonderful, and we're all doing fairly well (aside from Forrest's ankle, but it does seem to be on the mend).

I hope you're doing well, and stay tuned for more :-)