Our Life The Past Few Weeks

I took some pictures of the little girls and Baby Dan today. I've really enjoyed having a few hours alone with them while Ben and Sarah are at school.

I've been trying desperately to get caught up on my blog and luckily I'm almost there. I've blogged about all the major events in September and now I just have to fill in the missing gaps. We've been fairly boring the last couple weeks, but it's been a welcome boring. Sometimes it's not that bad staying home.

The main thing we've done the past couple of weeks would have to been moving bedrooms around. On the 19th we finally moved kids around to make room for Daniel. Ben and Sarah went downstairs in the 'blue room,' Hannah and Gracie moved into Ben and Sarah's old room, and Daniel gets his own room where Grace and Hannah used to be. It's been good for the kids and they've all enjoyed it. Last week Ben told me he likes being downstairs because he doesn't have to have his room next to a girl's room. I laughed and thought, 'should I point out the obvious that he shares a room with a girl or not.' I opted to keep that info to myself. The big kids have really liked being downstairs and often hang out in their room together. It's also made it so the kids enjoy playing downstairs more, which has been a welcome change for me who feels like the kids are always underfoot. They didn't want they're bunk beds put back up so now their beds by each other on the floor. They've really enjoyed being able to see each other and talk to each other better. Kenny and I miss them terribly. It feels like they're so far away now, but I think it's good anyway.

Hannah and Grace love their new room and thanks to Kenny taking some of the bars off of the crib, Gracie can now get out of bed by herself. She's enjoyed it, but it's made nap time a lot more difficult. Eventually she'll learn to stay in bed. Dan, well he doesn't really much care about getting his own room, but I like having a place to hang his clothes and put the toys he will soon be using. He's been sleeping anywhere from 7 hours to 12 hours at night which has been wonderful and has made it so having him in his own room is doable. Having him out of our room has made it seem huge. I still find myself not turning the light on at night so I won't wake him only to realize he's not in here anymore (not that it would have made much of a difference, he still sleeps through most things.) My kids are growing up so fast sometimes I wish they'd just slow down for awhile.

Hannah and Gracie with their curly hair. Gracie's is natural, I had to use a curling iron on Hannah's. She loved it, sorry the pictures not the best.

I just love this kid. She's so cute.

In other news, school has been going great. It's so nice to be back in a routine. Ben's had a much better end to the month than beginning. His behavior has been wonderful and there has been no more falling resulting in injury. In fact on Monday he was invited to participate in the Discovery Classes at school because when tested he showed 'advanced skills in reading.' We're so proud of him. He's one of only 3 kids in the 2 am classes and I don't know how many in the pm classes, that get to participate. It starts at 12:00 and runs for 40 minutes. Ben gets out of school at 11:05, so Kenny went to the school today to arrange for Ben to stay and eat lunch with Sarah Kate, then after her lunch recess he will go back to his class for 15 minutes until discovery starts. He's very excited, but Sarah is TOTALLY not. We're going to have to have a talk with her and make sure she's nice and helpful to him.

Hannah holding Dan. She loves her baby brother.

Not much else has happened here. We've gone to the park for a picnic and spent a lot of time outside trying to enjoy the last of the summer weather. Kenny went rock climbing and repelling with the deacons last weekend and really enjoyed himself. We decided to try it as a family on Monday night, but quickly discovered that years of not climbing can make it really intimidating and that being out of shape doesn't help. We'll have to go again to try and fix that.

I've decided after 8 years it's finally time to start doing something about my baby weight. I've been running/walking 2 1/2 miles most mornings and trying to diet. I'm hoping my sore muscles, exhaustion, and hunger will pay off and I can start slimming down and looking/feeling better. We'll see, I'll keep you posted.

That's it. Kind of boring, but not at the same time. It's hard to be boring in this house.