Post-Thanksgiving.

Post-Thanksgiving Update:

• The last two weeks we have been remodeling our basement to add a room for Colton. We finished our remodel just in time for my brother Josh and sister-in-law Kiki to stay in the room. It turned out better than I even anticipated and it is already nice having the kids each have their own spaces. The last step is building Colton a loft bed. Calvin has one already.
• I just decided last night that Carrera needs a loft bed too. Her room is shared with daycare and toys. Our toy room has become our entire upstairs (except for our bedroom and bathroom). Her bed has become a forbidden area that kids sneak to and jump on. I figured, if I build her a loft bed we could make a play house under it and then daycare would stay off of her bed. Shane made me promise not to start any new projects until January, so it will be a few weeks before I tackle that.
• Two weeks left to the semester. I am very excited to be done with the semester. I am taking 9 credits next semester instead of 12. The reason: I want to spend time with my kids. I'm stretching my degree out an extra year. Sad, yes, but good. I'm sure my daycare parents will be happy. I think all of the kids I have right now except one will be in kindergarten or older when I quit daycare.
• My sister Deb is getting married! In May! Very excited for her! Her fiance Erik came to meet us over Thanksgiving weekend. It was nice to meet him.
• All of us were together over Thanksgiving except for my brother Dan (& his family). That was quite exciting. It was really nice to spend some good time with my sister Deb. We loved having Josh and Kiki stay with us, and hope that next time we can get a little more quality time with them. The house felt very empty when they left.
• I quit eating meat after Thanksgiving. It has been a process. I finally just decided to do it rather than put it off any longer. I do love meat, but can't get over the animal cruelty aspect of it. Shane has been a vegetarian for over 5 years.
• Colton & Calvin are going to be tutored in English reading starting in January twice a week. They are nervous, but I am excited. I don't worry about them learning to read, but they really want to read, so I am glad that they will have someone that can work one on one with them. In some ways I wish it were me teaching them, but I haven't been able to fit in the time.

I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, but that is all for now.