General Information

I am going to try and not share too many personal details. I am not a sharer. But, what is the point of a blog if you don't share some things?!



We are doing wonderfully. We are early to bed and early to rise.......but that does not necessarily make us healthy, wealthy or wise. But I would like to think that we are working on all three.



Rob, continues to do wonderfully at work. They love him and are not afraid to let us know. It is wonderful to feel somewhat secure in a very volatile time in our economy. ---Now I am not saying this to brag in any way, and Lord please don't send extra trials just because I am shooting off my mouth!

Rob studies hard and continues to earn certifications and professional accolades. He earned his CCIE in 2004 and it has continually brought respect, job security and great pay. I am so proud of his ambition. I appreciate so much his hard work and diligence in propelling his career forward. And his wonderful ability to provide for our family.

He is a terrific husband and father. The kids are always so excited to see him at the end of the day. They all scream "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY" and full out run to the back door to throw their little arms around him and welcome him home! --he loves it!-- It makes him so happy when the kids want to sit and talk with him, or have him hold them. It makes me grin to see how much they all love each other. We are truly blessed!



Well I am keeping busy with the house and kids. Four little ones 6 and under is a wild ride. Though, I must admit that it is much easier than it was even a couple of years ago! I try and tell myself that I have it all together, even if it doesn't feel like it most days! I am trying to make sure I am taken care of as well as the family.

I have been going to the gym most every day for the past several months. I LOVE it. It feels so good to get out and have the kids watched in a place that is safe and stimulating and where I can sweat for an hour! It is my Prozac..... I feel so much better about every aspect of my life when I am active and strong. I am going to keep you updated and have some accountability on Weight loss Wednesday.... so stay tuned.

Another adventure that is soon to begin........ I am going back to school! Yes, even with four young kids, I can do it! I have signed up for Biology 101 and Psychology 202, and both my classes start next week! I am very excited! The Biology will be on campus and the psych class will be online. I am looking forward to challenging my brain in a new way again! The proposed goal right now is Nursing. It is something that I have thought of for a long time, and can totally picture myself doing. Not to mention that health care is one of the fastest growing career options out there. My plans are to take things nice and slow. Just a couple of classes each semester and move at a nice easy pace, as to not upset the dynamics of the household!



Avalon is now 6 years old. I cannot believe my tiny dark haired beauty is so big. She is so smart and articulate. And she can talk the ears off anyone who will listen! She is very obedient and helpful. I think she is a lot like me, with a great mix of some of her Dad's best qualities, friendliness and extroversion! The extrovert, I am not! We have been homeschooling Avalon for the last couple of years. She is just now age qualified to go to public school, because of a late birthday. But she was ready and willing to start school a couple of years ago, so we have been schooling her at home. She has done beautifully and gets tons of social interaction at the gym and in the classes she takes away from home. (Dance, gymnastics, art, cooking swimming, etc.)

For the coming school year we have applied for her to get into a local charter school. It is an excellent school with terrific teachers, test scores and parental involvement. I am hoping beyond hope that she will get in! We decided to see if another option other than homeschooling will fit our families needs because of newly added stresses. (More about that in Adam's paragraph) So hopefully she will get in, and then I will have some more time to focus some other things. If she doesn't get in, ( I don't even want to think about it!!!) then for now we will look into some local private schools or continue to home school. We will have to see. If any of you feel like you can, please send up some extra prayers that she will get in. :) --And not to mention, once one of your kids are in, they save a spot for upcoming siblings! It is just what I am looking for!



Alana will be 5 at the end of March and is such a sweet little girl. That is, unless she is tired or hungry or upset for some other reason, then she can be a bit of a feisty bug! She has always been a tad on the emotional side, and boy oh boy does it show sometimes! --Can we say drama queen?!--

Alana has joined us for schooling this year. She loves to learn and has been doing very well. She learns very quickly and never ceases so amaze me! She is beginning to read and is a whiz at math! It has been really fun and challenging to have both the girls schooling this year. I am not sure exactly what my plans for the coming school year are for Alana, if Avalon gets into the Charter school, I think I am going to find a private Kindergarten for Alana until she can join Avalon as she moves up to 1st grade. (This particular school starts at 1st grade and goes through 8th.)

Alana has and probably always will be a big Daddy's girl. She and Rob have such a sweet special bond. It is so fun to watch them together. Their personalities are SO similar!



Adam turned 3 at the beginning of October. He is such a handsome little guy. Light blond hair and big blue eyes, I still get stopped in stores for people to tell me how cute he is. He is MY boy, he is wonderful about giving hugs and kisses and telling me "I love you!"

He still struggles greatly with his speech. He is severely delayed in that regard and a few others. We are in the beginning stages of having him tested and diagnosed with Autism. We have been suspecting it for about a year and a half, but have been somewhat in denial because he does not have many of the Autism markers, but he definitely has more than a couple. He is very high functioning, but people who are around children a lot can definitely pick up on the signs. This is the added stress I mentioned in Avalon's paragraph. He has lots of appointments for testing and treatment so homeschooling on top of all of that is proving to be too much. Another reason we want Avalon to get into the Carter school is that they have the staff and resources for help Adam and deal with his special needs.

He is now the age to move up to Primary out of the nursery class at church. Hopefully the transition will go smoothly. The teachers for that youngest class are wonderful and will really be good for him.



Archer is 16 months old and is such a sweet wonderful baby! Though, I can hardly call him a baby anymore! He started walking a few days ago and is off and running!
He has taken his merry sweet time deciding he can walk. He has been running around with a train walking assist-type toy. (Can't think of what they are called!) He has even been standing still unassisted, until he realized that he wasn't holding onto anything, then down he goes. It was really funny to see him standing there, drinking a sippy cup or playing with a book or toy, only to look down and realize that no one was holding onto him or that he wasn't leaned against the couch and he would immediately sit!

Well, I started this post yesterday and didn't get a chance to finish it, and since that time, we have decided to go ahead and buy a house, more on that later! And we have also decided that my going to school right now, may not be the best plan. We have been discussing the school issue for several days and just this morning decided that trying to home school the children, take care of everything else, and do a flip on a house, that adding school may not work out well. So, sadly, I canceled my classes this morning and returned my textbooks and parking permit. It is bittersweet for me. I was definitely looking forward to school, but at the same time thinking about all the stress it would add for me and the family, maybe it is the best thing.