Hello.....

We are still here, still alive, and still as busy and crazy as ever.  We moved into our new house the last day of March and life has not slowed down one bit.  We love our home.  I need to go around and take pictures of the finished product, but first I have to clean it.  And, with 4 kids home all summer, keeping the house clean is literally impossible.  So, it might have to wait until school starts again.

But, in the meantime here are some updates on the kids.

Abby finished 3rd grade this year.  She has graduated from Cherry Brook Primary School and will be entering Canton Intermediate School next year for 4th grade.  She has been ice skating since January and it is her passion!  She skates 1-2 times a week and is getting so much stronger.  She isn't doing jumps yet, but she has almost passed off all of her basic skills.  She performed in a skating show in the spring.  It was "Broadway on Ice" and she skated to a Grease medley.  It was very cute.

She is doing some fun camps this summer including a writing camp and an art camp.  She is an excellent writer and is so excited to be working on a newspaper theme for her camp.

Madison had a great year in 2nd grade.  This was her first time in a mainstream class since Kindergarten.  We were very worried about her, but she has been able to keep up in class (with support) and perform at grade level in everything, except Math.  She also "graduated" from Occupational Therapy, which was great to hear.

The move to CT has been hard for Madison, but now she has some cute friends who call her for play dates and she is in heaven when that happens.    One of the great things about living in a small town is seeing friends when you are out and about.  I took the kids the the town pool the other day and Madison spent the whole time playing with kids from her class at school who just happened to be there at the same time.  She is so social.

Madison played on a U-10 traveling soccer team this spring.   Most of the girls were in 4th grade.  We were so proud of her and excited for her when she tried out and made the team, even being two years younger than most of the team.   This summer Madi is in a Horseback Riding Summer camp.  It's been a great experience for her, but not without it's drama.  On Wednesday she fell off a horse because she kicked it too hard and it started up to fast.  She lost her balance and landed on her rear.  On Thursday she was helping bathe a horse and she wasn't paying attention and got stepped on by the horse.  She was ready to quit, but we told her how proud we were of her and encouraged her to keep going (and also told her she didn't have a choice- sometimes you have to get tough :)) She is there now for her last morning.  I'm just waiting to see what drama happened today when I go to pick her up!

Chase had a great year in Kindergarten.  He received the "Super Reader" award in his Kindergarten class.  He is doing really well with his reading.  He is currently reading the Mercy Watson books, which he finds hilarious.  I am so grateful that reading is coming easily for him.  It's a relief after the struggle the girls continue to have with reading.

 Chase is a Lego master and has successfully indoctrinated Mason into the Lego Ninjago world.  They talk continually about ninjas and spinjitzu.  It's pretty funny to hear Mason talk about Ninjas and such, but cute.  Chase went to the Father's and Son's campout with Gordon this year.  We felt like Mason was still too young.  He had a great time, but was so worn out by the end of the night he fell asleep on the picnic table!

Mason is my little buddy.  He hangs out happily at home.  He is almost three, talks non stop, and is super cute.  He has no interest in potty training.  He also goes back and forth between his crib and big boy bed depending on his mood at bedtime.  He thinks he is in charge of everything and can get most people to do his bidding.  I've had a girl from the ward babysitting for me quite a bit this summer, and mostly she watches Mason.  Mason thinks Tori is his best friend and she is the only person he wants to invite to his birthday.  I've decided to put off preschool until January so that I can try and potty train him in the fall.  He really needs the social interaction, he has a tendency to growl at people and give dirty looks if he doesn't know them.  It takes him a while to warm up so we hope preschool will help him learn to be a little nicer.

Gordon and I are doing well.  Gordon's job has been really busy, but he hasn't had to travel at all.  What a huge change for us.  He enjoys his work and is learning a lot.  We have really enjoyed Connecticut so far.  The winter was mild.  The ward is awesome.  We are doing well, but we do still miss our friends and ward in CA.  Come visit!