I'm still here

For all my blogger buddies, a quick note - for some reason my computer and blogger have conspired against me to make me unable to comment on anyone's blog - I can't even comment annonymously! It's really driving me nuts... so, just so you know, I am still reading, but that's all I can do. :P

Other than that, here's what we've been up to....

Sakura loves preschool! I don't get much feedback from her teacher so far, but Sakura comes home happy every time, so I'm good so far. And I finally found motivation for Sakura to do her "homework" - Wii time! She was sent home with a counting sheet that said if she could count to 20 for me 25 times in September, she'd get a special prize in school. The first 22 days I managed to coax her to do it once. When I finally said she could play one game per time she counted for me, she did the next 24 times in one day. Total win! Less time playing the Wii and more time learning for school. So far she is making plenty of friends and she still talks about her NC friends like she's going to see them tomorrow if she can just get Mommy to work it into her social calendar. We're working on understanding feelings and stuff, and have a book on bad moods and a calming jar full of glitter for her to shake up and watch when she gets upset and needs some time to calm down without it being a punishment like with a time out, which usually just escalates the situation. We've only done it once, so we'll see if it works out.

Seth is... Seth. He still doesn't talk, though I think it's more by choice than anything. It surprised me when I found out he could say "Mama" which he did sometime when I wasn't home to hold him when he hurt himself - I was told of it afterward, and he has since replicated it for subsequent bonks and tumbles. He's definitely at the stage where that happens alot. I'm sure his vocabulary is bigger than I think, he just doesn't care to share it with me, so when he does say something, I'm usually taken totally by surprise. Seth has been teething almost his whole life and has most of his teeth in now. This opens up a bigger world of food possibilities that I'm still working on trying with him. He's definitely less picky than I expected. What is he is picky about, is the outdoors... NOT a big fan. He is totally a homebody like me and isn't fond of going lots of places or playing at the park or anything. He's most happy to be walking around in a t-shirt and diaper at home with big trucks he can drive over everything, a full bottle whenever he wants it, and his family right there if he needs anything.

Chad is loving his job. He's pretty busy, but not as busy as when he first started. We're still trying to figure out the best way to set up his schedule for family life - it's going to take a little while of experimenting before we get it right. He's coming up on a long stretch of time off after a solid stretch of working and I am looking forward to having him home. :) Chad also started volunteer work at a Spanish clinic. It's only once a month so far, but he definitely likes it. We have a calling at church together - we teach the 15/16 year old sunday school class. We finally decided to take turns teaching every other week. It's ok so far - no experience with this age group, unless you count being that age over a decade ago. But we must be doing ok so far because one of the kids' moms invited us over to dinner so she could meet us since her son told her he really likes his new sunday school teachers. We'll see how long that lasts! Apparently their last teachers were not so great. Chad has really been getting into family hsitory lately. Our stake challenged everyone to bring a name to the temple by October and Chad is hard at work. He also scanned in a bunch of old family photos his dad found from when he was little. Basically, Chad is a pretty happy guy these days - likes his job, his car, his house, his family - life is good.

Me? (no pics of me cuz I'm always the one holding the camera) I am busy and yet I have too much wasted time as well. I haven't really made any good friends yet, but I am slowly getting to know people around here, though people here aren't as friendly as in NC. It's not that they're hostile or anything, just - it seems like no one goes out of their way to meet you or make friends... probably because they don't have to because they already have family and friends around... am I making any sense? Like I don't know the parents of most of Sakura's friends from school, church or the neighborhood. I'm used to parents hanging out together and getting to know the kids their kids spend their time with - and their parents. Anyway.... Chad and I joined a gym, and I go every MWF while Sakura is at school. I drop Seth off at child care, and work out for an hour. So far this has meant walking on the treadmill. Friday I signed up for a personal trainer. HUGE splurge that Chad finally convinced me of - if he could spend money on Lasik, why couldn't I get a personal trainer? I only signed up for 3 months (the minimum) and we'll see how it goes. I really hope we'll figure out some kind of breakthrough on helping my joints be stronger so I can be more active and in less pain. I'd love to be able to go on a hike with my fmaily without limping around the whole next week. We'll see how it goes. Oh, and I'm working on doing stuff around the house - that's a whole nother post!

Happiness is her usual self, though maybe a little happier since she has the additional Jay, Julie and LittleFoot to love and love her back. Her barking has gotten a little more obnoxious (no fault of the kids who taunt the dogs from the other side of the fence!) I recently discovered her microchip that we got 4 years ago was never registered so had not been they safety measure we had thought all this time. Now it is. Whew! Good thing she's not prone to running away!

Jay and Julie are doing well - busy with work and school and all kinds of things, but we often sit down to eat together and play together. Oh, and they were just called to be Sakura's sunbeam teachers. Jay decided to load up on classes so he can graduate a semester sooner. Julie is teaching a babysitting class for her students once a week. She's probably going to take Seth and Sakura with her next week for the kids to have hands-on practice. I'm sure my kids will love going to work/school with their Aunt Julie. Jay is loving having his dog here, and LittleFoot is doing well - he and Happy get to hang out together and cause mischief and he has lots of people to snuggle with, though he still runs away from Seth. Oh, and today is Jay's bday - Happy Birthday Jay!

Guess that's it. We're alive and well and very blessed. :)