And we're back

I just spent a good 10 minutes trying to come up with a catchy title for our first post after a year and a half hiatus, but frankly I've got nothing. :) I'm just happy to be back and posting again. Instead of doing any recap, you can check us out on Facebook for that, we're starting fresh. So drum roll please...here we go.

Christopher is 6 now and started the 1st grade on August 16 and he is doing WONDERFUL! He has already told me that he enjoys it so much more than Kindergarten. I honestly think he is just more challenged already. He had been in pre-school for 3 years before going to Kindergarten last year. He knew how to cut and color and write and everything that he was being taught he already knew. Alexander was bringing home more advanced worksheets from his 2nd year of preschool than Christopher was from Kindergarten. The kid was just plain bored. This year he is LOVING learning. We spend 20 minutes when we get home everyday for homework time, he has yet to have any actual homework from school, but we spend every day alternating between working on using his vocabulary words in sentences and addition. And everyday at some point he works on his reading at home. He is so interested in learning and that makes this mommy's heart very happy. He is still all boy! He loves to run and jump. He is constantly in a super hero costume or disguise. He wants to be an inventor when he grows up and has taken a keen interest in science. Honestly, he has grown into being a big kid and no longer a little boy, but his personality is exactly the same as it was when he was 18 months old. Christopher has always known who he is and has always stayed true to that. And for that we are very grateful.

Alexander is now 4 (almost 5 he'll tell you) and started Pre-K this year. This is his last year at full time daycare before starting Kindergarten next year. He has been the baby for so long that it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he is almost 5. I'm not sure when that happened, but he still tells me everyday that I can still call him baby if I want to. He certainly knows how to work me. Apparently, not only me though because he informed me after his first week in his new class that he has 3 girlfriends (not including is wife in Columbia). They are all a little older than him and moved to the new class last year and he was quick to tell me that they really missed him and now they just hug and kiss him all of the time. Grreeaat! I think we're going to have our hands full with this little ladies man. He is also doing great at school. He will be more than ready to take on Kindergarten next year, but for now we are just going to enjoy our time with him still being the "baby" for awhile longer

As far as Sean and I are concerned, we are doing great. Sean is still with MGE in their IT department and has taken on a large amount of additional responsibilities in the past year. I celebrated my 1 year anniversary at American Family in June. We both love what we are doing and the companies we work for. Thankfully, both of our jobs allow us enough flexibility for us both to be able to be the involved parents we want to be. And it's given me some more time to focus on my freelance photography. I've been keeping pretty busy with family and children shoots and I do love being able to do that. (*Insert shameless plug: I do still have some openings for some summer sessions before we start booking for the fall! :) )

As a family we stay busy....very busy. Between friends and family get together's, birthday parties, and my crazy need to make sure that we do as many outings as a family that we can, we just run run run. Honestly, this is the first Saturday that I can remember that all of us have been home, and that wasn't the original plan, but "thanks" to a nasty case of poison ivy Sean has gotten we are trying to stay in out of the heat. But since neither of the boys have asked to leave once. Christopher is playing games on his computer and Alex has been building a Lego town for the past 30 minutes I'm thinking that maybe a day at home is exactly what everyone needed.

2010...Already?

So I had this amazing idea that I would start fresh at the beginning of the year and start blogging again. Well, it's mid-February and this is the first time I've been on here. Oh well, it's never to late to start again....right? This year, so far, has been somewhat of a blur. We began 2010 by attending a very intense New Year's Eve party at The Cooper's. Complete with Chicken Foot and all. :) What can I say...we party hard! The boys always have a great time hanging out with Josh so it really does turn into quite the relaxing evening when the 3 of them disappear to play.

In January we had a couple of birthday parties and a couple of Christmas. Because of the AMAZING weather we had over Christmas both of our plans with my Mom's side got postponed until January. It was great though, we didn't feel rushed or overwhelmed at having them all at once. We were also FINALLY able to get together with our best friends, the Bohanon's and made our first trip to Chick-Fil-A. Let me just say I LOVE that restaurant. It is so kid friendly. Unfortunately the closest one is in Liberty so we don't get to go there as often as we might like.

We also had another adventure when Alex had his 2nd surgery on his eyes. They did surgery on both of the outer eye muscles this time and he pulled through like a champ! He did amazingly well compared to last time, I think he probably knew more of what to expect and how to handle the pain this time. He was great and so far his eyes have stayed straight. We will re-visit in March just to check but so far so good. The only mishap this time was that they started to allow one parent to go back to recovery with the child when they are starting to wake up. Alex was crying for me so I went back, not the best idea I have ever had. I hadn't eaten all day and then when he stopped breathing a couple of times it was enough to freak me out. I had to hand him off to the nurse while about 4 nurses tried to keep me from passing out. It was quiet the site to see.

The Worts Family also came up for a visit in January. It was so great to see them and the boys had a lot of fun at Fun Run in Liberty and we had some great food at the Corner Cafe. The only down side was Collin getting sick Saturday night and then we passed it around our family for the past several weeks. :( I think that we have spent more of this year sick than we have healthy. Hopefully, we are on the up side now.

As far as February goes we have stayed just as busy as always. :) The beginning to the month we headed to Columbia to celebrate our youngest nephew Brendan's 1st birthday! Then for Valentine's Day we spent it as a family and headed to Kansas City. We ate at Abuelo's (Yummm) and then spent some time at Barnes and Noble. When we got back to St Joe and took the boys bowling for the first time. It was interesting and fun. Something that we will definitely do again. Now tonight, Sean and I are headed out to celebrate our Valentine's Day together by having some sushi and japanese food and do a little shopping together (weather cooperating). I will try to keep up on the posting better this year.