Long Time No See (Or Hear) P.S. Consider this your holiday newsletter :)

I know it has been a long time since I last blogged to ya'll, but it has been a busy time as well. We have been having fun adjusting to our new schedules and finding out what works and what doesn't. Homeschooling is going well and the boys really enjoy learning at their own pace and focusing on their personal interests. I am learning how to juggle and how to say "NO" to things that are going on outside our four walls. Naomi is just loving that everyone is home all day long (except Daddy) and that she always has someone to play with. She also gets in on the school action when one of the brothers wants to play teacher. That happens quite a bit.

Naomi is 4. WOW!! That went by fast. Naomi's biggest wish was to get a puppy. That wasn't going to happen, but one of our friend's helps out at a puppy rescue and happened to have a litter at her house on Naomi's birthday. She invited us down and Naomi got to snuggle with the puppies for a couple of hours. She was completely happy. The next day she had a "snack" party with all her friends and it was a complete blast.

We have been to Utah to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday and to surprise my parents with an early 50 year wedding anniversary. That was tons of fun. We were able to see everyone on both sides of the family and spend some quality time with them as well. Ginger came in to surprise the family and that was a bonus for us. The kids thoroughly loved staying with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Shaun and getting spoiled by them. In fact, the number one request from Naomi is "When are we moving to Utah with Shaun and Kathy?" The snow was a huge hit with the kids as well. I am sure that everyone in Kathy's neighborhood thought we were nuts. All five of us woke up the morning after a major snow storm and went outside in our jammies and played in the snow. We couldn't wait. Another highlight was an early Thanksgiving dinner at Dianna's house. Dianna helped us stage the whole thing so the whole Cannon family did not know we were in town until they arrived at that dinner. Melonie's reaction was the best when Steve answered the door. She just about fainted. I also got to have a girl's day out with my sisters and mom which was a blast. That night we hooked up with the Larsen's (our best friends who recently moved to Idaho). They were staying at Mindy's parents house in Salt Lake on their way back from Southern Utah for Thanksgiving with Gary's parents. Mindy and I had always joked about seeing "New Moon" together and we really did get to go together. That was AWESOME!!!! (Thanks, Mindy, for getting me hooked on "Twilight")

I must say, though, the highlight of the trip was doing the surprise anniversary for my parents. Also, my dad had emergency brain surgery at the end of October for a slow bleed and it was incredibly comforting to see him in person and know that he was going to be okay.

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Christmas was fun and quiet. The kids spent the day playing on the piano and guitar that Santa brought for the family. Since we now had an electric keyboard that played on key and didn't need to be tuned, and played only one note per key pushed (since there were no hammers to come loose and hit two strings at once) we took the old piano apart and let the kids see what a piano looked like on the inside. We saved some of the parts and turned them into a mirror for our entryway. Now we still have the memories and a new family heirloom to pass down. I love having a handy husband. That was the highlight of the day.

Our old piano lives on. Who says that reincarnation is not real??

2009 slipped away nice and quietly and 2010 came in about the same. That was until the snow storms started!!! I must take full credit or fault for the storms. I decided to throw two baby showers and Nicholas' birthday party three weekends in a row. The first party, the storm was so bad that church was cancelled that weekend due to dangerous road conditions. The second party it only snowed lightly that day, but we got pounded that night. The third party, Nicholas' birthday, was a doozy of a storm. We only got three inches, but 49 out of the 50 states got snow that day (some kind of new record) and the East Coast church conference broadcast was postponed due to weather. I think it is wise to not throw anymore parties. What do you think? OH, I should also mention that this is the coldest winter for Charlotte in 40 years!!! Yep, I am definitely done throwing parties!

Nicholas is now 8 and will be baptized on March 27th. He is so excited to be baptized. He also loved having a partyand spending time at Ray's Splash Planetwith all his friends. Cake, icecream and pizza only made it better. Nicholas LOVES Bionicles and has come up, on his own, with a Bionicles game using cards that he designed and dice. He is proud of it and plans on creating a video game version of his Bionicles game. I have no doubt that one day Nicholas will be working in the video game industry!!

Jeremy is now 11 and will become a Boy Scout on March 29th. So much is happening in his life and he is just soaking it all in and enjoying every minute of it. He has grand plans of turning our yard into a bird haven and is well on his way to doing it. There is nothing that will stop him once he is determined to get it done.

CHEAP FUN FOR THE KIDS (and it wears them out too!!!) On a windy day tie some string to a plastic grocery sack and let them loose outside to fly their "kites". This amounted to hours of free fun for the kids (and peace and quiet for me).

Steve is having a great time with work and is getting more and more responsibilities. He loves a good challenge and so this is fun for him. He is also making his own guitar and having a blast doing it.

I am really enjoying reconnecting with the kids and not having to yell at them to get ready for school because the bus is coming or get your homework done or you can't go to (whatever the activity for the night may be - scouts, baseball, a movie, etc.) Don't get me wrong, there are stressful times, but we are learning how to deal with stress and turning it into a positive. We get to go for long walks, play at the park, go to the library, stay in our pajamas, read books together (the Gregor series from Suzanne Collins is great) and just be plain old goofy. Life is good!