Yes, she's always THAT busy: Catching up

Yes, it's been 4 months since I have posted a darned thing here. I'd like to say that I won't let it go that long again, but who am I kidding...it will probably happen! So, I'll try to briefly catch up for the moment.

I last posted right after Alec started school. He's now almost done with the first half of kindergarten! I really had NO idea how busy things could be just in the first year of school. He has had projects or homework most every week, and not that it takes all that much time but it does seem to add to the usual busy days around here. He has been doing very well in school and truly seems to enjoy it. The first few weeks were tough I think - he really didn't talk to too many of the other kids - but that did not take long to change. And it is really amazing to see not only the development of his reading and writing skills, but his understanding of prayer, God, and friendship. We have had our struggles at home but the good news is none of that seems to show up at school. Given the choice of tantrums at school or at home, I'll take home every time! He had a great time at Christmas, and pronounced very spiritedly "this is the best Christmas EVER!!!" It was nice to see him so happy.

Cece's been doing well this fall. She's had a couple of bugs, including a bout with mycoplasma pneumonia and a nasty cold. But she managed to get through both of them without hospitalization, thankfully. We also have suspected that she's had some minor sickle pain on a couple of occasions as well, but nothing that didn't go away quickly. We can only pray that trend continues for her. She is growing like crazy and is quickly moving out of all of her 3T clothes! She's also starting to learn her letters and numbers really well. A few days ago I witnessed her doing a real drawing of a person for the very first time - i.e., something other than just scribbly lines - and it was so neat to see! We still have not overcome her sleep problems but perhaps that will come with time, and that is very minor in the whole scheme of things. Her imagination has become so incredible lately. In fact her favorite Christmas gifts were the $1 a piece dinosaurs that I picked up for her stocking. Little did I suspect that would be the winner of all the many packages!!!

We've had a couple of opportunities to promote the Ronald McDonald House recently, and that's been a lot of fun. Last week we were interviewed on the local news and the kids thought it was SOOOO cool! None of us had ever been in a TV studio previously so it was a great adventure for the whole family. We were mildly concerned when we found out we would be sitting 20 feet from the news desk while they did the newscast...silence is not our family's greatest virtue, you know?!?! But the kids did really well and were quiet until the end. They were watching themselves on the monitor while we were on camera, and every time Cece would go out of view she would say to Fred, "Where my Cece???" The newscasters were so nice and even let us take pictures of them with the kids! If you are interested in the news piece, you can find it here. Cece is also the feature story on the House's website as of this posting - not sure how long that will last, but for the moment you can find that here.

A few snapshots from Christmas...