Catching Up With Us

I'm terrible at blogging. I don't even know what to say other than that. I want to be good at it, but with four little kiddos, a busy husband, serving at church and two businesses on the side, blogging often gets tossed to the side. So I pop in when I can, and try to give myself a little grace when I can't. I have tons of things I could catch up on, pictures to share, stories to tell, but I really just want to give a little written snapshot of how we are doing, so at the very least, I have that recorded!

Bruce- Bruce is busy with work and his church calling. He is an early morning seminary teacher so he gets up at 5 each morning, gets ready for the day then heads over to the church to teach 18ish teenagers about the Bible. This year they are studying the New Testament. I know we aren't suppose to aspire to callings, but this truly is his dream calling... he debated heavily between becoming a paid CES teacher and a police officer. This calling is wonderful because he gets to have his cake and eat it too Ü The calling has been a challenge at times, but overall he loves it.

Work is going well. He is the PIO for his department, so he has a nice cushy day time schedule with the fun of every day being new and different. Sometimes he is in city meetings, another day he is touring news stations and meeting celebrities and other days he makes videos to post on social media. There are plenty of other responsibilities as well, but each day brings variety and he loves that.

Sunshine- Sunshine just finished being part of her school production of Annie Kids. She played the part of July, an orphan with a few speaking parts and solos in songs. She put in so many hours of hard work and it completely paid off. The play was adorable and she loved being a part of it. The commitment level was difficult on my end, but somehow we made it through and in the end, I am glad she participated.

Now, Sunshine is back to swimming several times a week, she is taking piano and plays the flute in the school band and she enjoys Activity Days at church. She is a busy girl! On top of all her activities, she is excelling in school and has made the Principal Pride list for straight A's the past two grading periods. The switch to the new school has been a challenge at times, but overall, she is excelling and really does love her new school.

Beebs- Beebs also made the switch to the new school and is thriving there. She is learning so much and is already becoming quite the avid reader. Her favourite books are Elephant and Piggie and I could listen to her read for days. She has such fun intonation when she reads, I just adore hearing her! She still loves to play and sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle to get her to do things like homework or practice piano because she really just wants to get out all her toys and escape into her imaginary worlds.

Like Sunshine, Beebs swims multiple times a week and she is getting so good at it! She also plays piano and is picking that up very quickly. It is such a joy to have our home filled with the sounds of the girls practicing.

Man Cub- Man Cub keeps me busy! He is such an active child. He has preschool (taught by me!) three days a week and he does gymnastics on Mondays. He LOVES gymnastics and I just love watching his new tricks each week. He loves Primary and always comes home with stories about the things he learned. He is so good at telling us about his lessons each week. He is super social and always wants to go to a friend's house or have a friend over to our house. He would rather watch TV and eat than anything else, but once he gets to playing, he is a lot like Beebs. He comes up with elaborate games and can play for hours. He recently started taking swim lessons with the girls coach and he counts down the days each week. He tells everyone about swim lessons and invites them all to come watch him. He is so eager to be like his big sisters!

Man Cub has a little bit of a speech issue that is absolutely adorable. I wish I could adequately describe the way he talks, but I just don't do it justice. It may be something he needs help with down the line, but for now, I just enjoy the adorable way he talks. He also has such a sweet side! He brings me flowers, tells me I'm "the prettiest mom he's ever seen" (I taught him that, but he'll just say it randomly and it melts my heart every single time) and says things like "I want us to have another baby so Shark Bait has a baby to play with". He adores Shark Bait and looks up to both of his sisters.

Shark Bait- Shark Bait is growing like a weed. We took away his pacifier, I gave him a haircut and he started talking up a storm, all at once. He runs everywhere, he climbs everything. The boy has no fear at all. Not even one little bit. He talks all the time and is very good at telling you exactly what he wants. He thinks he is a big boy and opts to sit on a barstool at the kitchen island instead of in his high chair. He loves food, but not typical kid food. He turns his nose up at macaroni and cheese! He really loves fish and avocados and greek yogurt and beans and veggies. He is such a great eater... though sometimes too good because he eats all his food and then moves in on mine. Ü He also loves to read and play with toys. He makes all kinds of sounds, like he is trying to read, or acting out something elaborate with his toys. It's adorable to watch. And speaking of watching... another big screen fan in this guy! His favourites are Mickey's Monster Musical, Baymax, and Frozen.

Shark Bait does not love nursery. He's been attending nursery since he was born and did great in there, but they released me a month before he started attending on his own and that month ruined him! He does not like nursery very much anymore. He is still my best sleeper in that he'll go down quickly and without a fight, but he does not sleep through the night most nights. He likes to nurse once or twice during the night, if I'll let him. Which I usually do, because he's my last one and that breaks my heart a little bit.

Me- Oh there is so much I could say... I'm busy with preschool and my photography business. I've taken several amazing photo classes lately that just have me chomping at the bit to go completely full time with photography, but I know I'm not ready for that at this point in my kiddos lives. I am so enjoying all the education though! I look forward to sitting down at my computer each evening to do a little more of my classwork and I'm seeing my photography improve by leaps and bounds. It's amazing.

I've been dealing with some health issues lately that have been stressful and frustrating and annoying. I think I am finally getting a handle on things and maybe I'll devote a post to explaining it all later. I just feel like such a Debbie Downer when I talk about it all! But it makes me feel like a Debbie Downer to be experiencing it all too, so it's just been hard. Things are improving though and just this week I have taken a huge turn for the better! Here's to hoping things continue on this positive path.

So there you have it... updates on us, in a nutshell. Just know we are here, we are alive and well, we are just busy and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon. But we are also loving life and working hard on house project, planning some fun vacations and just enjoying each other. I'd love to say I'll be back soon with more posts, but I don't want to set anyone (including myself!) up for disappointment. I have more I want to post and hopefully I can find/make time to do it soon!