Life happenings

Well, I realized I haven't really just written about what's going on in our lives, so thought I should take the time to do that... (you may want to skip reading this just in case any of it ends up in our Christmas letter! :)). We are staying busy.

Josh is still doing his acting class and they are leading up to their final class/performance on the 8th and 9th of December. They are doing the Crucible and, I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I'm crazy about it. This is a class for teens aged 14-18 and there is a scene in which the husband and wife "kiss." Thankfully, Josh isn't one of them but I'm still not sure plus for the performance it says that children under age 12 will not be admitted which means Ian can't go so I'm not really sure what we're going to do!! He has really enjoyed his friends in that class, though, so I am thankful for that. I've wanted him to have a social life but now he wants to go down to his friend's house every night (she lives at the end of our street) and I'm just not sure I'm crazy about it. I know her mom and I know she keeps an eye and ear out but I guess I just miss having him around some, too!! Be careful what you wish for, huh!!

Ian is doing well. He made the A honor roll last quarter and looks on target to do that this time around, too. He's looking forward to starting basketball soon and he continues to enjoy RA's on Wednesday nights although he missed it this past Wednesday because he and Brian went to see Peter Pan at the Shakespeare Festival - they were having military appreciation night so it was buy one ticket get one free. We were all going to go but decided at $45 a ticket it was still a bit much and Josh had already been to see it so since Brian and Ian haven't had a lot of time with just the two of them we decided that was the best way to do it. It was a late night for Ian - they didn't get home until 10:30pm but he did well.

Brian continues with school and is doing well. He was very pleased to have made an A on his final as there weren't many of those given. We had his class Thanksgiving social last night and that was fun. We combined it with another class and the kids all had a good time and it was a relaxing evening. Brian also started this week classes for the language portion of his school. He's doing Chinese and with the time of his classes he's not getting home until a little later but we're hoping that he can get through it and have it done in the next few months because as we get closer to graduation he's going to be really busy with his "research project" called the Gathering of Eagles.

I am hanging in there. Ellie is really becoming a mama's girl which is fine as I do absolutely adore her but it can make it a little harder at times. She is really taking good naps and sleeping pretty well at night. I'm not really enjoying the 2 1/2 hours in the car every day but this, too, shall pass! Unfortunately, stamping things haven't been very successful and I'm really hoping to pick things up after the new year. Today as a family we sat down and put together card fronts that I've collected through the years and made them into cards and put them with envelopes and I'm planning to mail them to some troops in Iraq along with a goodie box. So, I'm glad to finally be doing something with them rather than throwing them away!!

We are going to my parents house in Savannah this week and I'm looking forward to that although not neccessarily the 6 hour drive. Would not have bothered me in the past but after a couple of hours in the car Ellie seems to have had enough so I'm a little nervous about how she's going to do. We shall see. Well, that's us in a nutshell!