Sorry for the delay

Wow! Life is BUSY! I apologize for my 5 month absence. Between the Musical at school, a new job, my mom's group, Maddy at school 3 days a week and being a mom, everything has filled up. So here's how we are doing now:

I am doing the musical at Nathan/Maddy's school. This year we are doing "Into the Woods Jr" and it has been such a great experience. I love being able to teach/interact with Nate's students. I feel like when they meet him and then get to meet me and our kids, it adds a depth to their understanding of who he is. We have always loved doing life with his students so this is a great opportunity to do that. As I type this, we are in performance week (only 2 shows to go) and the kids are doing awesome! They are handling the difficulty so well and I am feeling like I know what I'm doing a lot more than I did last year. Part of it is working with the same accompanist as I did last year. She is an amazing woman and incredibly talented. I love working with her and just being with her! 

In August, I got a job at our new campus in Simpsonville. It has been a great experience so far. The transition can be tricky but it has been great to be meeting new people and working in a new circle of accountability. Nathan has also had a few opportunities to teach at our church and sister churches. I know I am biased, but I absolutely LOVE hearing him teach so it's been a blessing all around!!!

My AM2PM group at Fellowship Greenville is going well. I started a group this year which consists of half Summit people and half Fellowship Greenville people. I enjoy meeting other moms who are doing life just like me. It's great to realize I am not alone in my journey.

Maddy is at school 3 mornings a week and she absolutely loves it. It's amazing to look at her and realize that 5 months ago she was beginning to identify letters and numbers and now she can count to 30 (she gets a little muddled in the teens), write her name (though backwards), write a handful of letters and loves to discuss words that start with the letters she is learning. She has been seizure free for over a year and is growing into such a fun littler girl. I can't believe she is 4 1/2!?! Right now she is playing "Angry Birds" on my ipad, which is a new discovery for her. She blows me away when we are in the car and she tells me which way to go to head home and when we pass by a general area, she can tell me of the places we have gone nearby. She is also being very independent and loves to tell her sister what to do. 

 

Emma is enjoying having me to herself on days when Maddy is at school and August is napping. She would rather cuddle with you and play "sleeping" than wrestling (Maddy's favorite). She is now potty trained (except for naps and nighttime) and she is so proud of herself for doing it. Maddy refuses to use the bathroom any more than like 3 times a day but Emma loves to go whenever you ask her or anyone else if they need to go :-P She is very verbal, probably because she hears Maddy talk so much. She also loves to play pretend. She likes to go on imaginary trips to the "Ice Cream Station" (owned by friends of ours from church) and loves to love on August, though it always leads to us saying, "Emma, don't kill your brother!"

August is such a cheesy little guy! I mean, look at that 4 teeth-ed (tooth-ed?) smile!

 He is crawling very quickly and pulling up on everything. If you are not looking, he will even try to stand with one hand supporting himself. He hates for other people to feed him and loves to do it all by himself. He is still very much a mommy's boy and his new love to insist on standing up and crying in his bed before he sleeps is not his mommy's favorite! I cannot believe that he is 11 months old today. Time has flown by.

Nathan is still teaching and enjoying his students, and the opportunity to teach at church periodically. He has taken a break for masters classes and we have all been busy remodeling our downstairs, stripping away the horrid carpet, replacing it will laminate wood floor and painting the dark brown paneling with light blue paint. My parents are coming this weekend to help put down the baseboards and that will bring us one step closer to completion!

Holidays are approaching and we head to my brother's house for Thanksgiving and then head to Texas for Christmas. We are so excited to have Maddy and Emma play with their cousins and then welcome in the newest Forrest (our new nephew/niece) in December. Well, here is my great attempt at giving you a summary of our last 5 months. I hope it is not that long again before another update but since I am still 1 1/2 years behind in scrapbooking, I'm not very hopeful that I will go without another "silent" period :-( But to those of you who read, thanks for keeping up with us even when I am sporadic.