playing catch-up

I have no idea what happened to the month of November.  It was a blur of packing, sewing, and shopping, as we prepared to travel out to sister #2's wedding/Thanksgiving/early gift exchange.  (there are five girls and five boys in my family so I will number them to keep track)  Then there was a week of parent teacher conferences, book fairs, and just being at the school a lot......in between a lot of basketball practices and church activities.  Trav's sister Tracy had her third little boy 8 weeks early and spent the last month and a half in the NICU.  They have been fantastic about updating their blog about his progress and we have all been praying extra hard for "baby Taylor" to get better.  Also, Trav's cousin recently lost her little boy to a rare form of cancer.  They wrote regularly about his progress here.  It is a heartbreaking story and I have been inspired by their faith and grace as they go through such a difficult time.  

After taking such a long break from blogging, it is hard to know where to start.  Both of our computers' hard drives reached max capacity a couple of weeks ago so we are in the process of getting things back on track (thank you to our wide network of tech support who have helped!)  I do have some fantastic footage from our trip out West with my family.......think 20+ people snowed into one house for a few days.  It was great.  

Since I must include some pictures in every post, I will leave you with a few of Halle from a few weeks ago.  With my older two, I was determined to have them tying their shoes and reading novels before they started kindergarten.  As our situation necessitates, my expectations have become considerably more reasonable.  I figured if she only wore slip-on shoes, then I could have a little more leeway in the shoe tying department.  Yet, this year she is in 1st grade and wanting to wear gym shoes for her P.E. class.  So after a few weeks of begging and announcing that she was the only one in the whole 1st grade who didn't know how to tie her shoes, I finally buckled down and did it.  

 Now, when you teach a 4 year old to tie their shoes, it tends to be a months long process.  At six, it is a much less frustrating experience.  I was a bit worried that her lefty status would hinder things but all it took was the mention of the "rabbit ears and the little burrow" and she was off to the races.

So, I have to recommend holding off a bit on teaching your kids things like tying their shoes.....and reading novels.  There tends to be a lot less pain involved when their brains are a little larger.  

I'll be back soon with a lot of catching up......